Treasure - How much to give out?

[slaughterj]

Keep in mind that the equipment most combatants wield (aside from primitives) will be far more valuable (and encumbering) than their purses.

Yeah, their swords and their horses are often the source of loot, if PCs find it necessary (and often do) - actually such feels as if is worth more than it should be sometimes...

 

[Clovenhoof]

Either way i would like to see a table for say:
-how much a random npc has on them
-if creatures have a hoard of some sort
-what the average commoner makes in a month
-how much they can make from marauding or killing marauders

- A "random NPC" will usually just have a handful of silver on them, if they are "professionals" of some sorts (like guard soldiers), and even less if they are lowly commoners.
- Most creatures won't have a hoard, and some may have hoards of stuff they deem valuable but isn't worthwhile for adventurers (say, coconuts), and only rather few will have interesting hoards. Likewise, Demons who are vulnerable to silver are unlikely to accumulate hoards of it.
- the typical commoner, i.e. labourer, gets 1sp per workday (that's in the book). Journeymen of a trade get some more, and Masters get a lot more, of course. Slaves get nothing at all.

Also if its just by feel, why have prices listed for equipment at all?

By the way, most prices in Conan are not coherent at all -- I'm avoiding the term "realistic", but if we compare them to actual real-world medieval prices, we see that the prices for food and basic stuff is alright in Conan, but weapons are way too cheap.

Here are some actual values that I found in a museum - based on the market in north Germany/Denmark around 1000AD, in grams of silver:

10(!) chickens -- 1g (don't think these were well-fed)
KNIFE -- 3g
cloak -- 12g
sheep -- 15g
pig -- 30g
LANCE -- 51g
SHIELD -- 86g
SWORD -- 126g-300g
cow/ox -- 100-130g
slave, fem. -- 200g
slave, male -- 300g
HELMET -- 400g
horse -- 800g

Of course, some prices in Conan are good calls, for example that slaves are so cheap, that fits very well into the world. But steel weapons of any kind should be more expensive, by factor 5-10.

 

[Voltumna]

Pirate's Isles has a system to describe settlements with characteristics such as Human Assets and Storage which hold Cargo Units to describe the goods or possible slaves for trade found in settlements. For instance:

Isignificant Argossean Village:
Human Assets: 100 commoners, 2 beautiful females and 3 beautiful males
Storage: 3 Cargo Units – two of salt fish, one of silver (held over from the last pirate visit)

Minor Kambujan Village:
Human Assets: 200 commoners, 6 beautiful females and 4 beautiful males
Storage: 5 Cargo Units – two of salt fish, one of black lotus, two of exotic wines

Important Vendhyan Sttlement:
Human Assets: 300 commoners, 10 beautiful females and 5 beautiful males
Storage: 8 Cargo Units – one of salt fish, one of dried foods, one of meat, three of iron, one of common gems, one of silk

The value of a cargo depends on its rarity in the market the individual brings it to. There is a Cargo by Region table that shows the rarity of different types of cargo per region, for instance: the lotus is considered uncommon in the east and exotic everywhere else, and a cargo unit could rise it's price from 10,000sp where uncommon, to 50,000sp where exotic.

Pirate treausres are between three and five exotic cargoes, ranging from 150,000 to 250,000sp. This could be a good parameter.

I saw other cargo or similar tables in Tito's Trading Post but don't remember what these describe.