D&D General D&D game world economy, wages and modelling the ancent world

[Garthanos]

I have rarely been satisfied with D&D economies they often seemed driven by things like creating a motivation to adventure and similar things, I never quite bought into the rationales presented for the prices. So I periodically look at historical sources and I am not sure i seen this one before so I thought i would share

There was a fairly long history in the ancient world where 1 silver drachma ( a handful of 6 metal sticks) equalled a standard workers days wage and traditional 15 silver as 1 gold coin also.(that is super simplified such that a historian might give me the stink eye). A horse considered a luxury good was effectively worth a few weeks labor.

An interesting snap shot of ancient prices.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/...ans-edict-of-maximum-prices-issued-in-301-ad/

My brain wants to translate the above prices back to the Drachma units 24 of them to equal drachma. And 4 of them an obeloi... and give a soldiers yearly wage at 641 drachma counting expected bonuses and such. A more elite soldier is then 796. The soldiers wage is then twice the typical wage in the above scenario where warcraft was a premium.

Note there are indications in other times the average soldier only received half a drachma (perhaps offset by a death price where families received a compensation for if their member died in service of another I have read of this in the past but cannot find the amount in a modern world we can call it 5 years wages) - it was likely still not a consistent utterly predictable amount even if a Roman leader wanted it that way.

The above might be useful for when you hirelings? I always hated that word and henchmen or just in world building exercises.

 

[Ovinomancer]

There have been many posts about how to do a better economics engine for D&D, but they all fetch up on the same set of shoals: is this for you or for the players? What do they get out of having to learn and negotiate a complicated set of interactions just to engage in buying and selling? Do you want incentives in game to move away from adventure and toward running a business?

Often we let ourselves get wrapped up in building a world and forget that the original purpose is to play a game.

 

[aco175]

I was a soldier back in the 90s and there was an insurance policy on us if we died. It used to be $100,000 which was more like 6-7 years salary back then. Not sure on today's policy.

Also, to echo what [MENTION=16814]Ovinomancer[/MENTION] said about getting your players on board before making large changes to the game. You can come up with great systems and make things more realistic, but if your players keep calling it a gold instead of an obeloi, or even a Dragon, you may feel let down.

This is similar to other threads about making swords better or armor more realistic. Even threads on making a new set of gods or calendar where it ties great world details together. At my table, we play FR, but keep a standard timescale and the same gods we had for 20 years.

 

[Garthanos]

There have been many posts about how to do a better economics engine for D&D, but they all fetch up on the same set of shoals: is this for you or for the players? What do they get out of having to learn and negotiate a complicated set of interactions just to engage in buying and selling? Do you want incentives in game to move away from adventure and toward running a business?

Often we let ourselves get wrapped up in building a world and forget that the original purpose is to play a game.

One could use the edict as an in game world story reason why its difficiult to exploit game world variation in price and abundance to make business ventures and why the game has mostly static prices....

I have players who like giving their characters history skills and having whys for something can be fun.

I personally like attaching historicity indirectly to the game as well and less arbitrary to me is better at a purely personal level.

Who said having players learn anything different?

 

[Blue]

Hey, [MENTION=6779310]aramis erak[/MENTION] just had a great comment about real world historic costs, if you want a more historic game. While the OP and I were discussing specifically D&D listed prices vs. wages so it wasn't useful for that, it is great info!

https://www.enworld.org/forum/showt...stically-Most-Impactful&p=7644165#post7644165

 

[Charlaquin]

There have been many posts about how to do a better economics engine for D&D, but they all fetch up on the same set of shoals: is this for you or for the players? What do they get out of having to learn and negotiate a complicated set of interactions just to engage in buying and selling? Do you want incentives in game to move away from adventure and toward running a business?

Often we let ourselves get wrapped up in building a world and forget that the original purpose is to play a game.

Much like “resurrection is too easy,” it’s something you’d think was a widespread problem by the way DMs talk about it online, but I’ve never heard a player complain about.

 

[Garthanos]

I was a soldier back in the 90s and there was an insurance policy on us if we died. It used to be $100,000 which was more like 6-7 years salary back then. Not sure on today's policy.

I think that hasnt gone up.... but base pay is slightly higher I wonder about the past because I think there was ancient tradition this came from.

 

[Shiroiken]

Much like “resurrection is too easy,” it’s something you’d think was a widespread problem by the way DMs talk about it online, but I’ve never heard a player complain about.

I've often found that DMs (like myself) often find stiff resistance against changing the economy. I blame 3E for the shift to decimal coinage, as while it is a much simpler system, it's also extraordinarily unrealistic.

 

[Garthanos]

The thing I seem to hear is that 3e was the must play raw edition

I've often found that DMs (like myself) often find stiff resistance against changing the economy. I blame 3E for the shift to decimal coinage, as while it is a much simpler system, it's also extraordinarily unrealistic.

 

[Garthanos]

Problem .... hmmmm nonsense prices for adventuring equipage does get discussed Or rituals being too cheap at high levels or potions or wands of cure light wounds being trivial prices resulting in infinite healing those get discussed but everyday things like I am talking about? While the do periodical come up but it's not exactly as a problem per se.

Much like “resurrection is too easy,” it’s something you’d think was a widespread problem by the way DMs talk about it online, but I’ve never heard a player complain about.

the use of hirelings and henchmen have been out of fashion for the most part too I realize I am now considering things which might bring it back