After an avid discussion, this is the basics of what we settled on:
1 cp — “chit” Ceramics worth 1 copper piece equivilantly don't actually exist. Instead, slaves or the very poor might trade in chits, which are halves or pieces of broken ceramics. Since a broken ceramic cannot be redeemed at a legitimate brokerage (although some shadier businesses accept them), even half of a larger ceramic is worth less than half the face value. The result is amounts that are really too small to matter to PCs very often.
1 sp = 1 centile, or “shell” – this ceramic is a round usually with a small hole in the center and a small mark indicating the issuing house. The slang word comes from the gladiator pits were fast-talking bookkeepers slurred the word until it became common vernacular. Shells are about the size of an American quarter and between a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch thick.
1 gp = 1 decile, or “jade” – the most common denomination this ceramic is slightly oval shaped with noticable marks denoting their issuing house. Like shells, jades have a small hole in the center or at one end of the oval. Average jades are about the size of an American silver-half dollar, squeezed slightly to be oval, and are generally an eighth of an inch thick.
1 pp = 1 quartile, or just “tile” for short – this ceramic is mostly common among nobles and prosperous merchant houses. Unlike jades and shells, quartiles vary more in size and shape – generally round or oval shaped with a very noticable mark denoting the issuing house. Due to the larger size, tiles’ marks are able to be more detailed and can look quite beautiful. Average tiles are about the size of a drink coaster and between an eighth to a quarter inch thick.
4 quartiles = 1 lith or “plate” to the uneducated – these large ceramic lithophanes have elaborate marks and/or are glazed with colorful patterns. Liths are not meant for public circulation at all and are possessed only by the wealthy. Instead, like a metal bullion, liths are for storing wealth and managing very large transactions. Average merchants are unable to exchange liths for smaller denominations. Liths are so uncommon that the slang for them literally comes from rare instances of plundered caravans transporting liths and the ignorant raiders attempting to barter the ‘plates’ as art items, unaware of their true value. On average, liths are about the size of sheet of paper and between a half to an inch thick. Some liths have a thin border of metal either for decorative or protective purposes.
I just wanted to share and inquire if anyone else uses some interesting names for money in their games? Discuss!
Another option to get away from the term gp though would be to be explicit where the coins come from. You'd just have to come up with names for things like Tyrian Sheckles or Urikite Dirham or Balican Drachmas.
The old paradigm was:
1 Gold Piece = 10 Silver Pieces = 100 Ceramic Piece = 1000 lead beads(3e Athas.org addition)
Also the price conversion of everything was as follows: If it had metal in it or was particularly difficult to make it the price stayed the same, in GP. If however; there was no metal in it the price was 1%, so something that was 1GP in D&D that didn't have metal became 1CP, etc.
This was pretty much a nightmare until people made up spreadsheets and with the Ivory Triangle Boxed set there was a sheet of prices in Nibenay.
1 copper piece = 1 bit
1 silver piece = 1 ceramic (can be broken into 10 bits)
1 gold piece = 1 crown (made of ceramic)
1 platinum piece = 1 silver
1 astral diamond = 1 gold
Iron, lead, copper, etc, are too useful for tool-making or other material goods, and thus aren't used for coinage. When you see gold pieces changing hands, you know it is a huge sum of money. Gold and silver pieces are almost always used only for massive trades between city-states and/or merchant houses.
Ceramics, bits and crowns have the same name from city-state to city-state, with the shape, color and symbols on each differing. Crowns cannot be broken up, and always have the appropriate monarch's face on them. Silver and gold pieces have names that vary from city-state to city-state.
1 standard 4e gold piece = 1 actual gold piece = 1 ceramic
How can a fire-hardened chip of clay be worth the same as a hunk of precious metal? Sorcerer-king fiat. Barely anyone sees gold these days, they barely miss it. Sort of like the Dollar.
Copper and silver rarely come up in 4e, they are easily hand-waved as breaking a few bits off a ceramic to pay for the day's water or whatever.
Sorcerer king fiat actually comes into play: My campaign is near Nibenay and Gulg won't accept the PCs money due to strained relations between the city-states. Much of the treasure in the ruins of Yaramuke is worthless too!
I just kept it simple.
1 standard 4e gold piece = 1 actual gold piece = 1 ceramic
How can a fire-hardened chip of clay be worth the same as a hunk of precious metal? Sorcerer-king fiat. Barely anyone sees gold these days, they barely miss it. Sort of like the Dollar.
Copper and silver rarely come up in 4e, they are easily hand-waved as breaking a few bits off a ceramic to pay for the day's water or whatever.
I have to agree with you. I loved the terms used for the coins but in all honesty keeping it simple is just an easier way of doing it. The smaller coins just are not used enough to justify a lot of work reminding players what is what when saying 1 ceramic ( 1gp) does the job.
In the original setting 1 gp = 100 ceramic and metal items were the same cost as what was listed in the books. So for buying metal in 4th ed would have to be like multiplying by 100 to any item players would like to buy if made from metal? Back to topic- Also I have made a banking system for my game as my players have made in good with two trading houses. For 5% they can exchange their city ceramic for traders coins and can cash it in at the same merchant house for that citystates ceramic. I thought that would make cents ( hehe sorry couldn't help myself).
We used the following names to clearly delineate the rising value in coinage, while getting away from the standard metal names.
cp= Bit
sp= Noble
gp=Crown (This one is regional. It might be a king, a queen or something similar depending upon where you are).
pp=Dragon. 'Nuff said, right?
We never got anywhere near levels where higher denominations would be relevant. We never even saw any dragons, for that matter. We'd invent something else, no doubt, if need be. Maybe something related to the gods or titans. The average Athasian is as likely to run into such as they are to get their hands on an astral diamond-level currency.
I'm sure these bear little resemblance to early DS canon-coinage, but we found it clean and easy to remember.