Gold works a little like a “cold hard cash” extension of the Wealth system. Your character can use “real money” to buy things rather than your general purchasing power (Wealth).

In addition to the normal purchase and sale process, you can use it for three special circumstances.

1. Fair Trade. Buy an item up to the DC of the gold. Do not reduce your Wealth from this purchase.
2. Make a down payment. Add a +2 modifier to Wealth Check to purchase an item. Reduce wealth for the purchased item as normal, but not for the Aid Another check.
3. Sweeten the deal. Reduce time to find an item by 1d6 hours.

Special rules for using gold. (These are intended to prevent abuse)

• Any purchase of gold drops Wealth by a minimum of one level.
• When sold to increase Wealth, treat sale DC as wealth minus one (instead of minus three)
• Horse Trading cannot be used to affect the purchase/sale DC of gold.
• Gold coins can be “bought” or sold in half the regular time.

Two forms of gold may be commonly used as reward.

Gold Eagle (DC13). Full half-ounce of 22-carat gold (95% gold, 5% silver).

Double Eagle (DC15). One troy ounce of 22-carat gold minted in San Francisco.

In and around mining towns, two other forms of gold are commonly available.

Bag of Gold Dust (DC12). Small bits of gold in flecks and tiny nuggets tied in pouch of doeskin. Supposed to be a half ounce (120 grains), but always a little bit light and not quite pure.

Bullion Bar (DC24). One pound (12 troy ounces) of gold smelted into bullion the size and shape of an adult male thumb (slightly larger than a cubic inch). Comes complete with maker’s mark and serial number. This bar is the smallest anyone would bother to make, and banks prefer to deal in larger bars up to DC38 (see picture, this bar weighs 400 troy ounces – 27.4 lbs)

META-GAME NOTE: You may want to think of gold as a “potion of money” and adventuring reward, rather than coins in traditional RPG sense.