That''s very true, Paul. how people see the money makes a big difference. If they view it as undervalued.. well you could imagine what would happen.
As far as how most of this applies to the single-player RPG.. well.. it''s hard to tell. Where will this character GET money? and how? lol monsters.. i doubt that. other people.. well, sure kill a czar!

J

How about rich parents :-). Is it possible to introduce a loaning system to get players started. Would this appeal to RPG''ers.

Then they must succed in their quests to pay off their loans. or would this act as a fall back on the game play. I personally think it comes down to whether or not the developer would like this. It could work if it was done properly.

We are their,
"Children of the Free"

quote: Original post by Landfish

Actually, Anonymous poster, you nicely brought the conversation around to another wacky idea. Do we need money?

Hah! Sorry to ruin the "Kylotan Must DIE DIE DIE" clause of the Landfish Manifesto, but I already suggested that idea on the first page of this very thread! Check my post dated 13 June, 2000 7:23:15 AM.

I think it''s a great idea, both in terms of being a fresh look on the trading metagame, and also in neatly sidestepping the whole "Just how much is Item X worth?" problem. Let the players choose their own value.

I can be wrong but it seems to me that in a medieval economy, money should be very rare. A peasant could spend his entire life without ever seing a silver piece ( or a besant, ecu, whatever)
Trade would rely more on bartering than on money. During the sixteenth century 90% of the mediterranean exchange value was wheat...

Speaking of Medieval price rates check out:

http://www.gamedev.net/reference/design/archive/gmedieval.htm

"I''ll offer you 20.000 gold pieces for that Elven Chain Mail you have there."
"Gold pieces?"
"Yes, shiny, sparkly, heavy things."
"I hate shiny, sparkly, heavy things, I''ve got a bloody Elven Chain Mail you dumb Barbarian. Have you got any silk?"
"SILK???"

Eh eh eh


Give me one more medicated peaceful moment.
~ (V)^|) |<é!t|-| ~
ERROR: Your beta-version of Life1.0 has expired. Please upgrade to the full version. All important social functions will be disabled from now on.

quote: Original post by MadKeithV

"I''ll offer you 20.000 gold pieces for that Elven Chain Mail you have there."
"Gold pieces?"
"Yes, shiny, sparkly, heavy things."
"I hate shiny, sparkly, heavy things, I''ve got a bloody Elven Chain Mail you dumb Barbarian. Have you got any silk?"
"SILK???"

LOL! yeah.. that''s about right.

J

Player 1 sets the price of his sword at 100gp
Player 2 sets the price of his axe at 80gp
Player 1 says i''d like to trade but we need money to make up the difference.

It''s just pointlessly stupid to have bartering when you''ll need money anyhow. This is old.


I love Game Design and it loves me back.

Our Goal is "Fun"!

In the roman era, common people not used the monetary interchange. BUT the militia-class used the money!. For maintenance the troop, the emperor used the royal-fund for this.

You cannot expect to pay a soldier with a cow or a jab of olive-oil, or wathever. You only pay in money (and in territory, slave, and more but it is another story)

The soldiers dead in combat of course,have money in the robes.

And in combat the money is useless or in a desert. The money is only useable for buying something if have shopping available and if this shopping have the stuff that you want.

In many rpg you cannot buy freely. For example :for buy a "Escalibur" (with magic) you only can found in a far territory (before to some event), because if you can buy in early stage, you can easy beat the game.

Limited Money??
if arrive a new player. This player must have somes gp and a knife (= more gp). Who pay for this??. The bad-guys-band?? (it is not fair!).







-eng3d.softhome.net-

Paul, you are incorrect. Your example implies that people place a monetary value on items. If there is no money and only a bartering system, people will then place a "usefullness" value on items.

"This steel plow is more usefull than that wodden one, so you''ll have to give me a cow (or something) as well".

I don''t know if anyone thought about this or not, but what about a single player environment? What kind of economic ideas do we have there?