Pieter A de Jong wrote:

> In my own campaign, gold bars don't actually exist. They are used as a
> unit of measurement, but are composed of actual currency (ie. chests of coin,
> and in some cases, gems and jewelry).

I don't have a problem with this interpretation. To me, GBs are just the monetary
unit used in game terms to describe the finances of whole nations. I'm sure there
are a few accountant types out there who might find dealing with a governments
treasury in terms of gold, silver and copper pieces a challenging and exciting
role-playing opportunity, but I just ain't one of them.

It makes no difference to me if GBs are actual gold bars or bags of coin, as I would
rule that they weigh the same amount and take up a comparable amount of space. I
would prefer, however, to keep gems and jewelry separate from GBs as they are
definitely smaller, lighter and relatively valuable items. A thief could make off
with a crown worth 40,000gp with relative ease compared to stealing the equivalent
amount of coin or GBs.

I've been trying recently to get the thief characters in my campaign "back to their
nature" so to speak. I like the idea that thieves run guilds, but it seems to me
that thieves in BR do relatively little actual thieving. From a cynical point of
view, of course, the biggest thieves on the planet are corporations and such, and I'm
not going to dictate how to my players how to play their characters, but I'd like to
encourage a more traditional (in AD&D terms) use of guilds in my campaign. Why would
a guildmaster be able to pick pockets? I am, therefore, giving them more
opportunities for stealing/spying/catburglery and such so they can behave more in
accordance with their character class.

Gary