I am not comfortable with releasing the full price list I use until I get rid of the stuff that comes from Harn only. However I did go through Swords & Wizardry and picked out all the items that came with Core rules and of course the weapons list I created yesterday. I also included some information on hirelings, weights & measures, and the coinage system.
You can download it from here. For those playing in my campaign I sent you the full price list via email.
While the coinage system derivative of Harn, Crossby and Columbia Games in turn got it from history. The basic idea is that you have one common coin. In my case the Silver Penny, and one really large valuable coin. In my case the Gold Crown which is worth 320 silver penny. Silver penny is abbreviated as d (for denarius). For example a Broadsword is worth 150d.
If you see the symbol f it is short for farthing, 1/4 of a silver penny.
I find this dual coinage system works better than traditional copper-silver-gold. It restore Gold to it's proper place as the king of precious metal as well as restore some of the value to silver.
Also my coins are much smaller than D&D's traditional 10 coin to 1 pound measure. In my case 256 silver equal one pound, and the gold crown weighs one ounce giving 16 to 1 pound. This is actually historical as silver pennies, drachmas, and denarius were minted in a size somewhere between a US dime and a US nickel.
My father inherited a coin collection from his brother and it includes a silver parthian coin from the 1st century, a silver roman denarius from the 2nd century, and a honest to god silver penny minted by King John of England. They are small and light and like the various internet sites say between a dime and a nickel in size.
As for the rest of the price list I plan on incorporating in a future Majestic Wilderlands product along with a bunch of other campaign support material I haven't released yet. I assembled a bunch of historical price lists and combing through them to make sure what I release is my own work and not Columbia Games. I will release it as a standalone download for free when I get done.
Errata the Knight Killer Crossbow does 5d4+2 damage not 1d20+2 damage.
6 comments:
There are f's in the price list also Rob. You should explain them also. If for no other reason I've forgotten myself.
Do you use the same amount of money for starting money as given in the S&W core rules, or do you use a different amount with this price list?I've been working on something similar for my Greyhawk-based campaign. I've been thinking about giving players a flat 500d to start with, but am unsure if that is enough.
I have 20 silver pennies per ounce, instead of your 16. However, I still have the 20:1 gold-to-silver ratio that you do so an ounce of gold is worth 400d. I'm using a gold crown weighing 1/5 ounce that is worth 80d. That gives me 320 silver pennies/80 gold crowns per pound as far as weight.
Do you have any concerns with your pricelist in that captured swords and armor become much more valuable than they would be with a more traditional OSR price list?
I also notice that a pound of silver in the form of the Silver Mark bar is worth 240d, while a pound of silver in the form of pennies would be 256d. Does the Silver Mark bar represent pure silver that is cut with tin or copper to make the pennies? Do you already have a specific proportion in mind?
@Tim: I guess it would be good for me to know this as well.
I edited the post but f means farthing. There are 4 farthings in a silver penny. Note that it is not a coin but a silver penny split into four pieces. Most coins minted in the Majestic Wilderlands are designed to make this easy.
@Duke Starting money is 3d6 time 100 silver penny. In GURPS the default was a flat 1,500d modified by advantage so I had a lot of experience with this figure.
I found that the prices are roughly equivalent so you have the same purchase power. The major difference is with Chain and Plate which are considerably more expensive. But not beyond the reach of a mid-level fighter that has saved.
As for the captured equipment in general I have no concerns. I substitute an roleplaying award instead of xp for treasure. Also since I run my campaign in a naturalistic way it isn't a simple matter to dispose of a 100 swords. Finally many of the cultures where mass "acquisitions" occur (orc, goblin, etc) the equipment are of inferior quality and useful only for their weight in metal.
But I understand in games that award XP for treasure that this is a concern.
Coinage is 75% precious metal by weight. A pound of pure silver is worth 320d, and a pound of pure gold is 6,400d.
That left me confused until a post on the Harnforum pointed where the Harndex talked about coinage.
The definition of a pound on page 6 is wrong. It should be "16.0 oz.", not "16.0/oz."
And after I posted that comment, all of the liquid measurements should remove the "/".
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