Coinage

[Steve Jackson]

What JLV said.

(But hurry, hurry, to the Blue Glow Special!)

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

What JLV said.

(But hurry, hurry, to the Blue Glow Special!)

Hmm. Would that make "K-Mart" actually stand for "King's-Mart"?

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by RobW

[HOWITZER]
Maybe the $ symbol could be replaced for item prices?? It always felt so.... so... hmm, utilitarian in part, like ST battery, but also a very odd mish-mash of modern day reality and fantasy.

The symbol "$" is older and more steeped in romance than most people give it credit for. It was actually a "pieces of eight" symbol, a "peso" symbol that is, before it was a dollar symbol (it got to be a dollar symbol when the USA adopted a silver peso de ocho is the lynchpin of its monetary system and gave it the name of a defunct Scottish coin of about the same weight). Perhaps it began as an "8" with a bar through it, perhaps as a representation of one of the pillars on the back of the Spanish dollar, with a scroll around it for the motto "plus ultra".

Be that as it may, the bulk of the target audience is unlikely to recognise that romance. Despite its obvious advantages, the "$" might have to go.

On the other hand, having an actual currency symbol is very convenient, and has real advantages over a text phrase such as "silver pieces" or an initialism like "s.p." If one be adopted

• It should be a glyph that is available in the font that will be used in setting the rules, and ideally reasonable common in other fonts that players might use e.g. on message boards and in their own materials printed at home.
• The glyph ought not to be in common use for anything else.
• It ought to be readable-out-loud. There ought to be a well-known or obvious way to read the glyph.

I suggest the following for your consideration

• ₵ ("crowns". Ghanaian cedi are obscure, but perhaps it's best not to go there.)
• ₢ ("crowns". Fortunately, cruzeiros are obsolete.)
• ♔ ("crowns")
• ℳ (representing the symbol on Mnoren coins?)
• ₥ (fortunately, mills are obsolete)
• ℥ (symbolising ounces of silver)
• ʒ (a simplified "ounces" sign)
• ⁋ ("pieces")
• ⓢ ("shilling" or "silvers")
• s ("shillings" or "silvers")
• § ("shillings" or "silvers")

[Skarg]

We often wrote "50 sp, 111cp, 12gp" for silver pieces, copper pieces, gold pieces... and also $, ￠, and ₲.

We sometimes sounded out the abbreviation too, and also the abbreviation b.p. for "belt pouch", when we were getting silly, so you could ask someone how much s'p, g'p, or c'p they have in their b'p. ...

(And healing potion is H.P., so "I don't have enough g'p in my b'p to buy that h'p"...)

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Skarg

We often wrote "50 sp, 111cp, 12gp" for silver pieces, copper pieces, gold pieces... and also $, ￠, and ₲.

Nice!

May I suggest that ₲, $, and ₵ would look even better?

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Nice!

May I suggest that ₲, $, and ₵ would look even better?

It the coinage is decimalized it only adds needless complexity.

Keep in mind that the ¢ symbol is almost unused these days. Due to inflation the cent stopped being the relevant unit of currency it was in the late 19th C, or even the early 20th C.

In Canada, they're phasing it out. (Article at Canadiam Mint's Website)

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

Keep in mind that the ¢ symbol is almost unused these days. Due to inflation the cent stopped being the relevant unit of currency it was in the late 19th C, or even the early 20th C.

In Canada, they're phasing it out.

In Australia we withdrew cents and two-cent coins from circulation in 1991.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

In Australia we withdrew cents and two-cent coins from circulation in 1991.

I've not seen the ¢ symbol in use in stores in Alaska since the 1980's. There's one place I've seen it in Oregon - a restaurant... 3 packets of gum for 50¢

[Skarg]

One of my players' recently-recruited NPC followers was a guy who always wore his backpack wherever he went. The pack seemed to be heavy and you could sometimes hear it jingle a bit. They were curious and sort of half-hoping he'd die to they could loot the backpack. Well, they were deep underground and descended into a new cavern though a vertical shaft where they were beset by slimes and traps and assailants, and this NPC didn't make it. "But oh no, his backpack!" They put themselves in crazy danger and IIRC lost some other comrades so a PC could carry this NPC's body (his pack would have taken too long to get off his body) back to the shaft and up it, still fleeing the assailants. When they finally opened it up there was a small chest inside, and when they opened that it was full of coins! Almost all copper coins... he was an obsessive collector. (I've never heard the end of that.)

[JohnPaulB]

Originally Posted by JLV

If we consider a gold coin to be the rough equivalent of, say, $10, then the silver coin would be the rough equivalent of $1. If we then stated that a silver coin was worth 100 copper coins, then the copper coins would be worth about a penny. So, our exchange rate would be 100 copper coins = 1 silver coin, and 10 silver coins = one gold coin.


If we consider the average living wage for a medieval peasant to be roughly equal to about 24 or 25 cents per day (source: Grain Into Gold), then your economy would operate mostly on copper coins for everyday pricing (where it wasn't just handled with barter), but things like Armor and War Horses and Swords and such would definitely be in the multiple silver coins range. Torches, rope and food, however, would be in the copper coin range. Gold would be pretty rare, but maybe that's just fine if you want to avoid the enormous treasure inflation (not to say outright bloating) that has plagued a number of other well-known RPGs over the years.

All of this would minimally disturb your existing cost charts, I would think, which would be an advantage to you as the designer in that you wouldn't have to redraft them on top of everything else...

My views are with JLV on Coinage.

I like the original ITL monetary system because its quick and easy to understand.

I would prefer having the value ratios be more like 250cp to 25sp to 1gp because I think gold should be harder to get. HOWEVER, I can adjust that on my own house rules.

I like using the $ (probably because I grew up with it) because I'm really familiar with it and can compare the value/cost of items better. Also because its on the standard Querty keyboard.

I agree that the base value of the currency should be the silver piece.

I would prefer having the size and wieght of the pieces be:
Copper piece and Silver piece be the size of a US Quarter and a
Gold piece the size of a US Dime.
HOWEVER, having all the coins be the size of a US quarter is good for estimating the amount of coins in a pouch.

I like to keep the inflation down. I like the cost of goods to be low. I prefer the characters to be slinging around coppers in town than flipping silver pieces as tips to urchins.