Delayed Greek Style Metal Gaming Coins for RPGs & Boardgames

[Ithaqua]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cqgames/the-best-damn-metal-gaming-coins-ever?ref=category

 

Some ancient Greek style metal coins for RPGs, board games or just for fun.

Seems to be a good quantity for the price.

What I really like about them is the size, a lot bigger then others I have seen.

What I don't like is that you only get 1 gold per set (but it is a big 'un!).

[SamuraiJack]

Been waiting on this one. Hoping they unlock the Roman coins

[cthulhudarren]

It wasn't clear to me what and how many of each coin equates to a set.

[Ithaqua]

51 coins in a set

 

20 Aegina (turtle)

15 Ephesos (fly)

10 Reflections (dolphins)

5 Athena (owl)

1 Alexander (Alexander)

 

I am assuming these are plated and not the same metal all the way through?

Id like to try these in a very low level D&D game where money is scarce, where you would be lucky to see a gold piece when you just started adventuring.

But I would probably just get a few sets and put them in a leather bag and use as a prop.

 

platinum owls (moved up from silver)

gold angels

electrum dolphins

silver fly

copper turtles

[SamuraiJack]

they are electroplated

[sumbloke]

"The Best Damn Metal Gaming Coins Ever!" ???

Nowhere near as good as the Mused Fable ones.

[Pingo]

Wow. They're based on actual ancient Greek coins, only ... kind of mushy and oddly even at the same time. I guess that's so they won't ever be mistaken for the real thing.

 

They do look fun for game use.

[Darsc Zacal]

Everytime I see one of these coin kickstarters I am sooo tempted as they look so cool..

 

And then reality sinks in as I realize I don't really have a use for them and the money spent would be better served in getting me more minis.

 

Yes. That's right. In my reality there is no such thing as having enough or too many minis.

 

(Hey. Don't judge what I do in my reality and I won't judge what you do in yours)

[Pingo]

It's kind of funny that they say they didn't put denominations on so you could use them for lots of things, because the Greeks didn't use denominations either. There was no "4" on a tetradrachma (the owl-Athena one). You knew it was a tetradrachma because it was four times bigger than a drachma.

 

It occurred to me that another way you would never mistake these for the real thing is they're perfectly round. Real ancient coins were made by taking a carefully weighed blob of metal and hammering it between two molds. They came out all kinds of vaguely ellipsoid shapes, sometimes with cracks, and they were really thick.

 

It wasn't until the Roman empire that people perfected thin, flat coins as the coinage got debased and they tried to squeeze more and more money out of less and less metal. Those were less eccentric than earlier coins, but still not perfectly round.

Edited August 15, 2013 by Pingo

[SamuraiJack]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cqgames/the-best-damn-metal-gaming-coins-ever/posts/571257

 

Hi Everyone,

Another day, another $4,000! And, a first passing of the goal. Greek coins are guaranteed! Thanks so much for all of your support!

As we mentioned last night, we're going to juggle the stretch goals a little bit. The astronaut coins are out of the queue. We're moving the Roman coins up next at $10,000, and keeping the Middle Ages coins at $20,000. We've bumped the fantasy coins up to $30,000 AND we will have backer voting on those, in terms of the art choices. We'll talk about that more when it gets closer. The main Kickstarter page with the stretch goal list will be updated to reflect all of this tomorrow, or Saturday at the latest.

Now, after that, we're going to a total backer voting system. While we will somewhat guide the choices, YOU are going to largely decide what coins we make once we get past the first few stretch goals. It will work like this:

1. First we will have a period where we solicit ideas from people. Initially, just themes.

2. Then, we will pick the themes that are generally most common AND fit what we think we can get art done on affordably/sell well/generally just seem like good bets.

3. Then we will release that list. At that point we will solicit suggestions for what those coins should be, art-wise. We will listen to it all, consider our own ideas, and THEN release a final voting list with those themes AND the specific coins that will be made.

4. We will make the set that gets the most votes. Pure popularity from backers ONLY.

Once the Roman stretch goal is hit we will start to show coin are for that set. Then, unless the campaign moves too fast, we will be able to show coins related to each stretch goal shortly after they happen.

Now, for the hard part: we are off to a great start and so, so appreciative for it! But the "best" days of Kickstarter campaigns are generally the first two and the last two. Our first two are over. The only way to keep momentum now is to get the word out. So, if you want to get lots of different sets, tell your friends. Hit Twitter, Facebook, or whatever shout-it-from-the-rooftops method you prefer. IF we can keep some momentum during the "dog days" after the early spike we can stay on people's radar and have the potential to keep blasting off.

Thanks again, and start getting those coin theme ideas ready!

Dirk

[buglips*the*goblin]

While neat, I've never figured out how these would serve a prop use. Same with the old ral partha coins (possibly why they never sold very well). In thirty years of RPG's, we've never seen a situation come up where we said "man, if only we had some coins to use for this".

 

Which is not to say they're not neato and cool, I just always wondered if prop coins are one of those nifty niche items people buy thinking someday they might have a practical use - but really it's just an excuse to hoard objects.

 

Kind of like how one time I saw a killer deal on Planescape Bloodwar CCG packs, so I bought three cases, and then sat back and realized that outside of the most epic card house (or city, even) ever made there's nothing I could possibly need them for. Even two decks is probably more than anybody would ever use. Three cases is excessive even for my poor impulse control.

[SamuraiJack]

If I wasn't in the SCA and into the historic stuff I probably wouldn't be backing this either. I don't see using them as props for gaming. Not at the price they are currently at. If I did LARPing then it might be a different thing.

[Pingo]

I have a small change purse of (pretty worn and not terrifically valuable) late nineteenth century US coins to go with my 1893 dress in honor of the World's Columbian Exhibition.

 

Some of those coins are old enough for Civil War reenacting, if I had any interest in actually doing that.

 

I have dressed up medieval, but I would not care to carry around any of my actual medieval coins.

 

Oddly enough, ancient Greek and especially Roman coins are commoner and less precious than medieval ones, so if I were ever at an ancient world dress up event I might consider carrying some.

 

What I find interesting about images of coins in roleplaying games is how thick they usually are depicted. Real medieval coins are wafer-thin, as they tried to get as much money as possible out of the metal. Even a dime is two or three times thicker than most of the medieval coins I've seen. Only in the last two or so centuries have European coins gotten thickish, to,modern levels.

[hmdrake]

I'm in, but I also want to use these for boardgames. I also read a bit too much Rothfuss and want to include varying currencies in my next game.

[hmdrake]

Oh, worth noting, Roman and Middle Age coins are unlocked, and they're about to vote on future sets. Worth at least pitching in a dollar to vote for now, if there is something specific you've been looking for in coins.