Post by Joe the Revelator on Apr 26, 2015 8:58:00 GMT
Author: World Engineer and Statbonus Contributors
Word Count: 379
Title: The Color of Money (In D&D)
Category: Tabletop Gaming
Sub Category: The DM's Table
Preferred Post: Any filler.
C is for Coin
Excerpt by World Engineer
Adventures rush to loot the dragon’s bed, after the dragon is dead.
Heroes, they may be, but they all run to toward the demon cult’s treasury.
Before they save the princess from her fate, they must, the fee, negotiate.
Why, because money is the grease that lubricates the gears of a civilization and it is part of the Players’ reward for their PCs succeeding.
In many ways, gold (also called gold pieces, g.p., GP, or gp) is simply a score card for D&D. The more money the PCs have, the more “magic stuff” (magic armor, enchanted weapons, raise dead spells) they can afford. David Noonan, in a D&D Insider podcast, once said that there was no real economy in a Dungeons and Dragons Game. The silver pieces given to the NPC baker for a loaf of journey bread are not the given to NPC miller so the NPC baker can get more flour. This is true in a Player/GM encounter. Coin only appears in a game when the PCs have it. I do not count treasure listed in monster/NPC write-ups to be “in play,” since their only purpose to tell the GM what to give the PCs if they “win.” It is a counter and nothing more, but it doesn’t have to be…
You can check out the rest of World Engineer’s thorough breakdown of the gold system (right here!)
(Hyperlink to the above bracket: gameengineer.wordpress.com/2015/04/09/c-is-for-coin/)
And be sure to check his blog for more tips on world-building and game-mastering.
(Stock Picture of old coins)
It is also worthwhile to note that coins of the pre-modern era were often hand-stamped, so counting them was a bitch. They were not of standardized size and did not stack easy like modern coins. And you'll find that early coin-using societies, like the Norse, didn't use face value of those coins, but traded by their weight instead. The coin was just an easily portable portion of silver for trade.
So keep in mind that if your NPC Vikings purchase a castle with a wagon full of silver dongs, this isn’t a wholly unacceptable transaction by ancient Norse standards.
(Wiki picture of Hacksilver)
(Caption: Gabor the Mighty offered Hacksilver to the Temple of Virgins that day…much to everyone’s relief.)
Word Count: 379
Title: The Color of Money (In D&D)
Category: Tabletop Gaming
Sub Category: The DM's Table
Preferred Post: Any filler.
C is for Coin
Excerpt by World Engineer
Adventures rush to loot the dragon’s bed, after the dragon is dead.
Heroes, they may be, but they all run to toward the demon cult’s treasury.
Before they save the princess from her fate, they must, the fee, negotiate.
Why, because money is the grease that lubricates the gears of a civilization and it is part of the Players’ reward for their PCs succeeding.
In many ways, gold (also called gold pieces, g.p., GP, or gp) is simply a score card for D&D. The more money the PCs have, the more “magic stuff” (magic armor, enchanted weapons, raise dead spells) they can afford. David Noonan, in a D&D Insider podcast, once said that there was no real economy in a Dungeons and Dragons Game. The silver pieces given to the NPC baker for a loaf of journey bread are not the given to NPC miller so the NPC baker can get more flour. This is true in a Player/GM encounter. Coin only appears in a game when the PCs have it. I do not count treasure listed in monster/NPC write-ups to be “in play,” since their only purpose to tell the GM what to give the PCs if they “win.” It is a counter and nothing more, but it doesn’t have to be…
You can check out the rest of World Engineer’s thorough breakdown of the gold system (right here!)
(Hyperlink to the above bracket: gameengineer.wordpress.com/2015/04/09/c-is-for-coin/)
And be sure to check his blog for more tips on world-building and game-mastering.
(Stock Picture of old coins)
It is also worthwhile to note that coins of the pre-modern era were often hand-stamped, so counting them was a bitch. They were not of standardized size and did not stack easy like modern coins. And you'll find that early coin-using societies, like the Norse, didn't use face value of those coins, but traded by their weight instead. The coin was just an easily portable portion of silver for trade.
So keep in mind that if your NPC Vikings purchase a castle with a wagon full of silver dongs, this isn’t a wholly unacceptable transaction by ancient Norse standards.
(Wiki picture of Hacksilver)
(Caption: Gabor the Mighty offered Hacksilver to the Temple of Virgins that day…much to everyone’s relief.)