Does the DnD economy need to go through a period of deflation?

[Praeco]

The end result is that the entire D&D economy is based on meta-gaming, and players almost never spend the money the way the characters would.

I think this happens in part because most players and DM's don't care to handle the minutiae of economics. As a DM I wouldnt want to flesh out trade dynamics and as a player I generally wouldn't want to have to turn in my tax return at the end of the year. Figuring out your place of residency would be nightmare enough.

So, despite my earlier griping about the nature of D&D economics, I am rarely inclined to do the work necessary to make the system simulate realistic conditions. I think the closest I would come would be to subtract a certain amount per day of downtime from the wealth of the character, the amount depending on the conditions the character is living in for that time.

 

[Green Knight]

I had an idea a while back which I've been meaning to put into practice, but never get the chance to do. Namely, lug all that coinage to the next town and convert it all to gold bars. Then buy a chest and stick all those gold bars in it. Then take that chest somewhere secluded and bury it. Rinse and repeat as you go. Make sure to keep maps of where all your treasure is buried, as well as an accounting of what you've acquired and how much is at each location. Then once your campaign reaches a point where you'll be settling down in a specific area and you want a keep, then go out and collect all that gold and take it to the keep, and put it all under lock and key. Til then, you'll have a ready supply of cash scattered across the countryside. Should you ever be in dire need of emergency funds, just make a beeline for the nearest buried treasure and dig it up. Thoughts? Questions? Opinions?

 

[Mark]

...but can you imagine anyone walking around with a sack of 29,000 quarters?!

Not unless they planned to hit someone with it...or, perhaps, on laundry day...

Not to mention WE then had to carry it around, convert it to trade bars, and then lug THOSE around.

Ah, I see. Inconvenient, eh? Invest in art or jewelry.

 

[Methuslah]

I think that the best piece of DMing advice I ever read was 'Keep 'em poor'. Games go so much better when the PCs are broke - but that needn't stop them getting hold of currency. There are so many good ways to get rid of any money they accumulate:

The money is useless - the currency they have acquired went out of date centuries ago (likely in a dungeon), and is only worth its base metal, if they find someone willing to melt it down for them.

Taxes, taxes, taxes! - If the local lord sees so much money coming into the area, he'll slap on the taxes until the PCs bleed. Charge them through the nose.

Inflation - People will charge whatever the money will bear - items usually don't have price tags in the Middle Ages. If the local greengrocer wants to charge 10 GP for an apple, odds are he'll be able to get away with it. ( I turned this concept into an article in Almanac One.)

Thieves Guild - Anyone with that much money is going to be a target for all sorts of robbery. Thieves from far and wide will descend on them.

Bank Robbery - The PCs can hardly carry out thousands of coins - they'll have to store them somewhere. Have the bank broken into!

The key is that a PC will earn a thousand times more in a single adventure than most peasants will see in a lifetime, if you have any sort of realistic economy. Either scale the earnings of adventures down, or load them down with enough unreasonable complications to make the money not worth their while.

Richard Tongue,
Transfinite Publications,
http://www.transfinitepublications.com
**Almanac One is Out!**
**Buy it here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1856 **

 

[kenjib]

I think this happens in part because most players and DM's don't care to handle the minutiae of economics. As a DM I wouldnt want to flesh out trade dynamics and as a player I generally wouldn't want to have to turn in my tax return at the end of the year. Figuring out your place of residency would be nightmare enough.

So, despite my earlier griping about the nature of D&D economics, I am rarely inclined to do the work necessary to make the system simulate realistic conditions. I think the closest I would come would be to subtract a certain amount per day of downtime from the wealth of the character, the amount depending on the conditions the character is living in for that time.

I think the real gripe I have though is not at the spending and accounting level, but more at the character motivation level. People on the hunt for the easy ride to the good life are a classic staple of fantasy, but we never see a Grey Mouser in D&D.

 

[Painfully]

Chances are any loot from the bad guys had to first come from some large number of common folk, a few rich merchants, or perhaps a politician. It makes sense that if the party comes back into town with riches, they might be asked to return the stolen goods to their rightful owners.

Just because the adventurers did all the work, doesn't mean they can instantly claim ownership over the possessions of their foe.

 

[Tonguez]

I had an idea a while back which I've been meaning to put into practice, but never get the chance to do. Namely, lug all that coinage to the next town and convert it all to gold bars. Then buy a chest and stick all those gold bars in it. Then take that chest somewhere secluded and bury it. Rinse and repeat as you go.

Banks probably make more sense. Merchant banks have been around since about 13th century irl iirc. Plus a money economy like DnD pretty much demands that banking develop

 

[Kevin O'Reilly]

Taxes...

Works a charm... especially when the party has an 11th level Diviner turn up and list the income they have accumulated since 1st level and failed to pay a tithe on.

Interest, plus penalties...

A 2nd ed campaign I played in also made us pay for training. We spent most of the time in debt to dwarves...

 

[Deadguy]

I must confess that when I determine treasure, I just take the total value as a proxy for the value of items possessed by a person or creature. So if the valmpire lord was supposed to have say 5000gp of goods (on his person and in his lair), I might say things like ermine robe (value 250gp), gold-plaque belt (value 300gp), 3 assorted rings (non-magical, total value 1600gp), statuette of silver nymph (350gp), three rich tapestries of scenes of battle (total 1500 gp), etc. etc.

In other words, I often hand out far less actual cash than the game determines. It makes for greater verisimilitude and importantly gives something for the party's social characters to do - making a good sale of these commodoties is a staple job for them.

As for the D&D economy itself, frankly the numbers are screwed up wildly. However, you must ask yourself whether it really is worth reworking everything for only a small gain in gaming detail. I've played around trying to get numbers that make more 'sense', but then I have to think 'make sense' relative to what? Europe 1300AD? Or Imperial Rome? Or Renaissance Italy? Or Mughal India? It's impossible to draw up absolute standards, and as a typical D&D game incorporates so many different elements, it seems abitrary anyway!

One final thought: I am quite happy to consider the higher level PCs as the gentlemen-adventurers and playboys of their world. As such they will often lead luxurious lives when they're not 'in the field', and they'll probably spend far over the odds just for convenience's sake. I've had a party of a mere two adventurers spend over 100gp for a single night in an inn, with all entertainment, food and drinks thrown in. They were celebrating their successes and their survival, and just wanted to kick back, buying the very best of everything. And guess what? There are people always willing to accept large sums of money as proof of their 'sophistication', and provide them with a good time!

 

[SemperJase]

The D&D economy is fantasy - completely unsupportable in economic terms. The economy is something you have to overlook and remember that it is just a game after all.

This reminds me of the recent Dragon article on building a Gladatorial arena. The cost of constructing the arena compared to the income it would bring in meant it would take somewhere over 100 years to pay for the arena. Essentially, it had a negative return on investment. Private ownership (a perception the article seemed to promote) would be impractical.