Coins: The Currency of Adventure

In the worlds of Alacrity, adventurers will seek fortune, barter for goods, hire services, and manage the spoils of their exploits. This section details common currency, how characters begin with starting funds, and provides Game Masters with guidelines for pricing items and considering the physical reality of wealth.

Standard Coinage and Values

While specific names and types of coins can vary greatly depending on the kingdom, empire, or setting your game takes place in, many fantasy worlds conduct trade using standardized coins minted from precious metals. A common convention uses the following hierarchy:

• Copper Pieces (CP): The lowest denomination, used for everyday items, cheap food, minor services, and by the general populace for small transactions.
• Silver Pieces (SP): The most common coin for typical adventurers and townsfolk when dealing with standard goods, modest weapons, lodging, and wages. Most prices for common equipment in this chapter are listed in SP.
• Gold Pieces (GP): Used for more expensive items, significant rewards, high-quality equipment, or dealings with nobility, wealthy merchants, and organizations.
• Platinum Pieces (PP): The highest denomination, often used for major treasures, rare magical artifacts, property, or large-scale transactions involving kingdoms or powerful entities.

Standard Exchange Rates
Unless otherwise specified by your Game Master for your specific setting, the typical exchange rate is decimal:

• 1 Platinum Piece (PP) = 10 Gold Pieces (GP)
• 1 Gold Piece (GP) = 10 Silver Pieces (SP)
• 1 Silver Piece (SP) = 10 Copper Pieces (CP)

A Note on Setting-Specific Economies: This system (PP, GP, SP, CP with a 1:10 ratio) is a common baseline for familiarity. Your specific campaign setting might use entirely different currency names (e.g., Crowns, Marks, Credits, Guilders), different exchange rates, emphasize barter for certain goods, or use other forms of wealth like trade bars, gems, or even letters of credit. Always adapt these general guidelines to the specific economic details of your game world.

Starting Wealth

Just as starting Experience Points reflect initial training, starting wealth determines the equipment characters can afford at the beginning of their adventures. This amount typically represents pocket money, savings, or funds gathered before setting out. Like starting XP, the amount of starting wealth depends on the campaign’s agreed-upon power level:

• Low Power Campaign: Start with 50 Silver Pieces (SP).
• Medium Power Campaign: Start with 100 Silver Pieces (SP).
• High Power Campaign: Start with 200 Silver Pieces (SP).

Players should use these starting funds to purchase their initial weapons, armor, adventuring gear, and other necessities from the lists provided. Remember to keep track of expenditures! Characters might also possess other non-liquid assets or specific items based on their Background (see Chapter 4: Character Origins), as developed with the GM, but this amount represents readily available cash.

GM Guidance: Crafting Your Game’s Economy

Beyond the listed items, you’ll often need to determine prices for unique goods, services, or treasures. The following guidelines can help create a relatable and functional economy.

Relatable Pricing – The “$1 USD ≈ 1 CP” Rule of Thumb

To make pricing intuitive, you can establish a rough purchasing power equivalent between your game currency and modern US dollars. A simple and effective baseline is 1 Copper Piece (CP) ≈ $1 USD. This naturally leads to: 1 Silver Piece (SP) ≈ $10 USD; 1 Gold Piece (GP) ≈ $100 USD; and 1 Platinum Piece (PP) ≈ $1000 USD.

(Context: If you care about a pseudo-realistic gold standard, with gold at ~$3,400 USD/ounce, a GP representing ~$100 USD in value would conceptually contain about 0.03 troy ounces of actual gold. However, for gameplay, the direct purchasing power equivalence is more important than precise metallurgy.)

With this, GMs can quickly price common items:

1. Think of a Comparable Modern Cost: What would a similar, everyday item or service cost in USD today? For instance, a decent beer at a pub might be ~$6 USD; a simple loaf of artisan bread ~$4 USD; or a night’s basic lodging ~$25 USD.

2. That’s its Price in Copper Pieces (CP): The USD amount is its approximate price in CP. So, the beer would be 6 CP, the loaf of bread 4 CP, and the basic lodging 25 CP (or 2 SP 5 CP). A simple shortsword, if considered comparable to a functional modern tool costing ~$150, would be 150 CP (15 SP, or 1 GP 5 SP).

Handling Very Inexpensive Items (“Bits”)

For items valued at much less than $1 USD (e.g., a single apple):

• Bundling: Often, such items are sold in small lots (e.g., “a few apples for 1 CP”).
• Minimum Practical Price: 1 CP might be the common minimum for individual small transactions.
• Conceptual “Bits” (Optional GM Tool): For your internal logic, you can imagine a CP is divisible into 10 “bits,” making 1 bit ≈ $0.10 USD. An item worth 50 cents today would be “5 bits.” Players generally transact in whole CPs.

Optional: Labor Costs, Daily Equivalents, and Economic Disparity

To add depth, especially in settings with wealth disparity, consider labor costs based on a 10-hour workday.

Establishing a Basic Labor Rate (per 10-hour day): In an economy where unskilled labor is abundant and inexpensive (akin to a pre-industrial or “serf-like” setting), an example rate might be 10 to 20 Copper Pieces (CP) per 10-hour day (which, in our model, is ≈ $10-$20 USD for a full day’s hard work).

Pricing Goods Based on Labor: The cost of many common goods is influenced by labor. A rough idea: Cost of Item ≈ (Labor Days to Make) x (CP per Day for Labor Type) + Material Cost. (For tasks shorter than a day, use fractions of the daily rate).
Example (Simple Clay Pot, ~2 hours work): Unskilled Potter’s Labor (0.2 days * 10-20 CP/day) = 2-4 CP. Add minimal material costs (<1 CP), total price: perhaps 3-5 CP.
Example (Basic Iron Dagger, ~5 hours work): Apprentice Smith’s Labor (e.g., at a rate of 30-50 CP/day for semi-skilled work) for 0.5 days = 15-25 CP. Add material costs (e.g., 4 CP), total price: around 19-29 CP (or ~2-3 SP).

Implications for a “Serf-Like” Economy:

• Vast Wealth Disparity: Adventurers dealing in SP and GP will seem incredibly wealthy. One GP (100 CP) could buy 5-10 days of unskilled labor.
• Cost of Services: Hiring unskilled help would be cheap (a few CP for several hours, or 1-2 SP for a day). Skilled hirelings cost more.
• Lords and Landowners: Their wealth is often in land and commanded labor, allowing large projects with minimal monetary outlay for common labor.
• Commoners’ Purchasing Power: For someone earning 10-20 CP per day, items priced in SP or GP are significant luxuries.

Skilled vs. Unskilled Labor (Example Daily Rates in CP for a 10-hour day):

• Unskilled/Common Labor: 10-20 CP per day.
• Apprentice/Basic Skilled Labor: 30-50 CP per day.
• Experienced Skilled Labor/Artisan: 50-100 CP per day (5 SP to 1 GP).
• Highly Skilled/Master Artisan/Specialist: 100-250+ CP per day (1 GP to 2 GP 5 SP+).

This “labor days” approach adds depth when pricing services or unique crafted items, highlighting economic disparities.

The Physical Weight of Coins

To make wealth tangible and its transport a logistical consideration:

• Standard Coin Weight: Assume that 5 coins (of any type) weigh approximately 1 ounce. This means 80 coins weigh approximately 1 pound. (Each coin is then about 5.67 grams, similar to a modern US Quarter).
• Implications for Carrying Wealth: Small sums are easily carried (e.g., 100 coins = 1.25 lbs). Larger fortunes become genuinely cumbersome (e.g., 1,000 coins = 12.5 lbs; 10,000 coins = 125 lbs). This encourages players to consider banks, trade goods (gems), pack animals, and security for substantial treasures.

Crucial: Game World Adjustments!
The guidelines above are for establishing a relatable baseline. You must adjust prices to reflect your specific game world:

• Scarcity and Availability: A waterskin is cheap near a river, priceless in a desert.
• Location: Prices will vary between remote villages and bustling trade cities.
• Quality & Craftsmanship: Masterwork items cost significantly more.
• Technology Level & Magic: These can drastically alter item availability and cost.
• Plot and Demand: Sometimes an item’s value is what the story needs it to be.

Ultimately, the goal is a currency system that feels consistent within your world, allows for meaningful player choices regarding their resources, and doesn’t bog down gameplay with overly complex calculations. Use these guidelines as a starting point and tailor them to your campaign.

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File Created: 05/06/2025
Last Modified: 05/06/2025