The PCs vs the tax collector

[deltadave]

How about taxing them on any money not minted in the kingdoms mints? Include raw gold and ancient coins. Or require them to exchange all money into local currency at the border of the kingdom at horrible exchange rates....

 

[Altalazar]

How about taxing them on any money not minted in the kingdoms mints? Include raw gold and ancient coins. Or require them to exchange all money into local currency at the border of the kingdom at horrible exchange rates....

Aw, c'mon now... don't get ridiculous. If I were playing in such a game, I'd just retire from adventuring and open up a coin-shop - I'd exchange gold at a much more reasonable, market rate and make a HUGE profit in doing so, and then buy out the King and toss him out.

Or better yet, I'd found my own kingdom, one with a real, free economy and watch it flourish as my neighbor's economy collapses from unwise monetary policies.

 

[NewJeffCT]

How about taxing them on any money not minted in the kingdoms mints? Include raw gold and ancient coins. Or require them to exchange all money into local currency at the border of the kingdom at horrible exchange rates....

That idea had passed through my head as well. How did money work in Medieval Europe? Was French money something that had to be exchanged for different currency if traveling into the Holy Roman Empire?

I ask this because the PCs (I hope) will eventually pass through another war-torn kingdom. And, while where they currently are has rationing & limited supplies, high taxes and the like, it is relatively stable and not in imminent danger of collapse. However, this other war torn kingdom a few hundred miles to the north & across a mountain range is a whole other story - the king's ruinous wars & spending have left the economy on the verge of collapse and the kingdom is beset by rampant inflation. That's a whole other story, though.

 

[NewJeffCT]

To reflect the economic situation, consider the following:

• Give each PC 100 gold (or however much you deem appropriate)
• They are required to spend all but 5 gold, but can't spend more than 25-50 gold on any one item. This reflects high tax levels and accumulated material wealth that is in goods, not coin.
• Anything bought during PC creation is at normal PHB prices. However, anything purchased after PC creation will be at the inflated, war-time prices. This will encourage PCs to burn most of their starting money, since later purchases may cost 2-3 times as much.
• Consider giving each PC an heirloom item of a type appropriate for their class. This non-magical item is something they couldn't otherwise afford to buy, but lessens the sting of overall "poorness" a bit. A masterwork item would be a nice touch.

~ OO

Good ideas. I was toying with the family heirloom idea as well, as this works well. The duchy isn't so bad off that people have to turn in their pitchforks, hoes & plows and have it melted down & turned into weapons - it's just that the best iron & steel goes to the military, the best blacksmiths & armourers are "recruited" into the military support structure, etc. So, any swords the PCs may "buy" at your local general store will likely be of average quality, at best. Heirloom weapons works well with this scenario.

 

[Henry]

That idea had passed through my head as well. How did money work in Medieval Europe? Was French money something that had to be exchanged for different currency if traveling into the Holy Roman Empire?

Typically where barter economies did not predominate, coinage was valued not by nation of origin, or government backing it, as it is today, but by the amount of actual precious metal in the coin. I don't know the specifics, but coin X might not be as valuable as coin Y, not because of exchange rate or country economic strength, but by how much they cut the quantity of gold or silver in the coin! That's why moneychangers had scales, for mass / weight calculations against their own standard weights...

 

[Wilphe]

And periodically the king would call in all the old pure coins, melt them down, cut them with copper or base metal and then reissue them:

Example:

Start with:
10 silver pieces
add the equivalent weight of copper

Mint 20 new 50% silver pieces that you say are worth the same as the old ones. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise then mutter ominously about thier heads.

Net profit to the Crown: 10 silver peices (or 100%)
Congratulations, you just doubled your money


Yes it is that simple; it just so happens that's a really bad idea once people find out what you are up to and no one outside your kingdom will take your coin at face value.

However if your rulers are stupid or desperate it's a good way to make a lot of money in a short period of time.

It's the medieval equivlanent of the Government printing money to pay it's bills and has much the same effect as doing that (ie: It wrecks your economy)

If you want to really mess with them, call in all the precous metal as a "strategic resource" and force ordinary people to use base metal coins, or, worse, Paper money.
Know how some countries don't let thier citizens hold hard currency?
Have the same penalties for anyone holding precious metal without authorisation.


Then realise that you will be playing in the Fantasy equivalent of 1923 Germany, Somalia and North Korea rolled into one.

Is that grim enough?

 

[philreed]

We really need an economics supplement for D20 that's as good as Dynasties & Demagogues.

 

[Runesong42]

But you should also understand that you may be altering some fundamentals of game balance. The "fighter types" may suffer a lot in effectiveness if they don't have decent armor and weapons whereas a Monk won't suffer at all.

I have to disagree here. If the PC's are first level, the Monk and the "fighter types" should be equal in strength and capability. I mean, if a Monk can do 1d6/1d6 with a flurry of fists and a Ranger can do 1d6/1d6 with a pair of clubs or a quarterstaff, wot's the dif?

 

[Runesong42]

Just an afterthought,
If you want to present your village as lacking in available materials for gear, weapons etc, just limit the purchase price of items available in your town to the 5-10 gp range. As the PC's deal with the war, maybe they can find ways to up the cap on available gear. Great adventuring plots are the inevitable results.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Mint 20 new 50% silver pieces that you say are worth the same as the old ones. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise then mutter ominously about thier heads.

Net profit to the Crown: 10 silver peices (or 100%)
Congratulations, you just doubled your money

If you want to really mess with them, call in all the precous metal as a "strategic resource" and force ordinary people to use base metal coins, or, worse, Paper money.
Know how some countries don't let thier citizens hold hard currency?
Have the same penalties for anyone holding precious metal without authorisation.


Then realise that you will be playing in the Fantasy equivalent of 1923 Germany, Somalia and North Korea rolled into one.

Is that grim enough?

Thanks - good ideas. Let the PCs buy what they want at face value in the beginning, but then if they leave the country, "Ah, your coins are stamped with Duke Dunderhead's markings. See that sword that is marked 15gp? It will cost you 30 of Dunderhead's gold, and an additional 5 to bring the moneychanger in here to verify the quality of your gold..."
(moneychanger comes in an hour later). "Well, it looks like the Duke has increased the amount of lead in your gold coins recently. Instead of 30, it will now be 45. Plus the charge of 5 for the moneychanger is now 6."