This is why my games always run on the silver standard. Each unit of currency is 100 times the value of the previous unit Instead of 10, and the listed prices that would have been gold are now in silver.
This makes it a lot less weird when dropping coin on watered down ale, stale bread, and a cot. And it also makes finding gold coins for the first time a lot more exciting. And when your characters start getting wealthy enough to actually carry gold and buy big ticket items with it, it actually feels like you’re getting rich.
And then there’s platinum. A single platinum coin becomes an event, the kind of thing that causes the greedy to become reckless and the experienced to become paranoid. It’s the perfect schmuck bait, a massive fortune in a single coin, all you have to do is pick it up. [Cue evil laugh]
Really, silver shouldn’t even exist until players are level 5-6 or something.
A copper shouldn’t be thought of as a penny, but I think a lot of people think of it that way. It should be much more like a dollar. A mug of ale is 4 copper pieces. A loaf of bread is 4 copper pieces. A taxi is 1 copper.
Because D&D is a world without cash registers or price stickers, bargaining should be common. And you’re not going to bargain over the last penny, but maybe over the number of dollars (i.e. coppers).
I also think 1 silver should be 100 copper. But, you should only start seeing silver once you’re dealing with people who are used to dealing with things costing hundreds of “dollars”. 100 copper would be a pain to manage, so they use silver. A typical adventurer’s pub might only rarely see silver because all their prices are in copper, and there’s nothing even approaching 100 “dollars” on their menu.
In this system, gold similar to $10,000 per coin. Because of that, the only kinds of stores that might see gold coins are high end magic shops, or shops dealing with upper-level nobles or royalty.
I also think it’s hard for people to put themselves in a mindset of a “medieval” sort of world. We’re used to a hotel room being hundreds of times the cost of a loaf of bread. That’s a modern thing where both farming and baking are automated. In the past things weren’t nearly that efficient. So, if a poor quality stay in an inn (you’re sharing a bed with other random guests, and there’s a thin mattress) is $100, a loaf of plain bread should be $10.
If i recall correctly, you can hammer the coin when it’s cold to put the decorations on it, but you still need to melt the metal at some point to get it at the right thickness and give it the circular shape. I may be wrong tho
Sounds stingy. Everyone knows level one goblins have a dragon’s stash of gold in their hovel, you’re just being a dick by making it impossible to find it. I’m gonna go pick pocket that guy across the bar. I expect a low DC because he’s drunk and I put two skill points into it. He better have a bag of diamonds on him or so help me I’m quitting.
If you wanted to be more accurate to actual gold and silver, the historical exchange rate is only 20:1 silver to gold, which is why there are 20 (silver) shillings in a (gold) pound piece.
This is why my games always run on the silver standard. Each unit of currency is 100 times the value of the previous unit Instead of 10, and the listed prices that would have been gold are now in silver.
This makes it a lot less weird when dropping coin on watered down ale, stale bread, and a cot. And it also makes finding gold coins for the first time a lot more exciting. And when your characters start getting wealthy enough to actually carry gold and buy big ticket items with it, it actually feels like you’re getting rich.
And then there’s platinum. A single platinum coin becomes an event, the kind of thing that causes the greedy to become reckless and the experienced to become paranoid. It’s the perfect schmuck bait, a massive fortune in a single coin, all you have to do is pick it up. [Cue evil laugh]
Really, silver shouldn’t even exist until players are level 5-6 or something.
A copper shouldn’t be thought of as a penny, but I think a lot of people think of it that way. It should be much more like a dollar. A mug of ale is 4 copper pieces. A loaf of bread is 4 copper pieces. A taxi is 1 copper.
Because D&D is a world without cash registers or price stickers, bargaining should be common. And you’re not going to bargain over the last penny, but maybe over the number of dollars (i.e. coppers).
I also think 1 silver should be 100 copper. But, you should only start seeing silver once you’re dealing with people who are used to dealing with things costing hundreds of “dollars”. 100 copper would be a pain to manage, so they use silver. A typical adventurer’s pub might only rarely see silver because all their prices are in copper, and there’s nothing even approaching 100 “dollars” on their menu.
In this system, gold similar to $10,000 per coin. Because of that, the only kinds of stores that might see gold coins are high end magic shops, or shops dealing with upper-level nobles or royalty.
I also think it’s hard for people to put themselves in a mindset of a “medieval” sort of world. We’re used to a hotel room being hundreds of times the cost of a loaf of bread. That’s a modern thing where both farming and baking are automated. In the past things weren’t nearly that efficient. So, if a poor quality stay in an inn (you’re sharing a bed with other random guests, and there’s a thin mattress) is $100, a loaf of plain bread should be $10.
Fun fact: gold is currently over two times as expensive as platinum!
Love it. These ridiculus “gold” prices in games and mangas etc have always been a pet peeve of mine
This hand-crafted, gold necklace with diamond, ruby sapphire, and emeralds adorning the intricately carved centerpiece?
5 gold pieces.
That moldy slice of bread you picked up accidentally from a barrel in the bottom of a 1500 year old shipwreck?
… I’ll give you 3 gold.
Well, they do take place in a fictional universe, where we can assume scarcity is different.
Still metallurgy is not cheap in terms of energy when you only have wood to burn!
Funnily, with gold you don’t even need heat for things like forming coins.
If i recall correctly, you can hammer the coin when it’s cold to put the decorations on it, but you still need to melt the metal at some point to get it at the right thickness and give it the circular shape. I may be wrong tho
Sounds stingy. Everyone knows level one goblins have a dragon’s stash of gold in their hovel, you’re just being a dick by making it impossible to find it. I’m gonna go pick pocket that guy across the bar. I expect a low DC because he’s drunk and I put two skill points into it. He better have a bag of diamonds on him or so help me I’m quitting.
If you wanted to be more accurate to actual gold and silver, the historical exchange rate is only 20:1 silver to gold, which is why there are 20 (silver) shillings in a (gold) pound piece.