Conan- Copper Pieces

[decker423]

I was looking over the Stygia book last night and there was a list for the prices of goods in the Trade/Merchant section. Some items were given prices in "cp" (cooper pieces). Is this right?

According to the main book a silver piece is scored to allow it to be broken into halves and quarters (1/2 sp or 1/4 sp). Would this imply that 4 copper pieces are the equivalent of 1 silver piece or is this ONLY for Stygia?

I hope it would be only for Stygia because the lack of other currencies and the focus on silver (and not gold) is a great way to break Conan away from the "traditional" D&D style games.

Anyone has a thought or idea on this?

 

[Clovenhoof]

History check: a "silver piece" seems to be pretty much equivalent in size to a Roman denarius between 200BC and 200AD, originally weighing about 4,55g.

There were a lot of smaller coins in Rome, like the Sestertius and the As, which during the late republic and imperial times were all made of brass, bronze or copper, respectively.
Originally, 1 Denarius equalled 4 Sestertii or 10 Aes (Sestertius literally means "the third As half, i.e. two and a half Aes), but later there were various reforms fiddling with the weight and exchange ratio of the coins.

Long story short, the difference is that silver pieces will be currency money that will be accepted everywhere because their value is defined by the silver itself; while coins of copper and copper alloys are only legal tender in the nation or region where it was issued, because their material value is usually less than the official exchange rate to silver.

There may be Stygian coppers and there may be Zamoran coppers, but you probably can't pay with Stygian coppers in Zamora or vice versa.

 

[decker423]

If a silver piece can be broken into halves or quarters, is it hard or impossible to reassemble them? Or would you walk around with silver pieces and "bits" (an old Western term)?

 

[Clovenhoof]

They couldn't be reassembled. It wouldn't matter anyway. In civilized lands, they'd just count the quarters, and in barbarian lands, they'd ignore the shape of the silver and just weigh its total mass on scales.

 

[Spectator]

If a silver piece can be broken into halves or quarters, is it hard or impossible to reassemble them? Or would you walk around with silver pieces and "bits" (an old Western term)?

In the book "Tito's Trading Post" they have duct tape listed for that reason and just about 101 other reasons.

 

[Clovenhoof]

Duct tape? In Conan? Are you pulling my leg?

 

[decker423]

If a silver piece can be broken into halves or quarters, is it hard or impossible to reassemble them? Or would you walk around with silver pieces and "bits" (an old Western term)?

In the book "Tito's Trading Post" they have duct tape listed for that reason and just about 101 other reasons.

Why not? If you have "bits" of silver pieces floating around that can't be put back together again (short of smelting into more silver pieces which is another story altogether given currencies and their control by nobles)- and that is IMPRACTICAL given how small they are and the exchange of bits- why not duct tape?

I'm kidding but the idea of little bits of silver floating all over and carrying as much economic weight as currency is more impractical than the actual coins.

 

[maladaar]

So going back to the original question.

What does a Stygian copper equate to in other lands?

If an item is listed 20 cp and you were to buy that same item in a different land (let's say Zamora) what would the cost in silver be?

 

[Vortigern]

If a silver piece can be broken into halves or quarters, is it hard or impossible to reassemble them? Or would you walk around with silver pieces and "bits" (an old Western term)?

In the book "Tito's Trading Post" they have duct tape listed for that reason and just about 101 other reasons.

Why not? If you have "bits" of silver pieces floating around that can't be put back together again (short of smelting into more silver pieces which is another story altogether given currencies and their control by nobles)- and that is IMPRACTICAL given how small they are and the exchange of bits- why not duct tape?

I'm kidding but the idea of little bits of silver floating all over and carrying as much economic weight as currency is more impractical than the actual coins.

Not as much economic weight as currency. /As/ /Currency/. It is a historical use of coins. Most likely the only reason we don't do it anymore is the value of our coins is not based on their metal content anymore, whereas throughout much of history it was. Therefore the bit of coin was just as valid a piece of currency for a transaction as the whole thing, because it was still made out of silver or gold.

Even if you have whole coins vs bits, the merchant or moneychanger is still going to treat the two exactly the same. He is going to weigh them and depending on the tech/sophistication level test them for purity, bite them, whatever, to establish their value based on the ammount of precious metals that are in them. The value of the coin was based on that, and really not much else. So they were evaluated for worth based on weight/content to be 'fair' to practices like breaking coins into bits and to combat illicit practices like coin shaving where ne'erdowells would shave small bits of the metal off of the 'rim' of the coin, to take a little bit off of each one, pass them as normal, and have a profit slowly accrue.

 

[Vortigern]

So going back to the original question.

What does a Stygian copper equate to in other lands?

If an item is listed 20 cp and you were to buy that same item in a different land (let's say Zamora) what would the cost in silver be?

It depends on how much economic realism you want to have in your game. If you want to get into the details you need to establish the relative sizes and metal contents of the different coinage issued by different governments in your game.

Or you can just establish exchange rates between different countries, at different coinage levels.

Or you can take the easy way most of us do and assume they are all the same.

A compromise already mentioned is to assume that a given unit of coin is an 'international standard', frequently carried and traded by the affluent all over. Then you have your adventurer types mainly use that, while you can pretend there is a more detailed and realistic system of economic exchange going on behind the scenes that they are insulated from.

 

[decker423]

I went ahead and made a decision in my game. I gave the items valued in copper pieces their value in fractions of a silver piece, for example item A is 1/4 sp (not 1 copper piece) and item B is worth 1/2 sp (not 2 copper pieces).

The prior posting on the value of coins because of their actual metal makes sense and is rock on for what I was asking and thinking. I guess the thought of adventurers going around carrying pouches full of bits didn't resonate well with me as a player.

 

[Kortoso]

Man, this could be complicated. Probably the exchange rate could be just as realistically determined by dice throw.

"Hmm, was this silver stolen or is this guy legit? How hungry does his look? Is he from out of town? Will I see him again? How close is my thumb from the scale?"

The value of silver may also depend on whether silver mines exist in any given country, and how much brigandage is afoot.