Re: Rule of thumb for the value of a Penny from Alex Ferguson on 1999-12-06 (Glorantha Digest Vol 07)

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_cs.ucc.ie>
Date: Mon, 6 Dec 1999 17:57:09 GMT

Robert Stancliff:
> In RQ1 & 2 the Lunar was valued at about the price of a moderate meal...
> about $4 in the '70s, closer to $6 or $8 now.
> In RQ3 the Lunar was revalued to be 1 day's wages for a physical
> laborer. This is more in line with the biblical value of the silver coin of
> that period which might be used to pay just this kind of laborer. The
> equivalent in today's money is in the neighborhood of $40, so there is about
> a 10:1 conversion between game versions.

Unfortunately, this is dragging modern socio-economics into it, and since modern economics of any sort are based on Nothing Much In Particular, I think it distorts your conclusions. I don't believe that price of moderate meal, and daily wage are in a 10:1 ratio in any comparable culture. Especially if we're comparing 'inn prices' and 'subsistence level maintenance', as seems likely. I'd guesstimate the above discrepancy is likely none at all, or a matter of a factor of 2-3, tops.

> If a house costs $100,000 and a Lunar is $5, then it would cost about
> 20,000L in the game.

Everything I said about the Emptiness[*] of economics, double or triple for the cost structure of housing...

Slan,
Alex.

[*] In the Mahayanan sense, for starters.