D&D® Prices for Living Fantasy

[mythusmage]

D&D® Prices for Living Fantasy

I'm now reading through Gary Gygax's Living Fantasy by Gary Gygax. At the very beginning there is an attempt at converting Gary's dollar prices (Lejendary Adventure uses dollars and cents) to the D&D scheme. Now, I think Davis is a fine fellow all in all, but here he gets it all wrong.

In the thirty years D&D® has been published there is one item that has not changed in price; a loaf of bread. As far back as I recall it's been 2 coppers. Today a one pound loaf of bread can cost as much as $4.00. However, back in 1974 it cost a lot less. Furthermore, the price of items was originally set by our own Col. Pladoh, and he was likely thinking of his earlier days, when bread could be bought as cheaply (from our viewpoint) as 10¢ a pound. So I figure this two copper loaf is equivalent to a 20¢ loaf. Which sets the value of the copper piece at 10¢. Which makes the silver piece worth $1.00 and the gold piece worth $10.00. (Never knew how devalued gold was in D&D® now did you? )

Which leaves us with a big problem, since Living Fantasy prices go down to the American penny. So we need to introduce a 1¢ coin, which we'll make the iron piece.

So here's the scheme for our little LJ® to D&D® conversion.

One Iron Piece = 1¢
One Copper Piece = 10¢
One Silver Piece = $1.00
One Gold Piece = $10.00

And for you completests...

One platinum Piece =$100.00

[sidebar]
Platinum as a quasi medieval coin metal has problems. First, it has a silvery color, and is often mistaken for silver by those who don't know their precious metals. Second, it is massier than silver. Which means that at 50 coins to the pound a platinum piece will be smaller in overall size than a silver piece. All of which means that to the common man your trying to pay with platinum is a case of blatant cheating, and with shaved silver on top of it. Platinum don't fit into the D&D® milieu. I would recommend against using it.
[/sidebar]

With that done we can now get down to converting.

Toll Road Travel (per 10 miles or fraction there of)
Four wheeled vehicle: 1 silver
Two wheeled vehicle: 5 copper
Each draft or riding animal: 2 copper/5 iron
Each person walking: 1 copper
Each large animal being herded: 1 copper
Each small animal being herded: 5 Iron

(About now you're probably getting some idea as to why beef (at 6 silvers a pound) is so expensive. )

Country Travel in a Paid Conveyance (per mile)
(N.B.: This may or may not include tolls, so keep spare change handy just in case.)
Common or frieght Wagon: 1 silver
Passenger Wagon: 1 silver
Stagecoach: 2 silvers inside, 1 silver/5 copper outside
Express coach, small: 3 silvers, 5 coppers
Express coach, large: 3 silvers.
(Additional cost, express coach: 2 iron per pound of baggage above 14)

So a 100 mile journey by stagecoach inside is going to cost 20 gold plus your share of any tolls. (At one silver for the vehicle, plus one silver for the horses, that's going to be another 2 gold shared among however many passengers there are for that 100 miles. And I bet you thought that 10,000 gold trove you just found was going to set you up for life. )

City Travel (per mile)
Hackney (cab): 6 silver a mile, plus 1 silver per additional passenger.

Well, that's as far as I've gotten. Once I'm further along and have more price conversions for you I'll post them in this thread.

BTW; yes, I do recommend Living Fantasy. If you can find a copy get it. It is an invaluable resource. If you can't find a copy pester Troll Lords to do a second printing or to release it as a PDF.

Till next time.

 

[S'mon]

Er, what's the point of converting to 1974 dollar values? Am I missing something? AFAICS you're saying that a 3e gp is worth $10 in 1974 money (2cp = 20 cents -though a 1e AD&D gp would thus be $20) - but that in modern money 2cp = $4 (seems pretty expensive bread, but I'll take your word for it! A typical 800 gram loaf in the UK costs about 80p, or ca $1.40, a 400 gram/ca 1lb loaf would cost around 60p/$1), so a 3e gp = $4x50 = $200 on your calculation, in 2004 money.

I think your bread price of $4 is at least twice what it should be (does the US have a bread cartel? I know your breakfast cereal prices are far higher than in UK), I think 1 gp = $100 in 2004 money is about right, or even a bit high.

 

[mythusmage]

I did it so I could convert from Lejendary Journeys prices, which uses dollars and cents.

As to bread prices, go to your local grocery store. Go to the bread aisle and check the prices there. Your prices will likely be lower than mine, since San Diego has higher prices overall. But locally it's possible to see a price of $4.39 a pound or more for a premium brand.

 

[mythusmage]

A couple more prices for you.

River, Lake, and Canal Travel (per mile)
One Silver plus tolls

Sea Travel (per day)
Ten gold for 'business class'
Twenty-two gold, five silver for 'first class'
Fifty gold for 'ostentatious display of wealth class'.

More to come.

 

[S'mon]

UK bread prices - typically around £1.25 for a high-quality loaf (say wholemeal in a deli, or other specialty bread) - that's $2, and that's more an 800 gram-2lb loaf, 1lb is quite small. Low-end white or 'brown' bread is as cheap as 25p/40cents for 800 grams, the standard 'family' size; 400g/1lb loaves don't cost much if any less since it's assumed they're only bought by lonely singletons. During occasional price wars I've seen bread fall to 10p/18c as a loss-leader, but that's probably below production cost.

I suspect that bread, milk and cereal prices are all much lower here than in US, though restaurant prices are a good deal higher, partly due to VAT, partly rents and other overheads are higher, partly because waiters here get a living wage and tips are a bonus rather than the primary source of income.