D&D 5E alternate coinage, ie "non decimal gold"

[Ancalagon]

Hello

A pet peeve of mine in D&D is the "decimal money". 1 gp = 10 sp = 100 cp. I know it's convenient, but it feels contrived to me and immersion breaking. It's also quite inaccurate historically speaking.

An example of an alternative was the warhammer system, where 1 gp = 20 sp (shillings) = 240 cp (pennies), which was relatively straightforward. (although I'll note that it still overvalued copper).

I've also used previously a system based on the ancient chinese coinage, where one silver tael (a mini-ingot of 1.3 oz) = 1 gp (exceedingly rare) = 1 000 cash (copper pieces on a string) = 1 standard bolt of silk. If all you had was cash, you needed a cart to carry your money around.

Obviously, the more realistic the system is, the more unwieldy and difficult it becomes. And let's not even get into foreign currency! Obviously going overboard is not a good thing. The pseudo-chinese system may have been too much.

So my question is this. In your opinion, is a non-decimal, vaguely accurate coinage system (but not too complex!) something that can enhance a game, or just a pain in the behind?

 

[Mouseferatu]

I think it's one of those place where what works for fiction doesn't work for gaming. It makes sense for a fantasy novel, but is a PITA in a fantasy RPG.

 

[The Human Target]

It might not be a pain, but I don't see much value.

 

[GSHamster]

Perhaps you could try avoiding conversions. Place items into tiers. Each tier uses a specific coin. For example, everything in the laborer tier is quoted in shillings. Larger items are changed to fit the smaller coin. For example, lodgings might be quoted in X shillings per week.

Basically treat each coin as an integer that can't be broken down further.

Maybe you have to go to a moneytrader to switch coins, rather than a shopkeeper giving you change for a larger coin.

 

[Tormyr]

I don't even give out coinage in various metals. I just tell the players they found coins and/or gems worth X gp. However, if you are looking for a decent non decimal monetary system, you could look at the old British system. It was based on weight. A penny was a pennyweight of silver, and a pound was 240 pennyweights and actually weighed 1 pound of sterling silver. Makes for easy translation to weight if you track that kind of thing. http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/moneyold.htm

 

[Duan'duliir]

If you want something magical, Harry Potter has 1 Galleon (GP) = 17 Sickles (SP) = 493 Knuts (CP) (29 Knuts in 1 Sickle). The decimal system however, as others have stated, is tons more convenient.

 

[Libramarian]

Depends how often you will actually be making conversions. If you keep gp (or whatever equivalent) as standard, and basically never deal with sp and cp after level 2 or 3, then make it as complex as you like. If you use a silver standard and will be dealing with multiple denominations throughout the campaign, best to stick to decimal.

 

[Vicaring]

Hello

A pet peeve of mine in D&D is the "decimal money". 1 gp = 10 sp = 100 cp. I know it's convenient, but it feels contrived to me and immersion breaking. It's also quite inaccurate historically speaking.

An example of an alternative was the warhammer system, where 1 gp = 20 sp (shillings) = 240 cp (pennies), which was relatively straightforward. (although I'll note that it still overvalued copper).

I've also used previously a system based on the ancient chinese coinage, where one silver tael (a mini-ingot of 1.3 oz) = 1 gp (exceedingly rare) = 1 000 cash (copper pieces on a string) = 1 standard bolt of silk. If all you had was cash, you needed a cart to carry your money around.

Obviously, the more realistic the system is, the more unwieldy and difficult it becomes. And let's not even get into foreign currency! Obviously going overboard is not a good thing. The pseudo-chinese system may have been too much.

So my question is this. In your opinion, is a non-decimal, vaguely accurate coinage system (but not too complex!) something that can enhance a game, or just a pain in the behind?

I've actually given a lot of thought to this topic, and historic currencies, for my own campaign world.

For a start, Warhammer gets it wrong in keeping gold/silver/copper, although otherwise they are vaguely historic.

Historic English monies: 1 Pound Sterling (silver) = 20 Shillings (silver, still) = 240 Pennies (also still silver). This is NOT decimal, and was rather based upon weights. The smallest coin that could be made at the time was 1/240th of a Pound of silver. As in, a fellow cut up a pound and managed to make 240 coins out of it. They then called them Pennies. 12 Pennies to a Shilling, 20 Shillings to a Pound. Again, a Shilling was exactly 1/20th of a Pound. It was and is fairly easy bookkeeping.

The Noble, introduced in 1344, was the first widely-circulated gold coin in English usage. It was equal to 80 Pennies, or 6 Shillings 8 Pence. Because it had a fixed value, the coin's weight actually varied from "issuing" (minting) to issuing, depending on how much gold cost in silver terms at the time. The original, 1st issuing, was approximately 50.5 Nobles to 1 Pound of Gold.

Copper coins weren't introduced to the English system until 1672, when Charles II began issuing the Copper Halfpence and Farthing. 1 Halfpence was worth 1/2 of a Silver Penny, and 1 Farthing was worth 1/4 of a Silver Penny. There were approximately 40 Halfpence by weight in a Pound of Copper; do not, however, determine the relative worth of copper from this, because these coins actually had a "Face Value" greater than the value of the copper in them.

Were it me, I'd just stick with silver coins and be done with it. Gold wasn't often used by people anyway, as it was exceedingly valuable. I mean, seriously, 1 gold Noble equals one-third of a POUND of silver. Holy crap that's a lot of precious.

 

[MechaPilot]

Obviously, the more realistic the system is, the more unwieldy and difficult it becomes. And let's not even get into foreign currency! Obviously going overboard is not a good thing. The pseudo-chinese system may have been too much.

So my question is this. In your opinion, is a non-decimal, vaguely accurate coinage system (but not too complex!) something that can enhance a game, or just a pain in the behind?

In general, I think that coinage fades into the background. In my homebrew setting, there are no "X pieces." Instead, you have coins with different names, sizes, and materials, and having different values. For example, there are two gold coins: one is worth 1 gp according to the PHB values for items, and the other is a smaller coin that is still made of gold but worth half as much as the larger gold coin. Apart from the rare numismatist player, most players just want to know how much of each "X piece" to write on their character sheets.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Perhaps you could try avoiding conversions. Place items into tiers. Each tier uses a specific coin. For example, everything in the laborer tier is quoted in shillings. Larger items are changed to fit the smaller coin. For example, lodgings might be quoted in X shillings per week.

Basically treat each coin as an integer that can't be broken down further.

Upon first reading this, my mind is involuntarily cast back to World of Warcraft, when they introduced a token system to facilitate raiding. It doesn't matter how many hero marks you have, because the item you need can only be purchased with champion marks.

I know that's not what you were going for, but that's my first impression.