Quote from: Sacrificial Lamb;467251Cool. I read that the groat was historically a silver coin, so I figured I'd step outside of historical boundaries a bit and have mine made of billon (mostly bronze, a little silver).

I chose the name Groat because in a British folky context the word was used coloquially for a paltry amont well past when they stopped being issued.

Quote from: Werekoala;467271One other thing that we've started to adopt in my group is trending towards prescious stones for portable wealth rather than hundreds of pounds of copper. In the campaign I'm prepping now, wealth will be quite a bit less than the typical D&D setting, and most of it will be in items/goods (non-magical, but high-quality) and gemstones (the finest of which will have actual magical properties).

What kind of magical properties?

Quote from: jibbajibba;467269Whilst. I am not in favour of different an unusual alloys for coin I am very keen on different coins and typically pcs in my games will always face the evils of the street of moneychangers to convert their gold nobles to local crowns or thallers. Then its all about local exchange rates base metal in the coin etc

My problem is even getting the PCs to convert their gold in the first place, as the money they carry is usually an afterthought. I need to give the local currency more "flavor" somehow, and modify the prices on the equipment tables to make it so that gold is not the only currency regularly encountered..

My favourite wacko currency system in an FRP game is the one in Senzar. I've mentioned this before but it was based on the 'Zengaran Silver Star' and looked like this (as printed on the character sheet).
Leds = .01 Stars
Kops = .1 Stars
Stars = 1 Star
Crowns = 10 Stars
Eagles = 100 Stars
Black Pearls = 1,000 Stars
Black Diamonds = 10,000 Stars

If you're using a more historical model, however, I'd recommend the (free) supplement Coins of Fletnern for LegendQuest as a resource.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=59424

Trade Goods: For quasi-historical trade goods: the first things that come to mind for me are salt (as used by the romans), spices, and iron (though this runs into weird problems in D&D due to the Wall of Iron spell).

If I recall you're something of a 2E buff SL, so I might recommend The Viking Campaign Sourcebook? .. summarizing in brief, it has exchange rates for slaves (10 oz of silver) and Icelandic cloth (6 yards = 1 oz of silver), and mentions that it was commonish to have vikings wearing armbands of silver and the like that could be hacked up by weight, as well as using silver rings: foreign coins (arab dirhams or English pennies and whatnot) had value based on weight. It vaguely mentions cattle, sheep, land, ships, and fish as barter items. Doesn't list details but often historically cattle had a pretty high value (e.g. the Celts had an approximate exchange rate of 1 female slave = 3 cows). I think Arabs had a similarly unflattering exchange rate with camels.

As well as electrum, in some worlds I have seen orichalcum prized highly.  Generally speaking it's worth little more than brass, but in some places is highly valued for it's magical properties - putting it's worth somewhere between gold and platinum.

For ancient coinage, electrum, orichalcum and platinum are my go-to's.

Quote from: Bloody Stupid Johnson;467334My favourite wacko currency system in an FRP game is the one in Senzar. I've mentioned this before but it was based on the 'Zengaran Silver Star' and looked like this (as printed on the character sheet).
Leds = .01 Stars
Kops = .1 Stars
Stars = 1 Star
Crowns = 10 Stars
Eagles = 100 Stars
Black Pearls = 1,000 Stars
Black Diamonds = 10,000 Stars

If you're using a more historical model, however, I'd recommend the (free) supplement Coins of Fletnern for LegendQuest as a resource.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=59424

Trade Goods: For quasi-historical trade goods: the first things that come to mind for me are salt (as used by the romans), spices, and iron (though this runs into weird problems in D&D due to the Wall of Iron spell).

If I recall you're something of a 2E buff SL, so I might recommend The Viking Campaign Sourcebook? .. summarizing in brief, it has exchange rates for slaves (10 oz of silver) and Icelandic cloth (6 yards = 1 oz of silver), and mentions that it was commonish to have vikings wearing armbands of silver and the like that could be hacked up by weight, as well as using silver rings: foreign coins (arab dirhams or English pennies and whatnot) had value based on weight. It vaguely mentions cattle, sheep, land, ships, and fish as barter items. Doesn't list details but often historically cattle had a pretty high value (e.g. the Celts had an approximate exchange rate of 1 female slave = 3 cows). I think Arabs had a similarly unflattering exchange rate with camels.

I have the Viking Campaign Sourcebook. It's good, and has interesting ideas. I'll have to check it out again. But yeah.....armbands, rings, and whatnot are cool. Maybe the characters could bring goats and sheep into the dungeons, and use 'em to set off traps.

Trade items you mentioned, and others..

* cows
* sheep
* goats
* chickens
* horses
* pigs
* salt
* pepper
* tobacco
* fish
* slaves
* armbands
* rings
* gems/precious stones

Quote from: Sacrificial Lamb;467295What kind of magical properties?

I'm thinking I'll look into the "historical" proposed properties of gemstones (for example: http://www.mrbead.com/MrBead/stonelist6.htm) from various cultures and see how I can adjust them to D&D terms, mostly as used in jewelry or slotted into items to imbue them with magical abilities. In this setting, anything beyond a +1 item, potions, or scrolls is going to have to be made, found, or modified with gemstones. Not exactly "low magic" but "harder magic", as far as items are concerned.

MRQ slaine has a mixed money system, starting with various livestock, then da wimmins, then big bulky precious metal bars, i think.  (at work now, and not sure which box i packed that book in, lol).  was neat to see the exchange rates for all those things.

Quote from: Sacrificial Lamb;467305My problem is even getting the PCs to convert their gold in the first place, as the money they carry is usually an afterthought. I need to give the local currency more "flavor" somehow, and modify the prices on the equipment tables to make it so that gold is not the only currency regularly encountered..

Well that is actually pretty easy they hoick out some old gold coins from a dungeon and spend them in the local town. But of course the local currency has been devalued a dozen times and these gold coins with dragon heads on them are pure. Every trader in town will be turning up to clear them out and rip em off.
If you don't like that one then do the old one where the first time they try to spend a gold dragon the merchant sends out to the city guard cos the gold dragon is the currency of an enemy city state and everyone thinks the party are spies.
Money is actually very interesting. If you lieka good yarn then read The Baroque Trillogy all sorts of interesting ideas about early comerce and wealth in there.

Coins are pieces of metal with designs stamped into them by the ruling authorities. So a gold piece is not just a gold piece, something found in the underworld might be a 1000 year old coin of Bungleland with a motto in Old Wiskish to a now-forbidden god. And even if the local merchant might overlook that because its still shiny, it's probably of an odd weight and unknown purity.

Quote from: Sacrificial Lamb;467190Hey, there! I'm starting this thread because I'm interested in coinage and trade goods in fantasy rpgs. We all know about the "traditional" coinage used in D&D. For example:

I found that a two coin system works great for a fantasy RPG. One everyday coin and another of far greater value. Inspired by Harn and history I use the following.

1d = 1 silver penny = 256 to 1lb.
1 gold crown = 320d = 16 to 1 lb (1 ounce)

Elves and Dwarves are known to mint gold pennies

1 gold penny = 20d = 256 to 1 lb.

Some cultures that doesn't have much gold use the silver mark as their large value.

1 silver mark = 240d = 1 lb.

Note that I round the pennies to 250 to 1 lb. The discrepancy between the mark and 256 silver pennies is because the mark is a solid silver bar while the coins are slightly debased to make them more durable. So a pound of silver yields 256 coins.

The basic principle is that standards coins are minted no smaller than 256 to 1lb.   That 20 silver units equal 1 gold unit. Using these rules you can make up a coinage system of arbitrary complexity.  However historically people just wound up weighing coinage to figure how much gold or silver they contained. In certain coinage this is was not done for certain coins in various countries because their mints were known to be reliable. Which coins got this treatment depended on the country and the century.

I found that D&D pieces are roughly equivalent to Harn Prices if you convert them to silver. Although I generally read gp for magic items and costs as d. This is because of the higher magic level of my campaign and because Harn wages are much lower than D&D wages. For GURPS 1d = $4.

Been busy.
Have not been able to post.

Funny about the electrum.
Great minds, etc.
Trabler and much of the Cradle lands of Celtricia are on the electrum standard,

Quote from: The_Shadow;467447Coins are pieces of metal with designs stamped into them by the ruling authorities. So a gold piece is not just a gold piece, something found in the underworld might be a 1000 year old coin of Bungleland with a motto in Old Wiskish to a now-forbidden god. And even if the local merchant might overlook that because its still shiny, it's probably of an odd weight and unknown purity.

Actually, in most of my authorities, they only take certain coins per order and other stuff has to be changed.  
Then again, I'm sort of in an age of enlightenment era.  

carry on...

I like copper, bronze, silver and gold. Silver is the standard coin. Platinum is strictly used for jewelry. The Dwarves use similar coinage and also have a series of uniform gems for big transactions. The Elves use special woods that are dyed as 'coins'. Though they have a rather communist economic structure.

Well, in running Birthright, money is a huge issue for my PCs. Since the province governor PC has access to the treasury, as well as receives 2000 gold pieces minimum per annum for management, you'd think he's in the clear, living it up. However, think about it -- it's a huge headache!

Responsibility for one province out of a larger realm -- which trades with other neighboring realms and far distant lands -- wealth suddenly becomes more than just coinage. In kind contributions, gift systems, calculation of scuttage from fiefdoms, letters of credit, etc. it all shows up. It's all one big (FUN!) mess of appraising, negotiating, warehousing, and managing. My PC governor is up to his eyeballs in backlog (all the more reason to delegate to hirelings and find lieutenants!).

And storing things in one localized "convenient coin pile" becomes downright silly when you have two towns and a fistful of villages to manage. In fact, in many ways it's safer when left unconverted. For example, grain bushels, corvee labor, and cinnamon logs are far harder for pirates and thieves to steal and fence than coinage. Sure you can fortify a mint and treasury, and staff it with soldiers galore -- or you can just build silos and exchange notes/messengers.

So I say be creative! Throw in objets d'art, sumptuous textiles, cacao beans, and cowrie shells. Let promissory notes, illuminated indulgences, or jeweled emblems of political favor show up. The wonderful part of unusual bits of "currency" is that They Become Plot Hooks. As a GM nothing is nicer than latent plot hooks for your PCs to sink their teeth into.

Edit: I do keep the conceit of a single base conversion for some simplicity's sake. Copper/Silver/Electrum/Gold/Platinum becomes Dime/Dollar/Fiver/Ten/Fifty (or whatever floats your boat) as a basic yardstick of measure. And any conversions are expressed OOC this way. Naturally IC you might have to negotiate for better exchange rates, but to keep the headache to a minimum OOC I try to keep it consistent. I'm not *that* mean of a GM.