This is the best way to use the 'silver standard' proposed by Delta, IMO: gold is valuable, but not easy to find. Each single gold piece could be impressive in itself - throwing gold around is for kings, not adventurers. Of course, you could go the other way and make gold valuable to add some drama to that bag of gold. Global gold reserves on Earth, and probably would in your world, as

Words, the dragon would have laid claim to a significant portion of Until 1492 CE was about 12,780 tonnes (12,580 imperial tons). For reference, GFMS (the foremostĬonsultancy and research company for the global precious metals market)Įstimates that the total amount of gold that humanity had extracted up Hoard, which is more than 5,400 imperial tons of precious metal, We are the better way to a billion coins being sequestered in a dragon’s There is no way any economy can be saved from total destruction if the adventures find one of these! If my memories of '1001 nights' are correct, piles of gold were used to buy castles. There is also the mythical aspect of dragons sitting in huge piles of gold. This might be one of the reasons why keeping track of money is unpopular nowadays. In short, carrying coins becomes a meaningful decision, not an exercise in accounting. Find a big hoard of coins, and you might be forced to return another day for the rest of the money, or risk being unable to run while being chased by stronger enemies! In Moldvay (etc.), however, carrying a fortune hinders your movement. You could buy 500 longswords (15 gp) with that! These coins are BIG!įifth edition is different: you can carry 150 pounds before being encumbered. It's the price of 40 swords (a normal sword weights as much as 60 coins). In Moldvay basic, for example, 400 coins is the most you can carry before being affected (that is, if you're carrying nothing else. Now, there is something about those weighty, 'low value! gold coins that makes them more. but then it would starting looking like cosplay. I even thought of buying some fake gold coins.

Maybe in this regard, I want my games to LOOK like games instead of accounting exercises. I want to make these things tangible to my players not just things they can fill in a form. I've been thinking about item cards lately I've even bought some. However, there are other things to consider. This is not only practical but also historically realistic. If you want to jump into 'heroic' adventure from the get-go, then it should match the rest of the D&D mechanics in that 3rd or 4th level is where you would start.

A wizard should be able to carry enough money in the folds of his robe to buy a night's stay at an inn, hire a lantern-bearer, or procure some interesting ephemera. A fat purse with a few dozen coins should be worth a thief's time to knife someone over. Some of the lessons here, I think, are these: You don't want to 'blow your wad' with enormous summer-action-movie-size treasures right at 1st level. (BTW, I use a 1 gp = 10 sp = 100 cp, for simplicity). and also use a reasonable weight to coins, like D&D did from 2e on - now there are 50 coins for every pound, instead of the original 10 coins. Ii convinced me of using silver coins instead of gold. Delta's thinking and research are awesome, and have influenced many old school RPGs, including mine. The answer is not as simple as you think.

Electrum pieces 5e