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Old 10-01-2018, 05:28 PM   #11
Andrew Hackard
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Default Re: Money in TFT

FYI: I split this off the metric discussion as it was largely disjoint and covers a new topic.
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Old 10-01-2018, 05:39 PM   #12
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Default Re: Metric system in TFT?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Terquem View Post
I once had a waitress ask me if I wanted my pizza cut into six slices or eight slices. I told her to cut it into six slices because I didn't think I could eat eight slices.
That's a good one. Did she laugh?
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Old 10-01-2018, 06:14 PM   #13
Chris Goodwin
 
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Default Re: Money in TFT

Terquem makes a good point in the metric thread, before the money thread got split off from it. The same can apply here, so I'll quote that post:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Terquem View Post
I think there is supposed to be a real separation from the units of weight and measure used in the rules, and those that are used in the settings

I'm sure in the game setting you choose the weights and measures can be whatever you want them to be. The rules need to be standardized to try and avoid contradictions or confusion.
I think $ works well as the unit of purchasing power used in the rules, and Cidri is certainly a big enough place with its own diverse areas (and units of measure) that a silver quatloo might be $37 while a zorkmid is $45... and neither of the countries that use them has any traffic nor commerce with the other except thirdhand via at least a half-dozen gate hops.
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Old 10-01-2018, 06:26 PM   #14
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Default Re: Money in TFT

For me the crucial money question on Cidri is - is the currency native value, or is it scrip? By which I mean, is money made of precious metals or other intrinsically valuable things and thus is worth what it weighs, or is it an issued promissory note backed by asset value? If the latter then it could very difficult to exchange currencies across nation-state borders, so I'm guessing the former is what holds across the world. Though even then there are likely to be appreciation/depreciation rates in lands where some materials are scarce or abundant. Not enough of a factor though that GMs need to worry about it, unless they want to add a further degree of realism to the banking and job market aspects of the game.
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Old 10-01-2018, 07:09 PM   #15
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Default Re: Money in TFT

It about the relative value of metal by weight.

For example the Roman had copper as. Bronze coins were used as well.


For example in Late Antiquity we had

1 gold solidus (1/72 lb.)
= 24 silver siliquae
= 180 bronze folle

So the rules on page 67 has 100 coins to the pound. Which is about 4.5 grams.


A Late Roman Gold Solidus was 1/72 of a pound or about 6.3 grams
A TFT gp is worth 72% of a Solidus.

A late Roman Silver Siliqua traded at 24 to one Solidus and weighed 3.4 grams.

So roughly A gram of silver traded at a 13 (12.98) to 1 ratio to a gram of Gold. Not far off from 10 to 1. But not exactly on either.

A bronze follis (contains copper but not pure copper) weighs about 10 grams.

Sixty grams of bronze trades for 1 gram of Gold
4.6 grams of bronze trades for 1 gram of Silver.

So given a TFT GP, SP, and CP are all coins of equal weight. It looks like for the numismatically aware, like myself. The 1:10 ratios between each category and the 1:100 ratio of cp to gp are not outside of the bounds of reason.

The lesson here is that historical coin ratio generally based on weights. There are exception as rulers try to debase their coinage but generally correct itself as confidence is lost. The key ratio are the value of gold to silver, and other metals like bronze and copper. That changed over time.

When trying to use historical coinage versus an RPG coinage system it not enough to use the ratios of gold to silver to copper. You need to take in account the metal weight. With RPG coinage the weight are generally equal between different coin types for ease of gaming.

Historical coins are not. Instead they are minted to get close to some even ratio usable for commerce. Resulting in different coin weights not only for the same type of metal but for different metals as well.

For example during the Augustan period. The ratio was about 8.5 silver grams to 1 gold gram. The weight of the coins were such that 25 Silver denarii was worth 1 Gold Aureus. The copper as traded 400 to 1 gold aureus. By weight it was roughly 388 grams of copper to 1 gram of gold.

My preference is a 20 to 1 silver to gold ratio. Silver pennies weigh 240 (rounded to 250) to a pound. A gold crown is weight one ounce and worth 320 silver pennies. Farthings are not minted and worth 1/4 of a silver piece. Rare coin types include the gold penny word 20 silver pennies. Along with the silver mark, a one pound silver bar worth 240d.

Generally what I do with an RPG like TFT is convert everything to silver and then adjust to my preferred system.

Last edited by robertsconley; 10-01-2018 at 07:14 PM.
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Old 10-01-2018, 10:36 PM   #16
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Default Re: Money in TFT

I think its just a matter of symbols.

Someone brought this up and I thought it worked out great:
  • Silver Coin = $ or S with a line through it.
  • Copper Coin = ¢ or c with a line through it.

These are on the keys of most keyboards, though you may have to go through some searching to find the cent symbol.

There isn't one for Gold Coin but perhaps G would work.
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Old 10-02-2018, 10:13 AM   #17
Skarg
 
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Default Re: Money in TFT

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPaulB View Post
I think its just a matter of symbols.

Someone brought this up and I thought it worked out great:
  • Silver Coin = $ or S with a line through it.
  • Copper Coin = ¢ or c with a line through it.

These are on the keys of most keyboards, though you may have to go through some searching to find the cent symbol.

There isn't one for Gold Coin but perhaps G would work.
Ya that was I: we used ¢, $, and ₲

(As shown, there actually is at least one unicode character with a G with a line through it, and that ¢is more visible than the ¢.)

You can copy the symbols to a file you can copy & paste from, or possibly make keyboard shortcuts/macros.

We also sometimes used cp, sp ang gp, or C.P., S.P., or G.P..
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Old 10-02-2018, 11:53 AM   #18
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Default Re: Money in TFT

The great thing about the symbols is that you can easily assign whatever meaning you want to them.

$ can mean gold or silver or copper or whatever you wish. If a player asks "how much is a dagger?" you can say "10 gold pieces" or "10 silver pieces" or "10 quatloos". I don't think it was intended to say "10 dollars" unless that's what you want to say.

As far as 10 silver pieces not being equal to 1 gold pieces in reality, Mr. Conely's exposition illustrates that it could - depending on how much silver or gold is valued and the size and weight of the coins but I doubt most people want to get this nitty-gritty with their gaming.
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Old 10-02-2018, 12:18 PM   #19
Chris Goodwin
 
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Default Re: Money in TFT

Canonically, a $ is equal to a silver piece, per the glossary on ITL p. 11 and subsequently expanded upon on ITL p. 56.
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Old 10-02-2018, 12:46 PM   #20
platimus
 
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Default Re: Money in TFT

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Goodwin View Post
Canonically, a $ is equal to a silver piece, per the glossary on ITL p. 11 and subsequently expanded upon on ITL p. 56.
I am aware of that. My point still stands.
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