Has anyone incorporated the Melnibonean Wheel into their campaigns?

[Tuzenbach]

IIUC, these are rather the size and shape of a largish doughnut. The "Currency if Kings" were wrought of gold with a lot of very intricate detail and engravings and such about them. According to Michael Moorcock, you could, for example, trade one for a really nice suit of armour or a small ship or use five to purchase a modest castle. I've never been able to find any sort of artist's conception of what these would have looked like.


So.....anybody use 'em? I'm guessing that their worth would be between 2k & 5k gp.

 

[Crothian]

nothing like that, but I do use minted platnium coins the most valuible worth 1000gp.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

From Dragonlords of Melnibon'e (d20, Chaosium, page 41)...

The palm-sized Melnibonean gold wheels are not currency. Each is a memorial to a Dragon Emperor, and only one per Emporer is made, each carved from pure gold. A wheel averages a bit less than 20 pounds of gold. After Elric's accession there exist a maximum of 428 gold wheels. Each is different, in degrees. All are treasures of great beauty, worth far more than the value of their metal. Wheels do not appear at large in the Young Kingdoms until after the Sack of Imrryr.

Generally, I'd just pick a minimum value and then, when you include such a thing, determine how much you want it to be worth.

 

[Zappo]

No, I think the most valuable official coin in my games is the usual platinum coin. We did use that while playing Stormbringer, of course (and even found one once!)

IIRC, a single Wheel was coined for every new Melnibonean emperor. I can't see how something like this could have a value precise enough to be used as a coin. It has too much symbolic and rarity value to have a fixed worth, not to mention that no grocery store would ever have enough change. And how would it get on the market to begin with?

 

[Tuzenbach]

No, I think the most valuable official coin in my games is the usual platinum coin. We did use that while playing Stormbringer, of course (and even found one once!)

IIRC, a single Wheel was coined for every new Melnibonean emperor. I can't see how something like this could have a value precise enough to be used as a coin. It has too much symbolic and rarity value to have a fixed worth, not to mention that no grocery store would ever have enough change. And how would it get on the market to begin with?

Ah! Thanks for all the nice feedback on this!


The way I see it, the Wheels would be used as sort of a barter system. If you want a magical suit of full plate crafted for you, you can get one with a Wheel. Or if you need a castle, 3 or 4 Wheels. IMHO, the reverance attached to them would make exchanging them for "normal" currency not just illegal but immoral, so making "change" with a Wheel would not be possible. They're a "one shot deal". Maybe they're the fee for the assassination of a 30th level character? Irregardless, they're certainly "special".

I hadn't known that Melnibonean Lore had been translated into the d20 system. Which company puts out the book?

It'd been a while since I read those Elric books and so didn't even know that only one Wheel per Emperor had been crafted. That makes them all the more special. Plus, certain Wheels will have been crafted in just the past century while others will be a millenia-old. Nice stuff. I'd imagine there'd be runes indicating for which Emperor each specific Wheel had been crafted and, thus, a good indicator of the thing's age/relative value.

Of course, the whole Melnibonean Mythos would have to be a familiar thing in the given campaign setting for the "feel" of the value to be properly evoked within the minds of the players. Otherwise, it'd just be a large piece of gold.

Does the d20 book have any illustrations of the Wheel? Thanks again, everyone.

 

[Zappo]

The way I see it, the Wheels would be used as sort of a barter system. If you want a magical suit of full plate crafted for you, you can get one with a Wheel. Or if you need a castle, 3 or 4 Wheels. IMHO, the reverance attached to them would make exchanging them for "normal" currency not just illegal but immoral, so making "change" with a Wheel would not be possible. They're a "one shot deal". Maybe they're the fee for the assassination of a 30th level character? Irregardless, they're certainly "special".

Yeah, the value is immense but not fixed. That's how I see it, too. A bit like a work of art.

I hadn't known that Melnibonean Lore had been translated into the d20 system. Which company puts out the book?

Well, Chaosium. But I don't have it, what we played was the original version. From what I've heard, the D20 edition isn't very good.