Can someone break down how the money system in WFRP works? I thought I heard that it uses a 1:10 silver to brass, gold to silver, etc. ratio but I can't remember where I saw that. I wanted to know since I was really thinking about pimping out my game with www.campaigncoins.com.au/ .

Am I correct in saying that this appears to be a low-money system? Would I therefore be able to pretty easily get enough coins for a game without having to buy hundreds upon hundreds (like in D&D)?

Lotta questions, but Id appreciate anyone who could help

1 gold = 100 silver = 2500 brass

so 1 silver = 25 brass

that would need a lot of coins.

Daaaaaamn. Yeah, that's getting filed under "Screw It" then. ;] Thanks

Campaign coins come in large denominations, though, so 2500 brass could be done with 5 coins (500 CP coins).

We're using campaign coins in our game, and so far the character's poverty is keeping the number of coins needed pretty low So far we're only using silver and copper, but eventually they might work up to having a few gold coins.

If you can afford them, campaign coins are very, very nice, and add a great tactile component to the game, very in keeping with the WFRP "bits" philosophy.

John

Another way to do it is to just have say 1, 5, and maybe 20 denom brass, the same for silver also maybe 10s, and 1 and 5 gold pieces. Rather than carry around 2500 in brass, they would just have 1 gold. If they spent a few silvers, you give them their change in silvers and you would only need brass as change from 1 silver for smaller purchases. You couldn't just let the players accumulate coins because you'd run out, so for example anytime they had more than 25 brass you would need to change them up to a silver, but it would keep the costs of the prop coins down. I considered doing this, but it would still run over $100 for what I considered to be a minimal setup for 3 or 4 players.

These are really cool!! Thanks for the link; I just ordered. For high-quality components, they're not too outrageous.

mac40k said:

This actually sounds reasonable. Seeing the 2,500 = 1 gold kinda threw me for a loop, but I obviously wasn't thinking about ways to get around it. I might just have to do just that.

Yeah, I think you'd be OK with just the starter set of campaign coins. They also sell them in groups of 10 of a given metal/denomination at Gencon each year, if you get to the con.

John

johnmarron said:

Problem with the starter set is that most of the coins aren't useful for WFRP since you get 1s, 10s, 100s, & 1000s of 4 different metals including platinum. So you end up with too few of the coins you might realistically use and too many coins that would never come into play. You only save a couple bucks off the price of buying the same coins in packs of 10. Although you get one random "rare" 500 denom coin in the box, for WFRP you're better off buying the individual 10 packs of the coins you would actually use.

... and I just ordered mine in the following breakdown (all packs of 10):

Copper(brass): 2x1, 1x5, 1x10

Silver: 2x1, 1x5, 1x10, 2x20

Gold: 1x1, 1x5, 1x10

Total cost including 10-day air shipping & handling: $99.30 AUD, or $93.91 USD

That gives me a bank of 160 gold, 570 silver, & 170 brass. I figure if the players always have the "most efficient" mix of coins, I'll never need more than 4 of the 1's or 20's, and 1 each of the other denoms, so this mix will support up to 5 players. I'll use those cheap glass stones to represent gems for higher denominations.

We are already using Campaign Coins in our sessions - it seemed a natural fit to me, given all the 'fiddly bits'. They work great as a visual reminder of wealth and it is a fantastic feeling to hand over a purse heavy with coin.

However, I would recommend you track regular expenditure during the game on paper, and settle up at the beginning of the next session. The coins do get in the way a bit, and until your players are familiar with them the action will halt after any payment. I'd still give out coins to the PCs for any treasure or income they get, but settle expenses later (unless you think it'd drive a PC broke).

I'm using the plastic gold coins from an Avalon Hill pirate game I had lying around (Sword & Skull) as gold coins for the tactile feel (they come in 1, 5 and 10 so should be plenty). Tracking the smaller coins on paper for now until I dredge up something else.

I use plastic US currency as it's cheap and I can use coins on a 1:1 basis.

(Side note: I had actually looked at getting some manufacturered with appropriate Empire insignia, but it seemed to be a minimum 10,000 units kinda deal..)

So without further ado.

Pennies

Shillings

Gold Crowns

Each of my players has their own coin purse I've provided and its quite fun to see them counting out money and betting it during our ingame gamboing sessions etc.

My only beef is I'd like to find a larger diameter coin for the gold coin, to further distinguish it from the shilling. But it's a small deal.