Coinage

[Scott Cohan]

> Oh, I agree that each country probably has its own coins, but having
> to deal with the conversion rate between Climan zuleks and Donaran
> drakaas as a rule adds more complexity than it gives back in flavor.
> The "generic coinage" allows one to abstract it out and you can just
> imagine that you are handing over a bag of Marentian copper standards
> rather than 102CC.
>
  I absolutely agree here.  While I like the idea of differing coinages in
  theory, I don't want to sit down and make a huge table of exchange rates.
  Besides, it would only encourage my players to pour over the tables looking
  for an easy way to make money this way.  As it is, they quickly noticed the
  peculiarities of Dirlla (or is it Djani?) coinage, where 1 Gold Coin = 1
  Silver coin, because they're equally rare.  "Wow!  We take a load of silver
  coins there, exchange them for Gold, then come back and we're rich!"
     I also enjoy the simple 10-1 ratio.  After years of Warhammer, which uses a
  1-20-12 system (1 pound = 20 shillings, 1 shilling = 12 pence), or even the
  old AD&D system, being able to calculate prices in my head is so much better.
     Whenever I think of adding more complexity to my monetary system, I look
  back at a very, very old RPG which uses the full British medieval system, with
  pounds and shillings, soverigns, pence, groats, and more.
     Also, whenever I think about making my game more complex in general, I sit
  down and take a look at my old copy of Fringeworthy.  That usually keeps me in
  line.
     Although, it would be nice to have a list of different names for different
  countries' coins.  Even if they're all identical, it would add flavor.  We
  already have the various Fomorian coins (Eagle, Fin, etc.).  Let's all post
  our suggestions, or, if you've already done this for your game, go ahead and
  post the lists.

  Scott