Shopping for Groceries in 1836

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Looking over the page from Roswell C. Smith’s 1836 Practical and Mental Arithmetic on a New Plan, you can get a rough idea of what prices were like in the early 1800's. Coffee, 35 cents per pound. A self-sharpening plough, $3.50. A whip, a buck fourteen. And a gallon of gin, 60 cents, which was “about two-thirds of a day’s wages for the average non-farm white male worker.” (View the prices in a larger format here.)

There's also some items that could’ve warmed you on those long, cold frontier nights… Some gin, perhaps…or wine? Rum? Brandy?

Smith’s shopkeeper would’ve been well provisioned, laying the stuff in by the barrel, hogshead, and pipe-full.

As for that “bladder” of snuff, a post on the Snuffhouse forum suggests that it wasn’t a euphemism, but the actual bladder of a hog, paced with 4 pounds of snortin’ tobacco.

Of course, Smith’s shopkeeper would’ve also carried a healthy assortment of wholesome goods- hymnals, children’s shoes, calico, satin, silk, whips…

Evolution of the Military Kit

Battle kits of British soldiers over the years.

Collection from the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

1244 mounted knight, Siege of Jerusalem.

Battle of Agincourt in 1415

Battle of Bosworth 1485

See the full article here.

Bags of Holding - visual reference

  As the saying goes a picture is worth ...

This image is from Ross' Roleplaying Resources blog where he created the above graphic to better illustrate the more common magical solutions to a party's encumbrance problems. Definitely puts it into a better perspective, for me anyway.

Character Encumbrance

Below is an attempt to combine several disparate tables needed to figure out character encumbrance all in one location. Good luck I know, but this seems to cover the basics for typical info. needed during character creation. The following tables assume the typical 10 coins = 1 pound for purposes of encumbrance. Note also that all values listed are for gold pieces.

Character Movement and Encumbrance Table (includes strength adjustment)

Strength Score	Unencumbered	Heavy -A	V. Heavy -B	Encumbered-C
3	0	1-350	351-700	701-1150
4-5	1-150	151-450	451-800	801-1250
6-7	1-200	201-550	551-900	901-1350
8-11	1-350	351-700	701-1050	1051-1500
12-13	1-450	451-800	801-1150	1151-1600
14-15	1-550	551-900	901-1250	1251-1600
16	1-700	701-1050	1051-1400	1401-1850
17	1-850	851-1200	1201-1550	1551-2000
18	1-1000	1001-1400	1401-1700	1701-2250
18/01-50	1-1100	1101-1450	1451-1750	1751-2500
18/51-75	1-1200	1201-1500	1501-1800	1801-2750
18/76-90	1-1300	1301-1600	1601-2000	2001-3000
18/90-99	1-1400	1401-1700	1701-2200	2201-3500
18/00	1-1500	1501-1900	1901-2400	2401-4500

A - Heavy load- max movement 9” no Dex reaction bonus

B – Very Heavy load- max movement 6” no Dex reaction bonus & can only trot a short distance

C – Encumbered- max movement 3”; cannot trot or charge; no Dex reaction/defense bonus; +2 to hit by enemies

Armor Type	A. C.	Cost	Encumbrance	Move
No Armor	10	NA	NA	12”
Shield only	9(-1)*	10	50	12”
Leather	8	5	150	12”
Ring Mail or Studded Leather	7	30 15	250 200	9” 9”
Scale Mail	6	45	400	6”
Chain Mail	5	75	300	9”
Banded or Splint Mail	4	90 80	350 400	6” 6”
Plate Mail	3	400	450	6”

• Subtract 1 from AC if shield is used with armor.

 

Direction of Attack	to hit	Shield Adjustment	Dexterity Adjustment
Flank	normal	no	no
Rear	+2	no	no

Equipment	Cost	Encumbrance
Backpack(400 cn capacity)	2	20
Clothes, plain	0.5	--
Garlic-string	0.01	1
Grappling Hook	25	80
Hammer (snall)	2	10
Holy Symbol -Ag	25	1
Holy Water - vial	25	1
Iron Spikes (12)	0.01	60
Lantern	10	30
Mirror-sm. steel	5	5
Oil,Flask of	1	20
Pole, Wood -10’	0.03	100
Rations, Iron	5	75
Rations, Stand.	3	200
Rope - 50’	0.04	75
Sack-sm.(200)	0.01	5
Sack-lg.(600)	0.02	20
Stakes(3) +Mallet	0.03	10
Thieves’ Tools	30	10
Tinder Box	1	2
Torches (6)	0.06	120
Water-Wine Skin	0.15	5
Wine (1 quart)	1	50
Wolfs bane	0.1	1
Saddle & Bridle	12	375
Transport	Cost	Load
Camel	100	3,000
Cart-2 wheels	100	5,000
Horse, Draft	40	4,500
Horse, Riding	75	3,000
Horse, War	250	4,000
Mule	30	2,000
Saddle Bags	5	200
Wagon-4 wheels	200	12,000

Weapon	Damage	Cost	Encumbrance
Battle Axe ‡	1-8 / 1-8	5	75
Hand Axe	1-6 / 1-6	1	50
Long Bow ‡	1-6 / 1-6	60	100
Short Bow ‡	1-6 / 1-6	15	50
Quiver -12 arrows		1	30
Silver arrow – 1		1	2
Crossbow , heavy	2-5 / 2-7	30	80
Crossbow, light	1-4 / 1-4	12	50
Quiver – 20 bolts		10	20
Scimitar	1-8 / 1-8	15	40
Short sword	1-6 / 1-8	8	35
Long sword	1-8 / 1-12	15	60
Broad sword	2-8 / 2-7	10	75
Bastard sword	2-8 / 2-16	25	100
2 -Handed sword ‡	1-10 / 3-18	30	250
Club	1-6 / 1-3	0.03	30
Dagger(silver 30gp)	1-4 / 1-3	2	10
Dart	1-3 / 1-2	0.25	5
Footman's mace	2-7 / 1-6	8	100
Horseman's mace	1-6 / 1-4	4	50
Morning Star	2-8 / 2-7	5	125
Footman's flail	2-7 / 2-8	3	150
Horseman's flail	2-5 / 2-5	8	35
Halberd‡	1-10 / 2-12	9	175
Spear*	1-6 / 1-8	2	50
Warhammer*	2-5 / 1-4	7	50
Staff ‡	1-6 / 1-6	0.5	50
Sling w/ 20 stones	1-4 / 1-4	0.5	10
Javelin *	1-6 / 1-6	0.5	20
Medium Lance	2-7 / 2-12	6	100
Flask of oil (2 rd.)	**	2	10
Holy water (vial)	2-7	25	2
Torch	1-6 / 1-4	0.2	5

Weapon Type	Fire Rate	Short	Medium(-2)	Long (-5)
Crossbow - heavy ‡	1/2	5-80	81-160	161-240
Crossbow - light ‡	1	5-60	61-120	121-180
Long Bow ‡	2	5-70	71-140	141-210
Short Bow ‡	2	5-50	51-100	101-150
Sling - stone	1	5-40	41-80	81-160
Javelin	1	5-20	21-40	41-60
Oil or Holy Water	1	5-10	11-20	21-30
Hand Axe /Warhammer	1	5-10	11-20	21-30
Dart	3	5-15	16-30	31-45
Dagger	2	5-10	11-20	21-30
Spear	1	5-10	11-20	21-30

**Oil burns 1 turn, but drips off in 2 rounds when thrown, 2d6 first round then 1d6 damage the second.

Remember to adjust for: 1. Dexterity 2. Range 3. Cover 4. Magic

‡ Two handed weapon    * ranged weapon

Capacity of various containers

Container	capacity	Volume ft3	Container	capacity	Volume ft3
Backpack	300	3	Purse	25	0.25
Wood box lg.	1,000	2	Sack lg.	400	4
Wood box sm.	500	1	Sack sm.	100	1
Belt pouch lg.	50	0.5	Saddlebag lg.	300	3
Belt pouch sm.	25	0.25	Saddlebag sm.	100	2
Iron chest lg.	5,000	50	Shirt, tied	100	1
Iron chest sm.	1,000	10	Flask	Pint	0.02
Iron coffer lg.	2,000	2	Water skin	Quart	0.03
Iron coffer sm.	1,000	1	Vial	1 oz.	1 oz.

Obviously these are the values I use in my campaign. You might use different values or capacities obviously. Just thought I'd share what I had for the sake of comparison. For those of you out there wondering, I usually leave it up to the party whether or not to use encumbrance and most times they do choose to use it. But even with relaxed rules they would still have to add up the totals at the end of the session. Also, quite obviously, common sense would also factor into it i.e no 8 ft tall gold statues being carried around.