WFRP: An Economic Ma ke ove r
Version 1.1, Draft, Modified
The following is a reworking of some of the tables from chapter five of the WFRP manual, Equipment. An attempt has been made to add a little historical foundation to the pricing in hopes of giving the published pricing a slightly better “feel”. Is this conversion historically accurate in a very strict sense? Absolutely not. But hopefully through the use of various historic sources the end result will be a bit more pleasing in use and give more value to the lower denomination of coinages. The primary coinage exchange rate for the new tables remains essentially the same as presented in chapter five, with only two exceptions. First, instead of using brass pennies, this conversion maintains the use of the historic silver penny. This conversion still uses copper but in the form of copper farthigns, 4 of which equal one silver penny. So the new exchange rate is: 1 gold crown (g) = 20 silver shillings (s) = 240 silver pennies (p) 1 silver shilling = 12 silver pennies 1 silver penny= copper farthings (f)
Note: The silver penny weighs approximately 1.8 grams and is assumed to be pure or nearly pure silver. Therefore the shilling coin would by necessity weigh 12 times that (21.6 grams or .8 ounces) and also be pure or nearly pure. The single gold crown weighs in at slightly less than one ounce and is equivalent to one pound of silver. As for the tables themselves, all conversions were based off of research available in the Internet Medieval Sourcebook: Medieval Prices, whose web address will be located at the end of this document. Obviously, not every single item from the WFRP manual was available in the research. Some extrapolations had to be made to fill in the blanks but hopefully they are reasonable. The majority of the research was based upon 14 th century information but spanned the range all the way up to the 17th century. A very rough conversion was done in order to equate the prices, across all tables, to their 16 th century values as was recommended by some folks on the WFRP forum. This conversion was performed based on the average wage increases over those four centuries as documented by the International Institute of Social History, whose web address can found at the end of this document.
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Job Peasant Rich Farmer Innkeeper City Shopkeeper Mercenary Skilled Craftsman Typical Fence Physician Artisan Knight Lesser Noble Wizard Lord Greater Noble
Table 5-1: Income Yearly Pay Monthly Pay 2g 6s - 4g 11s 3s 10p-4s 11p 4g 11s - 8g 4s 11p-8s 7g 12s - 9g 4s 12s 7p-13s 4p 7g 12s - 12g 12s 7p-1g 7g 12s - 14g 14s 12s 7p-1g 4s 8g 14s - 24g 15s 14s 6p-3g 5s 10g 18s - 30g 16s 18s-2g 11s 14g 2s - 46g 12s 1g 3s 6p - 6g 5s 8p 46g 12s - 211g 3g 17s - 18g 52g - 105g 4g 6s - 8g 14s 332g - 853g 27-72g 461-1110g 38g-93g 853-1800+g 72-153+g
Table 5-4: Melee Weapons Buckler Dagger Demilance (Cavalary Spear) Flail* Foil Gauntlet/Knuckle-duster Great Weapon* Halberd* Hand Weapon (sword etc.) Improvised Lance Main Gauche Morning Star Quarter Staff* Rapier Shield Spear Sword-breaker
Weekly Pay 11-22p 22-39p 3s 1p-3s 8p 3s 1p-4s 10p 3s 1p-6s 1p 3s 6p-10s 4s 5p-12s 5p 5s 8p-18s 10p 18s 10p -4g 5s 21-42s 6g 14s - 17g 4s 9g 6s - 22g 8s 17g 4s - 37+g
Table 5-5: Missile Weapons Blunderbuss 8s 3p Bola 1p Bow* 2s 11p Crossbow* 7s 2p Crossbow Pistol 10s Elfbow* 1g Firearm* 1g 15s Hochland Long Rifle 2g 13s Javelin 5p Lasso* 4p Longbow* 4s 4p Net 11p Pistol 1g 4s Repeater Crossbow* 1g 8s Repeater Firearm* 3g 11s Repeater Pistol 2g 7s Shortbow* 2s Sling 1s 1p Spear 2s 11p Staff Sling* 1s 9p Throwing Axe/Hammer 1s 5p Throwing Dagger/Star 11p Whip 7p Arrows (5) 1f Bolts (5) 2f Firearm Shot (10) 1f Gunpowder (per shot) 1p
1s 2p 4p 5s 7p 4s 4p 5 2p 4p 5s 7p 4s 4p 2s 11p 4s 4p 1s 2p 4s 4p 1p 5s 2p 6s 2s 11p 1s 6p
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Table 5-8: Food & Drink Ale 1f Beer 2f Keg of Ale or Beer 4p/10p Fodder per Day 2p 2f Food per Day (Poor) 2f Food per Day (Average) 1p Food per Day (Good) 5p Rations (per Week) 13p Cheap Pie 1f Loaf of Bread 1f Side of Meat 2p Delicacy 5p Spirits, Bottle 2p Wine, Common 1p Wine, Quality 5p
Table 5-6: Advanced Armour Leather Leather Skullcap 3s 9p Leather Jerkin 7s 6p Leather Jack 15s 2p Leather Leggings 12s 9p Full Leather Armour 1g 12s Chain Mail Coif 2g 2s Mail Shirt 3g 17s Sleeved Mail Shirt 5g 2s Mail Coat 4g 16s Sleeved Mail Coat 8g 7s Mail Leggings 2g 2s Full Mail Armour 10g 17s Plate Helmet 1g 18s Breastplate 4g 9s Plate Bracers 3g 17s Plate Leggings 4g 10s Full Plate Armour 25g 12s Table 5-7: Clothing Rags Poor Common Good Best Robes Costume/Entertainer Uniform Noble's Garb Royal Garb Cloak Overcoat Hat, simple Hat, wide-brimmed Hood or Mask
Table 5-9: Carrying Equipment Backpack 1s 5p Case, map or scroll 1p Chest 11p Flask, leather 1p Flask, metal 3p Jug 1p Pouch 4p Purse 2p Sack 5p Saddlebag 1s 1p Slingbag 1s 1p Water Skin 4p
1p 7p 1s 6p 4s 8p 15s 6p 1g 3s 8s 6s 3p 4g 14s 8g-80g 7s 10p 15s 8p 9p 1s 7p 9p
Table 5-10: Lighting Candle, tallow 1f Candle, wax 2f Firewood 1f Oil, lamp 2f Lamp 2p Lantern 8p Lantern, Storm 1s 1p Match (10) 1f Torch (2) 1f
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Table 5-11: Miscellanea Blanket 1s 6p Cooking Pot 9p Cutlery, wooden 4p Cutlery, metal 3s Cutlery, silver 16s Deck of Cards 1s Dice (bone) 5p Instrument 7s Kettle 1s Ladder 9p Lock, average 1s 7p Lock, quality 15s 7p Mirror 1s 7p Paper 3p Parchment 2f Perfume or Cologne 3s Religious Symbol 9p Rope, 20 yards 1s 6p Tankard, pewter 10p Tankard, wooden 4p Telescope 1g Tent 1s 7p Tinderbox 9p Table 5-12: Tools Abacus Gin Trap Snare Book, Illuminated Book, Printed Chain, per yard Crowbar Disguise Kit Fish Hook and Line Grappling Hook Lock Picks Manacles Metal Ingot, Base Pick Pole, Yard Sledge Hammer Spade Spike Trade Tools Wooden Wedge Writing Kit
Table 5-13: Vehicles Barge 12g 10s Boat, River 6g 6s Boat, Rowing 9s Cart 5s Coach 10g Ship 125g Wagon 9s Table 5-14: Mounts Destrier 12g Light Warhorse 7g 16s Pony 1g Riding Horse 1g 10s Saddle 5s Harness 1s 6p Table 5-15: Livestock Cat Chicken Cow Dog (pedigree) Dog, War Goat Hawk Horse, nag, draft or Mule Horse, pack Ox Pig Pigeons, Homing Sheep
2s 8p 1f 1g 1s 16s 11p 7p 1s 6p 1p 8p 3s 1s 6p 4p 7p 1f 7p 4p 1p 7s 6p 1f 1s 8p
2p 2f 12s 3s 1g 2s 3g 15s 1g 3s 1g 3s 1s 2s
Table 5-16: Travel Services Cart or Wagon 2b/3p Cart with 2 horses 3b/5p Coach 5p/2s River Boat 2p/3p Ship's Passage 5p/1s 7p Wagon, 3 horses 3p/1s 3p Table 5-17: Lodging Bath Inn Common Room/night Private Room Stabling per horse/night
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3p 1f 3p 2p
Table 5-18: Artisan Entertainer Labourer Physician Servant
Services 4s 2f 2p 6s 2p
Table 5-19: Special Equipment Draught Bugman's Ale 15s 6p Greta's Boon 9s 4p Healing Draught 1s 7p Poison Black Lotus 6s Chimera Spittle 2g 8s Crimson Shade 11s Dark Venom 9s 4p Heartkill 12g Mad Cap Mushrooms 9s 4p Mandrake Root 7s Manticore Spore 1g Oddities Antitoxin Kit 6p Blessed Water 3s Healing poultice 2f Grimoire 8g Lucky Charm 4s 8p Religious Relic 1s 6p Note: Table 5-1: Income has already been adjusted for the 400 day calendar of the Empire. The weapons and armor tables are unique beasts in this document. For each table, one item (sword for the Melee Weapons table, Full Plate Armour for the Armour table) was historically priced and then the remainder of the table calculated based upon the ratios of price established by the WFRP manual. This may eventually be revised but as for now the primary priority driving this decision was the maintaining of any balancing mechanic that might be in effect based on pricing. This strategy was not implemented in the pricing of guns however, as it felt as if they are overpriced in the WFRP manual. Their researched prices are used.
Sources Internet Medieval Sourcebook: Medieval Prices http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/medievalprices.html International Institute of Social History Prices and Wages datafiles page: http://iisg.nl/hpw/data.php
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