Whenever I post and present 3 alternative ideas, that is 3 chances for you to say I’m wrong. Have fun ☺️ Always consider that these are optional tips to use in games that do not use these mechanics. There are games out there that are built around such mechanics. Play those! If you wanna change/improve the games that you stalwartly won’t change from, then maybe try one of these or someone else’s tips.
Never really thought of gold as a hinderance to gameplay, except for the fact that it seems like there’s very few uses for it in base D&D considering the amount the average party will come across over the course of an entire campaign. To solve this I’ve introduced Magic Item shops, Purchaseable Weapon Mods, and am using my own version of WOTC’s Bastion system. This is all to give each players things to spend their immense wealth on. Lastly, and this is a small detail, I also have a system where players need to spend 5sp in order to take a Long Rest. This is because it is usually assumed that the party is eating and drinking every day, but nobody likes keeping track of food and water as their own resources, so the 5sp represents the assumption that the players at some point bought the resources they need for their journey.
Old school here...Been playing D&D since 1980. There's a very old Dragon Magazine article called "Treasures More Real" that might be worth looking at. It's based upon the reality that most wealth isn't generally kept in coinage -- it's tied up in goods. So instead of piles of coins, you have tapestries, works of art, etc. The interesting aspect of this is that it creates logistical problems for the players to solve (how much will that bag of holding actually hold?), as well as the need to find buyers for a lot of the items in order to get their value...Of course, this is assuming you want a more "realistic" game.
I absolutely love this! Yeah, I’ve perused some earlier stuff, but I’ll take a closer look at this. I do enjoy the image of the barbarian being entrusted to carry the expensive painting all the way back to town!
this is a core of a game I'm playing, adventurer isn't a great job, monsters aren't made of gold and unless they're immune to all convensional weapons won't have gem skin either, so killing them then has the logistics of what parts to take, how to carry them back and what would sell well based on current needs. it encourages paying attention to what npcs are talking about what things are like.
i've always seen money as a interesting mechanic that forces players to make choices for new tools to aquire, "yes you can grab 2 healing potions for the next dungeon, but if you do you wont be able to afford a new sword." because of this i usually dont mark down prices for things like supplies and roleplaying items (such as buying something for an npc) as that places too many descisions onto one singular system
Gold isn't there just for the stuff you need, it is also there for the sence of wealth, which enables roleplay. It is way more enjoyable to buy a drink for your friends if you can actually afford to throw some gold away.
I love how all of the tips for D&D and all of the ways people actually play and have fun are entirely about getting rid of all the tedious actions in D&D. Tracking ammunition? Nah. Material components? Nah. Encumbrance? Nah. The cover system for ranged attacks? Nah. Spellcasting focuses? Nah. Tracking money? Let's simplify this. I like the idea of this wealth level. It still has the problem of having to know how much something is worth, but it does get rid of the tedious transactions.
I'll go ahead and show the dragon this government inflation website. He'll become depressed and die after seeing that his horde he established in 1992 has the same buying power as $5,978.90 today. 45% of its original value. data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=13%2C218.60&year1=202401&year2=199204
Simple solution: make a bunch of items players want to buy and design the game around giving them just enough to buy what they want, making money more valuable.
In my games I give the players gold and they track it, the difference is that they don't need to pay for stuff like a place to sleep, food and so on :) so kind of like the wealth system, am thinking bout maybe changing it up but one of the chars is a gold loving dwarf and he often asks "How much gold did i get?" For him it's a bit better this way ^^
I like the idea of a wealth based system to simplify common exchanges, but its exploitable as soon as the party finds a single dragon cache and can start buying property/magic items without losing any wealth. Rightly or wrongly, barter systems scare me. A player wanting to accrue wealth will instead look to trade their items for various gems and similar 'high value-low weight' items. At which point you just have a more complicated currency system that you as a DM need to constantly balance. I like avoiding coins if the desired item is required for a quest, but what if the item is just a player want? Without a way to buy it from a vendor, they'd have to tell the DM what they want and then somehow still feel rewarded when they stumble on that in a dungeon. I would say all of these principles are things that could work along side a currency system. E.g. if a player has 500g, no need to calculate 5 silver pints. If a player has a magic item they don't want, create a situation where they can trade it for one they do. If a player has oogled a flaming sword in a shop, have them find that sword instead of coins. Thanks for provoking my thoughts on this ❤
There is also embracing the coin math and fixing the excessive inflation that a gold based economy creates and using a sliver based system where the risk to get gp and pp is justified in world
I love these systems, and switch between what suits a setting, if I'm in a stable situation I just have food, water, a house, internet etc, no wealth tracking, but if I'm a down on their luck adventurer in a town that's currently dealing with economic inflation since it's easy for the fire immune locals to get valuable gems and metals from the volcano they live at, but hard to grow food, suddenly the cost of each loaf of bread, night at the inn etc should be tracked. Wealth levels are perfect for encouraging just having fun at the carnival, not tracking ammo etc. trade is great for things on the edge of society or transisional periods of escaping capitalism/it encroching on a society. just get the items is 1 I don't use much except with 1 character I recently made who has no concept for numbers, money etc so if it's not a useful item she ignores it, and if someone wants a thing she just gives it. my favorite of these is the cash per day idea, just the whole "you can afford to carry a sword and 3 healing potions, I think you're safe to have a drink.
I know I'm autistic, but isn't "Just do the math" a) conceptually simpler and b) always clearer? (For context: I have GMd 5 years of Rogue Trader, *that* is a system that, for all its many flaws, does wealth efficiently, imo)
EDITS: added some context for readability ^^ @@Dungeon_Bits doesn't count coins, because it includes a whole bunch of shit that isn't easily translated into coins without an economics degree (like pilgrimage rights or agricultural material tithes and arcane finance lore from millennia past) and deals with finance at such a staggeringly stupid scale that the PCs have entire sub-houses of accountants whose only goal in life is keeping the Holy Bank Account up to date and they're still grappling with the consequences of the Great Rounding Error of the latter half of the 39th Millennium. I.e. it's impossible XD However. Because acquiring stuff is a roll, getting from "Can I afford this?" to "Yes/No" to "I don't have it/I have it and in which amounts" is always clear.
Now, this is just a hunch, so I could be wrong, but I think a sizeable portion of the general issue with "counting beans" is how impersonal and abstract it can feel. "250 gold" is just a number. Adding 28157 gold is just adding another number. Five 50 poker chips in front of you, however, are not "just a number", even if they represent exactly that ("just a number"). Playing often on TTS, I have (re)learned to appreciate using "physical" tokens for money, to both give a feeling of immersion and to ground the perception my players (or me, too) have of value; it changes, once you can just *see* it. Plus, seeing 12 tiny gold ingot tokens, instead of writing "+1200 gp" on your sheet, when you loot the hoard of the dragon feels much cooler ^^ Kinda like a larp that I go to that has actual physical tokens made by a friend of the organizers who works a laser cutting machine and cuts those tiny coins out of metal waste; they're simple and silly, but they work.
Whenever I post and present 3 alternative ideas, that is 3 chances for you to say I’m wrong. Have fun ☺️
Always consider that these are optional tips to use in games that do not use these mechanics. There are games out there that are built around such mechanics. Play those! If you wanna change/improve the games that you stalwartly won’t change from, then maybe try one of these or someone else’s tips.
Never really thought of gold as a hinderance to gameplay, except for the fact that it seems like there’s very few uses for it in base D&D considering the amount the average party will come across over the course of an entire campaign. To solve this I’ve introduced Magic Item shops, Purchaseable Weapon Mods, and am using my own version of WOTC’s Bastion system. This is all to give each players things to spend their immense wealth on.
Lastly, and this is a small detail, I also have a system where players need to spend 5sp in order to take a Long Rest. This is because it is usually assumed that the party is eating and drinking every day, but nobody likes keeping track of food and water as their own resources, so the 5sp represents the assumption that the players at some point bought the resources they need for their journey.
Old school here...Been playing D&D since 1980. There's a very old Dragon Magazine article called "Treasures More Real" that might be worth looking at. It's based upon the reality that most wealth isn't generally kept in coinage -- it's tied up in goods. So instead of piles of coins, you have tapestries, works of art, etc. The interesting aspect of this is that it creates logistical problems for the players to solve (how much will that bag of holding actually hold?), as well as the need to find buyers for a lot of the items in order to get their value...Of course, this is assuming you want a more "realistic" game.
I absolutely love this!
Yeah, I’ve perused some earlier stuff, but I’ll take a closer look at this.
I do enjoy the image of the barbarian being entrusted to carry the expensive painting all the way back to town!
this is a core of a game I'm playing, adventurer isn't a great job, monsters aren't made of gold and unless they're immune to all convensional weapons won't have gem skin either, so killing them then has the logistics of what parts to take, how to carry them back and what would sell well based on current needs. it encourages paying attention to what npcs are talking about what things are like.
i've always seen money as a interesting mechanic that forces players to make choices for new tools to aquire, "yes you can grab 2 healing potions for the next dungeon, but if you do you wont be able to afford a new sword."
because of this i usually dont mark down prices for things like supplies and roleplaying items (such as buying something for an npc) as that places too many descisions onto one singular system
I do something very similar, I think you nailed it!
Gold isn't there just for the stuff you need, it is also there for the sence of wealth, which enables roleplay.
It is way more enjoyable to buy a drink for your friends if you can actually afford to throw some gold away.
I was thinking this would be a guide on how to invest your earned money in like buying businesses or stocks in dnd haha
I did wonder if that would cause confusion…
But that is a HILARIOUS idea!
I love how all of the tips for D&D and all of the ways people actually play and have fun are entirely about getting rid of all the tedious actions in D&D. Tracking ammunition? Nah. Material components? Nah. Encumbrance? Nah. The cover system for ranged attacks? Nah. Spellcasting focuses? Nah. Tracking money? Let's simplify this.
I like the idea of this wealth level. It still has the problem of having to know how much something is worth, but it does get rid of the tedious transactions.
You’re absolutely on the money with this
These are some dope ideas. I'll try one in my next campaign.
I've switched to USD. The dragon has a horde of $13,218.60. It's in singles, fives, and dimes...get a wheelbarrow
I'll go ahead and show the dragon this government inflation website. He'll become depressed and die after seeing that his horde he established in 1992 has the same buying power as $5,978.90 today. 45% of its original value.
data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=13%2C218.60&year1=202401&year2=199204
Simple solution: make a bunch of items players want to buy and design the game around giving them just enough to buy what they want, making money more valuable.
In my games I give the players gold and they track it, the difference is that they don't need to pay for stuff like a place to sleep, food and so on :) so kind of like the wealth system, am thinking bout maybe changing it up but one of the chars is a gold loving dwarf and he often asks "How much gold did i get?" For him it's a bit better this way ^^
I kinda do this in mine too!
Forget the expense of a drink at a bar, but you can still consider how much moneys you have.
I like the idea of a wealth based system to simplify common exchanges, but its exploitable as soon as the party finds a single dragon cache and can start buying property/magic items without losing any wealth.
Rightly or wrongly, barter systems scare me. A player wanting to accrue wealth will instead look to trade their items for various gems and similar 'high value-low weight' items. At which point you just have a more complicated currency system that you as a DM need to constantly balance.
I like avoiding coins if the desired item is required for a quest, but what if the item is just a player want? Without a way to buy it from a vendor, they'd have to tell the DM what they want and then somehow still feel rewarded when they stumble on that in a dungeon.
I would say all of these principles are things that could work along side a currency system. E.g. if a player has 500g, no need to calculate 5 silver pints. If a player has a magic item they don't want, create a situation where they can trade it for one they do. If a player has oogled a flaming sword in a shop, have them find that sword instead of coins.
Thanks for provoking my thoughts on this ❤
There is also embracing the coin math and fixing the excessive inflation that a gold based economy creates and using a sliver based system where the risk to get gp and pp is justified in world
HAHA
I love these systems, and switch between what suits a setting, if I'm in a stable situation I just have food, water, a house, internet etc, no wealth tracking, but if I'm a down on their luck adventurer in a town that's currently dealing with economic inflation since it's easy for the fire immune locals to get valuable gems and metals from the volcano they live at, but hard to grow food, suddenly the cost of each loaf of bread, night at the inn etc should be tracked.
Wealth levels are perfect for encouraging just having fun at the carnival, not tracking ammo etc.
trade is great for things on the edge of society or transisional periods of escaping capitalism/it encroching on a society.
just get the items is 1 I don't use much except with 1 character I recently made who has no concept for numbers, money etc so if it's not a useful item she ignores it, and if someone wants a thing she just gives it.
my favorite of these is the cash per day idea, just the whole "you can afford to carry a sword and 3 healing potions, I think you're safe to have a drink.
I know I'm autistic, but isn't "Just do the math" a) conceptually simpler and b) always clearer?
(For context: I have GMd 5 years of Rogue Trader, *that* is a system that, for all its many flaws, does wealth efficiently, imo)
I mean, Rogue Trader has the Profit Factor, right?
So… not counting coins.
EDITS: added some context for readability ^^
@@Dungeon_Bits doesn't count coins, because it includes a whole bunch of shit that isn't easily translated into coins without an economics degree (like pilgrimage rights or agricultural material tithes and arcane finance lore from millennia past) and deals with finance at such a staggeringly stupid scale that the PCs have entire sub-houses of accountants whose only goal in life is keeping the Holy Bank Account up to date and they're still grappling with the consequences of the Great Rounding Error of the latter half of the 39th Millennium.
I.e. it's impossible XD
However.
Because acquiring stuff is a roll, getting from "Can I afford this?" to "Yes/No" to "I don't have it/I have it and in which amounts" is always clear.
Now, this is just a hunch, so I could be wrong, but I think a sizeable portion of the general issue with "counting beans" is how impersonal and abstract it can feel.
"250 gold" is just a number. Adding 28157 gold is just adding another number.
Five 50 poker chips in front of you, however, are not "just a number", even if they represent exactly that ("just a number").
Playing often on TTS, I have (re)learned to appreciate using "physical" tokens for money, to both give a feeling of immersion and to ground the perception my players (or me, too) have of value; it changes, once you can just *see* it.
Plus, seeing 12 tiny gold ingot tokens, instead of writing "+1200 gp" on your sheet, when you loot the hoard of the dragon feels much cooler ^^
Kinda like a larp that I go to that has actual physical tokens made by a friend of the organizers who works a laser cutting machine and cuts those tiny coins out of metal waste; they're simple and silly, but they work.