Coinage and Old School D&D Rules ©J.D. Neal 2012 All Rights Reserved Referring to: Original 1974 Rules Holmes Edited Introductory rules ("Holmes Basic") c. 1977. Moldvay and Cook/Marsh Dungeons & Dragons of c. 1980-1981 Frank Mentzer compiled rules and sub-sets thereof. 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons including the Dungeons Master's Guide (DMG) Monster Manual (MM) and Players Handbook (PHB)
An aspect of early Dungeons & Dragons was the encumb encumbran rance ce system system,, which which was was based based on coins. coins. There were 10 coins per pound, making it easy to keep track of character encumbrance and how much treasure they could carry. Eventually I realized the same thing many people do: a coin weighing 1/10 a pound is extremely large. In fact, most coins are small, weighing 100 to 150 per pound. Despite an adoration for the simplistic system of early D&D, I did the same thing other people did, changing changing encumbranc encumbrance e to pounds and changing changing the weight of coins to 100 per pound. The fact that some games used 50 coins per pound was only further anno annoyi ying ng beca becaus use e that that only only made made the the math math for for encumbrance wonky and did not jive with the human tendency to enjoy big numbers like 100. But encumbrance in pounds was not as satisfying as I thou though ghtt it would ould be at firs first. t. The tedi tedium um of rounding numbers (was 249 coins 2 pounds or 3?) replaced the simplicity of 10 coins per pound. Why can't things be simple? I finally realized that I had fallen for the same mind trap many gamers fall for: an obsession with "coins".
What is a coin? A coin is a form of currency - a commonly acce accept pted ed medi medium um of exch exchan ange ge.. Coin Coins s have have not not always existed. Before the advent of coinage, people had been been tradin trading g for centur centuries ies.. While While barter barter was was common, they had also used such things as grain, salt, slaves, or beer as a forms of currency. Coins were invented some 3,000 years ago (the exact dates are murky because because our ancestors ancestors rarely rarely made extensive scholarly notes; and what they did write was often lost.) lost.) That date is interesting because because it is part part of the the Bron Bronze ze Age, Age, appr approa oach chin ing g the the beginning of the "iron age." But that only makes sense. After all, the Bronze Age was one of the vaguely defined eras where mankind began to make wider use of metals; one key
metal being bronze, which is an alloy of copper. The advent of metals eventually eventually led to a trade in metals. The trade in metals became so important and so common that nations began forming it into easily counted, counted, uniform uniform weights. weights. These became became what we refer to as "coins". Early coins were often presented with a fiat value - a valu value e above above thei theirr actu actual al meta metall cont conten ent. t. The The will willin ingn gnes ess s of anyo anyone ne to acce accept pt this this vari varied ed by indi indivi vidu dual al.. Rega Regard rdle less ss of the the acce accept ptanc ance e of fiat fiat values, these coins were minted from precious metal and hence had a minimum value as bullion. Up until the 1970s or so, most coins did indeed contain a percentage of precious metal, often silver. silver. Eventually, most modern coins became pure fiat money, made of base metals and valued as a method of exchange, not for metal content. Another interesting thing is that jewelery is not ornamental; the advent of pockets is a rather new thin thing g and and for for ages ages past past peop people le need needed ed ways ways of carrying things. So, they took precious metals and shape shaped d them them to wher where e they they coul could d be worn worn.. The The "pre "prett tty" y" fact factor or of jew jewelry elry is a matt matter er of find findiing someone who wants to pay for how pretty something is. Chains of silver and gold were money. They were formed in loops so the owner could wear them; when the owner wanted to buy something, they would open the the chai chain, n, pry pry link links s off, off, and and hand hand them them over over as money, which is what they were. The crown and other jewels of state were not pretty; they were a statement: my nation is wealthy; here is a sign of its wealth; I control the nation's wealth. And some leaders did sell and trade the state jewels, if they were greedy or desperate. desperate. An interesting aspect of coins is that many types were eventually marked with a cross, making it easy to cut them in halves and quarters for small change.
Gold Pieces The original 1974 publication of D&D used "gold
pieces pieces"" for encumb encumbra rance nce.. The AD&D AD&D (Adva (Advance nced d D&D; 1st edition) rules also used gold pieces, as did the introductory book edited by Holmes about 1977. I noted that my own fixation with "coins" as weight had begun with the Cook/Moldvay edited rules and its kin, which all specified that weights were in "coins" abbreviated to "cns". I realized that metallic currency in a fantasy world woul would d cons consis istt of coin coins s of many many diff differ eren entt type types s (inclu (includin ding g pieces pieces of coins coins torn torn apart apart), ), and variou various s pieces of jewelery chopped up in trade. And I realized that merchants had often used scales to weigh coins. Ordinary people could check the weight of coin of using a flat stick and balancing it, then putting a coin on each end to see how they compared. compared. A merchant merchant could use uniform uniform weights, weights, often marked and shaped like the originals, as well as coins coins they they truste trusted. d. Mercha Merchant nt scales scales were were useful useful because many coins were light weight; they needed a trus trustw twor orth thy y way way of maki making ng very very smal smalll weigh eightt measur measureme ements nts - moreso moreso,, with with finer finer weigh weights ts they they could estimate any differences more accurately. After all: when a merchant posed a price, they were demanding a certain weight in gold, silver or coppe copperr. Many Many coin coins s had had name names s that that rela relate ted d to quantities and weights and others will simply names for metals (gilder = gold). A demand demand for so many coins of a certain type was a demand for a certain weight of gold or silver. silver.
What is a D&D Coin? All of that led to a realization: Gary Gygax tended to refer to weights in "gold pieces" not "coins" and a "gold piece" was not a coin. A "gold piece" was a unit of weight equal to 1/10 a pound. Thus, when a pile of treasure had 1,230 gold pieces, it had 123 pounds of gold. gold. The treasu treasure re itsel itselff would would typic typicall ally y consis consistt of coins of various weight and pieces of metal from torn coins coins and jewele jewelery ry and random random metal metal items items - all totaling 123 pounds. I am not not sayi saying ng this this is the the "rig "right ht"" minds mindset et to accept accept.. Gamers Gamers can play play howeve howeverr they they want want to, includ including ing by using using system systems s where where weigh weights ts are in poun pounds ds and and coin coins s are are 50 to 100 100 per per poun pound d or whatev whatever er they they wish. wish. Indeed Indeed,, these these are games games of fantasy and it can be fun imagining oneself hauling around big-assed coins and pounds of gold. Instead, this is intended for anyone who wants to add some fantasy to the game and who is familiar with and enjoys the "10 coins per pound" concept of older games. The 1974 rules and the other D&D rules that followed tended to have prices such as 1 gold piece for 6 torches, which could lead players to thinking either torches were expensive or gold was cheap. In
AD&D rules, a torch cost 1 copper piece and there were were 200 200 copp copper er per per gold gold,, maki making ng gold gold more more valuable. In most games, characters start out well off and soon soon have have thous thousan ands ds of piec pieces es of gold gold and and are are wealthy; this makes some gamers think gold is cheap and plentiful. For For some some game gamers rs,, the the anno annoya yanc nce e is that that a character cannot carry more than a few hundred gold pieces of treasure; between gear and the need to move move fast fast,, 500 500 or so gold gold piec pieces es stre stress sses es thei their r character's capacity. Interesting enough: this makes things like bags of holding and the floating disc spell very useful, in their own way. And it seems to be one reason the game was designed as it was: to reduce mounty-haul gaming ("Here's 10,000 g.p. in a pile. Whoops, you can't carry it out?...") Limited encumbrance limits the amount of experience characters can earn, too, unless they are clever. I was musing on tweaking a game to make gold seem very valuable and to enhance the fantasy of the game, when I realized all of the above. If I wanted to increase the value of gold and make "coins" lighter, I did not need to change the weight of coins - I could follow the opposite tack. I divided the prices I was using using by 10, roundi rounding ng as I please pleased. d. For the slow witted: I divided everything by 10, including the cost of research, research, starting starting money, money, treasures, treasures, etc. Except Except experience for money, which I changed to 1 g.p. = 10 x.p. The The end end resu result lt is that that I coul could d mai maintai ntain n the the convention of encumbrance in coins (actually: in gold pieces) and since "coins" were now worth 10 times what what they they used used to be, be, they they were were "lig "light hter er". ". The The characters needed to carry fewer to get the same value. The flaw (and (and reason reason some people people would not accept such a change) is that some people enjoy carr carryi ying ng arou around nd larg large e sums sums of gold gold.. They They want want characters finding and carrying 2,000 - 3,000 g.p. at a time or more. (Not they could do so without magical aide or the DM ignoring encumbrance rules...) In that case, they need only use whatever weight system they prefer, including 100 coins per pound. And some people find weights in pounds simpler to deal with.
Rates of Exchange A realistic realistic rate of exchange exchange is impossible because the values of metals would change in relation to each other. Prices change all the time and the value of coins is just another price. Old school D&D often often used used differ different ent rates rates of exchange:
1974: 1 gold piece = 10 silver pieces = 50 copper pieces 1 silver piece = 5 copper pieces Holmes introductory Booklet: 1 copper piece (CP) equals 1/50 gold piece 1 silver piece (SP) equals 1/10 gold piece 1 electrum piece (EP) equals 1/2 gold piece 1 platinum piece (PP) equals 5/1 gold piece or: 5 copper pieces equals 1 silver piece 10 silver pieces equals 1 gold piece 2 electrum pieces equals 1 gold piece 5 gold pieces equals 1 platinum piece AD&D (1st edition): 1 gold piece = 2 electrum pieces = 20 silver pieces = 200 copper pieces 1 electrum piece = 10 silver pieces = 100 copper pieces 1 silver piece = 10 copper pieces D&D 1981, 1981, 1983, 1983, etc. etc. editin editing g credi creditt for for Cook, Cook, Moldvay, Mentzer, Alliston, etc.: 1 gold piece = 2 electrum pieces = 10 silver pieces = 100 copper pieces 1 electr electrum um pieces pieces 5 silver silver pieces pieces = 50 copper copper pieces 1 silver piece = 10 copper pieces 1 platinum piece = 5 gold pieces etc. Someone attempting to be a purist will point out that that plat platin inum um was was not not used used as a coin coin unti untill quie quiett recent recently ly,, someho somehow w failin failing g to grasp grasp that that the game game world is not Earth and hence what happens on Earth is not directly related to the game. (Trying to force our
reality on the game world is unrealistic.) In the D&D game world, people are using platinum as coinage. Electrum was used for coinage on Earth. It can appear naturally, having varying mixes of silver and gold. The different elements can be separated and in the game world nations coining electrum coins would control the ratio; the assumption is that that they use a mixture that is exactly 1/2 a gold coin in value. Another interesting and unused item is that coins that were a mixture of silver and copper did exist on Earth; they were made to provide a coin with less value than silver but about the same weight as a normal coin (small coins tended to be hard to keep up with; given that standard coins tended to be small, mint mintin ing g an even even smal smalle lerr silv silver er coin coin was was not not as desirable). By mixing silver and copper they could make a 2 or 3 copper coin, for example. The intended value was marked on them in some way. Oddl Oddly y enou enough gh,, some some camp campai aign gn sett settin ings gs and and games use brass and bronze coins which have less value that common copper coins. Making an alloy of copper (bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, and brass an alloy of copper and zinc) makes the coin more costly than copper alone. Copper itself is less common than iron, for example, which is why bronze or copper items tend to cost more than iron or steel items. Tin is even more scarce than copper; most "tin cans" are actually tin-plated steel, the tin being used to reduce rust. Not that that is true of the game world; but the tin or zinc content of a brass or bronze alloy is very small. That leads to another another interesti interesting ng thing: thing: bronze bronze armor (said to be immune to rust monster attacks) is usuall usually y priced priced as cheaper cheaper than than steel steel armor armor.. That That woul would d have have tick tickle led d the the fanc fanciies of many many of our our ancestors and eliminated the desire to develop and use iron and steel. Huma Humans ns went went to the the use use of iron iron and and stee steell beca becaus use e it was was more more plent plentif iful ul and and chea cheape perr than than copper and bronze. Bronze armor would cost more than even the best steel armor, not less.