[DF/Fantasy] A few Questions

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by malloyd

This is actually somewhat *high* compared to the standard GURPS price point (whatever a dollar bought ca 2003). Though it's certainly true that historically metals were relatively worth more, it's a bit of an odd choice for DF, which traditionally gives coins a higher weight for their value than even modern metal prices.

The "traditional" worth of gold and the like in DF settings (primarily DnD) can run into the very issues Bruno mentioned, like mundane gear actually being worth more than its weight in gold (such that you can be better off hauling around extra suits of plate than bags of gold).

Originally Posted by malloyd

FWIW 2003 (and hence $GURPS/lb) prices are approximately gold $6000, silver $65, copper $0.8, iron $0.013, platinum $10000, high end gems ($1M to $10M ($500-5000/caret)). Stick within a factor of 10 of those and nothing is going to break, push above or below that and your feel for relative values will be wrong enough it may start to show.

I don't think using DF's values (or being close to them) causes any serious problems (aside from the default gold and silver coins being extremely tiny, but I've already suggested a good fix for that). With your numbers, a good sword (Thrusting Broadsword, 3 lb, $600) is worth over 3x its weight in silver, which strikes me as rather off for the period. This also means only gold (and higher) coins are actually going to see real use by the characters - a character is better off hauling around a golf bag of swords than bags of silver. Heck, even if he can only get 50% of an item's worth, much loot you'll be better off keeping until you can trade it for the gear you want to buy if the shop owners try to pay for it in silver.
Oh, and there's the coins to consider. A $0.01 copper piece is the size of a US nickle, as is a $1 silver piece (and a bulky half-dollar sized silver piece is worth less than $2.50). A gold piece the size of a US dime is worth $85, so you might expect to see your characters only deal in multiples of around $100 (making gold pieces slightly larger than a US penny).

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Varyon

The "traditional" worth of gold and the like in DF settings (primarily DnD) can run into the very issues Bruno mentioned, like mundane gear actually being worth more than its weight in gold (such that you can be better off hauling around extra suits of plate than bags of gold).

Having processed goods be more valuable than raw materials or coin is not especially unrealistic. My cell phone is worth somewhere around a hundred times its weight in quarters.

Originally Posted by Varyon

With your numbers, a good sword (Thrusting Broadsword, 3 lb, $600) is worth over 3x its weight in silver

No, it costs over 3x its weight in silver. That doesn't mean you can actually sell it for that much. In any case, silver prices seem to have had a low back in 2002, I'd probably go with $100-$200 per lb as a more typical figure.

Originally Posted by Varyon

Heck, even if he can only get 50% of an item's worth

DF is pretty generous and lets a person with average wealth sell for 40% of list. Realistically, carrying around a golf bag of swords will result in you having a bunch of swords you can't find buyers for.

[Nostri]

Alright so it looks like I'm going to be getting DF 4, 5, 11, and 13, along with the two monster books; probably almost in that order. 10 looks interesting too and may work it's way in there depending on how much of a point the players make of checking out local taverns.

I wasn't planning on doing anything crazy with the money, but I know it does cause me a bit of cognitive dissonance when I'm doing my planning that the knight has $100 in his satchel because all I can see is a crumpled and dirty $100 bill shoved in as padding to protect something the knight would think is actually worth money. And since I'm planning on rewriting most of the equipment list anyway converting the prices to a silver standard wouldn't give me too much extra work. I'll probably end up going with something like a gold equals $100, a silver $5, and a copper $.10. We aren't going to be using GCA or GCS, I don't own either and while I have one player that might go looking for something like that he's also the only player that didn't tell me "hell no" last time I tried to run GURPS so I'll let him peak behind the curtain so to speak if he gets one of those programs.

Thanks for the help.

[Varyon]

If you're already changing all the prices, going to gold/silver/copper isn't as much of an issue. A $100/$5/$0.10 breakdown shouldn't be too difficult for your players, either. You may want to establish how much each coin weighs, however, both for determining what each material is worth per pound and for encumbrance purposes.

[Balor Patch]

Originally Posted by Nostri

We aren't going to be using GCA or GCS, I don't own either

GCS is free so owning it is moot.

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by Balor Patch

GCS is free so owning it is moot.

Not everybody wants to clutter up his computer with dozens of applications to do a task that can be readily accomplished by hand or in Notepad.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by simply Nathan

Not everybody wants to clutter up his computer with dozens of applications to do a task that can be readily accomplished by hand or in Notepad.

I do all my sheets in Notepad, but I like using GCA for the math. Not sure I like either's PDF output, but I know a lot of folks that swear by GCS.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Having processed goods be more valuable than raw materials or coin is not especially unrealistic. My cell phone is worth somewhere around a hundred times its weight in quarters.

Based on what I've read, even skilled TL3 labour is cheap. The final cost of stuff ended up being based mainly on the cost of the stuff required to make the final stuff.

A Bible, for instance, was expensive because a wide variety of inks and rare colours were required to scribe and illustrate it, and of course the parchment to write it on, not because it took a monk 15 months sitting there wielding a pen. So that seems to be one major difference between TL3 and TL8.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

I do all my sheets in Notepad, but I like using GCA for the math. Not sure I like either's PDF output, but I know a lot of folks that swear by GCS.

A spreadsheet made in LibreOffice or MS Excel is also an option. Depending on how elaborately it's made, it can do a lot of the work for you, or merely be an aid in checking if the "math" is right.

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

I do all my sheets in Notepad, but I like using GCA for the math. Not sure I like either's PDF output, but I know a lot of folks that swear by GCS.

I do my math in Notepad and double-check with a calculator.