Equipment
Wealth and Goods
Most wealth is not in coins. It is measured in livestock, grain, land, rights to collect taxes, or rights to resources (such as a mine or a forest).
Merchant Guilds are, without question or challenge, the mercantile force of the continent. While many smaller villages and towns have their own localized economy (wherein farmers trade foodstuffs with each other and local smiths and tanners), the guilds supply, regulate, and promote inter-city economic activity. Nobles and royalty often look for ways to regulate trade, but are often stymied by the strength of the various merchant guilds, which in turn leads the nobility to make and break alliances between themselves and the guilds in furtherance of plans that benefit either or both sides. Guilds often charter with smaller or partner guilds to create companies that are granted rights to conduct trade along certain routes, to send merchant ships to various ports, or to buy or sell specific goods. Guilds set prices for the goods or services that they control, and determine who may or may not offer those goods and services.
While some guilds will accept an exchange of goods, without using currency, it is becoming far more common to exchange "letters of credit", promissary notes of accessible cash from the issuing guild, as a means of exchanging larger sums without having to carry around sacks of gold. Some letters may even have arcane work in their creation, in order to prevent counterfeit or tampering.
The Trade Goods table shows the value of commonly exchanged goods.
Trade Goods
| Cost | Goods |
|---|---|
| 1 cp | 1 lb. of wheat |
| 2 cp | 1 lb. of flour or one chicken |
| 5 cp | 1 lb. of salt |
| 1 sp | 1 lb. of iron or 1 sq. yd. of canvas |
| 5 sp | 1 lb. of copper or 1 sq. yd. of cotton cloth |
| 1 gp | 1 lb. of ginger or one goat |
| 2 gp | 1 lb. of cinnamon or pepper, or one sheep |
| 3 gp | 1 lb. of cloves or one pig |
| 5 gp | 1 lb. of silver or 1 sq. yd. of linen |
| 10 gp | 1 sq. yd. of silk or one cow |
| 15 gp | 1 lb. of saffron or one ox |
| 50 gp | 1 lb. of gold |
| 500 gp | 1 lb. of platinum |
Expenses
Lifestyle Expenses
Lifestyle expenses provide you with a simple way to account for the cost of living in a fantasy world. They cover your accommodations, food and drink, and all your other necessities. Furthermore, expenses cover the cost of maintaining your equipment so you can be ready when adventure next calls.
At the start of each week or month (your choice), choose a lifestyle from the Expenses table and pay the price to sustain that lifestyle. The prices listed are per day, so if you wish to calculate the cost of your chosen lifestyle over a thirty-day period, multiply the listed price by 30. Your lifestyle might change from one period to the next, based on the funds you have at your disposal, or you might maintain the same lifestyle throughout your character’s career.
Your lifestyle choice can have consequences. Maintaining a wealthy lifestyle might help you make contacts with the rich and powerful, though you run the risk of attracting thieves. Likewise, living frugally might help you avoid criminals, but you are unlikely to make powerful connections.
| Lifestyle | Price/Day |
|---|---|
| Wretched | - |
| Squalid | 1 sp |
| Poor | 2 sp |
| Modest | 1 gp |
| Comfortable | 2 gp |
| Wealthy | 4 gp |
| Aristocratic | 10 gp minimum |
Wretched
You live in inhumane conditions. With no place to call home, you shelter wherever you can, sneaking into barns, huddling in old crates, and relying on the good graces of people better off than you. A wretched lifestyle presents abundant dangers. Violence, disease, and hunger follow you wherever you go. Other wretched people covet your armor, weapons, and adventuring gear, which represent a fortune by their standards. You are beneath the notice of most people.
Squalid (1sp/day)
You live in a leaky stable, a mud-floored hut just outside town, or a vermin-infested boarding house in the worst part of town. You have shelter from the elements, but you live in a desperate and often violent environment, in places rife with disease, hunger, and misfortune. You are beneath the notice of most people, and you have few legal protections. Most people at this lifestyle level have suffered some terrible setback. They might be disturbed, marked as exiles, or suffer from disease.
Poor (2sp/day)
A poor lifestyle means going without the comforts available in a stable community. Simple food and lodgings, threadbare clothing, and unpredictable conditions result in a sufficient, though probably unpleasant, experience. Your accommodations might be a room in a flophouse or in the common room above a tavern. You benefit from some legal protections, but you still have to contend with violence, crime, and disease. People at this lifestyle level tend to be unskilled laborers, costermongers, peddlers, thieves, mercenaries, and other disreputable types.
Modest (1gp/day)
A modest lifestyle keeps you out of the slums and ensures that you can maintain your equipment. You live in an older part of town, renting a room in a boarding house, inn, or temple. You don’t go hungry or thirsty, and your living conditions are clean, if simple. Ordinary people living modest lifestyles include soldiers with families, laborers, students, priests, hedge wizards, and the like.
Comfortable (2gp/day)
Choosing a comfortable lifestyle means that you can afford nicer clothing and can easily maintain your equipment. You live in a small cottage in a middle-class neighborhood or in a private room at a fine inn. You associate with merchants, skilled tradespeople, and military officers.
Wealthy (4gp/day)
Choosing a wealthy lifestyle means living a life of luxury, though you might not have achieved the social status associated with the old money of nobility or royalty. You live a lifestyle comparable to that of a highly successful merchant, a favored servant of the royalty, or the owner of a few small businesses. You have respectable lodgings, usually a spacious home in a good part of town or a comfortable suite at a fine inn. You likely have a small staff of servants.
Aristocratic (10gp+ minimum/day)
You live a life of plenty and comfort. You move in circles populated by the most powerful people in the community. You have excellent lodgings, perhaps a townhouse in the nicest part of town or rooms in the finest inn. You dine at the best restaurants, retain the most skilled and fashionable tailor, and have servants attending to your every need. You receive invitations to the social gatherings of the rich and powerful, and spend evenings in the company of politicians, guild leaders, high priests, and nobility. You must also contend with the highest levels of deceit and treachery. The wealthier you are, the greater the chance you will be drawn into political intrigue as a pawn or participant.
Food, Drink
Common prices across the continent.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Ale, Gallon | 2 sp |
| Ale, Mug | 4 cp |
| Bread, loaf | 2 cp |
| Cheese, hunk | 1 sp |
| Cheese, wheel | 2 sp |
| Fowl, roasted | 2 sp |
| Meat, chunk | 3 sp |
| Vegetables, raw | 2 cp |
| Vegetables, roasted | 4 cp |
| Wine, common (pitcher) | 2 sp |
| Wine, fine (bottle) | 10 gp |
Meals
Prices are per day.
| Condition | Price |
|---|---|
| Squalid | 3 cp |
| Poor | 6 cp |
| Modest | 3 sp |
| Comfortable | 5 sp |
| Wealthy | 8 sp |
| Aristocratic | 2 gp |
| Banquet (per person) | 10 gp |
Lodging
These prices are per day, and often do not include meals (above).
| Condition | Price |
|---|---|
| Squalid | 7 cp |
| Poor | 1 sp |
| Modest | 5 sp |
| Comfortable | 8 sp |
| Wealthy | 2 gp |
| Aristocratic | 4 gp |