Exchange rate question?

[Morik]

Hello,

I'm looking for a simple exchange rate of a
Gold Piece in FR-Campaign Setting to a nowaday $

I recall to read it somewhere on the boards but couldn't find
the entry again.

Does anyone have a slight idea of how much a goldpiece translate into modern $ or even better for me (for I'm living in Europe) in Euro??

Thank you for your help in advance
Eric

 

[Neo]

Well based on the assumption that 100 gold coins still weighs only 1 pound (16 ounces/ 0.4536 kg) then all you would need to do is find out the value of gold which is typically based on weight and see how much 0.16 ounces of Gold (or 0.004536 kg) is worth.

 

[Umbran]

This depends on what you're going to do with it....

If you're having characters travel from FR to a world much like our own, you can use the current price of gold by weight. This assumes that FR coinage is mostly pure gold, of course.

If you're looking to be able to tell what a thing in FR "should" cost by converting the modern dollar value into a gold value, then you're out of luck. While people have proposed such exchange rates, they generally fall apart upon scrutiny. The pricing of items in the game is not directly related to modern prices.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Last I heard it the rate $280 for an ounce or has it dropped, gone up? It has been some time!

 

[Fast Learner]

Nor should they be. The world is far too complex for that.

How much should a loaf of bread cost when the wheat is grown in small, hand-tended with bovine- or equine-powered simple plows plots of land, the wheat is ground on large horse- or water powered stone mills, and the loaf is baked in hand-tended wood-fired ovens? How much should it cost when the wheat is grown in large, machine-tended, chemically fertilized and protected huge tracts of land where the per-pound cost of the grain is way, way less, the wheat is ground in modern mills, and the loaf is baked along with 50,000 other loaves in machine-tended gas ovens?

Modern steel (a huge improvement) vs. fantasy steel? A leather belt from the hide of rarely-slaughtered cattle vs. the leftover hides from the modern beef industry?

Etc., etc., etc. There's just no even remotely realistic way to compare one to the other across every area that technology and human desire has touched. Most importantly gold today isn't pegged to anything but what people are willing to pay for gold. Contrary to what pretend investment analysts will tell you, gold has lost a lot of value in the last 30 years and is a terrible investment.

Heck, a gun out of a guy's trunk cost a much smaller percentage of a household's income than a fantasy sword in a fantasy household, while a fantasy-type sword today costs much more than that gun.

Money in the past, especially metal coinage, was generally worth what the metal itself was worth, but in today's world money is worth a portion of a nation's ability to generate wealth. All of the concepts are just too different to compare.

 

[Piratecat]

I believe that 50 coins = one lb., for what it's worth.

Back in 2e, we always used to assume that 1gp = roughly $20. That no longer holds true, though, even if it did then.

 

[mmadsen]

If you want a feel for how much a gold piece is worth, remember that a silver penny is a day's pay for the common man. Adventurers aren't common men though; they're more like pirates or conquistadors. With the treasure they find, they should be able to settle down on a large country estate. And yet they just keep adventuring...

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

If you want a feel for how much a gold piece is worth, remember that a silver penny is a day's pay for the common man. Adventurers aren't common men though; they're more like pirates or conquistadors. With the treasure they find, they should be able to settle down on a large country estate. And yet they just keep adventuring...

But who, in modern times, is the "common man?" Your average westerner makes a lot more than your average guy from Bangladesh. Even in our own country, who's "common?" The guy working at McDonald's for minimum wage or the guy putting in 9 to 5 at the office?

 

[Blacksad]

In 2e I used something similar to Piratecat. Based on Spice price.
BTW $1 roughly equal 1€

If you want to do something more meaningful, compare the paycheck of average worker in D&D to the average real life paycheck.

If you don't know what the monthly wage of a D&D character should be, just buy what you think it will need to live during 40 years (loan house, food, clothings, etc...), and you should find your average.

 

[Blacksad]

But who, in modern times, is the "common man?" Your average westerner makes a lot more than your average guy from Bangladesh. Even in our own country, who's "common?" The guy working at McDonald's for minimum wage or the guy putting in 9 to 5 at the office?

I think that if he ask for a price in € it was a for a westerner, and I believe that he was thinking average man not common man.

Such a system would let him know that a horse would represent several month of work, and making new prices easy.