D20 Mechanic: Wealth and Economies

While not strictly a d20 mechanic per se, wealth and economies have an impact on play, specifically on the acquisition of more powerful gear. The concepts presented here are roughly taken from the Tomes essay, "The Three Economies."

This section is a significant overhaul to how wealth works in d20; specifically, we are moving away from tying character wealth and character power together. Doing so is achieved through some setting-specific information, but could be generalized to other settings if needed.

Overview

While economies throughout the worlds of Trinity may differ in their particular styles and trappings, every individual operating within them is simultaneously operating on one of three general tiers of wealth. These are the koku economy, the gold economy, and the mox economy.

Each of these economies has different assumptions about how trade works and the wealth of the individuals engaging in the exchange. An exchange of goods or services happens within the context of one of these three economies; while it is possible for a good or service to be exchangeable in multiple economies, a specific exchange is always firmly within one of them, based upon the expected return.

There is one other sort of economy, the favor economy, but that economy is significantly more fluid and much more subject to specific circumstances; there is no way to reasonably measure the value of goods or services in that economy, and so it is discussed separately and not typically included in mentions of the value of goods or services.

The Koku Economy

Exchange Rates
	Exchange Value
	kp	gp	dp
koku (kp) =	1	1/100	---
gold piece (gp) =	100	1	---
mox dust pinch (dp) =	20000	1000	1

The koku economy is one based on the koku, which is a measurement of the amount of rice an individual needs for a day to survive reasonably; the base unit of the koku economy is the koku itself, and goods and services are measured against the value of that. Individuals in this economy are living day-to-day, ranging from subsistence farmers on the edge of civilization to the street urchins in the metropolises of Trinity. As such, the actual value of a kp is highly variable over time; in times of plenty, 1 kp will not buy much, while in lean times 1 kp has significantly more purchasing power (within the context of the koku economy, that is).

Typically, items and services exchanged in this economy are those directly related to making a living: farm animals, simple tools, and food often have values expressed in kp. Attempting to purchase items whose seller is in the koku economy with currencies from more powerful economies is often exceedingly difficult, as the value of such currencies is simply so much higher that the individual would have a difficult time finding a place to utilize the currency. Fortunately, most goods in the koku economy can be had in other economies, though usually at some degree of markup. That said, less extravagant currencies - such as copper - often find themselves in circulation in koku economies, and are often tied to the relative local value of a kp rather than to the regional value of gp, if there even is one.

In Trinity, the commonly-accepted denominations of the koku - and even the koku itself - are borrowed from agricultural terms used by clavats.