How to handle adventuring loot outside of a strong economy?

[Lackofname]

Why do the natives not have currency? Remember shiny bits of metal arent inherently different to shell beadwork, red feathers, cacao beans and finely woven mats, all of which have been used as means of exchange,

See earlier statement of "how many cacao beans for a +1 sword?"

Sure, currencies exist. The problem is conversion rates. Also I doubt "finely woven mats" or "red feathers" will be found in ancient ruins, so...

 

[Lackofname]

It sounds like you just want to throw out ant semblance of an economy rather than replace it with something pretending to be something a little different. You can look at how systems with a wealth type stat like d20 modern & fate handle it, but trying to port that sort of thing into 5e is a mess so goodluck

God yes. I just want believable BS.

IIRC with Fate, items are either Aspects/Stunts, or handwavium. "I spend a fate point, I have a lighter."

 

[uzirath]

The other option is just changing what you call your currency from “coin” to something like “Influence” or “Favour”. If your PC gets an item he doesnt want then he has the option to ‘give‘ it as a gift to the local blacksmith Which earns him “Favour”. Later he calls in the Favour and the Blacksmiths sister provides the PC with some magic potions.

I like this option. I tend to play fantasy games with GURPS rules which allow you to gain advantages in play. So you might offer a magical axe to the champion of the village and gain an ally ("I'll help you on your next quest"), a claim to hospitality ("you can stay in our village for free whenever you come through here"), a contact (the shaman is thrilled to study the magical thingy and will happily assist you in future research or mystical questions), or even a patron (the chief names you as his sacred warriors and sponsors further quests). I have always found that this sort of thing makes the campaign world a lot richer. Pretty soon the characters have connections all over the place.

In addition, although the local people may not produce the sorts of advanced magical items that the PCs want, they may be great sources of information about other quests and mystical locations. So instead of selling your +1 axe and buying a +1 sword at Ye Olde Magic Shoppe, you come to the village and trade the +1 axe in for information about the tomb of the famous sword-wielding hero of yore.

 

[tetrasodium]

God yes. I just want believable BS.

IIRC with Fate, items are either Aspects/Stunts, or handwavium. "I spend a fate point, I have a lighter."

Depends on the version of fate, some of them have a (sometimes shared) resources/wealth/etc track alongside the physical/mental stress tracks. dfrpg, mindjammer & a few others not coming to mind have a resources track.

Spoiler: Here's a relevant page from mindjammer

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Ok. Hmmm...

How about just creating a new "Save" called "Treasure"? Base it on the PC's highest stat at character creation. When need arises to purchase or trade for something, have him make a "Treasure Save/Check", with a DC equating to however valuable the item/service is at that time in that area in that circumstance (re: buying a wool blanket in the middle of July while in the tropics should be easier than buying one in the beginning of January during a snow storm in a cold snap). If the PC fails the check, he puts an "X" next to the Save on his sheet; indicating his next check is at disadvantage until he "finds more treasure".

Finding Treasure: Just as the tin says. You don't have to give out actual GP values for ANYTHING. Just call it "Treasure", "Some Treasure", "A lot of Treasure", etc. On the characters sheet, they can just place a 'tick mark' next to the word "Treasure" where they would normally have a specific accounting of wealth/coins. Each time they succeed in making a Treasure Save/Check, they erase one 'Treasure Tick Mark'. If they get to zero, they have no measurable wealth left, obviously, so they can't make any Treasure Save/Check without Disadvantage and that is AFTER they make some kind of deal with the person (IOU, work-for-pay, errand/quest, etc).

Now, when tryin to "sell magic items because you got a new one", you don't have to RP it that way. Simply RP it however you want. Maybe the PC has gotten to know a Sargent of the Watch and has decided to 'gift' the old magic dagger to the Sargent. The PC then adds a Treasure Tick to his character sheet. Why? Maybe the Sargent has the coin...or maybe he knows several people in town...the blacksmith, innkeeper, butcher, etc and puts in a good word, or who knows? The skies the limit here; no need to keep track of every GP and whatnot.

Benefits: Quick, easy and doesn't drag down into counting every single coin or trying to equate "how many GP's for item X, Y and Z", but at the same time there is a sense of accomplishment to the Player when they discover Treasure and add a tick or three to their Treasure List. They can also RP their characters wealth, "Good sir! I would like three bottles of your finest whisky! [rolls Treasure, succeeds, marks of a Treasure Tick Mark] Here, this should cover it... [tosses a small back of gold and silver coins to the tavern master]". That, to me, is much more evocative than "How much for three bottles of your finest whisky?", and then getting a number, then the player looking at his coin and converting silver into gold, then subtracting that exact amount.

Maybe something like that?

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Umbran]

1. Be the first to plant the flag on the new continent.
2. Money. They want to gobble up as much resources as possible. Hurry, discover new things--spices? Coffee? DRUGS? Salt? GIMMIE.

Okay, so, I think #2 here will give you a headache. "I want the main motivation be about money... but I don't wanna deal with money," isn't the best approach to compelling content.

The settlement backer's POV: Politely exploitative. The locals are useful, but once that's over, buy the land out from under them and shoo them off; the native races aren't close to human so intermarriage isn't possible, their numbers and tech level isn't enough of a severe threat (and they're not warlike), conversion isn't a concern, so just bide time.

You are playing D&D here? Their technology is not the issue. Stone knives and bearskins are fine. In D&D, most of the damage comes out of the class, not the weapons. A couple druids or clerics of the native's gods with some barbarians to back them up could seriously mess up a town, if they were so motivated. And they have a continent full of them, while the settlement only has whatever they brought with them....

Indeed there was a previous civilization that was more advanced. It was wiped out because of bad things they did, and containing the fallout required heavy magical lifting from both nature spirits and extra-planar assistance. This area of the continent (The starter zone, basically) was walled off from the interior, and the locals considered everything associated with the prior civilization to be incredibly taboo--to the point some conservative tribes think building with stone is courting disaster; everything else made of stone got smote so why risk it? To them the stuff in the ruins is probably cursed or will unleash hell, so those weird foreigners are welcoming destruction on their own heads.

Hm. Sounds like you've created your own problem there, and I'm not sure about the idea that the natives will sit by while this goes on, but those are aside the point. Let us say the natives don't give a hoot about the loot. So...

Rather than contort yourself trying to figure out how to work normal economic function in a place that lacks it... just don't. Accept the thing you built, and its natural results. They will not be able to easily convert one form of wealth to another. So be it.

Use the idea of the "company store": The PCs bring gold, art objects, jewelry, etc from ruins or locations of exploitable resources to the settlement, they rack up credit with the settlement. They can trade that in for the time of settlement craftsmen to make things for them. This will take time. Such is life. You can handle this all with normal GP values.

Also, recognize that in the end there's no real difference between "give them random magic, and allow them to trade that in for what they want" and "just give them what they want in the first place". Makng them jump through a hoop to get stuff they like is not really a value-add, so to speak.

You'v epositioned it so that the PCs are unlikely to have anything the natives want, and have discarded teh idea of the PCs doign favors with the natives. Maybe just remove the natives as irrelevant? It is a continent full of monsters and beasts, and the ruins of a civilization that died....

This also gets you out of the bad look of re-enacting imperialistic oppression of natives... They just aren't there to oppress!

 

[Umbran]

See earlier statement of "how many cacao beans for a +1 sword?"

Just to be clear, you don't need to know this. You say, "this thing is work X GP". If you trade it with the natives, they give you "Y GP worth of cacao beans." The difference is like the usual loss for money-changing. Nobody likes bean-counting, so you don't need to worry about them actually counting them.

 

[Lackofname]

Just to be clear, you don't need to know this. You say, "this thing is work X GP". If you trade it with the natives, they give you "Y GP worth of cacao beans." The difference is like the usual loss for money-changing. Nobody likes bean-counting, so you don't need to worry about them actually counting them.

You said that earlier. I understood you the first time.

I was replying to the question of "What do you mean they don't have a currency.

 

[zarionofarabel]

My advice, don't use a campaign premise that is so clearly not D&D and the try make it work with D&D.

D&D is it's own thing with it's own tropes that must exist or it simply doesn't make sense. You have chosen a campaign premise that is built on tropes that are pretty much the opposite of D&D tropes. Trying to shoehorn the D&D tropes into your setting is why you are frustrated.

Solution, use a different system that de-emphasizes all the magic item BS that is prevalent in D&D.
OR.
Make the settlement that the PCs use as their base full of magic shops and large vaults of gold coins so the classic D&D tropes will make sense.

 

[Umbran]

You said that earlier. I understood you the first time.

Sorry. Lost track of myself.