D&D 5E Barter Economy

[QuentinGeorge]

What isn't reflected very well in modern D&D is the main way you'd earn big in medieval times. Land ownership. This is something 1st edition did better than the latter ones. No one got rich in medieval europe from fighting bandits or plundering Roman ruins...

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Heck, gift economies persist in the modern day. Folks at my work buy each other coffee, spot each other for lunch, etc. all the time, on the understanding that they’ll get you back at some point. Or pay it forward to someone else in the department who will pass it on and it’ll get back to you eventually. When I used to smoke, there was a sort of unwritten code governing the bumming of cigarettes; charging a quarter for a cigarette or whatever was frowned upon, but so was only ever bumming smokes and never having one to spare for someone else. Artists I know do art trades all the time rather than each commissioning the other. I’m sure most handy folks would rather help a friend or neighbor out in exchange for a future favor than charge them. Currency tends to start getting involved when the interactions start getting too complex to easily track, and/or when you don’t know the person you’re trading with well enough to trust they’re good for the debt.

Coinage has the same advantage as jewellery - easy to transport and nearly everyone agrees on the value.

 

[Shiroiken]

Most places are going to have both barter and coinage. Locals would mostly deal in barter, perhaps using coinage for smaller amounts or to smooth out unequal barters. Barter is meaningless to outsiders, so everything is done with coinage.

From many years of playing Skyrim, what it comes down to is weight-to-value ratios. There's no point in carting barrels, crates and sacks of ordinary produce all the way back to town if they're only going to earn you a relative pittance compared to something relatively far more valuable and less cumbersome like a jewelled necklace or a finely crafted longsword.

Didn't need Skyrim, just played AD&D. A lot of treasure has to be left behind because it just wasn't worth taking; copper was notorious for this. Gems and Jewelry were prized for being easily transported treasure, and I still try to keep as much of these as we find, rather than selling them.

Most of the players in my games today would totally wreck local economies when they walk into towns. It is like someone won the lottery and knew they were dying next week. Anything less than gold is almost given away. Some cross all their silver off as beer, gambling, and partying expense for the the time in town. One always buys the tavern drinks as soon as they walk into the bar. Mostly leads to friends and hangers-on, but sometimes leads to alley fights. To haggle with someone over giving change being a carrot, 2 turnips, and an old brass chain from grandma in exchange for dropping 10gold for a new backpack would not happen. Most of my group would just say keep it, or maybe you can pack me a trail meal to go.

My players have done this, and rather than ruining economies, the locals have learned to milk this fools for as much as possible. It's not that the PCs have won the lottery, the town did! My players eventually slowed the bleed, and rather than tipping 10 gp for a meal, now leave more reasonable amounts.

 

[nomotog]

I am generally in favor of doing weird sub systems in games. (The current Idea I am toying with is village building.)

After thinking about it, I think way to do it would be to have like 5 types of goods, each one focused on a trade. So like footstock, metals, textiles, treasure, and say magic. Then you have each over corresponding to specific goods or merchants. Like a village will only let you barter with food stock, but you can't buy a deed without treasure. It gives a bit of texture to each resource and lets each one unlock different gameplay elements. It's not really full barter though just different currencies.

 

[see]

Even if coins weren't available, people still used things like hacksilver or bronze rings and ribs. Metal is just very convenient as a medium of trade and a store of value.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

You should have a batter economy, where everything is paid for with deep fried mars bars.

 

[toucanbuzz]

With that out of the way, I use barter in roleplaying efforts to trade magical items (seeking out a retired adventurer, a mercenary rumored to have found the Wand of So and So) since there's no good way to assign a specific value.

Otherwise, it's too much nuance for my games for players to barter for day-to-day gear. However, my NPCs barter for background flavor. The party met hunters and trappers who trade a frontier outpost pelts and meat in exchange for things like boots and nets. Coins are a rarity in their world.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Isn't Quests a form of barter? I'll do specialized labor in exchanged for goods and/or services??

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Isn't Quests a form of barter? I'll do specialized labor in exchanged for goods and/or services??

That will be two shrubberies please.