Silus
2014-12-27, 05:32 PM
Okay so let me preface this by saying 1) these are just ideas I'm kicking around to try to liven up a setting I'm looking at running, and 2) yes I have been re-reading Spice and Wolf.
Okay so a couple of ideas I'd like ya'll to weigh in on. What I'm looking for feedback-wise is:
1) Firstly, should I implement these ideas, and if not, why not?
2) What sort of problems would these ideas present aside from more paperwork?
3) Ideas to streamline the ideas to make them more user friendly/improve them?
Right then, here's the ideas.
This is the big one I feel. In the setting there are four nations capable of producing their own currency (other nations simply use foreign coin or a barter system) and the idea was an occasional fluctuation in the value of coin in terms of exchange rates.
So let's say that Kingdom A and Kingdom B's gold coins are both at 20% purity (that being 20% of any given gold coin is actual gold) and we use 20% as the "baseline" (so a 20% pure gold coin would equal "1"). Now let's say that Kingdom A wants to get an economic leg up on Kingdom B and decides to issue a new batch of coins that are 25% pure, making them worth more than Kingdom B's. Due to the increase in value, the exchange rate between Kingdom A and Kingdom B would be 1.1, so exchanging 1 gold coin of Kingdom A would get you 1 gold, 1 silver from Kingdom B. The internal exchange rate in-nations would still be 1:1 though, so you could trade 1 20% pure gold coin for 1 25% pure gold coin within the confines of Kingdom A with no issue.
Things to note:
1) Players that are clever/have read Spice and Wolf would be able to, in theory, make a profit off the exchange rate by figuring out when new coins will be issued, getting their hands on older coins in bulk, then exchanging them for newer, more valuable coins and then turning around and doing business in another country. Or something like that.
2) The coin values (as in mechanical value) would go up by decimal points, so a coin valued at 1.54 would be 1 gold, 5 silver, 4 copper. Working out the purity percentage => mechanical value is gonna be tricky IMO, but I figure I'd just wing it.
3) Realistically, over the course of an extended campaign (Let's say lvl 5-15) you could realistically expect currency to be issued ~3-4 times per nation, so it's not going to be a massive thing.
4) Would actually give the appraise skill a use aside from "how much can we sell Magic Sword #638 for?". "Well you have 500 gold coins you looted from those bandits. But how much are those coins actually worth?"
Simple realistic stuff. Winter is coming and the cities to the north are now paying a higher price for preserved meats, veggies, furs, etc., so there's a profit to be made if the players decide to get ahold of trade goods. In short, the time of year, events (be they player caused or otherwise) and general locational things would cause the stock prices of trade goods (and some adventuring gear) to swing one way or the other (either more costly or less costly).
Issues I can see:
1) Angry players who try to buy gear and find that it's more than what's in the book. "What do you mean a longsword is 50g? The book says it's 15g!" "Well the engineering guilds have been buying up most of the metal recently for a thing. If you had bothered to make a Knowledge Local check you could have found that out..." *Cue table flipping*
2) Possibility for the players to try and cheese their way into oodles of money. Could be counteracted by doing...something to reflect a flooded market or something.
This one I actually like and really wanna add in.
So let's say the players finish dredging the depths of Dungeon #197 and have brought back a massive haul of loot to sell--magic items, lost tech, potions they'll never need, the usual. Now assuming they're selling everything and it's reaching into the 5-6 digits, realistically no independent merchant would have that much coin on them. However, trade guilds would be a thing, and they players could sell the items there without worrying about getting stiffed or doing the whole Skyrim/Fallout runaround of "Okay I'll sell this stuff until you have no coin left then go over here and sell this to this guy and so on and so forth".
But of course, even trade guilds have limits on what they can give in terms of cash. So in come certificates of credit. Basically "Okay this document says you gave us loot equal to X-gold. Take this to any of our trade guild branches and we'll honor it".
Issues I could see with this:
1) Forgery. I really wouldn't put it past even the most LG-minded players to not consider forging certificates of credit.
2) Actually making it viable for the players. Encumbrance is generally handwaved, as is weight of coin, and things like Portable Holes, Handy Haversacks and Bags of Holding generally trivializes weight restrictions. So while a neat idea I feel, I can't really see the players buying into the whole "certificate" thing unless they're forced to.
Okay so a couple of ideas I'd like ya'll to weigh in on. What I'm looking for feedback-wise is:
1) Firstly, should I implement these ideas, and if not, why not?
2) What sort of problems would these ideas present aside from more paperwork?
3) Ideas to streamline the ideas to make them more user friendly/improve them?
Right then, here's the ideas.
This is the big one I feel. In the setting there are four nations capable of producing their own currency (other nations simply use foreign coin or a barter system) and the idea was an occasional fluctuation in the value of coin in terms of exchange rates.
So let's say that Kingdom A and Kingdom B's gold coins are both at 20% purity (that being 20% of any given gold coin is actual gold) and we use 20% as the "baseline" (so a 20% pure gold coin would equal "1"). Now let's say that Kingdom A wants to get an economic leg up on Kingdom B and decides to issue a new batch of coins that are 25% pure, making them worth more than Kingdom B's. Due to the increase in value, the exchange rate between Kingdom A and Kingdom B would be 1.1, so exchanging 1 gold coin of Kingdom A would get you 1 gold, 1 silver from Kingdom B. The internal exchange rate in-nations would still be 1:1 though, so you could trade 1 20% pure gold coin for 1 25% pure gold coin within the confines of Kingdom A with no issue.
Things to note:
1) Players that are clever/have read Spice and Wolf would be able to, in theory, make a profit off the exchange rate by figuring out when new coins will be issued, getting their hands on older coins in bulk, then exchanging them for newer, more valuable coins and then turning around and doing business in another country. Or something like that.
2) The coin values (as in mechanical value) would go up by decimal points, so a coin valued at 1.54 would be 1 gold, 5 silver, 4 copper. Working out the purity percentage => mechanical value is gonna be tricky IMO, but I figure I'd just wing it.
3) Realistically, over the course of an extended campaign (Let's say lvl 5-15) you could realistically expect currency to be issued ~3-4 times per nation, so it's not going to be a massive thing.
4) Would actually give the appraise skill a use aside from "how much can we sell Magic Sword #638 for?". "Well you have 500 gold coins you looted from those bandits. But how much are those coins actually worth?"
Simple realistic stuff. Winter is coming and the cities to the north are now paying a higher price for preserved meats, veggies, furs, etc., so there's a profit to be made if the players decide to get ahold of trade goods. In short, the time of year, events (be they player caused or otherwise) and general locational things would cause the stock prices of trade goods (and some adventuring gear) to swing one way or the other (either more costly or less costly).
Issues I can see:
1) Angry players who try to buy gear and find that it's more than what's in the book. "What do you mean a longsword is 50g? The book says it's 15g!" "Well the engineering guilds have been buying up most of the metal recently for a thing. If you had bothered to make a Knowledge Local check you could have found that out..." *Cue table flipping*
2) Possibility for the players to try and cheese their way into oodles of money. Could be counteracted by doing...something to reflect a flooded market or something.
This one I actually like and really wanna add in.
So let's say the players finish dredging the depths of Dungeon #197 and have brought back a massive haul of loot to sell--magic items, lost tech, potions they'll never need, the usual. Now assuming they're selling everything and it's reaching into the 5-6 digits, realistically no independent merchant would have that much coin on them. However, trade guilds would be a thing, and they players could sell the items there without worrying about getting stiffed or doing the whole Skyrim/Fallout runaround of "Okay I'll sell this stuff until you have no coin left then go over here and sell this to this guy and so on and so forth".
But of course, even trade guilds have limits on what they can give in terms of cash. So in come certificates of credit. Basically "Okay this document says you gave us loot equal to X-gold. Take this to any of our trade guild branches and we'll honor it".
Issues I could see with this:
1) Forgery. I really wouldn't put it past even the most LG-minded players to not consider forging certificates of credit.
2) Actually making it viable for the players. Encumbrance is generally handwaved, as is weight of coin, and things like Portable Holes, Handy Haversacks and Bags of Holding generally trivializes weight restrictions. So while a neat idea I feel, I can't really see the players buying into the whole "certificate" thing unless they're forced to.