There are many things to consider since you can't just say 1 gold piece weighs this much thus it is worth () dallors.
1. in d&d realm gold is plentiful compared to our world
2. medieval-like setting. trades are limited, and the relative prices between various goods can differ a lot.
3.the avarage wealth of adventurers classified by different levels in d&d rule book. for ex, it says level 2 adventurers usually have $900 gold pieces
4. paycheck of various jobs. In IWD2 you can see that a city defense force soldier is paid 3 gp per month(or 4, correct me if you remember), as two soldier bet their payments on an archery competition. I read somewhere that a master artisan earns 1 gp per day. if you evaluate 1 gp as over $150 based on modern exchange value with their weight, now that doesn't make much sense since in medieval age an artisan couldn't have earned that much money unless really famous. prices would have been cheaper without inflations, too.
5. PC is an exception as you earn so much gold compared to other normal adventurers. Let's keep gamey parts out of the discussion since there is no SP CP or PP in baldur's gate.
I personally like to think that 1 gp is worth around $30, but I'm a total noob to D&D or BG series and want ot hear your thoughts on the topic.
How much is one gold piece worth in modern value?
Débuté par
IntoTheDarkness
, oct. 17 2012 10:57
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#2
Posté 20 octobre 2012 - 10:44
BelgarathMTH
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@IntotheDarkness, I'm very interested in this topic. I usually try to convert the money system in any game I play into an easy association with contemporary real-life values.
One gold has to be the equivalent of one dollar, ten dollars, one hundred dollars, or one thousand dollars.
You get the numerical base by paying attention to what mundane items cost. In World of Warcraft, every day items cost a matter of coppers. That makes golds in that game roughly equivalent to 100 dollars apiece, where silvers are 10 dollars a piece, and coppers are dollars.
In Baldur's Gate, there are no silvers or coppers. That makes the gold piece be our basic and only unit of currency. I think that the devs did it like this for pure convenience, but it does artificially inflate the gold piece as a currency unit.
The most very basic items, such as a quiver full of artillery, a staff, or a sling cost one gold piece. A basic bow or sword costs 5-10 gold.
You have to look at how hard it is to get one gold piece. Every kobold, goblin, or gibberling in the game can drop one gold.
In realistic terms, crafted blacksmithing items like swords should not be within the means of any commoner. However, the game is not implemented with that level of realism.
For BG purposes, one gold = one dollar is about as close as you can get, although there is an exponential curve involved that makes it all not quite linear.
One gold will buy you anything basic in the game, including stuff like food and lodging that commoners would be expected to be able to afford. The "cadillac" of non-magical items is the full-plate, which, with no reputation bonus, costs about 8,000 dollars. That's six months of work from a blue-collar commoner, which really isn't expensive enough. In a realistic medieval economy, a commoner would *never* be able to afford such a custom-built defensive luxury, even after a lifetime of work. A suit of full-plate ought to be like having a Lexus, at least 50,000 gold.
But, there is limited realism to be had here.
In BG, gold=dollar is a pretty good rule of thumb for how you should react emotionally to what stuff costs. One-hundred dollars for ONE cure potion? Yikes. Thinking like this makes me *very* hesitant to drink those cures.
A *thousand* dollars for that shield +1? Affordable for a successful party, but not something to be purchased on a whim.
Etc, etc.
One gold has to be the equivalent of one dollar, ten dollars, one hundred dollars, or one thousand dollars.
You get the numerical base by paying attention to what mundane items cost. In World of Warcraft, every day items cost a matter of coppers. That makes golds in that game roughly equivalent to 100 dollars apiece, where silvers are 10 dollars a piece, and coppers are dollars.
In Baldur's Gate, there are no silvers or coppers. That makes the gold piece be our basic and only unit of currency. I think that the devs did it like this for pure convenience, but it does artificially inflate the gold piece as a currency unit.
The most very basic items, such as a quiver full of artillery, a staff, or a sling cost one gold piece. A basic bow or sword costs 5-10 gold.
You have to look at how hard it is to get one gold piece. Every kobold, goblin, or gibberling in the game can drop one gold.
In realistic terms, crafted blacksmithing items like swords should not be within the means of any commoner. However, the game is not implemented with that level of realism.
For BG purposes, one gold = one dollar is about as close as you can get, although there is an exponential curve involved that makes it all not quite linear.
One gold will buy you anything basic in the game, including stuff like food and lodging that commoners would be expected to be able to afford. The "cadillac" of non-magical items is the full-plate, which, with no reputation bonus, costs about 8,000 dollars. That's six months of work from a blue-collar commoner, which really isn't expensive enough. In a realistic medieval economy, a commoner would *never* be able to afford such a custom-built defensive luxury, even after a lifetime of work. A suit of full-plate ought to be like having a Lexus, at least 50,000 gold.
But, there is limited realism to be had here.
In BG, gold=dollar is a pretty good rule of thumb for how you should react emotionally to what stuff costs. One-hundred dollars for ONE cure potion? Yikes. Thinking like this makes me *very* hesitant to drink those cures.
A *thousand* dollars for that shield +1? Affordable for a successful party, but not something to be purchased on a whim.
Etc, etc.
#3
Posté 21 octobre 2012 - 09:48
Son of Imoen
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I've put much thought on the worth of a gold piece in AD&D when I was a PnP player and Warhammer FRP Gamesmaster in my youth, but I don't remember much of it.
The decision of the devs to make a gp the only currency, has inflated it, like Belgarath says. And like he points, not all prices are realistic in the game (like his analysis on full plate). The price that surprises me the most, is the price of drinks in taverns: some wines and liquors cost up to 30 gp. That's more expensive than 3 plain swords! An ordinary journeyman should be able to drink several pints on a day's wage, but looking at prices for pieces of weaponry, a day's wage shouldn't be more than 1 gp. Looking at the prices of drinks however, a realistic day's wage would be something like 25 gp, but that would make weaponry much too cheap.
The decision of the devs to make a gp the only currency, has inflated it, like Belgarath says. And like he points, not all prices are realistic in the game (like his analysis on full plate). The price that surprises me the most, is the price of drinks in taverns: some wines and liquors cost up to 30 gp. That's more expensive than 3 plain swords! An ordinary journeyman should be able to drink several pints on a day's wage, but looking at prices for pieces of weaponry, a day's wage shouldn't be more than 1 gp. Looking at the prices of drinks however, a realistic day's wage would be something like 25 gp, but that would make weaponry much too cheap.
#4
Posté 21 octobre 2012 - 01:01
morbidest2
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The traditional way of looking at what historical, or foreign currency, is worth in current money is the four B's: the price of Bed, Beer, Broads and the Best theatre seats. A cheap night's lodging - with breakfast thrown in? - at a fleabag like the Copper Coronet would argue that 1gp=$10. This is supported by theatre seats at an Off-Off-Off Broadway Show at 5gp - but for a whole party?! However the price of cheap beer and cheap (sorry, ladies) broads would indicate 1gp=$2. Either the system is inconsistent, or we just don't understand relative cultural values on Toril.
#5
Posté 22 octobre 2012 - 04:40
Matuse
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BG currency doesn't work overly well because there's only the one type. A normal campaign would have copper, silver, and maybe platinum coins on top of gold. Gold is the only thing used in BG just for the sake of simplicity.
#6
Posté 22 octobre 2012 - 07:01
Shadow_Leech07
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It is possible that commoners don't get paid in gold and they live only as serfs. They might be able to come across some gold coins in their lives and that would amount to whatever they have saved in their homes but for the most part, they are indentured servants.
Soldiers and guards are the ones earning the gold day by day. It would be them who would purchase military armor...etc. As such there would be a need for such equipment to be accessible to that kind of worker.
I would agree that the beverages seem quite expensive, perhaps PC is paying for information as well?
One could look at Candlekeep as a prestigious "private school", it is essentially a big library and we know how important data and information are in the real world. It can make the gold currency seem inflated from the standpoint of the rich.
Soldiers and guards are the ones earning the gold day by day. It would be them who would purchase military armor...etc. As such there would be a need for such equipment to be accessible to that kind of worker.
I would agree that the beverages seem quite expensive, perhaps PC is paying for information as well?
One could look at Candlekeep as a prestigious "private school", it is essentially a big library and we know how important data and information are in the real world. It can make the gold currency seem inflated from the standpoint of the rich.
Modifié par Shadow_Leech07, 22 octobre 2012 - 07:02 .
#7
Posté 22 octobre 2012 - 12:00
Daybringer
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Converting fantasy value to real world values tends to be rather difficult. In Baldur's Gate and indeed the Forgotten Realms, there's not only the mundane but the magical. There are small tools that even if communally owned, would ensure that the average farmer might be able to get a bit more gold. Furthermore, all manner of magic would be employed in mining anything precious. However DND source material has a sort of disconnection with that, a salary of a few silver or copper is common; the funding of adventurers and kings are high; of course my experience is that every dungeon master I've had has consciously or unconsciously worked with the economy of the world in order to bring consistency - a poor realm makes for a poor adventurer, a rich realm makes for a very rich adventurer.
But focusing on Baldur's Gate on its own, and even Baldur's Gate II, there is one glaring problem with the pricing based on mundane tools as mentioned. The iron taint. Every mundane tool made from iron, from platemail to a garden trowel, has its price skewed, and the whole economy driven to the brink because of it. Its one of the major matters of the realms things going on. Even in Amn after your ordeal, they still share the same iron mines (going off the map) and the effects would be lasting. Thus prices of generic things are off, and prices of magical things don't have a real world comparison, and may be shifted as well.
The one object you can base any economic value on that's outside recent matters of the realm however, is expensive book requirement to enter candlekeep, that price is 'fixed' based on tradition and the rules of candlekeep. If you want to base any sort of currency value on things, that's your best bet to start with - but its still.. the whole.. magical issue; Since the only real option is apparently the use of the ability tomes.
But focusing on Baldur's Gate on its own, and even Baldur's Gate II, there is one glaring problem with the pricing based on mundane tools as mentioned. The iron taint. Every mundane tool made from iron, from platemail to a garden trowel, has its price skewed, and the whole economy driven to the brink because of it. Its one of the major matters of the realms things going on. Even in Amn after your ordeal, they still share the same iron mines (going off the map) and the effects would be lasting. Thus prices of generic things are off, and prices of magical things don't have a real world comparison, and may be shifted as well.
The one object you can base any economic value on that's outside recent matters of the realm however, is expensive book requirement to enter candlekeep, that price is 'fixed' based on tradition and the rules of candlekeep. If you want to base any sort of currency value on things, that's your best bet to start with - but its still.. the whole.. magical issue; Since the only real option is apparently the use of the ability tomes.
