Fallout Game...Currency

[Glupii]

So in Fallout they use the bottle cap as currency both for the fun factor and to keep the computer game simple. While I like simple, I find myself looking at this mechanic and trying to come up with a good explanation for my players as to why this is and how it is regulated. And this, of course leads me into the discussion in my mind (yes, I have multiple voices discussing this in my head even as I write this) over the balance of keeping a game simple enough to be playable yet detailed enough to give a real and immersive experience to my players.

 

So I do what has worked so well for me up until this point, throw this out here on the boards and see what ideas you all have for how to handle this. (I really see why my buddy Tancred always like being active here now)

 

I am debating between making the game early in the "reawakening" of the human race where such a complex thing as a central currency has yet to be established, forcing a more barter oriented system versus a more advanced society with a simpler system like bottle caps for currency just to keep things simple. Thoughts?

[Chris Goodwin]

It seems to me that bottle caps would be long lasting, hard to counterfeit, generally uniform, and easily portable, all of which would make them a good currency.  

[Glupii]

True, and I guess that may be why they chose to use them in the Fallout Game. And I just thought of soemthing more... the rarity might be something to play up for different denominations. For example since I am aiming to have this play out in the west-mid west area, Sunset Sasparilla caps might be the satndard, where as a Nuka Cola cap would be worth 10 Sasparilla caps, and a blue star cap would be worth 100.

[Glupii]

I was speaking with one of my players about this tonight and he brought up something I had not considered before. Ancient Money still exists in the game and it has a cash value (in caps). Now after 200 years of ruin and decay, "paper money" would be pretty hard to come by and would likely have mostly been destroyed byt this point. But there would likely be coins still in circulation that would be still detectable as such. They would be rarer than the bottle caps because as he rightly pointed out...someone is still making and bottling this stuff for it to still be in all these machines. So Bottle caps are not finite. But minted coins would be. So perhaps a more realistic economy would be run on a mixture of Caps, Coins, and barter? And where would precious metals and gems fit into this?

 

I think for simplicity sake I have to pick a base currency to use to judge the value of everything else. And even though keeping it stable is artificial, to keep the game from bogging down in minutia I just have to say it just is. So likely I will have Sasparilla caps being the standard. Thinking something like this:

• Sarsaparilla caps (here forward just referred to as "caps")
• Nuka Cola cap = 10 caps
• Blue Star Cap = 100 caps
• Old coins = worth their denomination * 10 in caps

If I introduce the NCR and Legion (have not made my mind up on that yet) and they have script it will be along the same lines as in the game...worth maybe .5 to .7 caps per "Dollar" or "Deneri"

 

Am I over thinking this too much?

[Nolgroth]

No. Not over thinking it too much.....assuming that that is the kind of granularity that you and your players enjoy. Me personally, I would simply use Pennies, Nickels, Dimes, Quarters, Half Dollars and Dollars. While we look at Pennies as useless in our modern age, I would imagine that they might become the new baseline purchasing unit. I always thought the Bottle Cap as currency was something thrown in from a college lecture or something. I even remember (vaguely) some movie or TV show where the concept of bottle caps as currency was mentioned. Wish I remembered the source.  Whatever method you use, just roll with it. You are (hopefully) running a game, not an economics experiment.

 

Larger governments like the NCR or the Legion probably would have their own currencies. They are probably sophisticated enough to stamp their own coinage or maybe even print their own paper scrip. Again, I would not worry about the "behind the scenes" stuff like what backs the currency. Just a price list and a conversion rate between currencies should be sufficient.

[Trencher]

The Metro game uses bullets as currency.

[Glupii]

After careful consideration and talk back and forth, I think I have decided for the sake of trying to keep things light enough to be enjoyable yet straight forward enough to be usable, I am going to do away with caps all together as currency. I am going to assume that modern day currency is still around to an extent. Coins survived and continue to be used, some script is still found and worth alot. If i decide to introduce larger Gov't type organizations such as the NCR, they may have their own money with its own value outside of the borders of that country. But everyone recognizes and uses the Coins of the Realm as it were. I always thought that caps were an odd choice given that they have sharp edges, are easilly smashed, bent, and mutilated, and are obviously not finite given that somehow those machines keep getting re-stocked.

[Norm]

Here is a weird Idea out of left field....  Poker chips.  Those cheap, ridged ones that everyone buys in high school or college.  Easy to stack...  can get a cheap set to hand out to players.

 

I do like your ideas for just using coins.  You can be an evil, bastard GM and say that it also is tracked in your encumber rules. 

[Glupii]

LOL Ngross I like the way you think. I likely will not just to keep things simple as this is the first time I am trying to run a Hero game on my own. But I will stack that away for future reference.

[Christopher]

It seems to me that bottle caps would be long lasting, hard to counterfeit, generally uniform, and easily portable, all of which would make them a good currency.  

There might be anotehr rason to use them (and why Normla Coins are not that good):

Bottlecaps have no reuseable materials. They are made of Allumnium wich is fairly hard to recycle.

 

Real money instead is made of Copper, Silver, Paladium, Gold and the like. All useable in electric systems and other modern applications.

Especially with little conventional mining going on Coins could be the only sources for those materials.

 

Larger governments like the NCR or the Legion probably would have their own currencies. They are probably sophisticated enough to stamp their own coinage or maybe even print their own paper scrip. Again, I would not worry about the "behind the scenes" stuff like what backs the currency. Just a price list and a conversion rate between currencies should be sufficient.

In Fallout Tactics an offshoot of the Broderhood does print it's own paper money. The wasteland uses Ring Pulls instead of Bottlecaps.

And the NCR did print it 's own money, backed by gold, till the Broderhood blew up the gold reserves.

Total listing of Fallout Currencies:

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Currency