 July 28, 2011 - 4:49pm | Thinking about currency in the Frontier....
It highly likely that the PGC credit did not shoulder aside local planetary currencies. And if that did not happen then some currency speculation must go on even during the period congruous with the 2nd sathar war.
Sure its one more level of detail that could be ignored in favor of the ubiquitous credit for simplicity and player ease but.....
A simple line on planetary briefs could be included to tell you what the local currency is and the exchange rate to the credit. In game an NPC could offer to pay the players a cool 10,000 but fail to specify that its in local currency. Just getting it exchanged could be a head ache and draw scrutiny from officials, "Just why are you carrying such large sums of money and were did you get? Dare say that we'll have to confiscate this till we can confirm you paid taxes on it and that its not profit from illegal activity. Please surrender your ID cards too." I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 28, 2011 - 4:55pm | Crown Sterling or even Crown Uranium for Clarion: exchange rate is 2:1 in favor of Crown currency. Also called the lion for the image on one side. Obviously style on he British pound sterling but since Clarion is rich in uranium I include the possibility of it being back by uranium instead of silver. Somehow that seems appropriate in a futuristic SF setting. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 28, 2011 - 5:02pm | Thesian dollar: human colony aught to use the dollar just because.
Zz'k: vrusk currency issued in Fromeltar and accepted in Kisk'Kar its colony.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 July 28, 2011 - 8:55pm | Curious; would not Ifschnit currency (originally designed by Ifschnits for Ifschnits) be proportionally smaller in size compared to other currencies used in the Frontier? I'm thinking yes, if only just to annoy my players. My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
 July 29, 2011 - 7:13am | And, might not even be physical coinage - it could be either electronic media (say, like a credit card/linked to your IDentaCard) or some other electronic form of currency For the Drasalites, would it be some sort of maluable, 'dough-like' material? "If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" -A Einstein |
 July 29, 2011 - 11:44am | Though I'm all for complexity in games systems....Hell I did away with the common tongue in my AD&D campaign years ago, and had different currency rates and exchange rates for each major culture/race in the game, however When I think of Star Frontier I always think of the way the game was geared for fast play, and as we add layers to the rules, we begin to slow it down. I think that part of that year long debate that began when the four races first met up, had to do with drawing up all manner of trade agreements, as well as sovereignty rights, definitions of what rights and privilages each race expected, etc. so my oppinion has always been that during the debate, the four races came up with a universal standard of trade including a representation of each race's buying power, namely the credit. This currency more than likely is backed by something that each of the races agreed opon which might have been a precious metal, or could have been based on some abstract concept like what is the value of the productivity of one person's economic output within a specified timeframe. Either way the Credit became the standard unit of value for trade between the four species, and eventually phased out what was until then local currency. Of course certain worlds refused to accept this new standard but those currencies are generally not as valuable as the credit, and most "civilized worlds" have exchange centers at any space port or trade facility where local currency can be exchanged for the standard credit. Characters usually swipe their identicards at the local bank to have credits transferred to their cards and any data reader can be used to exchange credits between characters, or the character can purchase credit vouchers, which are cards which have different denominations and the character signs them by pressing his her thumb print on the card. Of course the United Frontier Treasury (UFT) does produce small coins in various denominations 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 50,000, 100,000 etc. that are normally only available at a major bank which can be used for those transactions where the different parties don't trust electronic transfers. That's just my take on things... "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
July 29, 2011 - 2:57pm | I agree with deryn rys in principle about the credit being the interplanetary std. of trade and simple and fast play is of course to be desired over complicated tedious book keeping for sure. However, from the view point of a writer and referee it seems overly simplistic to think that all these colonies scrapped their individule currencies just because the PGC credit appeared on the scene. Certainly some of the smaller colonies gave up their currencies (if they had one) fairly quickly; places like Laco's world, and other light to other outpost population colonies. No doubt no one trusted or took seriously anything offered as currency issued by any authority on outer reach. Heavy population worlds particularly with industrial or business oriented economies, though they might welcome an interstellar standard of trade, are not likely to abandon their established currencies anytime soon. No doubt mega corps pay employees in credits for simplicity and overtime the credit will infiltrate all but the most conservative populations. This will lead to local currencies becoming like a vestigial organ of government sort of like the appendix in that planetary economy. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 29, 2011 - 3:12pm | So why does it matter if we have detailed local currencies? It doesn't really to be honest. What it does give us is another level of detail that is the bread and butter to a writer and a game referee. Details can be ignored but they are darn hard to come up with on the spur of the moment sometimes. Its sort of the reason for this thread: get input and ideas from people and add another layer of detail to the setting. I think the setting is robust enough to hold interest in it for 30 years but still has room for development that could well maintain interest for another 30 years. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 10, 2011 - 6:32am | The "credit" is in electronic and paper form to expand adventure seeds allowing players to pocket some cash. Paper credits can fly "under the radar". Local currency comes into play a lot in Star Wars and it can mix things up. Really its just another plot hook for the players, I don't think it should consume a lot of their time always trying to exchange creds. Even with electronic credits, you can still have them electronically signed. Some of the players credits could be stamped "FSC" frontier standard credit while others stamped "CC" clarion credit, when they get to the new space station orbiting volturns and effect repairs on their ship, the station only takes FSC. How are they gonna come up with another 2,000 creds? |
August 10, 2011 - 9:48am | If they have a standard account it would have a feature that would automatically convert deposits to the default currency. Problems arise when they end up with paper, metal or hard cold plastic currency and it's not accepted- thus it becomes either an opportunity for a delay of game as the referee forces the party to run down a money changer to no real purpose with no real advancement of the story or it becomes a plot hook leading to adventure. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 11, 2011 - 12:50pm | While each planet would have its own currency there would need to be one dominant currency which is the basis for the others. This would be necessary because of the mega-corps. The shear complexity of having different currencies on each planet would cause losses to profit due to bookkeeping and accounting nightmares. Also new colonies which do not have an established currency yet would need something. Currently the Dollar and the Euro are the top world currrencies. These are to the point some countries which do have their own currency do not like to use it. Also a stable currency helps to counterbalance local currencies when thing go really bad. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 August 12, 2011 - 8:26pm | The Euro is a great example of how the Frontier Credit would operate- a common currency used by multiple governments with independent monetary policy and all the benefits and headaches that go with it. As consolidated as the frontier economy seems to be in the canon material, it's hard to imagine there not being a standard currency. The megacorps seem to dominate the frontier and they would want a standard currency to make their operations simpler. On the other hand, you have 4 distinct races with very different cultures which would argue for their own currencies. Ultimately it depends on how you flesh out the frontier for your campaign. |
August 16, 2011 - 11:52am | I like hard currency in my games, lots of options for smuggling, depriving PC's of cash, banking deposits, etc. After all, how can you have a Treasure Planet without the goods?  |
August 16, 2011 - 3:52pm | But what if the foods are not legal tender on your planet? There in lies an adventure. In the firefly Tv series they spent several episodes trying to deal with the consequences of stealing salvage off a derelict alliance ship. The difficulty was that the foods were stamped with alliance marks and word was out to apprehend anyone trying to move alliance goods so no one was willing to pay for them. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
