One of the things which I'm sort of tired of in fantasy RPGs is that typically the different coins don't have names. I don't think there has ever been a society where people used money called Gold Pieces, Silver Pieces, and Copper Pieces. Well, okay ancient Chinese coins were just called "money/钱", but that's a bit unusual. Anyway, for my games I like to give the coins names, but I try to keep them easy to remember. In my current game I'm using gold Marks, silver Shillings, and copper Pennies. It's a lot more favorful to have the innkeeper tell the PCs that a room is "one shilling and sixpence" for the night or that there is a reward of "fifty marks" for the capture of a bandit. Along with that goes physical details of currency. As I was jotting down ideas of what to put on the coins for my game I thought that I could easily expand the notes into a simple random coinage generator. So here it is:
Coin Shape (1d6)
- round
- square
- triangular
- rectangular
- polygonal (roll 1d12 + 4 for number of sides)
- trade blade (a stylized miniature of a: 1) axe, 2) knife, 3) arrowhead, 4) plow, 5) scythe, 6) spade)
Hole (center for most, appropriate place near edge for a trade blade; 1d6)
1-4: no
5-6: yes (optional: roll 1d6 for the number of holes, usually placed symmetrically)
Design (1d12; roll for each side)
- bird or bat
- sea creature
- land carnivore
- land herd animal
- magical beast (griffin, etc.)
- fortification (tower, castle, gate, portcullis, etc.)
- plant
- weapon or shield
- humanoid (usually a ruler, legendary person, or deity)
- dragon
- musical instrument
- writing (usually about the ruler and/or country of origin, or a prayer)
Added to my campaign links.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant. Simple and elegant.
ReplyDeleteVery nice. Simple and effective.
ReplyDelete