Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 24 Nov 2001 to 25 Nov 2001 (#2001-324) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 26/11/2001, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 5 messages totalling 235 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. money in mystara (3) 2. Barter (was Money in Mystara) (2) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 11:08:13 -0500 From: Geoff Gander Subject: Re: money in mystara Chris wrote: > Countries will also change their coins weight periodically, to > compensate for the economy. Thus giving rise to coin collectors that will > pay high amounts for ancient coins. Using a system like this is very > detailing, but makes the game a little more interesting. Plus a thief can > easily pickpocket 10 coins at 1/6th of a pound, instead of the RC pound > (10cn = 1 pound). I like to throw in ancient coins as well occasionally. A worn and tarnished Nithian silver coin unearthed in the sewers of Darokin city aroused the interest of more than one collector, and had I the inclination, I could have made the party the subject of a number of attempted thefts, as over-zealous collectors try to do anything within their power to complete their collections. Maybe in the future... It keeps the players' attention when money is more than piles of valuable metal. IMC, I don't really consider coin weights per se (the weights given in the rules *are* unrealistic IMO) - I have the players keep track of how much cash they are actually carrying, and they use common sense to determine when that money starts to weight them down. Geoff -- Geoff Gander, BA 97 Cartographer/Game Designer/Government Peon Carnifex Loremaster au998@freenet.carleton.ca : www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/2091 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 19:27:30 -0500 From: Christopher M Cherrington Subject: Re: money in mystara Here is my basic coins for my campaign... Country, Coin Name; [weight, metal] Savage Coast, Nummus; [1pw, copper] Alphatia, Judge; Karameikos, Half Kopec; MC, Bit; Minrothad, Plen; SC, 2 Nummi; [2pw, copper] Darokin, Passem; Dengar, Pebble; Heldannic, Pfennig; Karameikos, Kopec; MC, Two-Bit; Minrothad, Quert; NR, Markka; Ochalea, Fen; Thyatis, Denarius; Ylaruam, Fal; [4pw, copper] Five Shires, Sunset/Point; MC, Half Penny; SC, 5 Nummi; [5pw, copper] Glantri, Denaro; [3.25pw Bronze] Ierendi, Cokip; [6pw, copper] NR, Guilder; Ylaruam, Falus; [8pw, copper] SC, 10 Nummi; [10pw, copper] Glantri, Penny; SC, 20 Nummi; [20pw, copper] Dengar, Stone; Ierendi, Sana; [4pw, copper/silver] MC, Penny; [2pw, silver] Darokin, Tentrid; Dengar, Star; Five Shires, Star/Steel; Glantri, Ducat; Ierendi, Geleva; Karameikos, Crona; MC, Groat; Minrothad, Byd; SC, 40 Nummi; Thyatis, Asterius; Ylaruam, Dirham; Alfheim, Seed; [4pw, silver] Heldannic, Groschen; Alfheim, Ten'er; Alphatia, Mirror; [6pw, silver] Glantri, Sovereign; Ierendi, Gali; MC, Mark ; Alfheim, Pethal; [8pw, silver] SC, 100 Nummi; [10pw, silver] Darokin, Half Daro; MC, Florin; NR, Krone; [20pw, silver] SC, Siliqua; [2pw, cinnabryl] Darokin, Daro; [2pw, gold] MC, Half Crown; [5pw, electrum] Dengar, Moon; [40pw, silver] Dengar, Trader; Glantri, Crown; Heldannic, Gulden; Karameikos, Royal; MC, Crown; Minrothad, Crona; Thyatis, Lucin; Ylaruam, Dinar; Alfheim, Leaf; [4pw, gold] Ochalea, Tael; [80pw, silver] SC, Tremissius [6pw, cinnabryl] Alphatia, Crown [5pw, gold] Alfheim/Darokin, Piaster [8pw, gold] MC, Half Noble [12pw, gold] SC, Semissis [8pw, cinnabryl] SC, Solidus [10pw, cinnabryl] Glantri, Prince [4pw, platinum]; Ierendi, Gena [20pw, gold]; Ochalea, Ch'ien [400pw, silver] MC, Noble [24pw, gold] Dengar, Sun [32pw, gold] Ierendi, Pali; MC, Sovereign; Thyatis, Emperor; [8pw, platinum] Five Shires, 1 1/4 lb Trade Bar [300pw, gold] Five Shires, 2 1/2 lb Trade Bar [600pw, gold] 10cp = 1sp 80cp = 8sp = 1ep 200cp = 20sp = 2.5ep = 1gp 1000cp = 100sp = 12.5ep = 5gp = 1pp ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 21:37:32 -0500 From: Christopher M Cherrington Subject: Re: money in mystara The weights are as follows: 240pw = 1pound, average coin = 4pw, 60 average coins = 1pound. When purchasing items, I substitute every gold for 10 silver; as 1 old gold = 10 silver. This makes the 2pw Daro from Darokin very popular. It is made of gold, but extremely light weight for large transactions (120 Daros = 1 pound), plus 1 new Daro = 1 old gold (so all the prices in the books can stay the same). The Dengarian Moon can be substituted the same way, but being made of silver, it weighs in at a whopping 40pw (6 Moons to a pound!) The only problem with this system is the time involved in rolling treasure randomly. I am currently working on tables in Excel to roll randomly for me (it is extremely quick, but it depends on the region or country you found the treasure; especially for dragons, as they can gather many coins from far away places.) Border areas are difficult too, as monsters will be gathering treasure from many travelers from different countries. One side effect is to keep the players guessing on exchange rates to convert all their foreign coin. But evil DM's could get used to the idea of robbing their uncareful players of all that extra coin ;) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 23:56:55 -0500 From: Christopher M Cherrington Subject: Re: Barter (was Money in Mystara) Another system, not commonly used, would be bartering. This process works with the skills or non-weapon proficiencies of Know Market Value, Appraisal, and Bargaining. First a character needs to know the market in witch he wishes to trade at, if he needs a new sword, he needs to know where swords are cheap and plentiful; and what to trade for the sword, that is not cheap and plentiful. A successful roll against his Know Market Value will determine what he knows would be a good trade, and lower the rule book price by 10-40%. A failed roll will increase the price by 10-40%. If a character wants to trade and does not have this skill, double the price of what he wants to trade for. Next, determine the appraised value of both items. The character or NPC with the highest appraisal will determine the value of both objects. If the player's character does not have an Appraisal Skill, use the NPC's. The DM rolls against the Appraisal score, if the roll is equal to or lower than the skill, the appraised value is accurate, and no change is made. If the roll was greater than the skill, adjust the value by 5% for every point over; an odd roll will lower the value, an even roll will increase the value. The last step is Bargaining. Take the difference between the two Bargaining skills (if one or the other has no Bargaining skill, treat it as zero), the character or NPC with the higher skill will increase, or decrease the value by 5% x's the difference in his favor for each object. If the final values of trade match each other in value, then the NPC will make the trade with the player. If not, then one or the other will have to change an item to haggle over (but keep any of the same objects in question at the same value and bargained price, only re-roll for different items or different traders). The Dm should adjust any prices to reflect good role-playing (or poor role-playing, for truly inarticulate characters). Example: Roger, a fighter from Norwold, comes to Dengar to buy a Dwarven sword. He really likes a particular beauty with silver and gold filigree. Being your average fighter, he has no skills that could help him, but the DM determines he would be able to use his Weapon Smithing Skill as an appraisal for the sword, unfortunately he has no skill for appraising the mules that he wants to trade. Now the price is already doubled for the sword, as he has no Know Market Value, and his Appraisal is lower than the Dwarf he is wishing to trade with. The DM rolls a 16 on a d20 for the sword, the Dwarf's skill is a 16, so the appraised value is fair at the doubled price of 180 gold. The Dm rolls for the appraisal of the mules (2), and rolls an 18. The rulebooks say a mule cost 30gp, so the 2 mules will cost 60gp plus 10%, for 66gp. Not that they are worth 66gp, just that the Dwarf now believes they are worth 66gp. Bargaining begins, the Dwarf can really bargain well against Roger, as Roger has no bargain skill (next time he will have to travel with a cleric of Asterius). The Dwarf will increase the price of the sword by 60% (his Bargaining is a 12), and lower the appraised value of the mules by 60%. So now the sword is valued at 288gp, and the 2 mules are valued at 26gp and 4sp. The dwarf laughs at the disappointed Roger, and as Roger skulks out the door of the Dwarven Smith's shop, he hears the Dwarf yell out "Better get a team of mules, maybe 21 mules and I'll trade you!" Of course if Roger does come back with 21 mules, would the Dwarf really need 21 mules? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 00:34:31 -0500 From: Christopher M Cherrington Subject: Re: Barter (was Money in Mystara) Example No. 2: Roger runs into an old friend, Stephan of Darokin, who is a Cleric of Asterius, and Stephan has a little interest in trading. Stephan has Know Market Value, Appraisal, and Bargaining. He determines Roger was on the right track to trade the mules for the sword, and adjusts the swords price to 90gp -10% for 81gp (the price this time is not doubled, because Stephan has Know Market Value). Stephan's Appraisal is higher, and successful for both the sword and the mules, except now the mules are worth only 60gp instead of the Dwarf's previous estimated value. Stephan's Bargaining Skill is 18, so he adjusts the sword's value to 56gp and 7sp, and the mules' value to 78gp. Because the value of the trade is still higher for one party and not the other, Stephan role-plays for the Dwarf to include a scabbard with the sward and the deal is sealed. It just goes to show that only certain members of the party should be in charge of acquiring items for the party's benefit. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 24 Nov 2001 to 25 Nov 2001 (#2001-324) ****************************************************************