Unique Currencies Can Add A Lot To Your Game World

Hargrave sat nervously at the table in the rear of the tavern. He'd been told to wait, and wait he had, nursing a tarred jack of sour wine and trying not to grimace. When the man in the black hood entered, Hargrave pretended not to notice him. The man didn't speak, but Hargrave told him what he'd seen in a low whisper. When he'd told everything he knew, the man nodded, stood, and went the way he'd come. Sitting on the scarred tabletop, gleaming dully in the firelight, was a single, thick coin. Heavy as only gold was heavy, Hargrave saw the profile of an old man in a tall hat, and smiled.

Golden bishops were rare in this quarter, and now that he had one, he could afford to drink something a little sweeter than this cup of vinegar.

A Gilded Wraith? Friend, I'd sell you both my sisters, if you had one of those to pay.

What's Currency Like In Your Setting?

Most fantasy games out there use a pretty familiar system of metal coding to determine the value of a currency; copper, silver, and gold. Sometimes you use platinum for something even more valuable than gold, and sometimes you throw in weird metals like electrum, but those Olympic metals are the baseline for most in-game currency. And why not? They're easy to remember, and they happen to correspond to a system we're all pretty familiar with.

But if you've been looking for a way to add a touch more detail to your world, consider adding a few details to the money your players see, handle, and spend.

A golden mother? Where did you say you were from again, stranger?

Every kingdom and country is going to have their own, unique currency, even if they're made of the same material and have roughly equivalent values. After all, gold is gold, and you can still buy a fresh sword and new armor with it no matter how old it is. But can the money in someone's pocket give you clues about who they are? Or tip you off about something you should have noticed?

For example, say your party has just been given a job, and were paid up-front to take care of a small matter. Some might just tuck the coins away sight unseen, but one party member might notice the coins are stamped with a peacock and an elephant. Not only are these coins from far away, they also come from the nation this country is currently embroiled in a cold war with. While it will spend just as well as any other gold, it might draw suspicion, and get you marked as enemy agents. It might also tip the party off that their employer is either very far-traveled, or may be embroiled in deeper affairs than they can see.

Alternatively, say that you see someone paying for services with very old coins. Not just decades, but centuries old. Gold is still gold, but that minting date, the stamp, and the wear indicates that these coins likely came from a treasure hoard, rather than from daily labor. Where did it come from? An old pot dug up from a field that is unknowingly atop an ancient ruin? Found in the shallows, washed up from the sea? Or is this person a strange, fey creature in disguise who doesn't know that this gold is suspicious to those looking for such details?

You don't have to change up the money people are using by switching from copper, silver, and gold to magic gems, or trading the bones of particular beasts (though feel free to do that if you want to). You just need to fill in the details of what makes the coins from one place different from the coins from somewhere else.

Themes, Appearance, and Style

The other day I was browsing, and saw a conversation about currency. One of the suggestions was to make coins based off of chess pieces... and that is a perfect example of how you can craft a small detail that immediately makes your setting feel that much more real.

Coppers are called pawns, while a five-piece would be a rook. Silver knights are worth ten pawns each, and golden bishops are the most expensive currency most are likely to see in their lives. Platinum queens might be carried by the very rich, while a king is less of a coin, and more a measure of wealth used to pay bills by governments, and families of extreme wealth. The kind of money you'd use to cover an army of 10,000 soldiers, or to pay a debt for that season's grain purchase.

You could even use the coins as pieces, gambling with them in a game of strategy... long as you have a king stand-in.

Those coins immediately give this nation a personality, and allow you to start making flavorful associations.  It also uses a system that's simple to learn, and if you want to have some extra fun, you can use physical chess pieces as a way to keep track of bennies in your game. More about how that might work in If You Haven't Tried A Bennies System, You Should Give It A Shot.

There are all sorts of hierarchies you could use to tie your currency to the themes of a given country to make their money feel more unique. You might have a system based on animals, with gilded lions at the top, and copper hares at the bottom. You could have coins that look more like poker chips, with the suits just as important as the metal in determining their worth in the Four-Winds Nation. You could even have coins that feature monsters, gods, and heroes if you want to put a little lore into each transaction, or give players a hint that certain coins are out-of-the-ordinary, and might be a clue to something deeper.

And that's before you even get into strange and unique coins, like the Coin of The Realm, which legally excuses the bearer of any crime short of regicide, and is detailed in the supplement A Baker's Dozen of Rumours (And The Truth Behind Them) from Azukail Games.

It's Just One More Option

Since I know there will be some DMs out there who feel this is somehow calling them out for not paying attention to which imaginary figures have their imaginary portraits stamped on imaginary coins that only exist as a metric for who can buy the most powerful imaginary stuff, let me be clear. If you have no interest in putting extra detail into the coins, gems, or other currency your party comes across, that's fine. You aren't committing some grievous sin of world building.

However, it is one more aspect of the world that you can use to get information to your players, and to make the world they're in feel that much more unique.

That's all for this Fluff installment. Hopefully it got a few gears turning out there! If you'd like to see more of my work then head over to my Vocal archive, or click my Gamers page just to see my tabletop stuff. You should also check out Dungeon Keeper Radio, a YouTube channel where I get together with other gamers to make videos for dungeon masters and players alike.

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Rare Elements Foundry Makes Amazing Fantasy Coins

As any long-time reader knows, I love conventions. The gathering of geeks in one place allows me to meet folks from all across the spectrum of interests, and to discover all kinds of glorious things I had no idea even existed. From the dragon heads of David Lee Pancake, to the art of illustrator Brent Chumley, there is something around every corner.

It was a few years ago while I was at C2E2 (which gives away free 1-day Friday passes to industry professionals if you apply early enough, by the by) that I discovered Rare Elements Foundry. So I thought I'd share their work with you today... because look at this damn thing!

What would you even buy with that?

Just imagine, for a moment, that you're running a game. The party comes across the body of a man who's been horrifically mummified in what looks like a few moments. His clothes are fresh and wealthy, his skin dusty and dry to the touch. Holding down the scrap of his tongue is a coin. When the players ask about it, you flip them this from behind your screen.

That's going to make an impact.

Serious Props, For Moderate Money

The model pictured above is called the Smoke Behemoth, and it costs a pretty penny. $22 for a single coin. However, not everything Rare Elements does is quite that pricey. The same cost, for example, could get you a 10-count of the Wraith, or the Gnoll. In some cases you can get even more coins for the cost of a Jackson, and two Washingtons.

The Wraith, in case you were curious.

These coins are useful for tabletop games, but where they really shine is in a LARP setting. Do you want to make your players carry around their in-game wealth in a meaningful way? Get a big bag of the multi-denomination coins to add in a touch of realism. Do you want to have a mysterious prop in your murder mystery? Put a pair of these coins over the eyes of a murder victim. Do you want to mark someone for death? Have the old fortune teller force a Wraith into someone's hand, and every time the player throws it away, or tries to leave it somewhere, make the coin return to their belongings somehow.

The possibilities are endless! And with the high-quality metals used by Rare Elements in all their designs, these coins can last for years. Not only that, but a little wear and tear might make them look even stranger, and more authentic. In some cases, they might create a whole new legend... especially if a figure's features grow smudged, or the numbering becomes difficult to comprehend. Hell, you could turn that into an entire plot point, if you were of a mind.

So, check out Rare Elements Foundry today, and take a look around. You never know what strange adventures await, freshly minted and ready to go.

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday post. If you want to keep getting updates like this, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. And if you want to support Improved Initiative so I can keep bringing you content just like this week after week, why not head to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page? If you become a patron, and pledge at least $1 a month, then I'll send you some sweet swag to go along with my undying gratitude.