Dark Frontier's environment is extremely focused on its economy and resources. Without these necessary components very little is possible. In fact, most of the experience point rewards are focused on obtaining and allocating necessary resources for communities, instead of just killing random monsters.
There are four main resource types:
- Ore - Iron is the most basic type of Ore resource but some items and buildings require rarer sorts such as steel, silver, and gold. Some ores, such as adamantine, can only be created through Alchemy style techniques that the players can learn.
- Lumber - Pine is the most basic type of Lumber resource, but many items and buildings require rarer forms of Lumber such as Oak and Mahogany. Some types of Lumber must be grown in a town and cannot be found in the wilderness.
- Mineral Granite is the most basic type of Mineral resource, but many items and buildings require rare types of Mineral like Marble and Obsidian. Some Minerals can be combined through Alchemy techniques to create fire-arms and bombs.
- Consumable Consumable resources come in a wide variety of appearances, from flowers and herbs to foods. These items can be injested by characters for special effects, or combined to create special one time use items. Potions are one example of Consumables, but so are pigments used to color equipment.
Currency
The standard currency in Dark Frontier is the copper. The Sanctuary in every town will offer some set prices for basic resources, and some creatures even drop coppers from time to time. However, there are no other set prices or standards for items. The copper is just a form of currency with the same benefits and drawbacks as real-world currency, and it exists for many of the same reasons.