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Wog Treasures and Hoards |
| 2021-06-01 |
Wog Treasures and Hoards
Novice heroes begin with no coinage. Shillings are usually mere units of account, and actual coins are more trophies and art objects than currency.
(Brother Cornix, Wolves of God, page 41)
I automated the treasure/hoard generation tables of Wolves of God, I was tired of the multiple rolls when preparing my sessions.
It's available under https://weaver.skepti.ch/others/wog_treasures.html.
There are 14 text files re-rolled every three minutes there. One file for each level of wealth, from the humble ceorl to the treasury of a lost roman city. The very first of the file lists three items from the Petty Goods table.
Here is an example output:
8 - Plunder Kept in a Bandit Lair - 720s (12L) Type F Item Count Value Total ------------------------------------------------------------------- common r Wool cloth roll 5 30d 37s2d common r Carved furniture 1 5d 1s1d common r Wool cloth roll 1 30d 7s2d common u Tin ingots 1 8d 2s rich Gold ingot 3 1,200d 15L rich Roman housewares 11 80d 3L40s jewelry Brooch, Gold, Intricate 1 4L 4L jewelry Torc, Silver, Simple 1 1L30s 1L30s jewelry c Brooch, Copper, Gemmed 1 20s 20s jewelry c Bracelet, Copper, Engraved 1 15s 15s jewelry c Chain, Copper, Large 1 7s2d 7s2d Jewelry 6L12s2d . 25L40s3d . 1,540s3d . 6,163d u: rusts, c: corrodes, p: perishes, d: dies, r: rots 1L = 60s / 1s = 4d / 1L = 240d
I added flags (rust, corrodes, perishes, dies, rots) to the output. I think it is relevant for hoards that were forgotten. They should help adjust the output to the setting and circumstances.
The 13 hoards are also rolled as CSV files and available right next to their plain text counterparts.
There is a Jewelry subtotal, I thought it necessary since it concerns items that are easily pocketable. Speaking of totals, if the players have a level in the skill Gift (Trade) I give them the totals, else I give them only the left part, item descriptions and counts. Good luck carrying back and trading some of those items.
Regarding magical items, I blank out value and power. Again, good luck finding out what it really is, there is no user manual and characters don't know what they don't know.
The Empire was long gone but people were still valueing items and services along the Liber/Solidus/Denarius lines. By the way, David Graeber's Debt: The First 500 Years is a must read.
Although hard currency was no longer used in everyday life, its use as a unit of account and credit continued in medieval Europe. Graeber insists that people in the Middle Ages in Europe continued to use the concept of money, even though they no longer had the physical symbols.
Speaking of value system, here are two hints, wergild and some prices:
A ceorl’s wergild is 200 shillings, or the price of 40 cows. It might take ten common families to afford such a man’s life.
(Wolves of God, page 118)
Cow 20d Goat 2d Horse 120d Ox, Trained 30d Pig 10d Sheep 5d Common food, 3 meals 1d Good bread, 2 pounds 1d Hard bread, 4 pounds 1d Mead, 1 gallon 4d Salt, 1 pound 2d
Other Wikipedia articles gleaned along the way:
- Anglo-Saxon pound
- þrymsa coins
- Sceatta coins (they appear sometimes in generated hoards)
The generated outputs:
