Gems, precious metals and jewelry etc

[jarulf]

Anyone know if there are any price lists somewhere for these sort of things that don't look too odd with the other prices in MRQII?
With so many other items listed with price and encumbrance it'd be nice to have these as well.

 

[Jujitsudave]

Yes. Sounds like somebody wants to know how much those silver plates and candlesticks sacked from some monastery are worth!!! Vikings campaign, eh?

 

[jarulf]

Could well have been
I'm actually trying to come up with a few random loot tables for a mythic game a friend and I are playing, but this sort of info should be valuable (he) to many campaigns I imagine.

Just a bit of old fashioned dungeon exploration for fun and variety (and profit).

 

[Vagni]

Yes. Sounds like somebody wants to know how much those silver plates and candlesticks sacked from some monastery are worth!!! Vikings campaign, eh?

I have a few I've worked out for my Vikings campaign, but they will be of little use in a fantasy campaign as money and values are very different. However I will present them here in case they are of use.

For silver jewellery I start with a basic weight of the item and work out its raw value as silver (the same can be done with gold but the raw value is x8 the value of silver).

So an example based on a 20 ounce arm ring, from Eyrbyggja Saga:

“…and thereon lay a ring without a join that weighed twenty ounces, and on that must men swear all oaths; and that ring must the chief have on his arm at all man-motes.”

Thus its raw value in silver is 20 ounces (Old Norse aurar, singular eyrir), would have a base price of 20 aurar (200 pennies). This can then have its value increased based on its workmanship and quality, I simply give my players the chance to multiply this value with a simple modifier as below:

Raw cost modifier Examples
x1 Plain silver item, made to be used as hack-silver, cast ingots
x2 Simple wire twisting, punched designs, simple casting
x3 Elaborate wire twisting, elaborate punched designs or bossing, niello, enamelling, elaborate casting
x4 Elaborate granulation and heavy decoration, gilding, inset semi-precious gems etc.

So for an elaborate oath ring fit to grace a temple I would apply at least a x4 modifier to the raw silver cost to arrive at a value of 60 aurar (600 pennies), or 7 1/2 marks. A very costly item in Viking times, worth about 60 cows!

A more modest, but still impressive, twisted silver arm-ring of around 10 ounces would have a value of around 40 aurar (about 400 pennies). While a thin bracelet with punched decoration weighing around 4 ounces would be valued at around
a mark (80 pennies). A small plain silver ring or perhaps a simple clothes hook, say an ounce in weight, would be 1 eyrir (10 pennies).

This is quite a simple system and follows the spirit of the rules already in the Viking book. The only drawback being that you have to have a rough idea of the weight of an item to work out it's value. If you assume a finger ring uses around 2 aurar of silver (1 eyrir = 10 silver pennies) and a heavy arm-ring is about 20 aurar (200 pennies) it gives you a base to judge other items on.

You can also work out other cost using the formula of 1 eyrir = 10 pennies = 1 weeks hard work = 1 oxen or milk cow = 1 logeyrir of homespun wool cloth (6x2 ells in size).

Other factors may influence the value of an item for good or bad; rumours it is dwarf made, it was a gift from a king, it is rumoured to be cursed etc.

For early historical campaigns with few written sources of 'price lists' its best not to get too tied up trying to figure out costs as the sources are very confusing and contradictory, but a system like that above at least allows you as GM to apply a consistent approach to such items and gives you an idea of the value of time and raw materials.

 

[jarulf]

Thank you.
That looks like a pretty neat system.