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I've been thinking about treasure and character advancement in classic games. Wondering how I want to handle it in the future, and if the techniques I use can be made better.
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Also look at this wonderful old illustration of Smaug by Tolkien.
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Also look at this wonderful old illustration of Smaug by Tolkien.
I handle treasure the "classic" way of XP=GP. That is for every gold piece worth of monetary treasure (not magic items) that the characters recover from adventure and return to civilization with they gain an XP point, with roughly 2,000 XP necessary to attain level 2.
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Calling this "classic" is a bit of a dodge, treasure was the best way to gain XP in old editions of D&D, but it was never the only way. Calculations based on PC and enemy HP give XP for combat even in OD&D and "story XP" of a sort is suggested in the AD&D DMG.
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Like many of the fussy systems that Gygax to love the culture of play around classic D&D has tended to cut away a lot of the complexity, and GP=XP is a convenient shorthand. It's also a system that works well for an open world style of play.
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GP=XP is effective in games where player choice is likely to direct the narrative because it:
1) Is mechanically clear.
2) Doesn't require a specific solution to obstacles.
3) Has no moral direction.
4) Wealth is generally useful to all types of PC.
5) Promotes fun treasure
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1) Is mechanically clear.
2) Doesn't require a specific solution to obstacles.
3) Has no moral direction.
4) Wealth is generally useful to all types of PC.
5) Promotes fun treasure
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It's still a Gygaxian fussbucket mechanic and there's games and settings where "get rich" doesn't seem like the best motivator. In post-apocalyptic, prehistoric and pro-social community building settings it feels odd for example.
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Now it's simple enough to substitute another kind of value -- fuel, special magic gems, or food for the more general "treasure". Even the dry concept of "Value" might be useful in a more general system or hardscrabble game.
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Note I don't care at all about the complaints of fantasy economies becoming hyper-inflationary due to dragon hordes or gold being to valuable to be a base monetary metal. Still. Currency systems of any kind are still fussy.
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That's the gist of the issue, an XP system where one has to deal in 10,000's of coins worth of treasure to provide meaningful advancement also involves bookkeeping. I suspect this alone accounts for a lot of the love for milestone XP.
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That love is real, and milestones are sensible in a system where the designer or GM sets the story and creates episodic adventures. A level for completing this quest or that quest works less well where organic, player interest in pieces of the game world form the story.
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Having a currency system, when that currency is available from many sources works for a "sandbox", and it's versatile enough that it can represent more then just coin (though something of universal value and varied utility is good) it's still fussy.
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The solution to that fussiness seems easy - make "treasure" a currency with smaller denominations. Rather then 2,000 GP to level 2, make it 1 Treasure.
A problem though. GP in the form a huge amounts of coin and large amounts of value is entirely linked to exploration.
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A problem though. GP in the form a huge amounts of coin and large amounts of value is entirely linked to exploration.
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Character purchasing power (a good thing that encourages player involvement in the setting - e.g. the party will defend a threatened village if one PC is waiting for its blacksmith to finish custom armor) and the reward part of risk v. reward exploration play depend on GP.
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Treasure weight is a big part of exploration, in the simplest form this is the idea that getting the dragon's hoard back to town is as big an adventure as defeating the dragon. It's baked in and creates interesting play. Quandaries about what treasure to take.
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A personal favorite is the way players can look for and find things of value that are unexpected (copper wiring, frescos, fancy furniture) - something that adds a real sense of salvaging to play and also demands that the return for such low hanging treasure is minimized.
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This pushes towards granularity in treasure - 2,000 GP levels rather then 1 treasure, because it allows cautious and thoughtful players to accumulate wealth even when they don't face the designed in obstacles head on. Good for player choice and open world play.
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So I'm debating what I want to do with treasure and XP. Anyone else have novel ideas?
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