#Detailed Economy (詳細經濟) — Optional Rule

Contents

Scene Tool — optional economy rule. This document is an optional expansion rule layered over the standard single-gold-unit system(co-08-05-balance.md §6). Tables that value historical currency texture, or want to handle everyday transactions in finer detail, may adopt it. Tables that do not adopt it keep the existing single gold unit unchanged, and this rule has no effect at all.

Related: 08-05 §6 Economy Balance · 03-11 Trade Rules · 03-09 Non-Combat · 04-10 Merchant · Core Interpretation Principles

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#Scent — Three Kinds of Money

#Conditions of the Era

In Sengoku-period Japanese markets, three kinds of money flow together.

The first is gold(金貨). One coin is worth one koku of rice, enough to feed one adult man for one year. Objects with that much value do not often pass from hand to hand. When a daimyo grants a stipend(祿) to a retainer, when a merchant outfits one fleet, or when someone pays for a masterwork blade by a great smith — that is when gold moves. Most commoners never hold one gold coin in their hands in an entire lifetime.

The second is silver(銀貨). This is silver poured out of the Iwami(石見) and Sado(佐渡) mines and minted by domain lords. One coin is worth one to of rice, roughly one month of food. Large village transactions, inn fees, daily pay for small mercenary work, monthly wages from a castle — silver moves in those places. It is the everyday currency of the warrior class and above, and the unit most often recorded in merchants' ledgers.

The third is copper(銅貨). Massive imports of Ming Eiraku-tsuho(永樂錢), Song coins(宋錢), and domestic privately minted coins(私鑄錢) all circulate together. One coin is worth one sho of rice, a single meal. A cup at a teahouse, one candle, a small payment to a market seller — the money farmers, peddlers, and wandering samurai touch all their lives is usually copper. It is strung together in bundles(百文) and worn at the waist.

#Currency Trust

Policy differs by domain. Kagura Domain officially recognizes letters of credit from the Ebisuya Company. Hiei League has a principle of rejecting Ming coins as "defiled money(穢錢)", but in practice it has no choice but to accept them. Sakai accepts every currency but updates its exchange rates daily. In ports where Nanban ships are anchored, some European silver coins(reals) also circulate, but inland they must be melted down and minted again.

Role of the merchant: The Merchant class understands exchange rates in real time. The same deal becomes more favorable when a merchant is present. A party without a merchant loses fees to markets and money changers.

#Why This Rule Exists

Konsei Reiyotan works well enough with the standard single gold unit. But it can be unclear whether "Gold Solves Everything(1 gold)" truly has the weight of "a bribe worth 1 year of rice", or whether it is just an abstract "handful of money." Detailed mode unpacks that abstraction into concrete numbers:

• Small bribe at a teahouse → a few copper coins.
• Inn, bed, or information purchase → a few silver coins.
• Masterwork purchase, daimyo bribe, fleet transaction → gold.

With three units, the finances of a "wealthy merchant PC" and a "penniless ronin" look numerically different. A PC carrying gold 15 and a PC carrying copper 1500 are arithmetically the same, but they feel completely different. This rule is for tables that want to preserve that difference.

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#Law — Rules

#1. Three Units and Conversion

Conversion summary: gold 1 = silver 10 = copper 100.

Design note: Historically, actual exchange rates changed by period, domain, and season(Ming coins 1000 mon ≈ 1 kan ≈ silver 50~60 monme ≈ gold 1/4~1 ryo, and so on). This rule chooses base 10 simplification for playability. If a scene needs "the exchange rate shifted and you lost money", the GM may adjust by ±10~30% at discretion.

#2. Reinterpreting Existing "Gold N" Values

Every "gold N" value in the standard rules is read as gold by default. However, tables that adopt detailed mode may reinterpret it through the table below when context fits.

Conversion consistency check: gold 1 = silver 10 = copper 100. In the table below, every "silver N" is gold-equivalent. Example: gold 10 + silver 200 = 10 + 20 = gold 30. Every reinterpretation in the table is a narrative option for how the same value is split and paid.

Principle: Detailed mode is a reinterpretation option. The GM chooses scene by scene. It does not force a consistent conversion formula — this also reflects the lived feeling of historical exchange-rate movement. However, the conversion itself is fixed at 10:1:0.1, and the "equivalent amount" in the table must always add up to the same total.

#3. Price Examples (Detailed-Mode Baseline)

#Daily Life

#Information and Services

#Troops and Mercenaries

#Weapons and Equipment

#Spiritual and Religious

#4. How PC Money Feels

Standard mode starting 5 gold remains gold 5 in detailed mode. However, players may split it into their wallet as follows:

• gold 2 + silver 20 + copper 100(=gold 5)
• or a lump of gold 5(exchange fee may apply)

Recommended starting composition (1st-rank normal PC):

• gold 1(seed money/emergency fund, deep at the waist)
• silver 20(travel money/one or two months of food)
• copper 200(everyday spending)

Total equivalent to gold 5. Narratively, "a samurai wears one gold coin deep at the waist as emergency money, and carries separate strings of silver and copper."

#5. Unit Use During Combat

Standard rules maintained: Gold costs for techniques during combat are handled exactly as written in gold units. Gold Solves Everything(1 gold), hiring mercenaries(2 gold), bribery operation(3 gold), and all other combat techniques use gold-unit accounting.

Copper and silver from detailed mode are used only in non-combat transactions. Reasons:

1. Reduce combat accounting complexity — count, Energy, Domination, and Cohesion are already many; adding 3-unit breakdowns causes table confusion.
2. Equivalent exchange has no meaning — paying silver 10 and paying gold 1 are the same value, so there is no reason to make technique effects differ. To change the effect, increase or decrease the cost itself, which is technique redesign, not unit substitution.
3. Simplify PC wallet management — during combat, checking only "gold N possessed" is enough. When returning to non-combat, break down/exchange into copper and silver.

Base exchange: After combat, PCs may freely exchange gold ↔ silver ↔ copper at a base(inn, domain castle, Sakai market). No fee if a merchant is present; without a merchant, 5~10% fee.

#6. Price Caps for Masterworks and Divine Treasures, and "Cannot Be Purchased"

Even when expressed in gold, most masterworks and Divine Treasures cannot be purchased. The reason is narrative, not economic:

• Masterwork weapons: made by a Master. Gold 50~500. They do not appear on the market — inheritance, transmission, plunder, or scenario reward only.
• Divine Treasure: priceless. Even gold 1000 will not make a shrine sell one. Acquired only through a scenario.
• Foreign sacred objects: Nanban ships and Ming merchants rarely bring them, but even if their price can be measured in gold, they are meaningless without the [Understanding] condition. A priced object can still be a waste to buy.

Detailed-mode additional rule: When players try to "solve the problem with money", the GM may require at least 3 digits of gold(gold 100~1000) while still choosing the narrative refusal: "Even so, no. This can only pass through inheritance..."

#7. Linkage with Domain Management

The Domain Management Tier operates in kokudaka units. In detailed mode, kokudaka↔gold conversion is:

• 1 kokudaka = 1 gold(annual tax revenue baseline).
• Domain 100 kokudaka = annual 100 gold tax revenue(in practice, most is consumed by governance, troop upkeep, and personnel costs).
• Domain spending should also stay in kokudaka units. Gold/silver/copper breakdown is only for personal wallets.

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#Usage Guidelines

#When to Use This Rule

• Tables that value historical-drama atmosphere. When you want to reproduce the feel of actual Sengoku-period currency.
• Campaigns where a merchant PC is central. When you want ledgers and exchange-rate drama to matter.
• Scenarios where fine-grained transactions with civilian NPCs are important. Let the prices of teahouses, inns, and markets appear as numbers.
• Wealth-gap staging. Contrast a ronin scraping together a few copper coins with a daimyo holding 50 gold.

#When to Avoid This Rule

• Combat-centered campaigns. The simpler the economy, the better.
• Introductory tables. Additional units are a learning burden.
• Very high-rank campaigns(9th rank+). All numbers are large, so fine subdivision matters less.

#How to Introduce It

1. Announce before the session: "This campaign adopts detailed economy mode."
2. Break down PC starting money: starting 5 gold remains unchanged, but each player chooses "how it is carried." A lump of gold 5 / gold 1 + silver 20 + copper 200, and so on.
3. Distribute price reference table: give the PCs a one-page summary of the tables in §3.
4. Emphasize units in the first transaction: "1 night at the inn will be 1 silver ryo." → players learn the feel of the units.
5. Use only gold units during combat: even in detailed mode, combat accounting stays simple.

#Mixed Operation

It is also possible to mix modes inside one campaign:

• Non-combat: detailed mode(copper/silver/gold).
• Combat: standard mode(gold only).
• Domain management: kokudaka units(08-05 §6.2 Tier 4).

In this case, perform conversion all at once after combat. Example narrative cleanup: "You spent wallet gold 5 in combat → effectively silver 50 was spent."

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#Related

• co-08-05-balance.md §6 Economy Balance — standard single-unit rules.
• 03-11 Trade Rules — price baselines, trade routes, profit rates.
• 03-10 Domain Management — kokudaka units and domain accounting.
• 04-10 Merchant — Merchant class techniques.
• 04-31 Zakkasho — villain economy class.
• 10-06 Merchant Story — Merchant class fiction.
• 10-14 Trade Story — domain and trade fiction.
• co-99-02-core-principles.md — this document is an optional economy rule; if it conflicts with Canon 08-05 §6, 08-05 takes priority.

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Once you know that one gold coin is one koku of rice, the world looks different. Gold Solves Everything stops being "a handful of bribe money" and becomes "a gesture that offers a whole year's food for one household." This is recommended only for tables that can carry that weight.