Trade and Equipment
Trade in Lodoss
Of course, your character will need to be outfitted for travel with weapons, armor and other sorts of equipment. This section is to help you decide what your character might have if you need inspiration. Now before all else, you should know a few things about money and trade in Lodoss. Currency in Lodoss is typical of most fantasy settings. The base currency is the Raiden, but there are also platinum, gold, silver and copper coins. Jewels are also a popular form of currency, as is barter (usually in live stock or perishable goods). The Raiden piece (RP), is equal to $100 current US dollars. One gold piece (GP) is then worth US$1. Use the table below for basic coinage equivalents.
| 1 Copper Piece (CP) | = | US1¢ |
| 1 Silver Piece (SP) | = | 10CP/US10¢ |
| 1 Gold Piece (GP) | = | 10SP/US$1 |
| 1 Platinum Piece (PP) | = | 10GP/US$10 |
| 1 Raiden Piece (RP) | = | 100GP/10PP/US$100 |
Money is often marked with the seal of the nation it was minted in, (except the RP which is minted only in Raiden by the Maritime Mercantile) but each nation's currency tends to float aimlessly about Lodoss. The Raiden is a gold piece about the size of a US silver dollar. The gold piece is about as big as a nickel. The most commonly used coins are silver, gold and Raidens. Copper is common for change, but platinum coins are not very popular (they look too much like silver).
Jewels are also considered a viable form of currency trade. Most jewels are fairly worthless—valued at no more than a few silvers each—but together, a bag of jewels can be quite valuable. Most merchants will trade goods for jewels, just as if they were coins. Smart merchants are experts in appraising jewels, so don't try to rip them off!
Bartering (the trading of goods) is also an extremely common form of commerce. Actually, it is the most widely used from of commerce, though not the most practical. A typical commoner may never see one Raiden in his entire life, yet he will trade cattle and livestock worth an equivalent of many Raidens. Barter is usually not a viable form of commerce for adventurers and travelers, though adventurers can barter off their spoils from recent exploits.
There are two forms of barter: Merchant and square-deal (merchant is obviously the opposite of square-deal). All items have a selling price and purchase price. The selling price is what you can sell it to a merchant for. The purchase price is what a merchant will charge you (this is why most people tend to hate merchants). In merchant bartering, you must match the merchant's price for the good you want to buy with an equivalent selling price for the goods you are selling (and merchants rarely give good change on barters). That is, it may take three fat geese to buy a new set of leather boots.
A square-deal, on the other hand, sets out to match only the selling prices. This is a much fairer trade, and is typical of most non-merchant types (i.e. farmers, commoners and fellow travelers). In this deal, goods of equal value are simply being exchanged so both parties benefit equally. Merchants rarely ever accept square-deals, they always want to turn a profit (that is, after all, their business), but merchants can be bargained with.
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