Economic Woes Implied by DCCRPG

I have been thinking about the economy implied by item prices in DCC. I think I have a good guideline to what can be bought where, based not only on cost in coin but in man-hours and resources in a world where a peasant gets a few gold a year.

Type	Pop	Max Item Value	Crafting Capability
Thorp/Hamlet 🛖	20~80	3 gp	Daggers, Torches, Rations, Clubs, Staves, Slings, Chalk, Candles, Sacks, 10' Poles
Village 🏡	80~400	10 gp	Spears, Short swords, Shields, Maces, Handaxes, Padded Armor, Grappling Hooks, Waterskins, Oil
Small Town 🏡	400~2,000	50 gp	Longswords, Longbows, Studded Leather, Battleaxes, Warhammers, Hide Armor, Small Hammers, Iron Spikes
Large City 🏙️	5,000+	500+ gp	Chainmail, Crossbows, Polearms, Mirrors, Lanterns, Thieves' Tools, Holy Symbols/Water, Scale Mail
Capital 🏰	10,000+	1,200+ gp	Full Plate, Banded Mail, Barding, Sages-for-hire, Warhorses, Two-handed Swords, Glassware

Checking the Page 432 MEN AND MAGICIANS section, I see bandits are listed with scimitars and javelins. Maybe they need a village nearby to be in "business"; scimitars are kinda resource-heavy, like long-swords, they take a long time to make, something a village smith probably just doesn't have due to working on plows, nails, and horseshoes all day. Also, I image a lot of weapons bandits do have are heirlooms from when their folks were mercenaries of the last generation's wars. Maybe they have enslaved their own smith too.

Consider the lowly mirror. You need some specialist like glaziers to make what most would consider a vanity item. Maybe in a town you could get by with polished bronze, and the better quality mirrors would be in large cities with nobles or the capital. So though it is priced about the same as longsword, I put it in the Large City category.

Then we have to consider how long it takes to even make a weapon. Do you have the cash to hunker down in the inn for all that time? Maybe you should just send the thief to steal swords from the garrison. I'm sure they're barely even guarded 😉

Or raid a tomb? The dead famously don't care if you take their stuff 💀

Item Category	Example Item	Estimated Time	But why tho
Simple Weapon	Club, Spear, Staff	d2 Days	Minimal metalwork; mostly shaping wood/iron head.
Martial Weapon	Mace, Handaxe, Dagger	d3+2 Days	Requires balanced forging and basic tempering.
Professional Blade	Longsword, Battleaxe	d2 Weeks	Complex heat-treating, grinding, and hilt-fitting.
Ranged Weapon	Longbow, Crossbow	d3+1 Weeks	Requires seasoned wood or complex mechanical parts.
Light Armor	Leather, Padded	1 Week	Tanning, stitching, and multiple layers of fabric.
Medium Armor	Scale, Chainmail	d3 Months	Drawing wire and riveting thousands of individual rings.
Heavy Armor	Banded, Full Plate	2d3 Months	Master-level metallurgy; custom-fitting plates to the wearer.

BTW, while we are on it, the smithy is not a bank and it cares for your captured orc swords--we shouldn't use orcs in DCC, but that is another post--mostly as scrap metal. Maybe the smithy would give you a trade or something for that pitted pig iron. The smith provides 50 iron spikes, a new crowbar, or fixes your armor. He’s trading his labor, not his hard to come by coins. 

And the coal? Have you ever thought about where coal and pig-iron come from? I have, for some reason. I watched a lot of Lindybege and Baldrick's Worst Jobs in History.

BTW, the bigger towns probably have the orc sword problem too, but is is more of a couple-millennia old vase problem. Who has the cash to pay for that? What I'm saying is it doesn't seem like there should be that many coins in monster treasure hoards, so the PCs will have to deal with carting around rare items and trading them for other items.

I'm thinking I can't beat the Shadowdark treasure tables for that. Yet.

One more thing. Upper level characters generated outside of the funnel seem loaded. 

Class	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
Warrior	5d12	5d12 + 500	5d12 + 1,500
Wizard	3d10	3d10 + (2d4 x 100)	3d10 + (5d4 x 100)
Cleric	4d20	4d20 + 400	4d20 + 1,300
Thief	3d10	3d10 + (1d6 x 100)	3d10 + (3d6 x 100)
Elf	3d12	3d12 + 500	3d12 + 2,000
Halfling	3d20	3d20 + 250	3d20 + 1,500
Dwarf	5d12	5d12 + 700	5d12 + 2,000

Holy shit! It would seem they can buy and sell whole towns after a few levels. So I suggest you tell the player, "You have a budget of [roll] to buy gear. Spend it or lose it. I'll let you keep up to 10 gold from the remainder."

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Share good posts with good goblins. Claytonian at the gmails.