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Thread: Time = Currency

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    Default Time = Currency

    I remember watching an episode of Tales From The darkside many many years ago where standard currency was non-existant and goods were purchased by exchanging your life force to another person.

    I've been wanting to homebrew something like this, but I've never gotten the chance.

    Original Formula:
    Code:
    1 Copper   = 3 Days
    1 Silver   = 1 Week
    1 Gold     = 1 Year
    1 Platinum = 10 Years
    Formula 2.0:
    Code:
    1 Copper   = 1/7 Day
    1 Silver   = 1 Day
    1 Gold     = 1 Week
    1 Platinum = 2 Months
    Formula 3.0:
    Code:
    1 Copper   = 1/14 Day
    1 Silver   = 1/7 Day
    1 Gold     = 1 Day
    1 Platinum = 1 Week
    Last edited by Twin Dragons; 2010-11-29 at 09:45 PM.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord_Of_Sarunia View Post
    I remember watching an episode of Tales From The darkside many many years ago where standard currency was non-existant and goods were purchased by exchanging your life force to another person.

    I've been wanting to homebrew something like this, but I've never gotten the chance. Anyways, here's the formula I came up with;

    Code:
    1 Copper   = 3 Days
    1 Silver   = 1 Week
    1 Gold     = 1 Year
    1 Platinum = 10 Years
    So, a longsword is 15 years of life? Doesn't seem workable as it stands. The pricing is just too steep.

    Cute idea though. Could work out.

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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by arguskos View Post
    So, a longsword is 15 years of life? Doesn't seem workable as it stands. The pricing is just too steep.

    Cute idea though. Could work out.
    A little more workable when you expect to be receiving other people's time in exchange for your own goods and/or services, but it still seems quite harsh unless you make almost everything drastically cheaper.

    Edit: And your typical adventuring group would probably wind up with a multi-hundred-year lifespan after just a few adventures. Time to retire and run an inn!
    Last edited by tyckspoon; 2010-11-28 at 11:57 PM.

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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    That doesn't add up well. One copper is 3 days, but 10 times that value is 3.3 times that time, and 100 times it is 520 times that time.

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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    This further creates issues with longevity. Successful business folk can live forever. Actually, someone who profits ONE copper piece every two days will live forever. That cannot possibly be intentional.

    All that I say applies only to myself. You author your own actions and choices. I cannot and will not be responsible for you, nor are you for me, regardless of situation or circumstance.

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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Yeah, the idea's cool but the scale's way off. Think of 1 GP as a dollar and a cp as a penny. Then ask yourself, how much would I pay to live a year longer. $5,000? $10,000? $500,000?

    The find the time per GP, and convert to PP, SP, and GP as needed.

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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by arguskos View Post
    This further creates issues with longevity. Successful business folk can live forever. Actually, someone who profits ONE copper piece every two days will live forever. That cannot possibly be intentional.
    I can't remember the episode the episode all that well just the idea behind it and the conclusion, and that is clearly the intention.

    I guees my chart needs a revamp:
    Code:
    1 Copper   = 1/7 Day
    1 Silver   = 1 Day
    1 Gold     = 1 Week
    1 Platinum = 2 Months
    Last edited by Twin Dragons; 2010-11-29 at 12:42 AM.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Well, now your chart works fairly decently until you get to Platinum. It's increments of 7, rather than 10, which means you'll still need to adjust prices, but they're all the same. Until you hit platinum, which is x52 instead of x7. This puzzles me.

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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Fixed.....
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord_Of_Sarunia View Post
    Fixed.
    You'd give up 5 months of your life for a single longsword, and 20 years of your life for a Spyglass? These numbers still all seem to high. A year of your life should be an incredibly serious purchase, in my mind, not just an appreciable fraction of a carriage.

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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    there's also the fact that long-lived races such as elves would be instantly rich and successful businessmen.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    I think that this is only going to work if this is something applied to objects in excess of 1,000 GP. The economies of the average person and the D&D adventurer are totally different, and the latter one is a smarter one to use as long as you're running something like Planescape or Spelljammer, which both feel appropriate for this kind of system.

    Make it also scale proportionately to those of greater or lesser lifespan, I would suggest. For those of infinite life, they pay out a value in Con instead.
    Last edited by AstralFire; 2010-11-29 at 03:13 PM.


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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    A house should be worth about 20 years, given what mortgages take to repay these days.

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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by IcarusWings View Post
    there's also the fact that long-lived races such as elves would be instantly rich and successful businessmen.
    Elans got it definitely beat. And if I recall right, Warforged and Dragonborn as well.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    For my final draft I present the the following;

    Code:
    1 Copper   = 1/14 Day
    1 Silver   = 1/7 Day
    1 Gold     = 1 Day
    1 Platinum = 1 Week
    Last edited by Twin Dragons; 2010-11-29 at 09:47 PM.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Are you trying to make a system of currency for NPCs, or PCs, or both?


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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by AstralFire View Post
    Are you trying to make a system of currency for NPCs, or PCs, or both?
    Both......
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord_Of_Sarunia View Post
    Both......
    Alright. How do you plan to address the massive boost in starting wealth to an elf versus a half-orc?

    What level cap are you looking at here, too? Because a 50,000 gold item will cost someone 100 years. I'd better live a damn long time if I'm gonna spend 100 years on a shinier sword. The lower in level you go, the lower in expected wealth, the better a system like this works.
    Last edited by AstralFire; 2010-11-29 at 10:03 PM.


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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    The CWBL goes up about 30% per level (or so says a sidebar in the epic level guide...I didn't look to see if it's true...didn't care).

    As such, this could scale with your level.

    At level 1, a year would be n gold (I'd say 500 gold). At level 2, a year would be 700 gold. And so on and so on. At ninth level, a year would be 39,000 gold pieces.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by Havvy View Post
    The CWBL goes up about 30% per level (or so says a sidebar in the epic level guide...I didn't look to see if it's true...didn't care).

    As such, this could scale with your level.

    At level 1, a year would be n gold (I'd say 500 gold). At level 2, a year would be 700 gold. And so on and so on. At ninth level, a year would be 39,000 gold pieces.
    I really like this idea.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    What do you do with naturally immortal races, like Warforged and Elan? How about demons, fey, devils, any other number of creatures commonly making pacts with mortals? Can a devil just give a mortal 50'000 years of lifespan?
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by Havvy View Post
    The CWBL goes up about 30% per level (or so says a sidebar in the epic level guide...I didn't look to see if it's true...didn't care).

    As such, this could scale with your level.

    At level 1, a year would be n gold (I'd say 500 gold). At level 2, a year would be 700 gold. And so on and so on. At ninth level, a year would be 39,000 gold pieces.
    Having it scale with your level not only makes the outside world completely borked, it doesn't actually work consistently until level 7 or so.


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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by Havvy View Post
    The CWBL goes up about 30% per level (or so says a sidebar in the epic level guide...I didn't look to see if it's true...didn't care).

    As such, this could scale with your level.

    At level 1, a year would be n gold (I'd say 500 gold). At level 2, a year would be 700 gold. And so on and so on. At ninth level, a year would be 39,000 gold pieces.
    you're average human starting wizard is 21. middle aged is 35. assuming you want to avoid the age debuff, that's 13 years to play with.

    a ninth level wizard would thus have access to 500,000 gold.

    a ninth level rogue could have somewhere close to a million
    Last edited by thubby; 2010-11-30 at 06:24 AM.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    How much time before you could just as well sell the time to a demon and get a wish spell?

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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Since someone else proposed an XP = currency sort of thing where XP can be turned into money and such, perhaps that can be used to calculate this better, using standard NPC level growth as a guide.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Well...

    A wish spell used to cost 1 year of your life.
    Now it costs 5000 XP.
    5000 xp is worth 25'000 Gold.

    Therefore: one year is 25'000 gold? That's absolutely insane, really.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    Well...

    A wish spell used to cost 1 year of your life.
    Now it costs 5000 XP.
    5000 xp is worth 25'000 Gold.

    Therefore: one year is 25'000 gold? That's absolutely insane, really.
    Hence why I'd use standard NPC level growth, not something that is already broken.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    Well...

    A wish spell used to cost 1 year of your life.
    Now it costs 5000 XP.
    5000 xp is worth 25'000 Gold.

    Therefore: one year is 25'000 gold? That's absolutely insane, really.
    If you consider humans hit age 15 and in those days a low magic campaign could have you dying at 35 instead of 60-80.

    But, elves have huge lifespans, tree people even more (forgot the name, obscure plant race), and some races are immortal >_>

    What about a different factor-- we know aging deterioration accelerates with age, so why not have the years be different in their "vitality worth"?

    Let's say 0-12 years old is a factor of 1, because those are the years when you are at your peak in growth and your "vitality" is at it's highest, you recover from illness, mend bones, are flexible and learn well with no effort and always have energy.

    Factor 12-18 as a factor of 1.5, because it's those years which you develop a lot of your structure and your body has to constantly exert vitality to bring you there.

    19-24 is a factor of 2, because that's when your body has reached it's maximum physical potential and after 25 it will slowly decline.

    25-30 is a factor of 2.5, minimal decline.

    31-45 is a factor of 3, heavy decline.

    46-55 is a factor of 4, rapid decline.

    55-80 is essentially free-fall and is a factor of 5.


    Now for some groundrules, draining vitality saps years off the life directly from their age, this means they do not develop as they would have if a fundamental year is removed, making early years MUCH more important than later years.

    Factor | Age
    1 - 0 to 12
    1.5 - 12 to 18
    2 - 19 to 24
    2.5 - 25 to 30
    3 - 31 to 45
    4 - 46 to 55
    5 - 55 to 80


    So let's say we use the ring example using the factor of 1 as the 5000xp, to gain 10,000xp the following would happen:

    A 10 year old would become 12 years old, without the advantages.
    A 13 year old would become 16 years old, without the advantages.
    A 20 year old would become 24 years old, without the advantages.
    A 25 year old would become 30 years old, without the advantages.
    A 32 year old would become 38 years old, without the advantages.
    A 46 year old would become 52 years old, without the advantages.
    A 60 year old would become 70 years old, without the advantages.

    Hows this system for you?

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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    A simpler solution might be to have the person "paying" with life force age a year, rather than have a year taken off at the end of their life.
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    Default Re: Time = Currency

    Quote Originally Posted by Havvy View Post
    The CWBL goes up about 30% per level (or so says a sidebar in the epic level guide...I didn't look to see if it's true...didn't care).
    IIRC, it's roughly GP == XP. The WBL charts cream off 10% of that to account for consumables, new pairs of shoes, inn stays, and similar expenses.

    (The game charges an 80% conversion fee if you want to use GP to purchase something that would cost XP to do yourself -- that's just there to provide a disincentive to players who want to short-circuit the XP cost for spells and magic items by getting NPCs to do it).
    Last edited by lesser_minion; 2010-11-30 at 08:34 AM.

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