History Main / CheapGoldCoins

* ''Videogame/DungeonsAndDragonsOnline'' is even worse than the tabletop game, instead of ten silver to one gold and ten coppers to one silver each denomination is worth a hundred of the previous coin.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrolls'' series in general. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', one merchant mentions that with the dragon attacks supply routes are cut off and he can charge almost anything.

* Averted in an episode of the ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' follow-up ''Series/{{Crusade}}''; the crew visits a human colony which is voluntarily living at a pre-industrial level. Captain Gideon goes to a tavern and holds up a gold-colored coin, asking for whatever it will buy. The tavernkeeper responds that it's enough to buy the entire tavern. Not just all the food and drink ''in'' it. ''All'' of it.

* Used and abused in the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series, where a simple healing herb, the sort that grows wild pretty much everywhere and is dropped en masse by the ludicrously-easy-to-kill slimes, costs anywhere from eight to twenty four gold pieces.

Subtrope of FictionalCurrency and GoldSilverCopperStandard. Contrast RidiculousFutureInflation. Compare WorthlessYellowRocks. See also GoldSilverCopperStandard.

Contrast RidiculousFutureInflation. Compare WorthlessYellowRocks. See also GoldSilverCopperStandard.

** A simple dagger costs two gold pieces. According to the Player's Handbook v.3.5 gold pieces are a third of an ounce. The current price of gold is over $1600 per ounce, which means that a simple dagger is worth about a grand.

* Almost averted in ''Videogame/DragonAge'', where one gold coin equals 100 silver coins or 10,000 copper coins. IRL, the respective metals' prices ratio is about 427:8:1. However, a standard dagger costs 8 silvers in ''Origins'' and 5s 24c in ''II'', which is about five bucks by the same calculation as used in the D&D example above.
* ''{{Nethack}}'': A fortune cookie costs 7 gold ''[[ShoutOut zorkmids]]", a food ration 45 zorkmids, and artifact weapons cost a few thousand zorkmids. Back-calculation from the weight system suggests that a zorkmid weighs about 40 grams, or about one and a quarter troy ounces. In the last 10 years, RealLife gold has varied between approximately $200 and $2000 per troy ounce, so that's $1,750-$17,500 for the fortune cookie, $11,250-$112,500 for the food ration, and a cool million or ten for Excalibur.

* In ''{{Diablo}}'' ''II'' and ''[[DiabloIII III]]'', a gold piece is the tiniest unit of currency in the game. Level 1 monsters routinely carry up to 10 gold pieces (which they drop on the ground when you kill them). Vendors are willing to pay you 2 gold pieces for a ''damaged club'' (basically a broken stick). By level 10, you'll be carrying around (and paying) thousands of gold pieces.

* Parodied in ''MythAdventures'', Skeeve and Aahz are given a pitiful amount (on Klod) of gold coins to win a war with, but on Deva it turns out that ''one'' gold coin is a pretty decent asking price for an interdimensional mercenary's services.

* In ''{{Diablo}}'' ''II'' and ''III'', a gold piece is the tiniest unit of currency in the game. Level 1 monsters routinely carry up to 10 gold pieces (which they drop on the ground when you kill them). Vendors are willing to pay you 2 gold pieces for a ''damaged club'' (basically a broken stick). By level 10, you'll be carrying around (and paying) thousands of gold pieces.

In RealLife gold coins were like hundred-dollar bills; only used for very large transactions, and most people were unlikely to see very many in their lifetimes. But in many fantasy settings the most basic equipment costs dozens or even hundreds of gold pieces.

The most common gold coins of the era were worth around six shillings (a bit under a third of a pound) or more, so for most people, one (generic) gold coin would represent at least a few week's earnings, if not a few month's. You would not be using gold to do your grocery shopping.

* Mainly averted in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', where the "gold coins" issued by the banks actually contain less gold than seawater. Justified in the Agatean Empire (the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture fantasy counterpart]] to Imperial China), where gold is a very common metal and is used for low-value coins. Played with when the first Agatean tourist arrives in Ankh-Morpork with a chest full of pure gold coins, and starts paying for meals with enough gold to buy the restaurant, forcing the Ankh-Morporkian authorities to react to the threat to the economy.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Justified for the Counterweight Continent, home of [[FantasyCounterpartCulture fantasy counterparts]] of Far East civilizations, which is so gold-rich that coinage has a tremendously unequal exchange rate. When the Disc's first tourist, Twoflower, arrives in Ankh-Morpork, he has a chest of gold that to him represents a modest savings, but is easily enough to buy the entire city.
** Otherwise averted; "gold" coins issued by the Ankh-Morpork banks typically have a lower gold content than seawater. Paper money is introduced in ''Discworld/MakingMoney''.

Contrast RidiculousFutureInflation. Compare WorthlessYellowRocks.

* Averted in an episode of the ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' follow-up ''{{Crusade}}''; the crew visits a human colony which is voluntarily living at a pre-industrial level. Captain Gideon goes to a tavern and holds up a gold-colored coin, asking for whatever it will buy. The tavernkeeper responds that it's enough to buy the entire tavern. Not just all the food and drink ''in'' it. ''All'' of it.

* ''{{Castelvania}}'': The absolute cheapest, most worthless crap goes for 100 gold.

** The [[DungeonsAndDragonsOnline MMO]] is even worse, instead of ten silver to one gold and ten coppers to one silver each denomination is worth a hundred of the previous coin.

* TheElderScrolls series in general. In ''{{Skyrim}}'', one merchant mentions that with the dragon attacks supply routes are cut off and he can charge almost anything.
* Averted in ''SpiceAndWolf'', where in one episode Lawrence has to exchange his gold coins for silver in order to buy clothing (the vendors wouldn't have change). Also one of the early plot arcs involves speculation on the silver content of one nation's coins.

* Averted in {{GURPS}} Dungeon crawl adventures. A copper piece is worth about a dollar, while a gold coin is closer to $80.
* ''{{Discworld}}'':
** Justified for the Counterweight Continent, home of [[FantasyCounterpartCulture fantasy counterparts]] of Far East civilizations, which is so gold-rich that coinage has a tremendously unequal exchange rate. When the Disc's first tourist, Twoflower, arrives in Ankh-Morpork, he has a chest of gold that to him represents a modest savings, but is easily enough to buy the entire city.
** Otherwise averted; "gold" coins issued by the Ankh-Morpork banks typically have a lower gold content than seawater. Paper money is introduced in ''Discworld/MakingMoney''.
* Almost averted in ''DragonAge'', where one gold coin equals 100 silver coins or 10,000 copper coins. IRL, the respective metals' prices ratio is about 427:8:1. However, a standard dagger costs 8 silvers in ''Origins'' and 5s 24c in ''II'', which is about five bucks by the same calculation as used in the D&D example above.

* ''CerebusTheAardvark'': Averted, in that Cerebus is able to buy room and board at an inn for the rest of his natural life with a single gold coin.
* Parodied in ''MythAdventures'', Skeeve and Aahz are given a pitiful amount (on Klod) of gold coins to win a war with, but on Deva it turns out that ''one'' gold coin is a pretty decent asking price for an interdimensional mercenary's services.
* The ''{{Ultima}}'' series is an odd case with this. The existence of silver and copper coins in the game world is mentioned, but you only ever see gold yourself. A person working at the mint in ''Ultima VI'' shows you copper and silver coins, and then says something like "A grand adventurer such as yourself would surely only deal in gold." That still doesn't explain why one night at a regular inn can cost twenty gold.
* Averted in an episode of the ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' follow-up ''{{Crusade}}''; the crew visits a human colony which is voluntarily living at a pre-industrial level. Captain Gideon goes to a tavern and holds up a gold-colored coin, asking for whatever it will buy. The tavernkeeper responds that it's enough to buy the entire tavern. Not just all the food and drink ''in'' it. ''All'' of it.

* In the ''FinalFantasy'' series items vary from game to game in gil or GP value, though often in the hundreds or thousands.

Examples:

In RealLife gold coins were like hundred-dollar bills, only used for very large transactions and most people were unlikely to see very many in their lifetimes. But in many fantasy settings the most basic equipment costs dozens or even hundreds of gp.

This is most likely to give players some point of familiarity by making the cost similar to what it would be in dollars, or yen in Japanese games (which is why they tend to be worse with it).

For a basis of comparison, in the 14th century an unskilled or semiskilled laborer working for wages-only would have earned around 1 to 2 pounds per year (a servant working for board plus wages might have earned as little as two shillings - a tenth of a pound). A middle-class urban family might earn 5-10 pounds per year. The most common gold coins of the era were worth around six shillings (a bit under a third of a pound) or more, so for most people, one (generic) gold coin would represent at least a few week's earnings, if not a few month's. You would not be using gold to do your grocery shopping.

For Lumpenprole: A "cheap sword for a peasant" cost six pence (1/40th of a pound) in the 1340s, I assume a dagger would cost less.

Prices from ''Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages'' by Christopher Dyer.

Contrast RidiculousFutureInflation, compare WorthlessYellowRocks

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': A simple dagger costs two gold pieces. According to the Player's Handbook v.3.5 gold pieces are a third of an ounce. The current price of gold is over $1600 per ounce, which means that a simple dagger is worth about a grand.

* TheElderScrolls series.
** In ''{{Skyrim}}'' one merchant mentions that with the dragon attacks supply routes are cut off and he can charge almost anything.

* Justified on the {{Discworld}}. The Counterweight Continent, home of [[FantasyCounterpartCulture fantasy counterparts]] of Far East civilizations, is so gold-rich that coinage has a tremendously unequal exchange rate. When the Disc's first tourist, Twoflower, arrives in Ankh-morpork, he has a chest of gold that to him represents a modest savings, but is easily enough to buy the entire city.
** Otherwise averted, "gold" coins issued by the Ankh-Morpork banks typically have a lower gold content than seawater. Paper money is introduced in ''Discworld/MakingMoney''.

* Another inversion, ''CerebusTheAardvark'' is able to buy room and board at an inn for the rest of his natural life with a single gold coin.

* In an episode of the ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' follow-up ''{{Crusade}}'', the crew visits a human colony which is voluntarily living at a pre-industrial level. Captain Gideon goes to a tavern and holds up a gold-colored coin, asking for whatever it will buy. The tavernkeeper responds that it's enough to buy the entire tavern. Not just all the food and drink ''in'' it. ''All'' of it.

* In an episode of the ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' follow-up ''{{Crusade}}'', the crew visits a human colony which is voluntarily living at a pre-industrial level. Captain Gideon goes to a tavern and holds up a gold-colored coin, asking for whatever it will buy. The tavernkeeper responds that it's enough to buy the entire tavern. Not just all the food and drink ''in'' it. ''All'' of it.