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I've got a fledgling little homebrew world that I'm putting together and the economy of one of the newer areas I'm working on is worrying me a bit.
Short of it, place called the Gear Wastes full of living clockwork creatures (The why is left hanging for possible plot stuff/I can't really think of a good reason). Anything non-sentient or semi-sentient born in the Wastes is made of living clockwork and thus metal. Cows of iron, foxes of copper, rabbits of gold and mithril (Which move VERY fast) and a rare mythical stag made of solid platinum, along with various other creatures made of similar metals or combinations of metals. All of which are VERY tough (Easily +18AC. With Natural armors halved, COWS are 19AC and CR7s) but more or less provide their weight in metal.
This in mind, hunting is very popular in the Wastes (Though difficult), as is ranching the iron cows for, well, iron. As such, metal has no real value in the wastes, coins less so. Food, and to a lesser extent water, are far more valuable due to anything edible being comprised of metal. As such, the one city in the Wastes exports ingots of metal and metal goods in exchange for a LOT of food.
One of the checks-and-balances I was considering is that due to the nature of the world (1000 years after an apocalyptic event yadda yadda yadda fall from high end civilization only getting back to where they were just recently) the continent where the Wastes are located has been long ago tapped out of its major ore veins. As such, instead of importing metal from other countries or starting up exploratory mines, ranching and hunting in the wastes has become a thing to provide a steady'ish amount of metal for industrial advancement.
So with this in mind, what sort of issues would I be looking at as a DM if coins and bars of gold, silver and iron are all but worthless (in the Wastes), but people will be willing to trade a Masterwork Greatsword or suit of armor for a week's worth of good rations? Mostly, how can I look at curbing PC abuse and are there any kinks or inconsistencies or whathaveyou that I've overlooked?
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Well for one thing, spells that emulate eating (Dream Feast, Goodberry, Create Water, ect) as well as magic items that create food (Sustaining Spoon, Clear Spindle Ioun Stones, ect) would have to either be stupidly expensive/rare or outright not exist. Also it would theoretically make the special materials really cheap (probably 10% of normal cost, going by the firearms "XXXX everywhere" category). This would probably be a decent boost to martials, and a bit of increased power to mages, but as long as you're good with that it's all good.
About the lore, do these living clockwork creatures actually breed/grow, or just crawl out of the ground or something? Could I put a Ring of Regeneration on an adamantine armadillo and just cleave off it's legs every once and a while for infinite adamantine?
Also what would be the currency of the realm, would it be closer to the modern currency systems where the value in the hardware of the currency is far less value than the value printed, but are legitimized by a governing body (the imperial grainy of the gear wastes or whatever)? or would people be trading in jerky and hardtack?
I'd imagine that casters that could create food and water would hold a certain VIP status for expeditions and hold dedicated positions in what few settlements there are in the Wastes.
Special Materials though would still be fairly rare, as, for example, Mithril would only come in the form of nightmarishly fast rabbits (We're talking double Initiative mod and a base speed of at least 60) and Adamantite being reserved for small parts of exceptionally large creatures (Clockwork Purple Worms would only have about half a pound of Adamantite in them for example)
I would say yes, the creatures would grow and breed like normal (Rusting industrial complexes in the Wastes giving the grasses a ferros like quality, eaten by the mechanical herbivores that are in turn eaten my the clockwork predators and so on and so forth). I do not think Ring of Regeneration works on creatures that are of the Construct type however, so as DM I would rule that no, you'd not be able to do the whole "Lop off a limb for infinite metal" thing (as clever as it is).
As for the currency, outside of the Wastes would stay with the standard Copper/Silver/Gold/Platinum coin deal (I'd suspect there'd be trade agreements in place between the wastelanders and the nations to not export/import overmuch precious metals, as it would begin to devalue the actual coinage) whereas inside the Wastes, it would vary from proper coin transactions (traders that go between the wastes and the northern nations) to barter and trade (Within the wastes and from wastelanders). Trade between the Wastes and the nations itself would likely be based on a laid out barter system, like so many bars of iron gets you so many pounds of food for example.
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So your whole world is a clockwork world? A clockwork campaign with clockwork characters and monsters? If that is the case, then your money system need be no problem at all. Your minerals and biotics are just reversed, so instead of
10 copper pieces = 1 silver piece
10 silver pieces = 1 gold piece
10 gold pieces = 1 platinum pieceYou have
10 tooth pieces = 1 bone piece
10 bone pieces = 1 leather piece
10 leather pieces = 1 flesh pieceor something.
In this world, I think you should not tell the players that they are clockwork characters in a clockwork world: You might drop clues about it, like having a perception check reveal that they seem "very wound up." Or that they seem to have been "out in the wilderness for days with no keys." Maybe that that some monsters are "moving very stiffly, like they need oil" Keep it going, and let the players piece together gradually what is going on. In this campaign, the version of an undead crypt is a meadow of rabbits and foxes, be sure to go into detail how incredibly SOFT the bird's feathers are, like nothing you've ever seen!
Eheh ^_^;
Aaaaactually it's just a section of the world, not the whole world.
Pre-apocalypse it was a Dwarven industrial nation with workshops and factories and foundries from coast to coast, producing starships and weapons of war and the like. The apocalypse happened (The planet being shunted over a dimension and a half, cutting off contact with the Gods of the world and sparking massive religious wars and destabilized portals) and the nation fell into rapid ruin. Something happened (An experiment left on automatic that went awry, techno-organic virus, etc.) and began converting the non-sentiant life into living clockwork.
The initial idea behind the Wastes was one part "The Evolution of Technology" video on Youtube Seen here and the need to step away from a plot/story heavy campaign area after learning the group I'd be DMing for is more apt to destroy and loot instead of trying to save the world. So I opted to make them a little playground to run about in where almost everything is self-contained and there's no doomsday weapons or anything that would overtly affect the rest of the world.
Edit: Full compiled details of the world can be found here.
Would a ranger or druid with an animal companion worry about the locals trying to eat it?
Be sure to keep track of rations for the party. If all it takes for a +4 Greatsword of Smashing Annihilation is 3 weeks worth of food, the party could end up trading away their food supplies. If the party fails to plan for this, do you have some ways in mind that they could avoid dying of starvation?
If one of the PCs is a caster who can create food and such, it could give them VIP status with the locals, but also be a target for the scoundrels who may want to coerce Caster into supplying them.
Generally, civilization doesn't fare well when facing food shortages and such, so is the place maybe rough and tumble, or are the trade agreements with other nations enough to keep things generally prosperous?
Also, a horse +haste could easily catch upto your Mithral Rabbit, especially if it had a rider with a lance riding it, so poaching valuable materials could still be effective. Maybe there's some type of "Park Rangers" to keep people and PCs under control?
Do rats and such hunt down metal? It could be interesting to see how the PCs react when they find their camp under seige from legions of rats trying to eat their swords/coin purses/belt buckles.
With all the raw metals I think, as an amateur metalurgist, your top commodities would be artisan skills, tools, coal, mineral oil, lead and colored glass. Coinage would likely be combinant metals and cake substances like nickel, alchemical metal dyes, sulfur, copper and aluminum. Pretty much in that order, with some of it as barter and some in standard measures for economics. These are all key in metalwork and alloys.
Inlay materials like ivory and gems would be luxury goods. A flexible material like solder would be sought after for metal repairs since clockwork doesn't heal per se.
Actually after reading the full world details I think a form of calcified pink mist might make a great analog for gold pieces. It is probably rare (like gold) and could be used as both an artisan material and as a beautiful substance for decoration like gold.
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Would a ranger or druid with an animal companion worry about the locals trying to eat it?
Be sure to keep track of rations for the party. If all it takes for a +4 Greatsword of Smashing Annihilation is 3 weeks worth of food, the party could end up trading away their food supplies. If the party fails to plan for this, do you have some ways in mind that they could avoid dying of starvation?
If one of the PCs is a caster who can create food and such, it could give them VIP status with the locals, but also be a target for the scoundrels who may want to coerce Caster into supplying them.
Generally, civilization doesn't fare well when facing food shortages and such, so is the place maybe rough and tumble, or are the trade agreements with other nations enough to keep things generally prosperous?
Also, a horse +haste could easily catch upto your Mithral Rabbit, especially if it had a rider with a lance riding it, so poaching valuable materials could still be effective. Maybe there's some type of "Park Rangers" to keep people and PCs under control?
Do rats and such hunt down metal? It could be interesting to see how the PCs react when they find their camp under seige from legions of rats trying to eat their swords/coin purses/belt buckles.
1) I think it would depend on the animal companion. Not many players I've seen tend to have much larger than, say, a wolf. If one had a bull or something that could serve as long/medium term provisions, I'd say they may have to worry.
2) I'd honestly let the PCs screw themselves over then start applying negatives and whatnot for starving. They complain, I point out that their spiffy new piece of gear.
3) I could see there being a sort of some unusual Druids or Rangers that keep down poaching. Maybe dwarves treat the Wastes as a sort of holy land and run patrols through to keep things...stable.
If I understand correctly, you're wondering how the economy of perfectly run-of-the-mill people would function in a place where life is completely dependent on the availability of external resources. That begs a few other questions regarding social constructs. What value is placed on human life? What is the form of government?
A wasteland colony overseen by altruistic oligarchs, perhaps a scholarly society dedicated to the exploration of the wastes, may well choose to retain metals as the basis of the economy, but might forego actual currency and moneylenders for fortress-like assay offices and scrip. Actual monetary transactions would be reserved for foreign merchants and there would be a great many of those... after all, everyone needs to eat.
An exploitative cabal with a monopoly on trade on the other hand, might run their entire economy on credit, essentially enslaving the entire community for life by charging them for every dram of water or crumb of food at exhorbitant prices and issuing draconian punishments for underperformance. Taken to extremes, those who die in debt might be harvested for their flesh and water and necromancers might do a brisk trade in tireless servants.
In either event, it is unlikely that basic foodstuffs would be treated as currency. Too variable and in many cases, too perishable. Salt and other spices on the other hand, would retain great value for their ability to transform bleak and meager fare into satisfying meals. That sort of tradegood also holds value outside the wastes. A futures exchange might also emerge.
Another thought... if the metallic wildlife does actually breed and grow, then it stands to reason that there must also be some natural mechanism to keep the wastes in check. Mining/ranching wouldn't necessarily do it. Perhaps these metals do not endure outside the peculiar environment of the wastes. Or perhaps there are fearsome predators akin to rust monsters against which one must always be alert.
1) Honestly I've not put really any thought into the economy beyond "Perishables > Metals". I'd like to think that the only actual city (A port city) has government as simply an extension of the local guard and that trade is done on a person/organization by person/organization basis. Traders pull in to set up shop, people trade raw materials or goods for the perishables/other goods, traders head back north with their metal goods, locals squirrel away their perishables/other goods to last until the next traders come. If you can't trade or work, you don't eat, you don't eat, you either starve, steal or leave. I could see casters capable of Create Food/Water under the employ of either traders, the local government, or extremely prosperous smiths/smithing guilds.
2) I've been thinking about adding Rust Monsters in as an apex predator, though I'm still on the fence about it. I want there to be places closed off initially by big'ol metal doors (The door leading to the entrace of a location called The Ring Path for example) and it wouldn't really make sense for it to be intact when Rust Monsters are running about eating everything. To keep the creatures spreading though, I'm thinking there's some sort of...field? That prevents the clockwork creatures from heading past a certain point. Like an invisible fence for dogs.
First off, for your mithral bunny, look up Quicklings and try using them as the base creature. 120' per round, now THAT'S crazy fast!
Secondly, have the heart of this region be some sort of creation forge that caused all the new "lifeforms" in the first place. Clockwork creatures can't roam to far from its emissions or they become normal animated objects, nor can they approach too close or risk becoming undone by an overload of the unstable magic. Then you could have the doors be some enchanted wood or stone, no risk of being munched on by your apex predators.
Last, cool idea! I might just steal this to pop into mine! I have a similar area where two sides of an ancient war still fight centuries after everyone died. One side used undead, other side used constructs. Replication mechanics put into place keep the armies fighting even though any real sentience died out long ago.
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First off, for your mithral bunny, look up Quicklings and try using them as the base creature. 120' per round, now THAT'S crazy fast!
Secondly, have the heart of this region be some sort of creation forge that caused all the new "lifeforms" in the first place. Clockwork creatures can't roam to far from its emissions or they become normal animated objects, nor can they approach too close or risk becoming undone by an overload of the unstable magic. Then you could have the doors be some enchanted wood or stone, no risk of being munched on by your apex predators.
Last, cool idea! I might just steal this to pop into mine! I have a similar area where two sides of an ancient war still fight centuries after everyone died. One side used undead, other side used constructs. Replication mechanics put into place keep the armies fighting even though any real sentience died out long ago.
I've decided to leave the "how" of the clockworks as vague and ambiguous as I can. A couple of ideas I had were 1) Magical artifact did it, 2) Non-magical plague did it, 3) Magical plague did it, 4) The dwarves forced one of their gods mortal to experiment on and the clockwork stuff is the curse. *Shrugs* I'll work it out when it comes up.
If you're interested, the compiled works of the world thus far can be found here.
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First off, for your mithral bunny, look up Quicklings and try using them as the base creature. 120' per round, now THAT'S crazy fast!
Secondly, have the heart of this region be some sort of creation forge that caused all the new "lifeforms" in the first place. Clockwork creatures can't roam to far from its emissions or they become normal animated objects, nor can they approach too close or risk becoming undone by an overload of the unstable magic. Then you could have the doors be some enchanted wood or stone, no risk of being munched on by your apex predators.
Last, cool idea! I might just steal this to pop into mine! I have a similar area where two sides of an ancient war still fight centuries after everyone died. One side used undead, other side used constructs. Replication mechanics put into place keep the armies fighting even though any real sentience died out long ago.
I've decided to leave the "how" of the clockworks as vague and ambiguous as I can. A couple of ideas I had were 1) Magical artifact did it, 2) Non-magical plague did it, 3) Magical plague did it, 4) The dwarves forced one of their gods mortal to experiment on and the clockwork stuff is the curse. *Shrugs* I'll work it out when it comes up.If you're interested, the compiled works of the world thus far can be found here.
Ok yeah, I think I nailed down the "How". Quasi-magical disease that got loose from a research lab after the apocalypse happened. Disease was created from examining, studying and dissecting-while-alive Inevitables. If the players discover the lab, look forward to Inevitables with the Broken Soul template.