I know D&D is based on a gold standard, but it's never felt right to me. Somehow bringing hundreds of pounds of gold out of a dungeon just never seemed right to me. It just seemed to devalue gold.
Switching to the silver standard helps, so long as you treat silver in all ways like gold,except that it's silver. Or something like that.
Gems. Gems always felt better, travelled easier but were much harder to actually spend. The average barkeep is not going to cash out gems.
Letters of credit aren't too loot-able.
So, what's the standard in your campaign? Why?
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Silver standard in generic fantasy. Gold (and gems and letters of credit for mages) in Tekumel.
ReplyDeleteSilver in Glorantha, silver in Harn, silver in Earth settings, gold in Greyhawk. When in Rome.
ReplyDeleteHarn World!!!
DeleteSilver. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy uses a copper standard, with silver and gold being above that. I prefer silver as the base coin, so I just shifted the metals down one on the values.
ReplyDeleteI too have adopted the Silver Standard in my game, replacing the default equipment list and prices with info from The Orbis Mundi:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/20540/Orbis-Mundi?it=1
It has made a huge difference in my campaign such as equipping characters to be better prepared for Dungeon hazards (Bandage Boxes go a long way further than expensive and oftentimes hard to get healing potions ... ) Players still receive XP from found gold - but it's much rarer ... the Currency of Kings as it's meant to be.
Always gold for me. Been thinking that silver makes more sense, but the next campaign is likely 0E and I think that indicates a little extra gonzo that makes gold the way to go.
ReplyDeleteGold because, eh, whatever.
ReplyDeleteGold, at 100 coins to the pound.
ReplyDeleteHold at 10/pd. Pathfinder game. Considering having a couple of economies now. A silver standard and a gold, depending on where the players are.
ReplyDeleteGold . . . Not hold. Stupid fat thumbs.
DeleteSilver. Although I did run a short series of games where copper was the high end and used some of Gygax lesser coins like brass bits and there was another I don't recall.
ReplyDeleteGold. Like Gary said, it just seems more heroic.
ReplyDeleteGold as per 1E. Simulating reality is not what makes the game fun for me.
ReplyDeleteThis. Consistency is good. Too much realism, not so much.
DeleteIMHO I think this is spending too much time worrying about something that doesn't really matter all that much.
ReplyDeleteGold. Too lazy to switch things up. Plus no one ever cared or complained about hauling gold around.
ReplyDeleteGold, but I try to have mundane objects be priced in silver. 50 coins per lb, and I've used "pound" as currency, equivalent to 1 pound of silver (or 5gp).
ReplyDeleteSilver for the Sea of Stars, when gold starts appearing, I want people to know that we are talking big money.
ReplyDeleteBut just about anything and everything is used as a currency somewhere in the Sea of Stars . . .