Logistics of dragon treasure

>>49954500
Depends on what sort of dragon. Smaug here didn't rack up the gold, he just killed all the dwarves and sleeps in the treasury.

Though some dragons might have servants (most usually do) and they could easily make their kobold slaves dig around and give tribute to their dragon.

I'd assume they just bring everything, body and all, and let whatever pests dwell in the cave clean up the flesh while leaving the Gold

Maybe they just eat it all and the Gold eventually goes into the scales and the treasure is just a giant pile of golden scales that fell off as the years went by

>>49954605
>dragons molt gold
I'm stealing this idea anon.

I guess they swallow both treasure and adventurers and later regurgitate it all,resulting in a pile of bones,half digested clothing/leather armor,metal objects,treasure and anything magical.
Maybe they can also coerce other,weaker creatures into serving the dragon to move the treasure,or maybe they have willing servants/paid henchmen. I guess that depends on the setting.

>>49954500
Nevermind that. Most of their treasures are gold, which is a heavy and malleable metal. In addition to that, they frequently sleep on top of it, often for centuries at a time. How do the gold objects in the pile retain their shape despite this?

>>49954500

they find people that have loads of gold and they tell them ok now youll pile all your gold up in that vault or ill burn you, and then after they pile it all up they burn them any way

>>49954500
Smaug just laid down on an existent pile of gold and jewels.

>>49955024
In the cause of Smaug, it didn't. He has fragments of gold and gemstones melted/embedded into his underbelly.

inb4 someone points out there shouldn't be enough gold on the average planet for a classic dragon hoard.

>>49955152
Wizards can create gold, and many dragons have been shown to be capable of magic. Besides, some gold in seawater - just unfeasible to extract anywhere near current costs.

>>49955124
Yeah, but it should more or less be a solid block of gold with obvious seams where individual coins used to be. Any metal item underneath it should be just about crushed to a point where it is barely recognizable. Even without the structural stress, the material creep should ensure that over the centuries.

But then again, adventurers always seem to toss heavy gold bars around like they are nothing, when one liter of the stuff weighs around 20kg.

>>49955152
half of it is probably some alloyed shit

>>49955152
>>49955522
also "the average planet" is a dead rock you idiot

File: 1445501440107.jpg (176KB, 640x464px) Image search: [Google]

176KB, 640x464px

Imagine what would happen to the economy if suddenly all the gold squirreled away in dragon hoards were dumped into the markets.

>>49955646
>Shadowrun

>eat an adventure
>couple days later
>shit out their valuables

>>49955693
While most dragons in Shadowrun DO have an exorbitant amount of wealth, the things they actually hoard isn't always monetary.

Perianwyr is all about that music, and there's a series of Missions for Shadowrun's organized play where you have to travel to several of his hoards around the world, at least one of which is stuffed with pretty much just rare/classic music memorabilia (records, stage outfits, etc.).

>>49955152
Size of a Dragon hoard is not calculated by its gold contents, but by the nominal value of the coins. Thus its value fluctuates along the international exchange rates, and can contain surprisingly small amounts of precious metals. Most of the wealth in a dragon's hoard comes from government dumping money into it to combat inflation, and the rest from hedge funds and market speculation.

>>49955646

It would absolutely decimate the local economy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEmM_zKuTD0

>>49954500
Magic ?

>Dragons eats adventurer whole
>Digestive juices dissolves everything but precious metals
>Every coin in the horde has passed through the dragons digestive tract.

>>49956042
>>49955646
In modern day the gold market would crash, but currency is fine.

>>49955024
If you should ever find yourself stranded in a far-flung fantasy realm, it can be helpful to consider your predicament scientifically. That is, approach situations with as few assumptions as possible, accept solid evidence when it is presented, and always be willing to admit you are wrong, and adjust your mindset accordingly.

This is actual science, which a tragically high number of strandees confuse with "acting like the world they're stranded in adheres to the exact same physical principles as their own". More than a few survivalists have been lead awry thanks to compasses going haywire, many fledgling empires have been cut short when their founders realised (too late) that their guns didn't work, and many, many would-be adventurers have gone to their graves saying "no dragon could fly with wings that smaAAAAAAAAAAAH!".

Don't be like those poor souls. Be smart. Be safe. Assume nothing.

>>49956722
Doesn't work in some settings like D&D where dragons eat treasure for sustenance

>>49957010
Wait, they do? So are dragon hordes just their foodstaches?

>>49954500

Like weebs and 2D waifus, the dragon is too 3D for the seemingly 2D coins.

Nevertheless, they still hoard them.

>>49955646
This is why smart adventurers purchase buy options (in gold and misc. trasure) before entering the dungeon. Either they're worth something once gold crashes, or you're too dead to care.

>>49954500

Polymorph.

>>49955152
if by average planet you mean Earth
unless the dragon is a fucking mountain i really think there is

>>49954500
Minions. See that corpse? He carried all that gold.

>>49954500
I imagine that much like crows they carry the gold they find in their mouths.

>>49955646
Shoo, shoos, simulationist goblin

>>49955646
We already know what happens, Europe had the same problem when conquistadors brought back a shitton of gold from America.

>>49954500
Sleeping
> with the lights on....

>>49954500
They practice for decades when they're young, using peasants and pebbles.

By the time they're old enough to amass a hoard of their own, they're well trained.

>>49954500
I always thought dragons would have some kinda servants and shit.

"my Lord we bring treasure!"

"throw it in the pile and add 4 days to your people's life calendar"

That or tails, with their maws, just push the valuable stuff like a sand castle.

>>49954500
D&D dragons can polymorph into other shit.
For instance in the newest 5e adventure one dragon spends most of the time disguised as a stone giant - this would be a decent form for organising treasure, though ironically their hoard is gathered and hidden by magic.

>>49954500
a lot of dragons can take human form so thats fairly easy
most dragons can cast spells so they would leviate the gold into place and whatnot
i suppose everything else they would have to drag it along with there arms

as for killed adventures thats easy you just take the whole dam body back to your lair

>>49955646
>i imagine in most settings the economy has long since adapted to deal with such things.

if an adventurer were to decided to spend it all in one little town though that would be interesting

>>49964779
also a lot of it was probably gathered when they were younger and could more easily carry small objects

>>49956722
>"Slay me if you must, knight, but know that every single coin and jewel in this hoard has been in my ASS"
It does take the lustre out of hunting for dragon gold, true.

>>49956796

Yeah free markets are surprisingly resilient to shocks like this. You'd have inflation if your currency is backed by gold, obviously, but in very short order it would stabilize. Yeah prices would be higher, but so would salaries and everything else. It's really just gold that would be cheaper. Then even all that would fall as trade with the outside world bled off the gold, resulting in higher standards of living for everyone as long as the influx of gold held out.

Basically everything that video guy said about economics was wrong. Gold rush towns, Golden Age of Piracy havens, china traders in Hong Kong and Macao, Saudi Arabia and the oil emirates... all have had massive infusions of cash which did everybody good net. A big honking pile of gold showing up is actually less of a disruption because it's one moderate jolt all at once, whereas those cases were mostly huge profits shooting into the economy year after year after year.

A ton of gold is only about US$48,000,000. IE an ok IPO for a startup at a dot com firm. Those two didn't even haul back that much.

>>49964827

Fuck. Now I'm trying to find that Upright Citizens Brigade Ass Pennies sketch.