This related question on prop coins inspired me to revisit an old problem we're having at a fantasy LARP I'm co-organizing.
So far we have not yet found a currency which we can use throughout the LARP and which is cheap enough to be able to get our hands on a fairly large amount of coins.
We are around 100 players - enjoying many quests, treasures, bribes, merchant dealings, etc. There should be plenty of it - we need more than a couple of dozen coins.
But all I was able to find up to now seem to be some really nice high-quality manufacturers: the prices are just right out - normally in the order of magnitude of ~$1 per coin, which is ridiculous. The coins will be handed out to many players, they'll get lost, etc. - essentially we need to almost treat them as disposable.
Does somebody know of a way to create (possibly fantasy-looking) prop coins in large quantities (let's say some 300-500 at least) without spending a similar amount of real life money?
Wishlist: I was asked to specify further requirements - I realize some of these might clash hard with the low price I asked for, but still:
- Made from metal - Metal coins are just so much cooler than plastic ones. Also more durable.
- Some sort of denomination on the coin would be really sweet, that way we wouldn't have to explain this to players over and over every year (this is probably unrealistic given the low price we'd like to find).