Currency

[BaronGarrett]

Well, the larp that I play in had purchased an actual coin press and made their own coins. The coin press has got to be about 7 years old, and has definately paid for itself over the life. The people who use the press use sheets of copper to press copper pieces, and sheets of either high-gloss aluminum or nickel (I'm pretty sure it's aluminum) to make the silver coins. I'm not sure what was used for gold, but I know it was readily accessible, and not very expensive. Over the years, as players tried to become more sophisticated with their props, coins have been purchased from multiple locations. In NJ, you can go get pirate coins down the NJ Shore for about $2 a handful. I also found a store in Austin, TX that does the same coins (www.greathallgames.com, just check their Pirate coin section. These guys ship, if your interested.

Now, as far as the coins go, I've seen that the NJ larp has had the same problem that real life does...inflation. Many years ago, you were lucky to have 4 silver to your name (10 copper to a silver, 10 silver to a gold). Now a days, I walk around with a ton of gold on me. The game has had IG inflation, and the game has a ton of copper pieces lying around. In order to compensate for this, the Executive council is reworking the economy back to a copper system. So, to make a long story short (too late) the press was well worth the investment, however you have to watch for inflation or your money will go away.

[Wolven]

Hehe, to see LARP hyper-inflation in practice, just like Germany in the 1920's...

[RyanPaddy]

[BaronGarrett]

Well, I'm not sure of the make and model. I really wish I checked the boards before I left for the event this weekend (that's what I get for being lazy). I'll see what I can come up with, and if I find anything, I'll post it, or send you the info directly.
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When in doubt, hit them with a gas. If that doesn't work...use a stronger gas. - Baron Garrett Varada

[RyanPaddy]

Thanks bud. I'm exploring the idea of casting coins at the moment, but stamping seems a lot less messy.

[LoZeno]

I recently partecipated to 2 new fantasy LARPs here, and they came with 2 very cheap solutions:

the first one (the cheapest) prints thousands of pressed-paper coins, and glues 2 faces together, to strenghten them. It takes time, but it's half the cost of minting and it's quite efficient.
the second one uses plastic coins: it costs a bit more than the printed ones, but yet it's more affordable than the minted ones, and you can have different values of coins by simply changing the color of the coins you print.
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Lo Zeno
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OuT Of mY MiNd. BaCk iN FiVe mInUtEs,

[Malakuy]

Very late addition to this topic. At Mythos LARP, we currently use painted wooden disks with a custom stamp. It isn't professional at all, but the result isn't too shabby. It would take some effort to counterfeit, but nobody has done it in a year or so.

http://www.angelfire.com/journal/malakuy/images/coin_stamps.jpg

(I could only get this link to work by copy/paste, clicking blocked the load)

To the left are finished products, gold lions, silver falcons, platinum royals/crowns. Platinum is a gold-tinted silver, and in the dark they are often mistaken for silvers. I suppose anyone who has ever accidentally forked over a $10 bill when they meant to give a $1 can empathize.

They take a good deal of time to paint and stamp, though, but work out to less than 4 cents each. Bought the disks from caseyswood.com, the paint and stamp foam from Walmart.

[Chief]

Adventures in Mid-Land makes use of little metal coins made by some company; I forget the name. Very nice, look good, and make coin like noises in the pouch

We use to use wooden coins, but it turns out one of the local pubs gave free drinks out for a wooden nickle during happy hour. For a short time the club almost ran out of in-game cash. I can only imagine how much Mid-Land coinage is still floating around Buffalo.
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Nothing beats a friend like a rubber sword...