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rubycona
2011-11-26, 12:00 AM
Hey, all. I was thinking about getting my DM some campaign coins for Christmas. But I have a few concerns, and I was hoping for opinions and experiences.

#1. Has anyone else used campaign coins? How practical are they? I was thinking, since the starter set has been discontinued, getting 100 of each basic type (100 copper coins, 100 silver, etc), 400 coins total, which would run me about $250. If we divided the total value of gold in D&D by 100 (so a 1000 gp item would cost 10gp, stretching the value of the coins), would that cover it for a party of 4? For at least a while, anyway (we're starting a new campaign from lvl 1).

#2. Kind of following with #1, people who have used campaign coins, would it be better to have loads of a single coin type (like 100 of the 1cp coins) or, does it work better spread out (like 25 1cp coins, 25 5cp, 25 20cp, and 25 50cp coins)?

#3. Being as the DM is also my husband, and I personally like the campaign coins idea (he does, too, btw, which is why I thought of them), would this seem self indulgent, do you think? We have pretty much all tastes in common, so that's a concern with almost any gift idea.

#4. Any other practical D&D gift ideas, possibly, in case the campaign coin idea doesn't seem good? I thought dwarvenforge as my first thought, since he loves dungeon crafting, but man, it's expensive... The $250 for that amount of coins also makes me wince, but it's doable.

Shpadoinkle
2011-11-26, 12:23 AM
What exactly are campaign coins?

rubycona
2011-11-26, 12:38 AM
Oh, sorry. This is their main website: http://www.campaigncoins.com/

But Paizo has better prices for some reason. Still, that site's the easiest way to see all the coins.

Trinoya
2011-11-26, 03:49 AM
It's cheaper and more practical to use real money than to use campaign coins. You can also buy old coins by the bulk on ebay, on the cheap.

Or, you can do like me, go to a junk store or a walmart, whatever, and buy thousands of little plastic and glass rocks and doohickeys and use those instead.

Short of it is: Campaign coins = rip off.

kaomera
2011-11-26, 05:22 AM
I haven't used them, personally, but I know a GM who does... He has thousands of them, from various manufacturers (IIRC he has finally retired his old lead / pewter ones - RAFM I think? - due to having to re-paint them every few months...) The concept gets trotted out by someone every few years or so it seems... From what I've seen they are a cool idea, but really terribly impractical. Mostly at his table they seem to have replaced dice as something for the players to fiddle with during the game. Most of the players seem to get really excited by them at first, then after a few weeks tops they are just more bother than they are worth... I do still think they're kind of neat, and as a display piece they could be nice.

Jay R
2011-11-26, 10:49 AM
1. They look cool, and are kind of exciting for about the first hour. Afterwards, they are an additional pain. How many times does a player forget to bring her dice or mini? If she forgets her coins, either she cannot buy anything, or you're keeping track on paper anyway.

2. I once bought a set of blank cards, so all items I gave could be put on a card. I gave up pretty quickly. If you're not sure, make up pieces of paper to use as scrolls for a couple of games, and see how long before people don't want to mess with it.

3. Up to a reasonable level, self-indulgent gifts are OK. The question is, will he like the gift totally apart from whether you will? But gifts that you use together are certainly expressions of love. If you're worried about it, then go with something the DM uses more than players, like monster minis, floor plans or floor plan software, scenario books, etc.

4. We don't know your husband, what he has, or what he wants, so we can't get specific. Does he collect miniatures? If so, an excellent idea is one or more of the large minis that he wouldn't buy himself as too extravagant. In general, the best gift for a hobbyist, in almost any hobby, is something from that hobby a little more expensive than he would buy for himself.

Dr.Epic
2011-11-26, 02:09 PM
I don't get it.:smallconfused:

They look cool, but how are they practical? It seems kind of dumb to physically exchange coins in RL; that seems like it would add more time between monetary interactions. Also, what do you do if you want to buy really expensive items?

rubycona
2011-11-26, 03:42 PM
:smallfrown: I'd kind of gotten psyched for the idea, but it seems the consensus is they are impractical. I wouldn't mind getting them if they cost less...

Boo. I don't have a lot of time to pick something if I'm ordering it online. I guess I'll get it if I can't think of anything else. I'd go with real coins, but I just wish it looked more legit - at least having a good color finish, matching gold and such.

Thanks for your help.

Edit: Funny thing is, I'm good with chemistry. With the right equipment and a few ugly (but real) bits of cheap jewelry from a thrift store, I could electroplate a ton of pennies into silver, gold, and platinum. (And leftover pennies would be copper, of course.) Mind, the equipment would cost bundles. A shame.

pffh
2011-11-26, 03:52 PM
Well if you want another idea: Miniatures. Unless he has ridiculous amount of them already a DM can always use more varied (or simply more) miniatures.

Texas.Crude
2011-11-26, 06:37 PM
If all else fails, you can always get him some of the D&D Soda.

http://www.jonessoda.com/code/limited.php?campaign=wizards

We got a case of these for our gaming group and they were a huge hit.

jackattack
2011-11-26, 06:49 PM
If there is a practical use at the game table, I'd say go ahead.

For example, my group had a house rule that players could have a number of rerolls per session based on their characters' Void stat (L5R game). Every night, the GM passed out poker chips to the players, and we surrendered one any time we invoked that rule.

I think the GM would have gotten a kick out of having some campaign coins for that rule.

Otherwise, it seems more like a collectible for people who enjoy treasure props.

Rorrik
2011-11-26, 11:09 PM
We use old mardi gras coins collected over the years, problem is some of them are really random colored, maybe buying in bulk you could get specific colors.

Tyndmyr
2011-11-27, 10:03 AM
:smallfrown: I'd kind of gotten psyched for the idea, but it seems the consensus is they are impractical. I wouldn't mind getting them if they cost less...

This, mostly. I'd LOVE to use them...and even have a few. However, the amount of coins needed to accurately represent PC wealth is...large.

Knaight
2011-11-27, 10:11 AM
This, mostly. I'd LOVE to use them...and even have a few. However, the amount of coins needed to accurately represent PC wealth is...large.

There are games where physical representation of money makes sense. No edition of D&D is among them, and, moreover, differently colored beads work better anyways. Plus if you get red (bronze), grey (silver), yellow (gold), and white (platinum) beads, you can represent the standard fantasy coins cheaply, efficiently, and more elegantly than with the coins.

AsteriskAmp
2011-11-27, 10:12 AM
Some countries, specially ones in extreme poverty and China have negligible value currency or have had to reissue a new type of currency making the previous one worthless, I remember some country having the paper in which the money was printed being worth more than the actual value of the bill. I bet those coins are way cheaper and more real than Campaign Coins and I-d be willing to bet they are sold as novelty items by the gigantic pack on on-line selling sites.

Knaight
2011-11-27, 10:18 AM
Some countries, specially ones in extreme poverty and China have negligible value currency or have had to reissue a new type of currency making the previous one worthless, I remember some country having the paper in which the money was printed being worth more than the actual value of the bill. I bet those coins are way cheaper and more real than Campaign Coins and I-d be willing to bet they are sold as novelty items by the gigantic pack on on-line selling sites.

Yeah, you can probably get actual coins for cheaper than the campaign coins, though paper money tends to proliferate where negligible value currency does. Plus, those retain the size issue where small beads do not.

Tyndmyr
2011-11-27, 11:07 AM
There are games where physical representation of money makes sense. No edition of D&D is among them, and, moreover, differently colored beads work better anyways. Plus if you get red (bronze), grey (silver), yellow (gold), and white (platinum) beads, you can represent the standard fantasy coins cheaply, efficiently, and more elegantly than with the coins.

Sadly, no game I play with any frequency is among them. Even 7th Sea, the game with the lowest wealth spread, has some players tossing away thousands of guilders while others are scrambling for every one. And that's without even getting into the wild diversity in currencies.

D20 M? Yeah, wealth system doesn't really fit coins at all. And as you've already covered, all versions of D&D are really awkward for using coins with.

Knaight
2011-11-27, 11:42 AM
Sadly, no game I play with any frequency is among them. Even 7th Sea, the game with the lowest wealth spread, has some players tossing away thousands of guilders while others are scrambling for every one. And that's without even getting into the wild diversity in currencies.

D20 M? Yeah, wealth system doesn't really fit coins at all. And as you've already covered, all versions of D&D are really awkward for using coins with.

Speaking of wealth systems, it is by no means a d20 modern thing. Wealth systems are really common, to the point of probably being in more games than coin counting is. Still, there are a few systems where the coins could be used. Starting with the best edition of D&D that isn't actually an edition of D&D.

Warrior, Rogue, and Mage.

missmvicious
2011-11-27, 11:50 AM
Here's my 2 CP...

I think the D&D coins are really cool looking and lots of fun to play with and look at. But I wouldn't use them to full extent, which is to say, on every fiscal transaction that happens in game. Just get a cache of coins for RP purposes.

Here are some fun uses for a handful of coins:

Flip a CP coin to a street urchin to get him/her to follow an NPC and report back at the tavern in one hour (another CP when he, she returns)

A bag, or purse full of coins to role-play actually pick-pocketing or using SoH checks. Many DMs will give RPXP or sometimes circumstance bonuses for this.

Flipping a coin up and down or rolling a coin between your knuckles as a nervous habit when your PC is talking/thinking/etc.

Getting fake gems can also be fun for a DM. Setting up a treasure prop with a chest (you can pick up small chests at thrift stores, dollar stores, or even nicer ones at Target and analogs thereof) and load it up with $1 knick-knacks, D&D coins, and plastic gems and give it to the heros after defeating the BBEG, or what-have-you and say, "You find this!"

However, as some of these posters have mentioned, coins are a bit pricey for the return investment. A really great return for your investment is in miniatures, not just figurines. If you've got the cash lying around, try hitting up a hobby store and looking at train minis and Warforge minis to buy and build and paint, etc. That way you two can craft your world together, piece by piece. Maybe I'm corny, but I think the best gifts are the gifts that bring people together.
>.<

Still, if coins are in your budget, and both you and your husband have been drooling over them at game shops... then I say get the coins. There are $0 or low budget alternatives, but hey... it's Christmas,right? It's your one time of the year when you have free license to go over budget.

Templarkommando
2011-11-30, 06:46 PM
It occurs to me that there may be a solution to the coins problem.

If you want to use an out of game representation, there are some solutions that have already been posted, but this thread actually gave me an idea. Here goes:

I used MS paint to take an image of a griffin I found on the net and make a "coin." So I've got a griffin and the name of the Kingdom the coins are from and a motto. I've made a prototype sheet of coins, and it doesn't look to shabby. What I plan to do is get some yellow card stock from an office supply store. Maybe some gray, brown, and regular card stock to represent each of the denominations of currency.

The problem that I foresee here is that I'm not going to have round coins unless I put a lot of effort into it. Little bits of paper can be easy to lose and they can be a bit of a mess if they're scattered all over a room. Also, I'm only getting around 30 coins per sheet, which does a really poor job of representing overall player wealth.

I have a couple of solutions to these problems as well.

The only one I don't really have a solution for is not having round coins.

The solution to the mess problem is that you can keep your coins in a pencil pouch that you can get from the school supplies section of your local mega-lo mart. They may also be vacuumable. (Is that even word?)

The number of coins problem can be solved the same way that modern mints solve their problems. Instead of having one coin represent a single coin, write a number on the back of your coin to represent how many coins that coin represents. So you can change the denominations by having coins worth 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 coins and so on.

I'm kinda psyched about this, so if anyone has more ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Mastikator
2011-12-01, 07:21 AM
It's cheaper and more practical to use real money than to use campaign coins. You can also buy old coins by the bulk on ebay, on the cheap.

Or, you can do like me, go to a junk store or a walmart, whatever, and buy thousands of little plastic and glass rocks and doohickeys and use those instead.

Short of it is: Campaign coins = rip off.

I would like to voice this opinion. And say that we use real coins as in game coins.
1 swedish kronor = 1 silver
10 swedish kronor coin (is yellow) = 1 gold
50 swedish öre (copper colored) = 1 copper.
It works perfect because the coins have the right colors and we don't have absurd amounts of money (like in high level D&D).

missmvicious
2011-12-01, 01:01 PM
I'm kinda psyched about this, so if anyone has more ideas, I'd love to hear them.

I love it! And nothing says the coins have to be round, just because coins are typically round.

However, if the shape is a concern, ask your local print shop if they have sticker or label templates for round, preferably circular, stickers that you can put your "coins" on. Odds are, they have one, probably about 1.5"x1.5" in diameter since customized pins (Vote for [insert name of poitician]! is a popular one) are common enough to both have a template for it and a pre-serrated stationary for it.

Load your images onto their template and print.

It you chose to print on sticker paper, then I have good news for you. Head to a hardware store and buy a bunch of washers that are roughly the same size as your stickers and apply the stickers to your washers. Now they have the weight, thickness and ambience (jingly sound) of coins. And they will be far more durable than card stock for only a little bit more money.

valadil
2011-12-01, 01:20 PM
They look cool, but for that price there's better stuff you can get instead. $250 translates to a lot of campaign books, minis, or whatever.

Why not get some poker chips and spray paint them with metallic colors? It's not as cool, but you could use this as a prototype to see if people actually want to game with fake money.

Kerrin
2011-12-01, 10:07 PM
Something similar I did was for creating memorabilia for a local gaming get together a friend hosts every year for a several of us...

I created custom poker chips.

I did custom artwork for each of the chip denominations and printed it on circular white labels. Then I stuck the labels on both sides of generic poker chips.

I imagine something similar would work for custom roleplaying coins of different types and denominations.

MusedFable
2011-12-20, 07:07 AM
I'm not trying to spam, but I wanted to let everyone know I started a project to get some metal fantasy coins made. I read the forum rules and it says for profit "ads" aren't allowed. It also says don't thread necromancy. This thread is only a few weeks old and I'm not trying to thrust an advertisement on anyone. I'll leave the name of the project off for now. I've been thinking about doing a metal coin project for years (here is a bgg post from 3 years ago (http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/297977/im-thinking-about-having-metal-coins-manufactured)). The existence of kickstarter made the whole thing easier. I figured you'd want to know about another option for metal fantasy coins.

A gamer, roleplayer, and oots reader,
Matt

JediSoth
2011-12-20, 08:30 AM
I would use them as a prop, but little more. Maybe when someone is hiring the PCs to do something nefarious, put some in a sack, bounce it in your hand and toss it on the table.

Or they would make interesting counters for Hero Points, Bennies, or something like that.

But as a 1-to-1 representation of PC wealth, it's been said: they're horribly impractical and would slow the game down.

That being said, they look REALLY COOL.

Knaight
2011-12-20, 09:36 AM
I would use them as a prop, but little more. Maybe when someone is hiring the PCs to do something nefarious, put some in a sack, bounce it in your hand and toss it on the table.

Or they would make interesting counters for Hero Points, Bennies, or something like that.

But as a 1-to-1 representation of PC wealth, it's been said: they're horribly impractical and would slow the game down.

That being said, they look REALLY COOL.

Of course, once you introduce Hero Points and Bennies you are looking at multiple systems. Which includes systems where they actually would work as a 1 to 1 representation of PC wealth.

JohnnyCancer
2011-12-20, 11:16 PM
When I saw them in the store, I thought they would be kind of dumb; except perhaps for serious LARPing. Someone in my circle had in fact purchased some and regretted it, having never really found a use for them.

jackattack
2011-12-21, 08:32 AM
I actually do have a coin-related game anecdote that applies here.

The local lord arranged a race through the city streets between our party and another group. In my leg of the race, the peasants were going to whack at us with sticks (every leg had some obstacle). My monk character asked the party's knight for some coins, and I (real me) palmed some "coins" I'd picked up in the "Notions & Beads" section of the fabric store.

When the peasants were about to start whacking, I threw the coins (away from the table) and shouted "MONEY!" All of the peasants chased after the coins, and my character won his leg of the race.

Chasing some of the coins under the sofa was a bit of a pain, but it got a good laugh from the other players.

shadow_archmagi
2011-12-21, 08:35 AM
Edit: Funny thing is, I'm good with chemistry. With the right equipment and a few ugly (but real) bits of cheap jewelry from a thrift store, I could electroplate a ton of pennies into silver, gold, and platinum. (And leftover pennies would be copper, of course.) Mind, the equipment would cost bundles. A shame.

Why wouldn't you just use like, Zinc and Brass? It looks quite similar and is a bit cheaper.

Ksheep
2011-12-21, 09:04 AM
Edit: Funny thing is, I'm good with chemistry. With the right equipment and a few ugly (but real) bits of cheap jewelry from a thrift store, I could electroplate a ton of pennies into silver, gold, and platinum. (And leftover pennies would be copper, of course.) Mind, the equipment would cost bundles. A shame.

Couldn't you electroplate something with not much more than a 9-volt battery, some alligator clips, and some chemicals you can easily obtain from any hobby shop?

Anyway, another suggestion: Pirates of the Spanish Main was a "card" game from a few years ago, had ship models that you punch out and build (company went under a few years ago, but you can still find them here and there). Each pack also included 10 thick cardstock coins, gold coin on one side, a number on the other. I've found that they make good stand-ins for minis for hoards of the same type of guy and can be used as coins. Plus, if you are playing a seafaring campaign, you now have a bunch of ship minis. Should be able to get a 6-pack of boosters for about $20-25 if you're lucky.

Knaight
2011-12-21, 09:08 AM
Couldn't you electroplate something with not much more than a 9-volt battery, some alligator clips, and some chemicals you can easily obtain from any hobby shop?
This would be painfully slow, even if you're correct about what chemicals hobby shops tend to have.

Ksheep
2011-12-21, 09:14 AM
This would be painfully slow, even if you're correct about what chemicals hobby shops tend to have.

Looking around, Zinc with Hydrogen Peroxide would work, and it's fairly straightforward. But yeah, time would be a major constraint, especially if you're plating a LOT of coins.

Knaight
2011-12-21, 09:54 AM
Looking around, Zinc with Hydrogen Peroxide would work, and it's fairly straightforward. But yeah, time would be a major constraint, especially if you're plating a LOT of coins.

If you are trying to get your money's worth of cheapo low grade jewelery, you will be plating a lot of coins.

JediSoth
2011-12-21, 11:33 AM
Of course, once you introduce Hero Points and Bennies you are looking at multiple systems. Which includes systems where they actually would work as a 1 to 1 representation of PC wealth.

Not necessarily. Both Eberron in 3.X and Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved used Hero Points, but still retained the D&D standard of buckets o' gold. If Campaign Coins were out then, I would have used them as hero points instead of poker chips.

Ksheep
2011-12-23, 12:29 AM
I'd like to point you toward a project at Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1095993227/realm-coins
Looks like it only has copper, silver, and gold, but it seems like it's slightly cheaper than Campaign Coins. Only main problem is that it'll take a while before it's finished and shipped. Still, probably worth looking into.

Kami2awa
2011-12-23, 05:47 AM
I really like the electroplating idea. However, you can get very good silver/gold spray paint (the plastic-coat type which looks very shiny and is durable; don't buy cheap decorative lacquer which flakes off very easily, especially on plastics). This would be quicker and easier than electroplating.

I second buying replica antique coins from eBay, a quick look shows some very cheap ones. Shame on WoTC; $250 for a box of plastic coins is an extremely poor deal.

Tyndmyr
2011-12-23, 01:15 PM
I'd like to point you toward a project at Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1095993227/realm-coins
Looks like it only has copper, silver, and gold, but it seems like it's slightly cheaper than Campaign Coins. Only main problem is that it'll take a while before it's finished and shipped. Still, probably worth looking into.

That's actually kind of tempting...

rubycona
2011-12-24, 03:40 PM
He ended up wistfully wishing for campaign coins shortly after I made my last post, so I ended up getting them anyway, though I got a smaller quantity, to test out with a smaller game we're running.

As far as the electroplating... I was thinking about the lab equipment in school. I suppose I could do it on the cheap. And I suppose I could do easier stuff than actual gold, silver, and platinum XD

I like the idea of using other countries' money. If we find we really like it, we can supplement with other ideas. But I think I really like having the real stuff under the Christmas tree.

Thanks for your thoughts.