D&D -> DFRPG: Gold to $

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by sjmdw45

If you don't think your example points it out, then I will point it out now: historically, peasants wouldn't pay cash for things. In DFRPG they do. DFRPG is not operating on the historical model. In DFRPG, a peasant expects to have a cash income of $10/day.

There is no assumption present of peasants paying cash for anything in DFRPG, as there is no assumption of peasants doing anything in DFRPG. I merely used the cost of living example for a peasant as a further example of the baseline.

Originally Posted by sjmdw45

I didn't say you did. I said your example shows that DFRPG is different from history.

My example does not show that DFRPG is different from history or even adjacent to history. Please don't assign meaning to my words that we both know to be untrue. You're the one assuming a cash economy for the hoi polloi; there is no reason to assume that this is true or false. What's annoying is saying that *I* am saying DFRPG assumes a cash economy for the hoi polloi; I have said no such thing, nor even implied this.

Originally Posted by sjmdw45

No, I'm not. Quite the opposite. I'm assuming that secure value stores like banks are inaccessible enough that carrying your net worth around on your person is logical.

And you're assuming a significant part of that net worth is in cash. There is no reason to assume this is so. Even your looting the bodies example will not necessarily yield cash for goods, and even when it does, the looter would turn that cash into useful goods, like better armor and weapons. He's not going to walk around with the cash since it does him little good.

To boil this down to the real issue, you say a low- or mid-powered NPC is going to carry a significant portion of his net worth—$2d6×10—in currency. Your argument to bolster this is that there is a cash economy and few banks. I say that the amount a low- or mid-powered NPC would have a much smaller portion of his net worth—$1d6-1—in currency. There is no assumption of a cash- or barter-based economy either way (and I think barter is a valid assumption if you're going to care about it, and, in my experience, most DFRPG GMs do not), but regardless, doing this is not only not realistic, but it is also going to significantly increase the amount of wealth PCs will accumulate, as coinage is not subject to the 40% sell-back rate, but it also weighs less, even copper farthings.

I'm not going to get into this further with you, as I don't think you're operating in good faith here.

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

My example does not show that DFRPG is different from history or even adjacent to history. Please don't assign meaning to my words that we both know to be untrue. You're the one assuming a cash economy for the hoi polloi; there is no reason to assume that this is true or false. What's annoying is saying that *I* am saying DFRPG assumes a cash economy for the hoi polloi; I have said no such thing, nor even implied this.

I don't know why you're suddenly adopting such an aggressively aggrieved tone today. We've never had a problem with each other in the past fourteen years AFAIK; why are you trying so hard to pick a fight right now? Is everything okay?

I'm saying that your example shows that peasants have a cost of living (therefore income) measured in $ which are fungible per DFRPG rules in a way that was not historically true for medieval economies. I'm not saying you said this; if you did I would hardly need to say it to you, would I? I am saying it is shown to be true in your own example (peasants with a steady $10/day in expenses)[1]. You disagree and think your example implies something else. Fine, we disagree about how best to interpret the facts. That's life.

[1] Even though I would have chosen a different example to illustrate the point, such as the fact that even stories can be sold for cash in DFRPG (Exploits page 17) and goods like healing potions and spell scrolls have generally-stable prices measured in fungible $.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

The tension is inherent in the 1 gp D&D=$1 GURPS equation, which is assumed in that note in the Norðlondr Óvinabókin.

For the record, it's not assumed. I'm not sure what I've used in the past, but I've tried everything including about $50 to the gp (to try and get a $500 sword to be more like the 10gp you see in, say, Old-School Essentials), and generally give up and shift rewards to something appropriate for whatever I'd doing, as the prices and assumptions are simply not consistent.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

For the record, it's not assumed.

Ah. I was working from that assumption when I suggested the note during the playtest. Matching the D&D price list is folly, which is why I stopped using the price of bread. Weapons are really cheap in D&D.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Ah. I was working from that assumption when I suggested the note during the playtest. Matching the D&D price list is folly, which is why I stopped using the price of bread. Weapons are really cheap in D&D.

Yah. Weapons and armor fit the $50 to 1 gp decently; virtually nothing else does. Agreed on matching prices being folly, though. It can be somewhat problematic if trying to convert a D&D module to play on the fly (and cause for a noodling delay if doing it offline), but once you step away from "mechanical conversion" and think "but what needs to be here?" and just embrace fiat and/or verisimilitude, you can throw down and move on.

[sir_pudding]

By weight, one D&D gp should be $400 DFRPG, but obviously this is silly.