Coinage

[Wout Broere]

>One of the easy things about the P&P economic system is the "factor of
>10" values for each of the coins.  This makes price conversion easy, but
...
>In general, only civilized cultures deal with coins -- their trade
>networks are large enough and the social level complex enough to require
>a method of trade beyond simple barter.  Barbarian cultures that trade
...
>NOTE: I assume that minted coins are slightly more valuable than the
>same amount of plain metal.  The kingdom's seal is something of a
>"guarantee" that the coin is of a consistent worth to other coins.

On this last point: There still is the assumption here that one type of coin
is accepted throughout an entire world. (The SC of Donara is exactly the
same as the SC of Katai.)
But any country will of course issue it's own coins, which are recognized
only within a limited distance of that country. So when the king's seal
actually increases the value of the coin to something above the value of the
metal, this increase is lost again with distance or time (old coins are
unrecognised too).

And in general: When we introduce different coins for different
countries/cultures, it is just one more step to introduce different
conversion rates and coin types.
Recently our group had to enter a city of the Zentharim (Kothothi/Chaos
abiding people). As not to attract too much attention, we had to have some
of the local currency. Happened to be they used a 1,12,20,4 system. The
largest coin was the Golden Bane, which equalled 12 Steel Bahl, which in
turn is worth 20 Copper Myrkul, where one Myrkul is 4 Lead Patsi. And the
standard conversion rate to GC-system was that one 1 Myrkul was worth 0.7 CC.
Interesting to note is that the names of the 3 large denominations are the
names of Chaos Gods, where Patsi is something of a derogative and moreover a
plurale tantum (meaning it is two,three,four Patsi, but also one Patsi;
Clearly no one ever expects to pay just one Patsi for something).
Such different coin systems do create opportunities for moneylenders, as any
furrener has to exchange some of his totally worthless Gold or Silver Coins
to Bahls and Myrkuls.

We solved the problem of small change by knocking someone on the head and
emptying his pockets, but that's beside the point here. And drove our GM
nuts by actually trying to buy things, so he had to do the conversion from
the prices in Book I to Banes, Bahls, Myrkuls and Patsi.

And of course we had to leave the city rather quickly, without the
opportunity to change those Golden Banes to GC again. So we had carry some
rather large but totally worthless bags of Patsi to Hell and back.

Introducing different coinage for different countries or areas give the
world more flavor, but makes the administration a bit harder.

A Patsi for your thoughts,
Ft