Writing Economy for a fantasy novel

[beast_regards]

No it's the gnomes.

Gnomes took our mining jobs!

 

[MafiaNoble]

Why is it a LitRPG, though?

Because that's a hot genre for some reason? My novel is about a game, so the LITRPG aspect is ingame, classes, skills, levels and so forth

Alright, so you have wall of text. Prepare for another wall of text!

Economics in Chaos
Because what’s an epic world without a dysfunctional economy?

1. Counterfeiting: Fake It ‘Til You Break It
Mana-storing coins are all the rage, but you know some rogue is out there thinking, "Challenge accepted." Enter counterfeiters:

[Forger] classes mimicking mana signatures, causing merchant meltdowns.
Alchemists sneaking alloys into gold, birthing black markets and forcing guilds to hire mana-verifiers.
Result? Pure economic mayhem. You’re welcome.

2. Regional Trade: Magical Monopoly Madness
Forget salt and sugar; let’s get weird:

Frostwood, mana silk, or lava-forged fire crystals—resources so niche, they scream “adventurer bait.”
Enchanted wine or glowing spices for nobles to flex at banquets. Because if their food isn’t glowing, what’s the point?

3. Capitalism, Baby: Invest or Implode
Loans and investments make things juicy:

A blacksmith gambles on rare materials—resulting in either a legendary sword or a very angry debt collector.
Farmers try magical seeds for triple yields, but goblins eat half the crop. High risk, high reward.
Now you’ve got peasants playing tycoons and losing sleep over bankruptcy. Fun times.

4. Scarcity & Inflation: The Real Villains
A salt mine collapses; prices skyrocket. Nobles hoard it, peasants riot, and everyone regrets not prepping like doomsday hoarders. Bonus points if dungeon treasure floods the market, tanking currency value.

Chaotic? Yes. Entertaining? Absolutely.

5. Labor: Sweat, Skill, and Sabotage
Workers in your world? Just levels with problems.

Peasants earn 3-8 copper chopping wood, while a high-level [Woodsman] slices through monsters and earns silver.
Adventurers double as laborers, tanking the guard market. Why hire a normal guard for 30 copper when a fighter does it for less—and kills goblins on the side?
Add specialized labor like [Beast Tamers] or [Crop Whisperers], and suddenly everyone’s jealous—or sabotaging their rivals.

Guilds, of course, rule the roost:

Craftsmen’s Guilds: Pay up or get blacklisted.
Adventurer’s Guilds: Your one-stop shop for bridge repairs in monster zones.

6. Player-Driven Chaos: Where Rules Go to Die
(Given the name Civilization online)
Players ruin everything:

Adventurer demands inflate potion prices faster than health bars drop.
Blacksmiths revolutionize markets with OP items.
Exploits crash economies faster than patch notes can keep up.

Bottom Line: Economics should be as broken as your players’ strategies. Sprinkle in counterfeiting, inflation, and guild drama, and watch your world burn beautifully.

First of all, apologies for the late reaction, I didn't realize I had to go to the forums to see messages. I assumed it'd show up in my normal scribble notification box. I think your ideas are super creative and fun I just don't see myself of being capable of applying them in a balanced manner outside of a comedy setting.

i'm going a little for the LITRPG in a game but it still being about kingdombuilding, so to say? I personally don't like it when complete armies are wiped out by a single high lvl player/NPC in a kingdom building story, it makes me wonder what the point is of building armies when just going for some higher levels can get everything solved!

 

[MarekSusicky]

Because that's a hot genre for some reason? My novel is about a game, so the LITRPG aspect is ingame, classes, skills, levels and so forth


First of all, apologies for the late reaction, I didn't realize I had to go to the forums to see messages. I assumed it'd show up in my normal scribble notification box. I think your ideas are super creative and fun I just don't see myself of being capable of applying them in a balanced manner outside of a comedy setting.

i'm going a little for the LITRPG in a game but it still being about kingdombuilding, so to say? I personally don't like it when complete armies are wiped out by a single high lvl player/NPC in a kingdom building story, it makes me wonder what the point is of building armies when just going for some higher levels can get everything solved!

It's fine, you do you at your time ^^

There is always a balance and the world is set as it is because it reached the balance. There always needs to be something that holds the other in check. External like persia/huns the roman empire, or internal like threat of civil war.

For litrpg, you can think of high level people as nukes in our world. You can use them, but the opposing will use theirs in retaliation or when pushed too far.

And you still need someone to conquer the land. You can't conquer anything without feet on the ground. If you have small party of ten people, you can destroy anything, but then you have the people resisting them. They can't be everywhere at once, so here they torch a small village, there they smuggle forbidden things.

If some IRL countries showed the empires something it is that if the people are unwilling, you won't conquer them even with overwhelming force.