Just a question.
I noticed that in the example dialogues in the book, the characters and NPC’s explicitly use the terminology “1-barter” in their in-character conversations.
I can kind of accept that because trying to explain that you are spending / asking for 1-barter in-character could be really confusing. It does feel weird to me though.
In Dungeon World I never had this problem as the game term is “coins”, which is doesn’t make it sound like game terminology in conversation.
I wonder if anyone has used a substitute word for this?
It’s not really a problem. It’s not like it ruins anything, but you know, having a suitable in-character word or turn of phrase would be pretty much akin to seasoning. It would just taste better.
I just name whatever is actually being traded. “Your angel goes to work on Omie Wise, and I’ll give you a drum of fresh water and a crate of rations.” If I need to, I can quietly add, “which is worth about X barter,” to clarify without disrupting the flow of the conversation.
OK, that sounds pretty reasonable 🙂
Why isn’t “barter” just an acceptable slang term for money…how is saying “1-barter” any different from “20 bucks”, “3 large”, “50 clam”, “12 jingle”, “a fully loaded cred stick”, or “25 gold pieces”?
The fact that barter is game terminology that means something mechanically as well as fictionally shouldn’t matter. GPs is game terminology that means something fictionally as well.
Well it all depends if your world has a “currency” that equates directly to barter, or if it’s a barter economy, similar to what Travis Scott explained. We’ve had that question come up in our AW games in the past.
Barter economies are much more convenient in small societies. Money were invented so that we didn’t need to haul all our stuff with us every time we went on a trip to buy stuff.
I find jingle usually works pretty well, unless you’re talking about specific numbers. Then maybe you can use a little jingle (1-barter), some jingle (2-barter), a lot of jingle (3-barter) and a whole shitload of jingle (4-barter), just establish that before the game or out of character.
That’s all part of the world building.
Last game I played with a base barter currency used salt as a basic currency. The Hardholder decided that 1 Barter of Salt was a Tear. This allowed for all of the fun turns of phrase you would expect and was tailored to our campaign.
I tend to think of the terms as approximates of a common unit not regulated or backed by a common institution beyond the local level.
A Big Roll = A Large Shipping Container filled with survival stuff, slaves, or salvage.
= n Salvage (Specific Items, usually large enough to fill a 275/330 gallon Water Tote)
= n Trade (Common Goods & Services, a 30/55 gallon barrel of salvage or a secure body-sized locker to put you and your carry-gear in.)
= n Barter (Scraps & Scripts of local value, typically enough to fill a milk-crate or bucket)
= n Jingle (pocket filler junk, extremely common items and the recognized coin of local backers… items smaller than a duct-taped MRE bag)
what’s more I tend to think of the approximates as twelfths of the next higher tier, which allows a clock to tick off until a a 2d6 roll exceeds the remaining value of that category… and it busts-up, or bulks-up, into an adjacent tier.
This is all based on Scrap items, the term Lux is always indicative of being one step higher in value: so, an MRE bag full of tobacco is worth 1-Barter, but a Milk Crate of such stuffed Tobacco Packs is worth hosting you and your gear in a secure man-sized locker (buried or padlocked, on the buyers convenience.)