Roleplaying With Treasure
The Church As A Bank

Many times an adventurer will have more money than they can easily carry. This is especially true if your DM uses the old rule of 10 coins to the pound, but even if your DM uses a more modern system of coins, where each coin type has its own weight and there may be 100 coins to the pound (more or less), thousands of GP can still quickly add up and their weight can become staggering (literally).

Exchanging coins for more valuable ones will help, and naturally, spending your cash will lighten your load, but you may still end up with substantial amounts of surplus cash. This is naturally not a great concern in worlds where one GP can let you live like a king for a month or more, or any other economically depressed world where you will never see more gold at one time than you can carry in one pocket, but in many AD&D games, this is not the case, and having thousands of GP could easily happen.

So, as we exchange our copper for silver, our silver for electrum, our electrum for gold, our gold for platinum, and perhaps our platinum for mithral, we can carry a lot more. But why would you want to do this? Carrying lose change into combat isn't wise. Actually, carrying more money than you plan to spend in the near future isn't exactly clever as you can always lose it. So it's smart to have a few hundred GP on you and a smattering of coins of various values to get through the day and perhaps bribe certain people or the like, or even toss into the hall to check for obvious traps or into a pool to check its depth or something like that, but carrying more than that runs a great and realistic risk of losing it all as you precariously cling to the side of a cliff (or whatever your PC has gotten themselves into today).

BTW, here is my system of coins in a nutshell, but you could use anything:

0.01 MP = 0.1 PP = 1 GP = 10 EP = 100 SP = 1000 CP = $100.00 U.S.

The coins also have varying weights from one metal type to the next, but I won't go into that here, though you can read about if you wish:

Coins, Metals, and A Better Monetary System (A Decimally Based, Realistic System Of Coins, English Or Metric)

Gems and jewelry typically have a higher value to weight ratio than coins, but these are harder to spend and no bar tender is likely to be able to exchange a diamond for a mug of ale and give you change. In all likelihood, he can't even accurately evaluate the gem's value, and the darn things sure aren't stamped 2,000 GP or something. So even when valuable stones are an excellent way to carry wealth, they are not an excellent way to spend it (hell, even a GP can be hard to spend in some places). And, unless there is good communications and trade between different cities or different nations, the prices of gems, and especially jewelry, may vary too greatly from place to place to make this a reliable medium of exchange.

Other treasure may be in the form of artistic items, collector's items, or historical items. This could take months or even years to unload at the full and true value, but most PCs don't wish to wait that long, so they may have to sell it at a substantial loss (if they want cash up front today). Naturally, they may be tempted to melt down a gold chalice for its metal, but as an artistic endeavor, it is probably worth more than its weight in gold. Other items may be furs, tapestries, rugs, fine clothing, ships, wagons, horses, trade goods, armor, weapons, oils, perfumes, silks, satins, ointments, incense, spices, rare coins, first editions, the sword of king Osserick (non magic, but historically important), etc. etc. etc. The mind boggles at the possibilities.

The DM will just probably tell you what you can sell something for (taking into account the loss from its true value), but if he is considering all this stuff, he may tell you the true value and tell you what you will really get if you insist on selling it for cash today (50% less than what it's worth, for example). This gives your PC some more options. They may let some NPC hawk it for them and wait a year or more for their money, but get the full value. Good record keeping and a calendar are vital to such games, of course, as well as the likelihood the game has some staying power and will run for years of game time. Or, they may be able to trade the item at full value to some NPC immediately. For example, the church may take it at full value if they are interested in it and wish to exchange it for services and spells (Healing, raise dead, a scroll, etc.). Some high-level NPC may out right buy your historical item, or trade its full value for another item you wish (like his spare +1 ring of protection).

However it may be done, it could happen that if your PC is willing to accept a trade in goods and services instead of cash, they may get closer to its true value right away. Or if they have good reason to already know who is looking for a particular item that will help them sell it quickly at its true value. If this is already part of the scenario's story (for example, they went to find the lost ruby of Shale city for lord Valis), then such considerations will not come into play and they would get its true value (unless it is also naturally part of the scenario lord Valis intends to cheat them). But I digress.

Finally, about the highest ratio of value to weight will be magic items. Your PC could conceivably use magic items as a form of money, but this specialized currency is even harder to evaluate and spend, so I really won't get into this practice other than to mention it is possible to do this. As one example, a +1 ring of protection you really don't need (as you have magic armor or a better ring), would be worth 20,000 GP. This is easily carried, but also, would really suck if you lost it or it was destroyed. But if you kept it safe at home, wow, that's a lot of cash in a tiny space.

Now, you may be under the impression all of this is just bookkeeping and numbers on your character sheet and simplicity itself, but let me assure you, it's not. How often have I discovered some of my player's characters running around with 13,250 GP in their pocket or even in their backpack? Gulp! That's over 132 pounds of metal. Hardly something you can carry around so freely, is it? And since numbers on a page are not obviously heavy, this may happen a lot more than you'd guess. Great care must be exercised to make sure none of your players are doing unrealistic things like this (or if you are the player, to make sure your character isn't doing it).

And without carrying this cash, PCs will often wish to immediately spend LOTS of it (as if they had it on them) when they discover something they wish to buy, even if realistically the cash is at home, buried in their back yard, held by a friend, or some other place they considered safe. It's just damned inconvenient and not very fun when you have to take into account the actual economic realities like this, and it sure often doesn't strike one as suitable for a game of heroic fantasy. Eric the bean counter doesn't exactly inspire awe.

When you think about it, your PC could spend days or even weeks wheeling and dealing and trying to convert wealth and treasure from one form to another, and they frequently have better or more exciting things to do. They could always hire an accountant, I suppose, but this rarely happens. So how is it done in an epic game?

Ultimately, your players will have to keep track of their own money and treasure, probably on the honor system unless you really wish to do it for them, or you have a computer DM aid or something to keep track of such things for them. Assuming the honor system, you should emphasize to your players, or bear in mind if you are the player, that it is unrealistic to carry thousands of GP around with you, or just happen to have it handy the moment your character needs it. As if!

TREASURE CONVERSION

Conversion of Treasure takes time, yes, but more importantly, it probably cost something too. If you haul in a wagon of 20,000 copper pieces - 200 lbs. of coins! - it would take someone days to count them. That is not free, and certainly not very interesting. True, if coin standards are good and scales are accurate, you could weigh it and divide by standard weights and estimate the wealth to within a few coins, but one still has to deal with all these coins, and that takes time. If not your time, then some NPC's time. They must be paid for their time.

For coins of lesser value (copper, silver, or electrum), lower security would be needed than for more valuable coins (gold, platinum, or mithral). Extra security cost more too. As a rough rule of thumb, however, you can estimate the cost by multiplying the gross value by 1% to 5%, or by keeping only 95% to 99% of the gross in the final form (ask your DM what % to use in each case). A percentage is fair since the more valuable the coins, the more security is needed, and that cost more. That is why it might cost more to count 10,000 GP than 10,000 CP, even though both take about the same time to count. But like I said, it is a rough rule of thumb.

For example, you bring in 20,000 CP ($2,000) and wish to convert this to gold, so you end up with 19 GP (losing 5% of its gross value of 20 GP and keeping only 95% of it). But that's ok as carrying around 1/5th of a pound of gold is a lot better than 200 pounds of copper.

So when you wish to convert large amounts of cash, a drop in value of 1% to 5% is about right. The lost money pays the fee for the moneychanger's time (which could realistically take days or more). Remember, it is not just time, but contacts and business connections too, so even if your PC says they will spend the time counting it themselves, they do not have the connections to do this job easily. Of course they could always throw it in their basement and hope no thief comes along. So NPC moneychangers are the best way to handle this. Then your PC need only wait some time for realism's sake, but as this is not fun to roleplay or easy to keep track of with that detail, you may just write it down on your character sheet and fudge a little.

Gems and jewelry take even longer to assess, convert, or exchange. I mean, any fool can count or weigh coins, but only a specialist may accurately evaluate these jewels. Days, weeks, or even months may be required (mostly a day or two will suffice unless they wish to really study how best to cut it and increase its value). OK, but how much of a loss? Again, 1% to 5% makes things easy, and though gems may be very valuable, it takes longer, requires more skill, requires higher security and broker fees, and takes additional time to find a buyer. So you can roleplay all this nitty-gritty stuff, or you can simplify it.

The truth is, it can realistically take several game sessions just to properly deal with all your treasure from one adventure, and it sure could take weeks of game world time your PCs should have to wait out, even if the players want to gloss over the actual roleplaying of treasure exchange or let NPCs handle it. And though all of this is fine to roleplay for one or two sessions just to see how it is working, it quickly becomes a bore to do it each session or for each haul. It sure isn't heroic fantasy.

Thus, the best way I've found to deal with this is just let the players take a 5% loss when they wish to convert any substantial amount of wealth from one form to another. Hopefully, they will not feel the need to convert it to gold, then again to platinum, then again to gems, etc. since each conversion will lose them time and 1% to 5% of the gross. Converting from rubies to sapphires or from emeralds to diamonds, for example, would probably be only at a 1-% loss as this is all in house dealing.

Bear in mind, for example, this isn't just a silly fool who likes exchanging wealth, but there are real reasons why you may need to do it more than once. You may have converted copper to gold, only to later discover you need all the silver you can lay your hands on to make a magic item (though it is more likely you will buy silver bars than coins, so bear in mind these secondary exchanges are more likely to be at a 1% loss than a 5% loss). Or more commonly, you converted to gems so you could carry them. Then needed to convert back to spend them. Reputable jewelers may give you a letter of provenience (this documents your gem's value and history, perhaps, and can be taken as proof of its value), and with such a letter the secondary exchange may lose you only 1% instead of 5% when you convert the gem back to cash. You don't have to roleplay all of this if you don't wish to, but just assume, for gems and jewelry, the second conversion is only at a 1-% loss. Coins will still have a loss of as much as 5% for their second conversion.

Finally, some items are too small to bother with, so your DM may set a limit and claim any exchanges in values less than 100 GP for gems and jewelry or less than 10 GP worth of coins need not bother with all this stuff as the locals may absorb the cost. For example, if you pay your taxes in copper, or buy a wagon with silver, etc., it is small enough such that the business man or local NPC representative will absorb the burden of exchange themselves (even if they only grudgingly accept it, they will).

So, after we have handled our exchanges, we may still end up with a large pile of gold or platinum, and this still may be hard to carry around. Gems and jewelry, as I explained, are a great way to carry wealth, but not spend it, so gold and platinum is the most typical way to carry wealth if you really feel the need to keep it with you. Otherwise, there are other options.

Unfortunately, paper money is not common on many adventuring worlds. Nor are banks. Collecting interest on your account is frequently too alien a concept for most medieval type games, though it could happen I suppose. It doesn't in my world, however. An adventurer may invest his wealth, but that is like gambling, even if the odds are good.

INVESTMENTS

Investments are a nice way handle excess wealth. Either by investing in a business as a silent partner, or taking a more active hand (by being the sole or majority owner of a business venture), the PC can have their money work for them. This will tie up their cash and they may not sell their interest rapidly without a substantial loss (perhaps 50%, for example!), but if they have the cash and don't think they will need it for a year or more, it can be done.

Sometimes this helps the game in other ways as well. Henchmen and followers need not trail behind your PC like lost puppies, but may instead stay at home, more often than not, running or overseeing the business (until a scenario comes along where their skill as an adventurer is really needed, anyway). While away, the second in command can handle the business, and once done, your follower or henchmen can return to the safety of your business ventures. But this sort of consideration often comes more into play in campaigns where PCs are building strongholds and holding land as well as adventuring rather than just skipping around the countryside on a lark.

SAFE INVESTMENTS: These will net them 10% of their gross each year. For example, the investment of 1000 GP in a cotton farm. Each year (the first of year for bookkeeping reasons) they have an annual income of 100 GP (10% of 1000 GP). Next year, they will get another 100 GP, and this will continue until they sell their investment.

SPECULATIVE INVESTMENTS: These will net them 0% to 20% of the principle. At the beginning of each year (after it had been invested an entire year), roll 1d20 and see what % return they will get. This will net them 1% to 20% of the principle each full year.

RISKY INVESTMENTS: These will net them -50% to +50%. Roll 1d100-50. A negative means they lost money and must either pay it back to maintain the same principle, or adjust their principle record to show they have less invested.

OTHER INVESTMENTS: These are tailor made by the DM and could be +/- 100% (or more or less), or even a short term weighted risk. For example, you invest 1000 GP knowing the odds (a rough idea for the character, but exact numbers for the player). Roll 1d10. 1, 2, 3, you lose your investment, 4, 5, 6, 7, no net change, you get your investment back, 8, 9, you get 50% and your investment back, 10, you double your investment. Such investments are not long term and this is more like gambling or playing the stock market (not that such things exist). It may, for example, be a heavy investment in a ship's cargo. Does the ship make it, does it sink, is it damaged and needs repair, is it captured by pirates, etc.? Anything from total loss to breaking even to making a killing is possible. Such investments are not always available, however, and may only present themselves occasionally. Ask your DM.

KEEPING TRACK OF INVESTMENTS

The PC should have a space on their character sheet for annual incomes and annual expenditures (upkeep, like what you pay to feed your horse the whole year, your butler's annual wage, your charitable contributions like a pledge to an orphanage, etc.). The player must keep track of such things. A wily PC could end up with many business ventures and become a wealthy man (or woman) with a huge total annual income. These businesses even offer many roleplaying opportunities, business contacts, and if the DM deems it likely, may give you a break on treasure conversion as your businesses can take longer to convert your money for you and act as the NPC money changer (so you lose only 1% to 2% instead of as much a 5%, for example, but you should only be able to convert wealth at that rate at a one to one basis (i.e., for each 1000 GP you have invested, you can convert, once/year, up to 1000 GP of treasure at 1%. Any more money or more frequently that that and your principle would be at a 5% loss, as normal).

A place on the character sheet (or separate sheet for treasure) should describe the business venture (Cotton plantation, Marble quarry, Tobacco, Wine Vineyard, for example), and known NPCs (Nick, the foreman), the principle amount invested (250 GP or whatever), and the likely % return (10%), as well as any other notes the DM asks you to make.

FRACTIONAL INVESTMENTS

If the investment was made mid year, just multiply this return by the fraction of the year it was invested. For example, in a 400 day year (Orlantia), if they invested with only 75 days left in the year, multiply by 75/400 or 0.1875 or round up to 19%. Thus, a 1000 GP investment may earn (rolling 1d20 and getting 4), only 40 GP for the whole year that year, or only 7.5 GP in the last 75 days of the year (after that, each year is a full year on this investment). Each year, roll a new 1d20 to see how the year went for this business venture.

If the investment has a season (a growing season, harvesting season, etc. and may not operate at all in some season (closed for winter), the DM may opt to give you your return at that time, but this is just more detail that might best be ignored lest you get too detailed. However, it may be the case you invested only part of the year but still in time for the whole season, so the DM will count this as a full year.

GETTING OUT OR SELLING YOUR INVESTMENTS

You may eventually wish to sell your share of a business venture. OK, this is fine and easily done if you plan well in advance and have a year's warning. You will likely get back 90% of your investment, or you may roll 1d50-25 and get back that. This would be a loss of up to 25% or a gain of up to 25%. If you have to sell out with shorter notice, your loss will be so likely you can just take 50% of your investment and run.

The DM may also decide your business venture is doing so well, an opportunity arises such that if you sell out now, you will get your entire investment back and perhaps N% as well. Naturally, if good fortune can smile on you, so can bad fortune rear its ugly head. The DM may then inform you that unless you sell out now, at a loss of N%, you have a 10% chance of losing it all. Or you could invest more capital (another 50% of the principle) to help maintain it. He rolls 1d100 and if he gets 11% or higher, you get your 50% back as you sustained the business through a rough patch, but if he rolls 10% or less, you lose it all.

Business is sometimes tricky, even when you over simplify it and make it into a few game numbers. Oh well.

REINVESTING YOUR EARNINGS

Instead of taking the year's profit, you may wish to invest it back into the business, making it grow. If you do this, it ties up more of your money, but your DM may increase the return as well. For example, you may reinvest the 100 GP profit on a 1000 GP investment and now get 10.5% each year (add 0.5% more return each year they reinvest the profit, not to exceed 30% (40 years of reinvesting)). Be sure to mark your new principle as 1,100 GP. Next year you'd get 115.5 GP and you could take that or reinvest it. Etc. Furthermore, your return for selling a stronger business may earn you more. One nice way to do it is to get back +(1d50-25+2N)%, where N is the number of years you invested your profits. For example, you invest 1000 GP, and after 5 years of plowing the profit back into it, you find it is worth 1610 GP (as principle since 1.1^5x1000 = 1610) and earns 12.5%/year. You told the DM you wanted to sell at the end of last year, so you can now. Rolling 1d50-25+10, you get (40-25+10=25), so 1.25x1610= 2013 GP. If you had taken the 100 GP instead, you would have gotten 500+1150 or 1650. By investing more, though it took 5 years, you earned an extra 363 GP (or $36,300). Is this epic? Hell no, but it is realistic and more depth. So you decide what you want.

ACQUIRING A BUSINESS

Finally, a business venture may become treasure in and of itself. For instance, you may find the deed to the plantation, the silver mine, the papers of ownership for the ship, etc. The DM will give you the numbers on this investment. Naturally, you can sell it immediately for a loss (as above), or keep it. Thus, gaining a 10,000 GP gold mine may sound like a lot, but it's really only 5,000 cash if sold, or 1000 GP/year income, depending. You decide.

Yes, this is getting complicated, but it is also more realistic, offers more choices, and can be exceedingly fun too. The roleplaying contacts and scenario possibilities alone make it all worth while. But how much realism you add to you game is up to you, naturally, but as a good player may wish to delve deeply into the economic side of your game (or his own PC's holdings), and as a lot can be done independent of the DM's time, it's all useful to a certain extent. But I digress.

THE CHURCH

Now, the church is the final topic I shall discuss. With an actual contact to god's hierarchy and a reasonable exchange of information at a fairly regular rate, and also the very fact adventurers hold a special place in the heart of many high priests (as their donations and tithes can be huge and a major source of income and power for the church), special consideration is often given to PCs.

Specifically, the church may act as a holding company for the PC's surplus money. This money does not earn interest, nor is it an investment, but it is surprisingly mobile and a sure credit, and essentially insured against loss or theft. If your DM allows it, they'll let you use the church (or its associated churches) as a way to move credit from city to city. It's almost as good as a credit card.

For example, you could place 10,000 GP in the temple of Athena located in the city of Nahecha, and withdraw it at any temple of Athena (or its friendly associated churches, like Zeus or even any good Greek god's temple), half way across the planet. Eventually, the money (or its credit) will catch up to where it is supposed to be independent of the PCs concerning themselves with it.

Naturally, your church isn't going to cut you all the slack in the world, and dropping 50,000 SP on their doorstep and expecting them to deal with it is not going to happen. But if you take care to make the exchanges, as described above, and convert to a better form (and take the 1% to 5% loss), and then give it to them in an acceptable form, then you will have that credit at any temple of Athena (or where ever). Just bear in mind, smaller temples in smaller cities or villages may take a lot longer to get all that cash, so you may have to wait or just take it in part. For example, you have 10,000 GP at the Parthenon (main temple of Athena in Alodar), and find the city of Shale has a small temple to Zeus (an associated god in good standing with Athena, gosh, it's her father after all). They can't give you 10,000 GP cash, but will give you all they can afford, on credit, such as 500 GP. This may be enough for your character's purposes.

The player just subtracts this from their sheet and doesn't need to worry too much about how the Parthenon is going to get 500 GP up to the temple of Zeus in Shale. It will eventually happen.

Or better yet, and a more common occurrence, you need the money for goods or services the other temple can render, or some local business that may already owe the church, so a deal can be struck (independent of the PC's concerns). The temple of Zeus, in this case, may cast two Raise Dead spells for you (5,000 GP each), and that's that. So using the church as a way to "carry" money is another option. The only real problem is that a representative temple isn't in every city where you may find yourself (though the next city over may have one, and that's a damn site better than having to travel back home if that's half way across the globe). Also, this money is not earning you anything while just sitting in some temple.

Other considerations may be realistic, but not really the concern of the PC. For example, how secure is the church from thieves? Suffice it say, it is secure enough, for robbing a temple may be done, but it is not so easy as one may think, the gods being demonstrably real, their power being felt in the here and now, and the promise of damnation or a curse is quite a deterrent for most. Is it 100% safe? No, but close enough, and the church would pick up the loss, if any, not the PC, so it is insured as far as the PCs are concerned.

CONCLUSIONS

Now I have discussed, at length, many considerations of treasure, wealth, carrying it, moving it, investing it, and spending it. Have I exhausted this topic? No. More could always be explored or developed for your own world, but that's not the point. The point is this is more detail than most people really want already. However, even if you use only a fraction of it, that's probably more than you did before, and it adds a bit of realism to your game. I like that.

And finally, even if you don't use any of these ideas, at least you have been exposed to them and can see some people do take such things into consideration in their roleplaying games. Thus, when you find a player who asks about such things, you may at least grasp what the hell he's talking about. You may even wish to employ some of these items at that time.

Truth be told, the time to incorporate this level of detail into your game is often simultaneous with a player's request to see it, have it, or consider it (and not necessarily before this as no one may appreciate it). Before then, who cares?

So if no one thinks it odd your character has 5,000 GP in their back pocket, that's cool with me, but if they think it peculiar, you probably know why, and now you have some options here to deal with it.

Roleplaying With Treasure The Church As A Bank