The price of a horse.

[aramis erak]

Tehee.. but in some worlds it is fun to see what gold you have from which country. Assome enemy country would not want you to pay with any given currency.

If history is any guide, they'll accept it based upon public trust in its relative purity. Coinage as other than mark of who certified its purity really only begins to take hold in the 1600's, and doesn't become the standard until the 1800's...

French Livre 1 coins were about the same weight as English £1 coins... but at various points, trust in the french king's coin was higher than the English, and vice versa. Whichever one was debasing less was worth more in both... per unit weight.

(Note that the debasing with copper is why the roughly 14kt coingeld 1dwt coin was worth about 1 shilling... the "pure" 20 kt (which isn't 100% - that would be 24 kt - but was about as pure as it got in the day) was worth about 12 pence instead of the 20 that a dwt of pure/pure-ish gold would be. Debase it to 10 kt, and it's worth about 10 d.

In other words, the coin simply "assures" weight and purity, based upon the public trust in the minter. But that's an inconvenient thing in most fntasy campaigns.

 

[Lwaxy]

Yeah, some worlds have detailed measurement systems for such, but there are some countries on some worlds where you just can't pay with enemy currency. Of course, gold could always be melted down.

 

[aramis erak]

Yeah, some worlds have detailed measurement systems for such, but there are some countries on some worlds where you just can't pay with enemy currency. Of course, gold could always be melted down.

Keep in mind also - the real world's gold supply wouldn't fill a football stadium (neither soccer nor gridiron) to 5' deep. The ENTIRE mining total to date won't fill four olympic pools. (Source 1: [a=http://www.numbersleuth.org/worlds-gold/]Numbersleuth[/a] says 165,000 tons in 2011; more than half was mined since 1960. Source 2: [a=http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21969100]BBC[/a] says 171,300 tonnes in 2013...) For Silver, about 1.4 million tonnes has been extracted. (Source 3: [a=http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-01/visualizing-all-silver-world]Zerohedge[/a]) Compare that to copper... about 5 million tons per year...

Medieval nations couldn't really afford to be picky about whose gold it was, except at tax time. Even then, it almost always would still spend. Why? Because it was precious in its own right. Even silver was rare enough to merit such. Copper coins, however, even ones alloyed with silver...

More than a few PC's have more gold each than many medieval nations did.

Medieval coins were SMALL... 1dwt is 1.55517 grams or so. A 1 cm diameter coin of gold weighing 1 dwt woould be less than 1 mm thick (about 0.9 mm), assuming 24 kt. At 10 kt, cut with copper, it's about 1.7mm thick.

Sterling of .99 fine silver would be 1cm diameter and 1.9 cm thick for a 1dwt penny.

A copper penny worth the same as the silver one, at 5mm thick, would be 5.9cm in diameter... and mass 70x the silver one. (which is why the copper penny farthings initiall had about 1/5 dwt silver, the rest copper... and rould be roughly 2.2 mm thick, and 2cm across. (more likely, 2.5cm - 1 inch - and just under 2mm.) Tiny tiny...

The massive treasure pile - several hundred pounds of gold - my players got two weeks ago in a published module is a medieval king's treasury worth... before looking at the silver.

 

[Random Bystander]

I think the most cogent conclusion that could be correctly calculated here, would be that reaching a consensus with your players on the world their characters will be played in is important.

There are, self-evidently, players who enjoy no-magic, harsh-realism worlds where knowing your coinage and its kingdom to the copper piece is just complex enough. There are also players who want the dragon they slew to have made, as its bedding, a literal pile of gold.

 

[Brandegoris]

I like the Idea sometimes of a harshly realistic world. The Struggle is real!
But at the end of the day it usually isn't as much fun as I imagine it to be

 

[Random Bystander]

I like the Idea sometimes of a harshly realistic world. The Struggle is real!
But at the end of the day it usually isn't as much fun as I imagine it to be

In my experience, mostly, I want to relax during my relaxation time. However, some times, I want more of a mental challenge.

Checkers versus Chess versus Go, I suppose.

 

[Random Bystander]

And I would also like to say that this is, by far, the most civil discussion on realism in gaming I have had for...Far too long.

This is, by far, the most civil discussion on realism in gaming I have had for...Far too long.

 

[raleel]

I like the Idea sometimes of a harshly realistic world. The Struggle is real!
But at the end of the day it usually isn't as much fun as I imagine it to be

In my experience, mostly, I want to relax during my relaxation time. However, some times, I want more of a mental challenge.

Checkers versus Chess versus Go, I suppose.

This is always a tough balance to maintain. I am seeing this now with my 5e game where I play. It feels very simplistic to me, which is good in some ways and on some nights. On others, it's sort of boring because I have nothing to sink my teeth into. I've experienced the opposite, though more frequently as a GM.

 

[guachi]

In my current campaign when I researched historical prices I valued a farthing at 1 cp. This made one pound equal to 9.6 gp and does a reasonable job of inflating historical prices to something approaching what you see in the D&D books.

Also, I found a great book from a Welsh library for about $5 + $5 shipping entitled Medieval England: Towns, Commerce and Crafts 1086-1348 that has more information than you could possibly ever want about, well, commerce and crafts in medieval England.

The book certainly helped me come up with a ship full of contraband that consisted of ale, cloth, and raw wool.