On Barter

Bone

The Lunar Lands has no system of standardized currency. Most people will trade in coinage because it's a useful trade good - it's simple, portable, and usable in multiple different situations - but the value of a coin is based only on the material it's made of, and if you're trying to buy something off a merchant, it's just as valid to pay them in some wheat, or a bolt of cloth, or a sheep, or the like.

The folks over at A Knight at the Opera have already addressed the nature of bartering and the use of a barter system in their excellent series on economics, so I won't spend too much time on that. Instead, I'm going to discuss how I use bartering in my games, and what possibilities it opens up.

As the link discusses, it was more typical for pre-money societies to have a system of credit, in which everyone kept track of who owed what to whom and made sure that everything was settled in a yearly communal reckoning. After reading the series, I decided that's how it works in the Lunar Lands. However, that's useful for a community small enough for everyone to know everyone else, and where the population of debtors stays stable. If you get into larger cities where it's harder to keep track, or if you're dealing with travelers who might be long gone by the time the reckoning occurs, it makes sense to make sure you get those debts settled as soon as possible so that you can ensure you haven't been cheated. For that reason, it helps to have a way to exchange goods and services up front.

Assuming a barter system in your setting will introduce a few interesting twists to the rules of how buying and selling products is conducted. If you're writing down what equipment a character is carrying, it could help to include the base price for each item so that it's easier to get a sense of how much value it might carry if used for payments (note, however, that the price listed in whatever book you're getting this stuff from is the base price - more on that later). That way, if (for example) a PC doesn't have enough gold to buy something, they could make up the difference by trading in their equipment. This can streamline shopping because PCs don't need to go through the extra step of selling items to get more coins to buy better items - they can just pay with the items they already have.

It also gives a good use for all those art objects in treasure tables that have their value listed. You don't need to get them appraised; you can just pay with them as-is. The listed value works well as a base price, and might not vary too much - most people like having pretty things around - but you may decide that a given NPC would or wouldn't like a given item and can adjust the value accordingly. For example, a wealthy merchant with exquisite tastes might be willing to pay more for the finest artwork; a farmer living in a rustic community that look down upon people putting on airs might not want it at all.

For the most part, the price and value of things will depend on who you're doing business with. Although coins are safe because they're usable by almost anyone, if you're in a situation where you're paying with something else, the price the merchant is willing to accept for it should be tailored to how useful it would be for them. For instance, a blacksmith would be willing to accept more value for iron ingots because he can use those, but he wouldn't be as interested in a book of spells - you'd want to sell that to a wizard. A mercenary would be happy to be paid with a good sword, but it would be useless to a shepherd. Sure, the blacksmith or the shepherd could hold onto the spellbook or the sword in the hopes of trading it to someone else later, but that someone might not show up in a timely fashion, and most people aren't willing to sell off their wares to a stranger if they can't be sure that they'll be compensated (a more friendly buyer might get off easier). In these cases, the DM should adjust the base price so that the same item may be worth more or less to different NPCs when it's being traded to them.

In sufficiently isolated areas, such as small villages not on any major trade routes, locals might not be willing to accept currency at all - they don't see enough trade to have any use for it in buying outside goods. This can be a fun way to introduce barter mechanics to a campaign, and can shake things up for players used to traditional economics by forcing them to think outside the box.

Services can be traded as well - and while paying with these could be as simple as a skill check as the PC works the fields or cleans up around the house, it can also make for a great quest hook that gives your PCs immediate motivation. Instead of having an NPC pay them for recovering some item or defeating some monster, have them require the PCs do it to clear their debts to that NPC - or else, they may risk the ire of the community for going back on their word, and they may be less likely to do business in the future.

An additional detail is that when you don't have standardized prices, there's much more leeway to haggle with merchants. Any transaction, if your players are so inclined, could become an interesting roleplaying exercise or a chance for a Persuasion check to try and get a better price. Not all players may be interested in this, of course, but if they are, under a barter system they have the opportunity to haggle over just about anything. This could allow canny PCs to get away with better prices - or allow merchants to cheat them with impunity.