"Treasure"

Since today is "GM Appreciation Day" (I'm not sure I knew that was a thing), let me first take a moment to thank all the GMs and DMs I've had over the years:

Jocelyn (AD&D), Jason (MSH and DragonRaid), Scott (AMSH, Battletech, ShadowRun), Rob (Traveller), AB (Toon), Ben (Heroes Unlimited, Robotech, Stormbringer), Joel (Mage, Ars Magica, Star Wars), James (AD&D2), Kris (DND3), Emerald City Gamers (various; mostly Risus), Pat (B/X), Alexis (AD&D), Luke (Savage Worlds, DCC, DND5), Randy (B/X), GusL (OD&D), and the numerous Convention GMs I've had over the years whose names I simply can't remember at the moment...

Thank you all. It was great fun, almost always. Really.

[should probably also thank my children: Diego (B/X) and Sofia ("D&D Three," which is not 3rd edition but, rather, her own game)...they will get a special thanks in the form of lunch, which I'll be making for them shortly...]

Okay. Accolades given? Appreciation expressed? Good...back to business!

Reading over the text of the dungeon I posted yesterday, it's hard not to notice that a lot of the treasure is given in coins (gold coins, silver coins, etc.) AKA "The Most Boring Treasure Of All Time," as many of my blogger compatriots would say. 

And for the record, I'm of a similar opinion...often (as in the case of the kobold mis-adventure) the stocking of a dungeon is my opportunity to express some creativity, as I figure out interesting ways to arrive at the correct treasure numbers through a whole swath of non-standard goodies. So, Why O Why, then would I open myself to the sneering contempt of my peers? What would compel me to give a river troll 2,000 pieces of copper (i.e. "pennies")? Sheer laziness?!

Well maybe a bit...but it was purposeful as well. First off, I was dealing with a constricted medium (i.e. I was trying to be terse with my writing), and coins are certainly an easy way to shorten the text. But part of it also was an attempt to make things both easier AND harder for my players.

Coins, as I've noted before, make for extremely portable wealth: easy to use, easy to exchange for good and services. What's more, coins are easy to understand...my players, young as they are, are still learning just what is of value in the world. Things covered in gold or silver are pretty obvious, but furs and fabrics and antique woods and whatnot have been passed over and left behind by these kids more than once. As we're once again starting with 1st level characters, I want to make the loot collection as foolproof as possible...because the PCs are going to need it!

AD&D is such a different game from B/X (and other editions of D&D). Money is sooo important in the Advanced game; especially at low- to mid- levels, I am finding it is the driving force behind the campaign. After the PCs have secured magical goods and tools that cut down on resource consumption, things become easier, but one still needs treasure for the cash drain inherent in the AD&D system. 

It's funny because I remember players in my B/X campaign complaining about all the treasure I was handing out..."after all, there's nothing to spend it on." B/X, while a great introduction to the game of D&D requires a great deal of tinkering to make it anything other than a pale comparison of the Advanced game. And it's not just that plate armor costs 400 gold coins; everything worth having (save for magic items) costs money, including transportation, provisions, living expenses, training, and hirelings. And generally it costs more and those costs occur more often.

Hard-won treasure of the coin variety is, thus, much easier for the players than weird stuff they have to both A) identify as valuable, and B) pawn/convert to ready currency.

[on the other hand, all those coins that goblins and hobgoblins carry on their person? That goes right out the window in my campaign. Where were they going...the marketplace? Nope. They might like treasure, but they don't carry it around in a purse. Instead, taking a page from the DMG (page 92, bottom left column) those coins represent the total value of the goods a humanoid carries. That hobgoblin's 3-24 copper and 2-8 gold pieces? That's what you'd get if you stripped his body of everything valuable...the battered helmet, the boots, a rough-worked leather belt, the crudely made morning star, and the iron torc around his neck. You might wear his clothing as a disguise (if you can stand the smell), but no one's going to buy it for any great amount of money]

I would also add that, specific to this particular scenario, I was trying to think up things that would A) have stood the test of time, and B) not award TOO MUCH experience points. So while antique furniture covered in gold leaf (like what Carter found in Tut's tomb) might feel appropriate for the theme, it would probably add up too high, too fast. So no gold leaf, and most everything is rotten and desiccated...or simply wasn't left in the tomb! The guy wasn't an Egyptian pharaoh, after all...the coins (and his magic items) were the bulk of what he wanted to take to the afterlife to "set up shop."

The chest in the tomb
isn't nearly so sturdy.

Mainly, though...this is supposed to be an easy adventure for new characters. And it already poses its own challenges (hauling a hundred pounds of coins out of the place when the chest is rotten...let alone fighting trolls and crossing rickety bridges with easily broken jars of loot) without making it tougher than it is.

Plenty of time to ramp up the toughness should they survive.

; )