 December 14, 2008 - 8:18pm | Had a character pick up some gold ornaments while raiding a rival Ul-mor tribe. The natural question is whats it worth. Not that it can be spent on Volturnus. but I think he's determined to lug it back to civilization. I suppose I should track down that Dragon Mag article called tote that barge to see if gold was listed as a cargo but I was wondering if other GM had been confronted with this or if anyone had thoughts on non standard currency. Maybe it could be sold to an Ifshnit. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 15, 2008 - 8:46am | Tote that barge! covers import and exports, not trinkets. Wink I would say the character should find a pawn shop or a collector of alien artifacts. Selling to the later might prove a problem (or not). The Ul-Mor is a new race perhaps protected by UPF law. Amazing the PC got out of there alive! |
 December 15, 2008 - 3:39pm | Everyone likes gold... I would have the ref assign it a cred value, just like a piece of jewellery in D&D. If you want to fancy it up, you can have it worth more on some planet more than others if it has some sort of antique/religious/historical signifcance... |
 December 19, 2008 - 10:47am | Seems to me gold will always have value, even in the frontier. Not from just a monetary one but it have industrial value, gold is still used in electronics after all. Plus there are always people out there that will want what some call "bling". So if pirates will kill for it, it has to have value. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
 December 19, 2008 - 11:12am | Check out Knight Hawks. It has a bit about commodoties and trade. maybe use that as a starting cost for an item. At least I got to scare an alien rabbit thingy...... |
 December 19, 2008 - 12:07pm | I would say the character should find a pawn shop or a collector of alien artifacts. Selling to the later might prove a problem (or not). The Ul-Mor is a new race perhaps protected by UPF law. Might be able to go through a museum as first artifacts from a new race. On a side note, one of my gamers collected all the poly-vox's from the shuttle emergency packs and carried them through the whole Volturnous series. The gold trinkets from Ul-Mor and Kurrabanda (sp) he used as shrapnel in home-made grenades and mines... This is the same guy who tried to wrestle the crazy cleaning bot in the caves...  Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
December 20, 2008 - 11:09am | Check out Knight Hawks. It has a bit about commodoties and trade. maybe use that as a starting cost for an item. Ah, the commodities chart. Which lists gold in SF as 200,000 Cr at the source and 300,000 at the destination per cargo unit. And I think a cargo unit is rated at 1 metric ton, which seems rather small seeing as a ship can only carry it's hull size in cargo units. Hull size 5 = 5 tons of cargo? I guess it's just starship technology is rather cheap in SF compared to real world ships. So a typical gold jewelry would weight about what? A few grams? Say 25 grams? Hmm that might be a little light. So gold is valued at 300 Cr per 1 kg so 25 grams of gold is 75 credit for the jewelry, than you have to add on artistic craftmanship and rarity of the work in question however. Plus often jewelry almost always has more valuable gems like diamonds, emeralds or rubies worked into them. We're probably talking a 40 to 70% mark up in the price after all this. I'm also thinking the commodities chart needs to be edited a bit as none of the resources will maintain a constant value, that will always change according to the rules of supply and demand. Which just over complicates the game at that point. I noticed coal is not listed on that commodities chart. How is it they can make steel from iron without coal in SF? Unless coal is always a local resource or they supply the coke form other sources to add carbon to make iron into steel. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
 December 20, 2008 - 12:48pm | Coal would have to be imported to a great number of worlds... not every one of the worlds would have a pre-history that mirrors the earth to produce the same sorts of petro-chemicals. Some near-earth worlds might, but many would not (like any that did not have similar ecosystems). Coal should have an entry if 'steel' is used.... otherwise, one has to come up with a fictional-science alternative to the carbon addition of steel (certainly a possibility). <insert witty comment here> |
 December 21, 2008 - 9:01am | So, Clarion(Gollywog) would make a mint out of exporting coal...hmmmm. "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
December 21, 2008 - 3:33pm | You know on that thought, worlds that lack coal would also be short on diamonds as well. There by increasing the value of them as well. Hey, we're about to re-write the economy of the frontier with this thread. Although I remember some worlds have an economy based on the SEU standard, I think that was from the dreaded Zebulon's Guide. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
