Medieval Price List

[Bunch]

What it says on the tin.
Someone dug through medieval documents to get an idea of what stuff theoretically cost while noting that much more was probably done by barter.

 

[Gronan of Simmerya]

Back in the 70s I did the same with the available sources. Nobody but me gave even a vestige of a shit.

 

[AsenRG]

What it says on the tin.
Someone dug through medieval documents to get an idea of what stuff theoretically cost while noting that much more was probably done by barter.

This list is relevant to my interests!

 

[soltakss]

Back in the 70s I did the same with the available sources. Nobody but me gave even a vestige of a shit.

And that is the perennial GM vs Player problem. The GM produces something that is really good, well-researched and could be used throughout the game and the Players say "cool" and move on.

 

[Ronnie Sanford]

And that is the perennial GM vs Player problem. The GM produces something that is really good, well-researched and could be used throughout the game and the Players say "cool" and move on.

The efforts of the Game Master are often overlooked, always thank your GM after every game! Especially when he is a great GM like Nick J .

 

[Silverlion]

I did a lot of research on this for High Valor, I ended up with less detail (mind you, money isn't a big component of the play of the game, but it is mentioned, in case player's care.)

 

[Nick J]

The efforts of the Game Master are often overlooked, always thank your GM after every game! Especially when he is a great GM like Nick J .

I like the cut of your jib Ronnie. Lol.

 

[robertsconley]

Well thanks to the folks behind Harn the work been done for you.
Comprehensive Price List
It is nominally centered around 12th century England.

How it works in play
There are two main things I did to make medieval pricing playable.

Coinage
I limited money to three types of coinage. One common, one very valuable, one rarer and still very valuable,

For me this is
1 silver penny = 1 sp with 250 coins = 1 lb.
It about the size of a US Dime. Denoted as d. So 30d means 30 silver pennies.

1 gold crown = 320d with 16 coins = 1 lb.
I found doing this restored the appeal of having gold. Having even 1 gold crown means something to the players.

1 silver mark = 240d with 1 mark = 1 lb.
This is a one pound bar of silver with a mint mark on it. This is rarely found in the main campaign area. In the Majestic Wilderlands the Skandian Viking culture use the mark a lot as their high value coin.
Note that the reason 250 silver pennies weigh 1 pound is because it is slightly debased to make a more durable coin. While a silver mark is nearly pure silver.

1 gold penny = 20d with 250 coins = 1 lb.
A gold coin the size of the dime. This is typically used by Elves and Dwarves.


The Short Price List
Takes the long list of good I linked too above and only present useful traditional adventuring gear. Any of the following will do the jog.
Majestic Wilderlands Short Price List
A version of the above with everything described and hireling rules.

Material for Classic Editions
Majestic Wilderlands Price List
A version more focus on what needed for Adventuring
Majestic Wilderlands Short Price List

My Majestic Fantasy Basic Rules with a equipment section and fuller explanations of each item. So you can see how it operate in the context of how I run my campaigns.

A magic item creation system where the pricing is consistent with the above.
Magic Item Creation
Potions and nonmagical Elixirs

Merchant Rules based the ACKS trade rules but with tweaks to alter pricing and goods to conform with the above.
Merchant Adventures

Finally Fantasy demographics based on the same algorithm as S John Ross Medieval Demographics but using my own take on the data. With occupations consistent with the above.

Adventurer Conqueror King
The Folks at Autarch are world class geeks when it comes to impact of economics and demographics. And they are concerned with play ability as well. I don't use their material directly due to slight difference in assumptions however I do reuse their idea a lot like for my take on their merchant rules.

Autarch explains the details in their axiom newsletter. The one you should get if you want to nitty gritty on this stuff is Axiom #3. It breaks down economics of the pre-industrial economy characteristic of the medieval era or Rome. Basically it boils down to a interplay between the price of a bushel of wheat and the daily wage of a laborer which cascade throughout the rest of the economy.

Wrapping it up
The problem with definitive price list is that price varying on time and region. Some will just throw up there hands and say it is too difficult and make shit up. The key to using historical data is understand how people and economics work in historical. From there you can extrapolate the missing piece.

The other thing is that the result need to be gamable. Players don't want a economic lesson. Hence my short prices. However because I did the work myself when it does come up I have the material to give a consistent answer when less common situation come up like castle building, running a merchant ship, selling magic items, and so on.

 

[Gringnr]

I believe Maelstrom, and especially its Domesday supplement, may have something along the lines of what you're looking for as well.