Currency

Individuals sometimes find themselves in possession of not really very much at all. As a partial antidote to this problem, many cultures employ some form of currency. This is not to suggest that your game setting lacks locations in which theft, barter, credits, or other systems prevail as the primary means regulating the exchange of goods; nevertheless, much of the time adventurers will need cash in order to acquire the basic necessities for living: Food, shelter, clothing, adventuring supplies, steeds, herbs, magic items, bribes for powerful individuals, traveling minstrels, hired thugs, vast quantities of alcohol, monkey sidekicks, small countries, and giant battle machines.

Earning Income in Gygaxia

Conventionally, inhabitants of fantasy worlds make money in one of two basic ways — either they get jobs, or they go out adventuring. Since roleplaying a character who's washing dishes and mixing drinks for a living isn't much fun, most player characters tend to go adventuring. Remember, though, that you don't necessarily have to choose; you can have a "day job" which earns income during down time and go out adventuring later, or you can start a business. Either option can make for an interesting campaign setting. For that matter, an ordinary job may provide plenty of fodder for adventures. Alternatively, you can invest your money — say, for instance, in clerical indulgences, in the herb trade, in lettuce-flavored ice cubes, or in wars in other countries (in exchange for financing a country's war, you can own an amount of that country). Blow off the ethical implications. You're an investor!

Types of Gygaxian Currency

Currencies in Gygaxia vary a good deal from area to area. Some places might use slips of paper, while others may resort to rocks, beer, cursed magical items, buffalo chips, or rotten tomatoes. Naturally, different cultures value different things; a desert culture might trade in liquids, while the part of the world where Jack climbed the beanstalk (fifty years after that fateful day) might use magic beans as currency. Naturally, some cultures trade in different kinds of muffins. However, the norm is metal coinage, and the normal metal coinage is as follows:

• Beepee (x1/10th Espee): A bronze coin, equivalent to pocket change.
• Espee (x1 Espee): A silver coin constituting the basic unit of exhange.
• Geepee (x10 Espee): A gold coin typically used by merchants and adventurers for higher-valued transactions, typically bearing a variety of bite marks.
• Peepee (x100 Espee): A rare coin of platinum, occasionally used by adventurers and very wealthy merchants but more often found in treasure hordes. In recent centuries the peepee has fallen further from common use, possibly as a result of its unfortunate name.
• Empee (x1,000 Espee): An exceptionally rare coin, also called a true espee, made of a silvery metal called mythril. Mythril is hard yet malleable, never tarnishes, and is so intrinsically magical that it tends to take on magical abilities by virtue of the metaphors associated with the items it shapes or its uses. Mythril derives its name from the fact that it is usually considered mythical, and because anyone who finds any is almost invariably thrilled. It is the most easily enchantable known substance, but is mined with caution because, for some unknown reason, balrogues often seem to be buried near its lodes.

To get some idea of what these amounts are worth, take a look at the equipment lists, examine the Average Daily Income chart, or just roll 2d10 and interpret the results as you see fit.

Average Daily Income (in Espee)