Playing in the Victorian-era, even alt-history, one needs to deal with the money question. Not only is the value of money different, the names and interchange of money is also different. I did only cursory research, given that money was not the heart of the game, but here’s what I deduced for Savage Zanzibar.
Most of the explorers and merchants of Savage Zanzibar were still British. Although in that alt-history, Germany had unified earlier and got into the colony game, Britannia still ruled the waves.
The exchange for British vs. Zanzibar was as follows:
penny/pence = pfenig
shilling (12 pence) = groschen (12 pfenig)
pound (20 shilling) = 2/3s stadthaler (thal) or 20 groschen
The other British currency was as follows:
guinea = 21 shillings, gold
2 guinea = 42 shillings, gold
5 guinea = 105 shillings, gold
crowns = 5 shillings, silver
half crown = 2 shillings 6
six pence, silver
three pence, silver
two pence, silver
penny, silver.
Farthings = 1/4 pence, copper
halfpence, copper.
Notes in £5, £10 and £15, known as quids
I had started work on costing out items at the turn of the century in British currency, but this is as far as I got before the project closed. A pence is signified by a d, shilling by an s, and a pound by a £. 3d 5 means three and a half pence – there were both quarter and half pence coins.
Prices Posh / Resp / Poor
Beer 3d5 / 2d / 1d5
Meals
Light 2s / 1s / 2d
Heavy 10s / 4s / 10d
Gourmet £1 / 13s / n/a