Currency?

Gasoline and ammo are hypothetically a good medium of exchange. However, the postulation is that things will shift to a barter economy if central sovreign states fail. Check out "Alas, Babylon" for an interesting read on post-apocolyptic economics.

Funny (or sad) story: my wife used to teach Language Arts to high schoolers. "Alas, Babylon" is a book about the aftermath of a nuclear war and how a small Florida town survived. One day, while reading this book to her class, one student raised their hand and asked, "When did this war happen?"

Heh, you're right, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Let's hope post-apocalyptia doesn't happen...

But I was thinking something (maybe) simple, a "trading goods" card that can be translated into anything like you said, gasoline, ammo, clothes, or in higher societies (The Dreaming or the Asian nations) stuff like "credits". Perhaps they can be rewarded for story goals (defeating someone who would have it, completing a quest) and be traded in for a site or time swap card that may not already be in your deck. Hopefully that makes sense, but I don't want to do anything that would bog down the game play.

Hmm, maybe cards that confer the status "Wealthy" or "Connected"? Throw "Diplomatic" or "Silver Tongued" on top of that and you've got a haggling session ready to go!

Or the CEO of a big business! Hmm... that'd be a pretty cool character concept on top of that! *brainstorming*

TinyKing, this is where I employ what I like to call "The Untold Common Sense Rule". For example, if I have a Churl Warbow, then it is assumed that I have arrows for it. If I have a gun, then I have bullets. So, if you are someone who would use money, then you probably have some. Keep in mind, however, that Churl most likely don't usually use currency (in my mind, they barter like Native Americans and other tribals), and Klik and L'na might find the concept of currency completely alien.

Yes, you have bullets for your gun, until the GM throws down the "Out of Ammo" bane. :P

Out of Ammo Bane...now that's a great idea!!! You have a credit with the next bane deck we roll out!

And when it comes to "wealthy" or "connected" - yes these are two cards we already have plans for. GMs don't need to have them. But as they will be story swaps, it brings the roleplay in, and they will offer a representation - it signifies the player is willing to pay some of their "essence" for those perks.

Ah. I sort of figured it would use the "common sense" rule. Seems I lack some! I just wanted to see what other people would think on that front, if there were any ideas in that direction. But that helps!

Not at all, TinyKing - you rock! :) Technically, there are no rules for currency because we want GMs to define whatever they want as currency in their games. If you want credits - go for it. Gold - no prob! For me, the currency in my games are the actual Power Cards themselves. You want the Acid Breath spell you just saw a L'na use - he can give it to you, but you're going to need to work for it, and it just so happens that he needs his home (a large, razor-leafed maagnu tree) rid of a whole nest of pesky Varms.

Are you up to the challenge? ;)

If you succeed, you get the Acid Breath Power Card and now you've already got the story to go along with it! :)

+6 UP for Lumberklik for Out of Ammo Bane! :D

I think that Ashy has it right on mark. I plan on making the many of the story swap cards adventure based. if a character wants them they will have to do some sort of task to get them. Still don't have cards so not sure if this would work. Just guessing .

Works great in our game! :)

Experience: My favorite kind of currency. :)

OoA bane...that's great! Now to get ten of those and a Weapon Jam to toss on a grenadier to ruin an Apoc platoon's day.

I wouldn't be suprised if it was one of my class mates, sounds like something one of them would say.

I can definitely see a barter system for everyone. Cause, the name of the game is survival, not become the wealthiest, yet some might try to attain. Mostly: Clean Food, Purified Water, maybe even a non-fluxxed gear for a Klik might go for a good amount. Cause what would you rather have; A Box of Ammo, or another day's worth of Rations? Something worth bartering and negotiating for. Maybe even Medical treatment. I can definitely see Ashy's idea of "Hey, you get this taken care of for me, and I've got the brand new shiny bow that the Chuul use. Well, maybe it's not new. Or Shiny. And maybe the Chuul didn't use it. But it is a bow!" Or even in the case of working for the Chuul, some shaman type guy gives you a "Blessing of the Mountain" (Aka Mountain's Blessing) for taking up the task of defeating the evil Kliks trying to bulldoze their homes.

Mostly, I think that you'd have to look at the mindset of the common people in the setting. What would they use as currency, because that would translate over to the adventurers and the such. Is civilization so far gone that paper money and even gold now have no value because they don't have any other use except for where someone wants it. I certainly wouldn't wanna trade my horse for a nugget of gold when my family's starving. I'd want some food! On the other hand, maybe civilization is rebuilding and currency and economy is slowly returning. Then, you'd have to find a way to get the currency out to the people and how to manufacture it. (I'm kinda mulling the idea around of having certain people trying to harness and capture the Flux and put it into small marbles. "The Flux is in your hands!" and think of the Counterfeit operations! Plenty of great opportunity! And hilarity when they mess up, and wind up 30 miles away, naked, wondering what happened.)

So, that's my 2 UP on it.

First of all, I gotta say, Church, that you are my new hero!!! For this one sentence:

"So, that's my 2 UP on it."

That is sooooo awesome!

Now, back on topic...If you just have to have money in your games, it's easy. Simply assign a ratio (or even a multiplier) for the UP. For example, in games where folks have only a little money and the "Copper Coin" is the common currency, then maybe the ratio is 1:1 (1 Copper Coin for 1 UP). So a "Club of the Ancestors" is going to cost you 5 Copper Coins. Or, maybe in your world, gold coins are all the rage and everybody has lots of them. In that case, then you might need a ratio of 100:1 (100 Gold Coins for 1 UP), so that same "Club of the Ancestors" is going to cost 500 gold... etc...etc...

:)

Honestly, with a measurably post-apocalyptic world, trade and barter would be far more likely than actual currency - particularly since each nation-state or city-state, if they had a currency, would have their own, and it's fairly clear that there's not a global telecommunication network on New Earth for currency exchange to be coordinated on.

Master Haggler (bonus to bartering, lets you get more for less), Scavenger (hey, the world was fairly developed, before the Event. Surely there's still stuff to be 'found' that can be useful...), Slapdash Tinker (Take junk, make useful, if temporary item? Or maybe help remove mechanically-oriented Banes from others?), Emergency Modification (The 'oh no, we need some more firepower /right now/ and we don't care what the penalty is!' idea...) would all kind of help reinforce that post-apocalyptic world aspect, I'd think. But I could be wrong!

I like those powers, Kassil, and think you may find some equivalents to your ideas lurking in the works by the WM! There are a few Scrapper churl and Klik on the plate, which may have ramifications for such powers...and if you want, you can formally submit them on the Untold Card Submissions if you want to write them up and see them turned into in-game solutions officially for Untold. :)

Book of Eli would be a great film source for scenes and ratios of supply-and-demand bartering, which you can modify to fit the Untold universe, possibly making different Powers, Power Trees, and Site/Story Swaps all the rarer and costlier. "Where did you learn Investiture of Oaze?! The sacred groves have been destroyed for years..." "If you want to learn the ways of Oaze, son, it will cost you more than jink. Come and see if you can follow the old ways..." replied the Wanderer.

You've got it spot on, Kassil! And those are AWESOME ideas! You should consider writing them up and posting them here: http://www.untoldthegame.com/forum/untold-card-submissions. You just might get your name on an Untold card! :D

Once I get my hands on the Core set I ordered, so I have a good feel for the cards, I'll be glad to do so.

Woo hoo! Glad to hear it!

The way I see it the High-bred, being based on the military would have equipment issued to them per mission. The Churl would use a barter system. The Klik I am not sure, but I would think that the Great Machine would just give them the equipment that was needed to get the job done and the L'na, equipment What equipment?.

My 2 UP opinion.

Charles Fodel

L'na use equipment: necklaces, bracelets, anklets, staves, rods, etc... And everyone has to eat... ;) It's really the way you build your world that defines what currency you use. It could be different from area to area, in fact!

Once the characters find themselves on the surface world, they discover communities are fairly controlled with items necessary for survival, but they trade some of those supplies to peddlars who deal in a combination of items scavenged from the cities before their event and the goods they have traded for in prior cities. It is a closet black market. With the skeletons of cities still standing, I could see the commodities of pre-event rearing their heads as trade goods along with the newer items.

I have a zombie game that I've been thinking about for a long time that I hope to one day turn into a game.

Anyhoo, the currency employed in this post-apocalypse of mine range from place to place. The standard though is the bullet. Bigger calibers are worth more and the like. The reason is that there's a lot of bullets and bullets have a functional use. Some places may accept shells, others may only accept live ammo. Another thing certain settlements employ is a bounty system. Since this is a world covered in zombies, you kill a zombie, you've helped society and thus get paid for it. Every zombie finger accounts for so much stuff, which you then turn in and have services supplied for you. Also, the barter system is too functional to throw out. "I have an extension cord. You really need that lawn-mower blade?" Having a barter system is also a great way to get plot running. And not just the whole "I need a favor" deal. For instance, a faction in my zombie world has announced technology as sacred and unfit for the common populace. As such, technology is contraband. Only the elite are permitted to use and/or carry it. This would work well in Untold. "Hey, I've got some nice tech here, you want?" "How dare you! Technology failed us once. Why would we even think of using it again?" ETC. You could have smuggling missions and the like. Super-easy and super-fun.

Not in my game is the traditional labor-exchange. You do this much work and you get this much whatever. There's a working for favors. "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours when you come a-callin'." There's communism. Everyone is entitled to something.

Also, I'd like to run this study myself, but what happens to folks in times of crisis? I have a theory that in times of crisis people higher up on the pyramid of needs can manipulate those lower. Make them think that he/she can supply the most basic needs that they are somehow missing if they help him/her with his/her more advanced needs. Using this pattern, it would be really easy to ignore a trade system at all, and can be applied to larger systems as a dictatorship or smaller systems as a sort of cult. Not exactly currency, but it is a way to get stuff floating around while having plot-spins.

I thought the rules of the universe changed and the meshing of 3 worlds caused the Apocalypse, with technology still working, just that some of the Apoc survived outside of the shelters and decided to work with primitive tools.