Money in TFT

[madhopper50]

Since the purging of any reference to metrics is being done, how about purging any reference to "dollars" ("$")? Gold-silver-copper pieces seem more appropriate for archaic fighting/fantasy playing.

[Steve Jackson]

The refererence to "gold pieces" is itself a fantasy-ism; people have been naming currency for a long time. It's in books, and thence games, that "gold piece" became a generic term. And "dollar" is an old word and has a convenient symbol.

Fun fact: A "piece of eight" was a real coin. Silver, not gold. It was designed to be broken into eight pieces to make change. Why eight? I do not know.

[ParadoxGames]

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

Fun fact: A "piece of eight" was a real coin. Silver, not gold. It was designed to be broken into eight pieces to make change. Why eight? I do not know.

Most likely eight was chosen because 8 is a power of 2. The whole coin was
a Spanish milled dollar, a typical round coin. The coin could be broken in half, and each half broken in half again, and each quarter in half again. And it looks just like your half, quarter, and eighth on a typical pie chart. each eighth was a bit; there are 8 bits to a dollar. This is the origin of the famous "shave & a haircut: two bits!" song. The cost was a quarter, or two 1/8 pices of 8 (two bits)!

EDIT: This year, the Canadian Mint created their own "answer" to the piece of eight. It's called the Maple Flex Bar, and despite its tasty-sounding name, isn't edible. It's a 2-0z silver bar that can be broken up into 19 pieces and bartered with for trade. The smallest divisions are 1/20th Oz. Here's a picture of one.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...298&height=241

[madhopper50]

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

The refererence to "gold pieces" is itself a fantasy-ism; people have been naming currency for a long time. It's in books, and thence games, that "gold piece" became a generic term. And "dollar" is an old word and has a convenient symbol.

Fun fact: A "piece of eight" was a real coin. Silver, not gold. It was designed to be broken into eight pieces to make change. Why eight? I do not know.

Good answer for "fantasy-ism", but it is "The Fantasy Trip". I love TFT (bought it when it first came out) and the ability to modify the system to suit my likes, so no "$" for me.

[Terquem]

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.

[Chris Goodwin]

I think it depends on the world. Cidri seems to me like it would be metric, but I'm sure most fantasy worlds wouldn't be.

Likewise I like the idea of prices being in a standard $ with conversions to whatever the local coin might be. Thalers (from which the name "dollar" derives) were first minted in 1519. Units of weight pretty commonly turn into units of currency (drachma and pound, for instance).

Has there been written material about money in Cidri other than what's in the basic TFT materials, then or now?

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Chris Goodwin

I think it depends on the world. Cidri seems to me like it would be metric, but I'm sure most fantasy worlds wouldn't be.

Likewise I like the idea of prices being in a standard $ with conversions to whatever the local coin might be. Thalers (from which the name "dollar" derives) were first minted in 1519. Units of weight pretty commonly turn into units of currency (drachma and pound, for instance).

Has there been written material about money in Cidri other than what's in the basic TFT materials, then or now?

There was a lengthy debate on this topic around the time the game went to Kickstarter. The general consensus was that the rules should be written simply ("$", simple 10-10-10 Copper-Silver-Gold conversions, and prices done consistently using those standards) and the players/GM could feel free to complicate it as much as they want. "So how many Thalers do my Bezants actually convert to?" becomes a role-playing question instead of a rules issue.

[chrisbender]

Originally Posted by Terquem

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?

[Chris Goodwin]

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:

Originally Posted by Terquem

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.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

The refererence to "gold pieces" is itself a fantasy-ism; people have been naming currency for a long time. It's in books, and thence games, that "gold piece" became a generic term. And "dollar" is an old word and has a convenient symbol.

Fun fact: A "piece of eight" was a real coin. Silver, not gold. It was designed to be broken into eight pieces to make change. Why eight? I do not know.

There were peso d'oro...
The standard trade dollar was in fact silver, but a similar coin in gold was made and used at $16 value.