Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post

Gabocha · 06-20-2005, 02:46 PM

Accursed Lands uses a system based on fives. For the purposes of this discussion, we'll say that the basic monetary unit, a farthing, is equal to 1. The next level of currency, a penny, is equal to five farthings, so its value is 5. From there it goes to shillings, which are equal to five farthings (25), moons (125), ignobles (625), suns (3,125) and crowns (15,625).

Each level up is simply equal to five times the previous level.

The upper tiers of currency are rarely, if ever, seen, though. For one thing, money isn't very nessecary in the gameworld due to certain things I'm not at liberty to talk about due to the strict IC/OOC separation, but it suffices to say that money is a luxery that most characters can only aspire to. In that respect, having the higher levels of currency can act to reinforce theme if you want to utilize it that way, like in the example of pricing with guineas described above. Since nobody will probably ever use a sun to casually buy something, getting and/or using one would just feel that much more amazing, and rightfully so, since they're so rare.

EDIT: Gah, I completely lost focus regarding the purpose of the thread.

The best number of currency denominations for your MUD depends on a lot of things. How good your NPC shops are at making change, the availability of places to exchange money, how abundant casual non-automated transactions are, and the theme of your MUD.

If there isn't a strong RP environment (as a choice, not a circumstance) I'd say just let money be a virtual item and keep it to a single denomination. It's much simpler that way.

If you're going for something more realistic, though, try to think about the types of transactions most people make. Is it selling or buying in shops that automate making change, or is it personally trading from one character to another? If the vast majority of the trades being made are to automated money systems, you can deal with less denominations. Someone suggested a 1, 20, 1000 system that would probably work for that sort of thing.

However, if most trades happen in environments where change would have to be given by the seller character in a two-person deal, you'll want a more elaborate system. Start with a base unit of currency and go anywhere from 2x to 5x to come up with the value of the next unit, and keep doing that until your highest unit is worth somewhere between a tenth and a fifth of the most expensive item you think will be sold anywhere in your game.

That should probably work for most MUDs.

06-20-2005, 02:46 PM	#14
Gabocha New Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 15	Accursed Lands uses a system based on fives. For the purposes of this discussion, we'll say that the basic monetary unit, a farthing, is equal to 1. The next level of currency, a penny, is equal to five farthings, so its value is 5. From there it goes to shillings, which are equal to five farthings (25), moons (125), ignobles (625), suns (3,125) and crowns (15,625). Each level up is simply equal to five times the previous level. The upper tiers of currency are rarely, if ever, seen, though. For one thing, money isn't very nessecary in the gameworld due to certain things I'm not at liberty to talk about due to the strict IC/OOC separation, but it suffices to say that money is a luxery that most characters can only aspire to. In that respect, having the higher levels of currency can act to reinforce theme if you want to utilize it that way, like in the example of pricing with guineas described above. Since nobody will probably ever use a sun to casually buy something, getting and/or using one would just feel that much more amazing, and rightfully so, since they're so rare. EDIT: Gah, I completely lost focus regarding the purpose of the thread. The best number of currency denominations for your MUD depends on a lot of things. How good your NPC shops are at making change, the availability of places to exchange money, how abundant casual non-automated transactions are, and the theme of your MUD. If there isn't a strong RP environment (as a choice, not a circumstance) I'd say just let money be a virtual item and keep it to a single denomination. It's much simpler that way. If you're going for something more realistic, though, try to think about the types of transactions most people make. Is it selling or buying in shops that automate making change, or is it personally trading from one character to another? If the vast majority of the trades being made are to automated money systems, you can deal with less denominations. Someone suggested a 1, 20, 1000 system that would probably work for that sort of thing. However, if most trades happen in environments where change would have to be given by the seller character in a two-person deal, you'll want a more elaborate system. Start with a base unit of currency and go anywhere from 2x to 5x to come up with the value of the next unit, and keep doing that until your highest unit is worth somewhere between a tenth and a fifth of the most expensive item you think will be sold anywhere in your game. That should probably work for most MUDs.