Currency

[Toxoplasmaman]

And whisky/whiskey in the frontier in the 1780s.

[CraigD6er]

Another area that will affect what players do is what currency is used outside of their own 'home' patch. Every RPG has a standard list of values for everyday items. Verything is valued in gold pieces, or dollars, or credits, but in a post-WWIII or post-apocalypse setting, there could be dozens of different values for the same items. If you want to get into lots of detail, a single currency doesn't cut it. Imagine if your group happily gathers every piece of gold they can, and trades it for what they need, then they travel to another zone. Suddenly their gold is useless and something they'd not even thought about is what the locals want. Different free cities, or regions, may not use gold, or silver, or bottle caps, as currency, or may assign a different value to them. What can be bought for an ounce of gold in Krakow might cost 2 in Ostrava. Five miles further down the road, they might consider gold as just a pretty but fairly useless item, and value everything by weight of tobacco, or litres of 'shine. How the players negotiate values when every few miles someone has a different idea of 'value' can become a major role playing event.

[Gunner]

Originally Posted by CraigD6er

How the players negotiate values when every few miles someone has a different idea of 'value' can become a major role playing event.

Excellent point, and something I hadn't considered.

I recall in the book "Alas Babylon", honey was used as a 'currency', or at least a valuable trade item and gold and silver jewelry became to be viewed suspiciously because of the possibility they might be radioactive...

[Toxoplasmaman]

Yep. I agree. I have some junk silver stashed away since I'm in the US but if I was in Europe, I'd have gold sovereigns instead.

The Aftermath London adventure has ammo as currency.

Depends on where you are and who you're dealing with.

[swaghauler]

Originally Posted by Gunner

Excellent point, and something I hadn't considered.

I recall in the book "Alas Babylon", honey was used as a 'currency', or at least a valuable trade item and gold and silver jewelry became to be viewed suspiciously because of the possibility they might be radioactive...

Spartan117 was asking about trade and I threw together some rules for him to use with V2/V2.2. You'll have to search for the thread though. I start with an item's rarity and then move your chance to acquire it based on its importance to that individual. You must then roll a test of PERSUASION to buy it at the stated price. My basic Task Difficulty Levels are...

Very Common Item = EASY (Skill X 2) test
Common Items = ROUTINE (1.5 X Skill) test
Uncommon Items = AVERAGE (Skill) test
Scarce Items = DIFFICULT (Skill X 0.5) test
Rare Items = FORMIDABLE (Skill X 0.25) test
Extremely Rare/Experimental = IMPOSSIBLE (0.1 X Skill) task

An Outstanding Success (rolling under RAW Skill without Attribute on an Average task) will get you a 10+1D20% Discount.

An Exceptional Success (rolling under HALF your RAW Skill without Attribute on an Average test) will get you a 50% reduction in price.

Rolling OVER your needed score but under your RAW Skill (the 1-10 number) will cost you 10+1D20% more.

Rolling over your entire Asset (your Skill + Attribute) will double the price.


Also, please note that this is just for buying things or doing "horse trading/bartering" during play. FINDING what you need is a roll on your SCROUNGING skill.
I allow anyone with Economics to add a bonus to their roll.