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I am new to the game and a bit baffled about the lack of a price list for items and services. While I guess that a lot of trading will go by bartering, in game terms that would cost a lot of time (so money would be a convenient shortcut to get on with the story). Also, some services will almost always be paid in money, like inns etc., because it is inconvenient to carry goods for bartering on a journey (and not everyone has the Marquis de Carabas' talent to barter for information …).
How do you handle this? Has anyone come up with a rough list? From the material provided I have only 3 cornerstones: 0.5 SP is enough to pay for a long and good evening at the Prancing Pony; a common pony will cost about 4 SP; 30 SP is considered "a lot of money" in Bree (this last one may have come from a session, not from the canon, but seems to make sense).

Glad for any help you can give. I searched the forum but did not get any helpful hits (though a lot of interesting thoughts about councils ).

I am new to the game and a bit baffled about the lack of a price list for items and services.

This lack of classic RPG cost and purchase lists is part of the game design. Already in the First Edition, your Standard of Living determined what you could afford and as long as you stayed in that associated range, there were no individual purchases of items or services necessary. It is assumed that your Standard of Living allows you to cover all associated costs (i.e. like with a modern bank account from which all your everyday transactions are deducted). Wealth is (or was in 1st ed. - I'm not familiar with the 2nd ed. details) expressed through "Treasure Points" - a very rough estimate and that can be used to judge how many days/weeks/months/years of a given Standard of Living are included in a certain amount of "Treasure Points".

Or in other words: The handling of money (i.e. coins) and purchases of any kind are highly abstracted on purpose, so that players do not have to bother with accounting of coins, individual item and/or service purchases, but focus on the more thematic aspects of interaction with the world around them. If you prefer to do this - e.g. when using prop coins for immersion instead of just noting your wealth - you have to devise a cost and purchase system yourself (or lift it from another system).

How do you handle this? Has anyone come up with a rough list? From the material provided I have only 3 cornerstones: 0.5 SP is enough to pay for a long and good evening at the Prancing Pony; a common pony will cost about 4 SP; 30 SP is considered "a lot of money" in Bree (this last one may have come from a session, not from the canon, but seems to make sense).

It's in canon: Butterbur is noted to have felt like it was a lot for him to lose, but not too much for him to maintain his reputation.

And that utter lack of any mention of coinage and very few mentions of trade in the source material is a big part of the reason why TOR eschews all of that and abstracts it into a Standard of Living, IMO.

Thanks to all for the answers!

…of a given Standard of Living are included in a certain amount of "Treasure Points".

I think the concept is similar in 2nd ed. (I do not know 1st ed.), though the term "treasure points" has a different meaning there - it translates to load for any transported treasure.
I think "treasure rating" is the term used in v2. I will look deeper into a reference how to raise the living standard, otherwise any "prosperity" motivation would be meaningless.

Thanks to all for the answers!

…of a given Standard of Living are included in a certain amount of "Treasure Points".

I think the concept is similar in 2nd ed. (I do not know 1st ed.), though the term "treasure points" has a different meaning there - it translates to load for any transported treasure.
I think "treasure rating" is the term used in v2. I will look deeper into a reference how to raise the living standard, otherwise any "prosperity" motivation would be meaningless.

You can raise your Standard of Living by finding Treasure, which gives you access to better armour/shields, more useful items and better mounts. Along with the in-game purchasing power of higher standards of living. So there's a prosperity motivation for some adventurers (which fits the source material!), without spending lots of time on pricing/economics (which also fits the source material!).

Thanks again for the head-up. I am slowly beginning to understand how the "economical" side of adventuring works. I think I had some trouble to understand it because decades of Rolemaster, Hârnmaster and similar systems have set my mind into certain grooves and I did not even notice how far off the intended system I was. Considering, I like the TOR system, though it will take some experience to handle certain "standard situations". Heigh-ho, something new to explain to the adventurers, too …

If you really do want to use money in your game, the Lake-town supplement for TOR 1E did include a short price list for various goods and services. A bit of research might be able to turn that up.

A bit of research might be able to turn that up.

Did .
We'll soon decide if we really want to use money (I'd like to stay within the regular ToR system), but the exchange rates may come handy, just to get a feeling for prices and value.

It's probably culturally and professionally driven: If you're an elf, you just trade favors in your anarco-syndicalist manner until you get material to someone to make you a sword or a box of nails or whatever. Or you make them yourself. If you're a dwarf, it's probably not too much different but you're living in a society where iron work is common. Mortal people have to - in D&D style- get a mysterious inheritance or something. Hobbits similarly.
This is worth sifting through- https://history.stackexchange.com/quest ... ern-europe