How to spend several tonnes of gold?

[PseudoFenton]

In a fantasy world, primarily focused on dungeon crawling and heroics (although social elements are used too, just no political elements)... how would you spend several tonnes of gold? Or mores the point, how do you spend it so that you get something fun out of it, but don't make your GM cry or break the game?

Okay, some back story - I've been gaming with the same group for a fair number of years now, and waaaay back at the start a hastily thrown together spontaneous session had them find a device which seemed able to create any pure element in large spheres. It wasn't meant to be used, it just needed to be there to explain all there other elements that had been previously made, as they were used as part of a puzzle. A mild oversight on my part was that I had put a "reward" in there too, a solid gold sphere... a major oversight on my part was that one of the players had a lot of skill in making machines work.

To cut a long story short, I let them use it for a few different elements which let them solve the puzzle easier. Then once they tried to use it for gold I had the machine clearly become damaged so they could double their reward but it was a one time payout. However greed overcame them and they kept the machine on way longer than they had before so that the gold overflowed the normal output area and it started to destroyed itself. To make it more interesting I had it just keep making gold so they had to flee from a rapidly growing source of molten gold (and ensuring the machine was damaged beyond all repair).

This was literally years ago both in real time and in game time, and they generally just forgot about the event after it happened. Except now the group is in need of cash and they have remembered about this place... and its assumed massive source of gold. I don't want to just remove it entirely, that wouldn't be fair (even if it was a mistake on my part to produce so much gold) so now I need to think of how to minimise its impact on the world and not overly shower them in riches.

They are well aware that trying to offload so much gold in one go will break any economy, and have actually chosen to trade said gold with a dragon 'friend' for either something more fungible, or other high powered items they can make use of. Except, they might change their minds still and its still lots of gold... if they choose to keep some it'll remove all future monetary hazards - which isn't something I want.

So, what I need are some good ideas of how to minimise the impact of such vast wealth, whilst still allowing it to be fun and useful to the players. Any one got any ideas?

(Equally any entertaining ideas of what you'd do with tonnes of gold are welcome, even if they're not useful. If nothing else it might give me a heads up of what the players will do with wealth beyond their dreams.)

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by PseudoFenton

I don't want to just remove it entirely, that wouldn't be fair

You can, or at least you can plausibly minimize it if you want to. If there's that much gold just lying there for years on end, why wouldn't other people find and exploit it? That could crank down the amount of free gold to a manageable amount. Or maybe it's all there, but it becomes the focus of massive competition to get to it. It could be at the center of a large war, really.

But let's pass over that to get into the question you actually asked: what do do with lots of money? This is really something for the players to decide to do, but what rich people do is usually to buy pretty things. Not just a sword, but a sword studded with gems. Not just a suit of armor, but a suit of armor decorated with engravings. Not just clothes, but fancy silk clothes with embroidery and expensive dyes. Low Tech and DF8 have some pretty extensive rules for decorated gear which can give the characters goods with distinctive details which will soak up a lot of excess cash but won't break your game.

[johndallman]

What do the PCs want? Castles? Magic items? To found temples, colleges, or countries?

They need to consider security quite carefully, because they're going to attract thieves and those who want to take stuff by force. Founding some institution that will support you and your family for generations seems like a good idea, but that tends to end up as a country.

The dragon may be a good idea. Way back in early versions of D&D, you theoretically got experience points for money. Few believed in that, until a GM came up with a scheme for managing dragons' power via experience points. They did get experience for money ... provided they kept the money.

[RyanW]

That depends entirely on how much gold is worth in the setting (my guess is, if you suddenly got tons of it, very little relative to the historical value of the stuff. Or will be soon).

Using the information here, and pretending that it's all in florins, the annual peacetime revenues of the English crown would be about 1/6 ton.

[PseudoFenton]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

You can, or at least you can plausibly minimize it if you want to.

Already considered and I've put in place things that will help minimise to a degree... but due to the nature of location its unlikely to have been found - and I really don't want a war spilling out over this (although if the players take actions that would lead to those events then I wont stop that from happening, I'd just like to set things up so that they're unlikely to go that way).

This is really something for the players to decide to do, but what rich people do is usually to buy pretty things.

I know, hence wanting ideas as to what others might do so I can second guess and get things in place to accommodate it. As for pretties, I'm aware, but when you're working with tonnes, and a pound of gold is $20k... its hard to soak with pretty alone. There is only so much gilding and gem inlays an item can have afterall!

[Tuoni]

Originally Posted by PseudoFenton

They are well aware that trying to offload so much gold in one go will break any economy, and have actually chosen to trade said gold with a dragon 'friend' for either something more fungible, or other high powered items they can make use of.

I'd steal this idea they had and run with it. You could have it so the dragon 'friend' already found the gold.

Perhaps after encountering the PCs the dragon got curious decided to do some background checks on them. It followed a few leads, and at some point discovered the mound of molten gold they left behind. Finders Keepers :)

Depending on the dragon (and how nice you want to be to the PC's), it could be willing part with some of the wealth the PC's so graciously left it as a token of gratitude. Alternatively, the dragon could have picked up a few rumors and you can use this as a segue into another quest.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by PseudoFenton

There is only so much gilding and gem inlays an item can have afterall!

To some extent, yes, but you can crank out some impressive expenditures if you're so inclined. It shouldn't be too difficult to routinely buy pieces of equipment which cost at least ten times as much as an unembellished item, and gems can pack an insane amount of value into near-negligable space. And that's before getting to decorating their homes (the LT/DF8 embellishment rules can be used on buildings).

[combatmedic]

What goals have the players set for their PCs?

With several tons of gold, they could probably afford to start their own kingdom. I think that would kick ass, but maybe your players aren't into kindgom building.

[PseudoFenton]

Originally Posted by johndallman

What do the PCs want? Castles? Magic items? To found temples, colleges, or countries?

There are plans for buying some land, and I'm happy to accommodate that... but they're adventurers primarily and I don't want to shift the focus of the game just because they've enough money to "settle down". They're already quite entrenched in one place despite it being an open world sandbox, I really don't need to give them another reason to sit put.

They did get experience for money ... provided they kept the money.

Interesting idea, especially if you do get a castle, not sure how to handle it mechanically (you can't very well lose cp just because you spent some of your horde...)

Originally Posted by RyanW

That depends entirely on how much gold is worth in the setting (my guess is, if you suddenly got tons of it, very little relative to the historical value of the stuff. Or will be soon)

Gold is 20k to the pound... currently, although my players are well aware that if they introduce a lot of gold into the market then it will devalue quickly (and without the gold being minted its worth less to begin with). Although this fact will also make them more inclined to just hide it and horde it away, spending it slowly when need arises as so that they can keep from destabilising the economy - which is also why I want to encourage them to spend it now so that it doesn't become an ongoing source of effectively infinite wealth.

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by PseudoFenton

There are plans for buying some land, and I'm happy to accommodate that.

Up until fairly recently it was impossible to actually BUY land in many countries. The best that could be done was to lease it from the local authorities for an extended period of time.