D&D Accounting: 11 Tips and Pitfalls to Tracking Treasure in your TTRPG

3 Wise DMs

Gold. It’s the perfect representation of the reward mechanic from the earliest days of the White Box. Hell, it even used to represent experience! As a companion piece to our 19th episode on RPG Economics, Tony, Chris, and Dave delve into not just how to make things worth using the gold for, but also the idea of how you, or DO you, account for the treasure that the party finds?

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1:19 Will Ferrell as Neil Diamond.

1:30 Episode 19: RPG Economics.

2:40 Getting players to agree to how much gold they’ve amassed.

5:31 A quick gold tangent: How much gold did Smaug have in The Lonely Mountain?

6:40 The party accountant, appraisal, and the endless dividing of coins and gems.

9:55 Is it worth it to add the crunchiness of appraising and haggling for the sale of gems?

11:50 Is 100 gold pieces a lot? What does it cost to live in your world

16:33 Gold needs to be able to purchase things that are important or it’s just a number on a sheet.

18:05 How much magic should you be able to purchase before it loses its uniqueness?

22:10 The pitfall of trying to account for all the gold of your world.

25:35 “Treasure shouldn’t feel like accounting”: Play into the rush of finding treasure.

27:15 The cost of upkeep: Strongholds, Followers, Kingdoms, and Warfare!

29:18 A shop in the middle of the Underdark… Finding AND moving the treasure you find.

31:50 Hirelings in the OSR vs. 5e.

34:30 A quick tangent on using Sidekick mechanic from Tasha’s in our Dragonlance campaign.

37:09 Final Thoughts