Money is one of the most reliable sources of plot, and one of the most commonly ignored in fantasy. Characters travel for months without buying a meal, kings fund armies from nowhere and a single gold coin buys a house or a sword depending on the page. An economy does not have to be elaborate for a story to benefit from one: it just has to be consistent, and it has to make the characters' lives harder in ways that matter. This guide gives you a practical checklist, based on a well-known set of questions about commerce, for creating an economy: currency, prices, trade, work, tax and the black market. It then shows how to turn that into tension on the page and how to record it in Quillen.
The short answer
Decide what people use as money, what things cost, who makes and moves goods, who owns the land and the tools, and who takes a cut. Then use the answers to create pressure on your characters: a toll, a debt, a shortage, a monopoly. In Quillen, the Economy category of Lore gives each economy an entry with 13 prompts, from currency and exchange rates to taxation and black markets.
Why an economy helps a story
An economy gives characters motives that readers understand instantly: they need money, owe money, are cheated, or want what someone else controls. It also makes the world feel real. A reader who learns that a ferry crossing costs a day's wages knows something true about how that society works. And it supplies conflict: scarcity, inequality and competition are three of the oldest sources of drama.
The checklist
The following questions are drawn from a widely used worldbuilding checklist about commerce and public life. You do not need to answer them all. Answer the ones your story will touch.
| Topic | Question | Story use |
|---|---|---|
| Currency | What do people use as money? Coins, notes, goods, favours? Who mints it and what backs it? | Counterfeiting, debasement, forgery |
| Exchange rates | How do different currencies compare, and who profits from the difference? | Merchants, smugglers, border towns |
| Units of measure | How do people measure distance, weight and time? | Texture, cheating at the scales |
| Resources and scarcity | What is plentiful and what is rare? | Wars, trade routes, monopolies |
| Trade routes | How do goods move, and who controls the roads, rivers and ports? | Tolls, ambushes, blockades |
| Goods and prices | What do ordinary things cost, relative to a day's wages? | Tells the reader who is rich or poor |
| Industries and guilds | Who makes things, and are they organized? | Guild politics, apprenticeships, strikes |
| Labour | Are people free, bound, paid or enslaved? How is work organized? | Class conflict, revolt |
| Taxation | Who collects what, and how? | Corruption, rebellion, smuggling |
| Banking and debt | Can people borrow? Who lends? | Debt as a trap, moneylenders as villains |
| Black markets | What is illegal, and who supplies it? | Crime plots, underground networks |
| Luxuries | What do the rich enjoy, and why is it scarce? | Status, theft, envy |
Start with prices
If you do only one thing, set a few prices relative to a day's wages. Choose a base (say, one ferry penny is a labourer's day) and price a few things against it: a meal, a night's lodging, a pair of boots, a horse, a sword. These relationships tell the reader everything about wealth and poverty without a word of explanation, and they stop the common error of ridiculous prices. A horse that costs a year's wages is a serious purchase; a sword that costs a week's is a common one.
Currency
Decide on two or three denominations that feel real: a low coin for everyday use, a middle one for serious purchases and a high one for big deals. Think about how the coins are named, what they look like, who mints them and what stops people forging them. Mention the currency in dialogue and descriptions rather than in lectures. "It cost me three river marks" tells the reader the coin exists and that it is not trivial.
Trade routes and chokepoints
Trade shapes geography. Cities grow where roads, rivers and coasts meet, and power accrues to whoever controls the crossing. Look at your map and ask: where do goods pass, and who sits on that point? A toll collector, a ferryman or a customs house at a chokepoint is a natural source of power, bribery and conflict.
Who takes a cut?
Every economic system has people who profit without making anything: tax collectors, landlords, moneylenders, middlemen, guild officials. Asking who takes a cut tells you who the villains and the power brokers are, and who the people at the bottom resent. In the sample economy, the Tollmaster mints the coin and controls the river crossings, so he profits from every journey, which is exactly why he would seal the road.
A worked example
A compact economy for the river country in Hollow Crown:
| Prompt | Entry |
|---|---|
| Currency | Ferry pennies (copper), river marks (silver, 12 pennies), crown-weights (gold); minted by the Tollmaster |
| Exchange rates | 1 river mark = 12 ferry pennies; valley traders pay 15 |
| Units of measure | Fathom, span, ferry-day |
| Resources and scarcity | Salt from the flats; timber is scarce |
| Trade routes | River road and salt road; all pass the Toll Office |
| Taxation | A toll on every crossing, paid in pennies |
Even this short entry produces plot. The exchange rate means valley traders lose money at the border, so they have a reason to smuggle. The toll means the Tollmaster profits from sealing the road to everyone but himself.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Problem | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Prices with no reference | Reader cannot judge value | Price things against a day's wages |
| Unlimited gold | No stakes about money | Make coin scarce and costly |
| Ignoring who is paid | Characters who never work or eat | Show where food and goods come from |
| An economy with no losers | No conflict | Ask who is cheated, taxed or indebted |
| Overexplaining | Info-dump | Show through prices and complaints |
| Changing prices to suit the plot | Inconsistency | Record them and test scenes against them |
Do it in Quillen
Quillen's Economy category provides a ready-made set of prompts, so you can fill in only the parts you need.
- Open Lore from the left sidebar and open the Economy card. Click New Entry.
- Name the economy, such as a nation, a city-state or a trade network.
- Write a Resume. This is a short summary at the top of the entry.
- Work through the prompts. The cards are: Currency (denominations, backing, minting authority), Exchange rates, Units of measure, Resources and scarcity, Trade routes, Goods and price list, Industries and guilds or corporations, Labour structure, Taxation, Banking, credit and debt, Black markets, Luxuries (and why they are scarce) and Other notes. Click a card to write in it, and skip those you do not need.
- Add images of coins or goods with the Add Image area.
- Make a separate entry for each distinct economy, such as a rival nation's, so you can compare them.
Checklist
- Currency, with two or three denominations.
- A few prices set against a day's wages.
- Scarce resources and who controls them.
- Trade routes and the chokepoints on them.
- Who takes a cut: taxes, tolls, rents, interest.
- Who is cheated or indebted, and who profits.
Common questions
How do I create an economy for my fantasy world?
Decide what people use as money, set a few prices against a day's wages, work out what is scarce and how goods move, and ask who takes a cut. Then use the answers to put pressure on your characters.
What should I set first in a fictional economy?
A few prices relative to a day's wages. They tell readers who is rich or poor without explanation, and prevent unrealistic prices.
What prompts does Quillen's Economy category have?
Thirteen: currency, exchange rates, units of measure, resources and scarcity, trade routes, goods and price list, industries and guilds, labour structure, taxation, banking credit and debt, black markets, luxuries and other notes.
How does an economy create plot?
Through scarcity, debt, tolls, monopolies and smuggling. Characters want money, owe it, are cheated of it, or want what someone else controls.
How detailed should a fictional economy be?
Answer the questions your story will touch. A short entry with a currency, a few prices and a trade chokepoint is often enough to generate conflict.