Palladium Penny Stocks

[Library Ogre]

Both of Rob's are good suggestions; they're fairly safe ways of taking care of your money. There's also one from an old Knights of the Dinner Table which works out much like you suggested... penny stocks. However, instead of buying stock, you invest in a particular caravan.

Say you're in Timiro, and Merchant X wants to haul a load of Timiroese silks up to the Northern Wilderness, and return with a load of northern timber. You think its a good plan, but he'd like some people to invest. You invest heavily, he can hire more guards and a better ship. When he gets back, you get your investment, plus a portion of the profit. Of course, if he fails, you lose your money.

Another option, depending on the location, is to buy land, hire/buy people to work it, and make a living off of that while you're on the road. When you come back, you won't have the cash, but you will have a piece of real property.

[sasha]

Jewelry is good.

Hard storage is good.

Frankly, we've never been that rich. If we get loads of coins we usually upgrade or buy something with it, such as land or a tavern, because role players always spending money in the tavern.

[Veknironth]

Well, if you're in civilized lands, you can use a bank and have them give you a writ that coulc be cashed in at other banks. That would assume there are banks that have agreements. I doubt there is the technology to wire money, but with magic they could easily keep track of what goes where and communicate well.

As for being in the wild, you have to carry big bills like Dragon coins, or items of value like the aforementioned gem/jewelry.

-Vek
"Or carry a millipound bank note."

[sasha]

We used these values for all currency, Wolfen, Old Empire, otherwise. We also assumed that they were consistency and accurately minted. For simplicity.

Assuming I did the math correct and measured the Eastern coins:

1 Eastern gold coin weighs 22 grams.
5 Eastern gold coin weighs 147 grams.
20 Eastern gold coin weighs 198 grams.
50 Eastern gold coin weighs 244 grams.

50,000 1-gold-piece coins weighs 50,000 x 0.05 pounds = 2,500 pounds
10,000 5-gold-piece coins weighs 10,000 x 0.32 pounds = 3,200 pounds
2,500 20-gold-piece coins weighs 2,500 x 0.44 pounds = 1,100 pounds
1,000 50-gold-piece coins weighs 1,000 x 0.5 pounds = 500 pounds

That's a lot of weight to lug around no matter what.

Also, many merchants resist money changing or giving change on transactions. If something costs 498 gold pieces you should try to give them 498 rather than 500. It all depends, of course, but it does add a dynamic to shopping.

[UR Leader Hobbes]

Okay, so what are the alternatives to carrying all your booty around? If you are a worldwide adventuring party (or even national, Timiro in this case) it isn't worth stashing your cash where it could take days or weeks to get it. How do you handle this in your campaigns? Or how would you handle it? Lets assume you have 50,000 and don't need to buy anything with it.

Aside from investing in something then your best bet is to buy jewels. Not jewelery as they may cost more. Also if one of the members of your party was keeping check and has taken note of the differences in exchange rates then you might just wanna think about converting your money back from jewels to gold in certian areas in order to make money theough the difference in currencies. (Lots of GMs will catch on to this and adjust the costs approporately.) But some won't

Ultimately your best bet is to invest in something like land.. You can't be adventuring forever ya know. Some of my characters when they've struck it rich have decided to stop adventuring and retire to a life of comfort.

One became an inn keeper, another a brewer, and I've had a couple who quit while they were ahead with enough money to buy a mannor, hire some hands and just work the land..

Ultimately it's up to you, one thing I recomned is that you don't just leave the money laying out where any thief could get at it.. Worse comes to worse you could always buy completely frivilious things and shock the GM.

For example buy all of the sails in a port town. Then just wait. When a ship comes that needs repairs you'll be able to cut a deal as you'll have the monopoly. Or lets say your character is religious. He could donate the money to a church so they can expand and increase their influence. (WHo knows it may also just buy you a few favors with the local priests and possibly the Deity)

THere are a lot of options for your money.

[Aramel]

i have read somewhere about letters of credit... and have used them. some banking instititions have ( for a fee of course, usually 1% ) a thing where you can give them your money and recieve a letter that can be cashed in at another bank. these letters are sometimes even enchanted to be able to prove that they are authentic ( for an extra cost they can even be made indestructable ). that is what i would suggest doing personally.

[Justthis Guy]

Aramel's post is the thing I use. A letter of credit drawn from a known Alchemist or Bank or such is the way to go. The Merchants Guild in the Eastern Territories has a well established system and trades all over including in Timoro, Phi and Lopan, Bizantium and the Western Empire. I think they also trade witht he Lands of the South winds. The Eastern Merchants Guild probably has offices in all major cities wolrdwide, and if not you say they do, after all you are the GM!

alternatively, you can have your players buy exquisite gems which will retaiin the value mostly (-10% when sold).

If my players have that much gold then I think I am giving too much treasure. but when they do I make some nice dwarven weapons and armour available, and they take the bait and spend the money! LOL
I also will make other items available from the alchemist's shop if needed, or let mages buy spells . . be creative on how you seperate the gold from the players!
hope this helps you out