One of my players asked me what the appropriate name for all the coins would be... anyone?
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Any idea on the campaign, is it homebrewed or offical(Forgotten Realms,Greyhawk,Eberron)? Otherwise i'll make the currrency as in Diamond Lake or use that which is described in the PHB or DMG. In my own free city which is Calimport in FR, i used the currency lists from both Empires of the shining sea and Lands of Intrigue Boxed sets.(It will take too long to post,sorry).
Sorry, we're using Greyhawk.
It's been a long time since I read the Gord books but I think its:
platinum plate
gold orb
electrum lucky
silver noble
copper common
Plus you had brass bits, bronze zees, iron somethings that were phased out at some point.
It's been a long time since I read the Gord books but I think its:
platinum plate
gold orb
electrum lucky
silver noble
copper commonPlus you had brass bits, bronze zees, iron somethings that were phased out at some point.
Craig's right. The coinage is also listed in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer.
Brass bits, bronze zees, & iron drabs are no longer valid forms of GH currency--they were phased out by Nerof Gasgal in the 570's.
Thanks, Craig. I really appreciate it.
For those running AoW in Greyhawk, the Living Greyhawk gazetteer lists coinage for every different country. When I'm running generic adventures I usually go with a default of pp="royal", gp="crown", sp="noble", cp="penny". Other good coin names from medieval Europe: ducat, florin (good for weighty gold, platinum coins); piastre, dinar, mark, shilling, drachma, pistole, taler (good for mid-range coins like silver or electrum if used); sol, farthing (for copper).
Incidentally, I was a bit suspicious of the idea of the platinum piece, having never heard of platinum used as coinage in my historical or literary readings. I researched a bit and found that platinum wasn't identified as an element until the 18th century, and that even then, no one could heat the ore up enough to smelt it and make it into anything useful. Ergo, IMC, platinum pieces are quite rare--usually minted by Dwarves or other groups with advanced and/or magical metallurgical techniques. Of course, this makes it inconvenient for parties that want to carry large amounts of coin--but that's what gems are for.
Any mention of electrum?
Any mention of electrum?
Yup: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrum
Any mention of electrum?Yup: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrum
Thanks for the reference. I suspect the problem of ascertaining the exact ratio of gold to silver in this naturally occurring alloy would lead electrum coinage to be unpopular in many campaign worlds, as it eventually did in the ancient Mediterranean world. (For those who are interested in such trivial details).
...I researched a bit and found that platinum wasn't identified as an element until the 18th century, and that even then, no one could heat the ore up enough to smelt it and make it into anything useful. Ergo, IMC, platinum pieces are quite rare--usually minted by Dwarves or other groups with advanced and/or magical metallurgical techniques. Of course, this makes it inconvenient for parties that want to carry large amounts of coin--but that's what gems are for.
Usually I don't like science intruding in my D&D campaign, but that's an interesting and useful way to get some control on coinage.
Jack
They used to call Platinum little silver and throw it back in the river to grow up.
Early methods of smelting Platinum involved arsnic or cynide.
I can't remember which and I'm having trouble searching
it on the internet. It may be erased history.
You are better off subduing a red dragon and having it melt the
metal into the mold.
Platinum usually occurs in small amounts with other precious
metals. You can mine it or pan for it.
The gold melts, then the silver, but the platinum remains behind.