Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
An Older Experience System
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Philosopher" data-source="post: 5325013" data-attributes="member: 76803"><p>The earlier editions of the game had the rule that you gain 1 XP for each gp of treasure gained. This is <em>not</em> the system Arneson used. As far as I know, Arneson awarded XP for money that was <em>spent</em>, not gained. This minor difference had some interesting consequences.</p><p></p><p>I just get back from an adventure in which I earned a chest full of coins. If I spend it all now (donating it to my church, researching new spells, carousing at the tavern), then I get to make use of it. The only problem is that I never have enough at any one time to spend on something grand. If I don't spend it now, I can save towards building my own castle and putting together an army. (This was a common goal back then. Power means so much more than being able to win in a fight.) The only problem is that if I don't spend the money now, it might all be stolen while I'm off on the next adventure.</p><p></p><p>While I agree that an increase in personal power simply for finding treasure makes little sense, gaining power through <em>spending</em> can make sense. A simple way of understanding this is by having the the PCs spend the money on training in order to gain levels. But there are other ways.</p><p></p><p>Clerics may be required (or at least strongly encouraged) to give all of the money they find (aside from a meager stipend to meet their basic needs) to their church. This is not unreasonable, given that clerics seems to be modeled on the Knights Templar, who justified their vows of poverty by having all of their possessions belong to their order rather than belonging to individual knight-monks. How would the donation to the church make the cleric more powerful? Their god would would grant a blessing to those who contribute large sums to the church. The blessing, for those who have already devoted themselves to the god (i.e., clerics), would come in the form of more granted spells.</p><p></p><p>Wizards would need to spend all of their money on researching new spells, and paying for instruction on advanced magical theory, allowing one to understand the intricacies of spells, and thereby memorize spells more efficiently (i.e., prepare more spells per day).</p><p></p><p>Fighters and rogues could spend the money on training, of course. But think to stories about Conan or Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. While they practiced their skills, one thing they often did with their money was spend it on carousing. Even this could be used to justify gaining in XP. Perhaps Lady Fortune, the patron of adventurers, smiles upon those with a devil-may-care attitude, those who live for the moment. Those who throw caution to the wind and put their faith in Lady Fortune are more likely to have a deadly blow turn into a glancing one (more hit points), have guards coincidentally distracted by something when trying to sneak by (better chance at moving silently), and so on.</p><p></p><p>I've never actually played this way myself, but it seems like it would make for a fun alternative.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Philosopher, post: 5325013, member: 76803"] The earlier editions of the game had the rule that you gain 1 XP for each gp of treasure gained. This is [i]not[/i] the system Arneson used. As far as I know, Arneson awarded XP for money that was [i]spent[/i], not gained. This minor difference had some interesting consequences. I just get back from an adventure in which I earned a chest full of coins. If I spend it all now (donating it to my church, researching new spells, carousing at the tavern), then I get to make use of it. The only problem is that I never have enough at any one time to spend on something grand. If I don't spend it now, I can save towards building my own castle and putting together an army. (This was a common goal back then. Power means so much more than being able to win in a fight.) The only problem is that if I don't spend the money now, it might all be stolen while I'm off on the next adventure. While I agree that an increase in personal power simply for finding treasure makes little sense, gaining power through [i]spending[/i] can make sense. A simple way of understanding this is by having the the PCs spend the money on training in order to gain levels. But there are other ways. Clerics may be required (or at least strongly encouraged) to give all of the money they find (aside from a meager stipend to meet their basic needs) to their church. This is not unreasonable, given that clerics seems to be modeled on the Knights Templar, who justified their vows of poverty by having all of their possessions belong to their order rather than belonging to individual knight-monks. How would the donation to the church make the cleric more powerful? Their god would would grant a blessing to those who contribute large sums to the church. The blessing, for those who have already devoted themselves to the god (i.e., clerics), would come in the form of more granted spells. Wizards would need to spend all of their money on researching new spells, and paying for instruction on advanced magical theory, allowing one to understand the intricacies of spells, and thereby memorize spells more efficiently (i.e., prepare more spells per day). Fighters and rogues could spend the money on training, of course. But think to stories about Conan or Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. While they practiced their skills, one thing they often did with their money was spend it on carousing. Even this could be used to justify gaining in XP. Perhaps Lady Fortune, the patron of adventurers, smiles upon those with a devil-may-care attitude, those who live for the moment. Those who throw caution to the wind and put their faith in Lady Fortune are more likely to have a deadly blow turn into a glancing one (more hit points), have guards coincidentally distracted by something when trying to sneak by (better chance at moving silently), and so on. I've never actually played this way myself, but it seems like it would make for a fun alternative. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
An Older Experience System
Top