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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Starfox" data-source="post: 7756518" data-attributes="member: 2303">Back to the basics; I agree DnD was originally a mix of European (mainly Germanic, but some Celtic as well) and American. RPGs certainly progressed past that point, but this is where it started.As a European, I felt very early on (back in 1980 or so) that the gp = xp mechanic was off. In my image of a hero, gold had no role. Maybe that is an "Americanism", that would make sense. Heroes early on also lacked any kind of roots in the game world. I think that is a teenager thing, when you are breaking free of your family, you don't want family influence on your fantasies. But it might also be Americanism, in the idea that it doesn't matter who you are, what matters is what you do and the money you earn. (Chivalry and Sorcery, with its intricate rules on family and society, was an eye-opener here, but C&S went for a much more European feel than D&D.)I detest the "money as xp" mechanic in 3E and its successors. I feel it prohibits stories about wealth, since you cannot really deprive a character of wealth, or have a character that spends wealth on things other than gear. Doing so upsets the balance of the game. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" />  I much prefer systems like Champions/Hero System, where you use xp/character points to purchase special equipment. I didn't know 5E had moved away from that, and like that very much. But this thread has actually informed me of the root (or a possible root) of this mechanic, which I find very interesting.On to anecdotes. In early Rolemaster, there was a rule that you could destroy gems and absorb their essence to gain xp. This is a role reversal of the self-made-man who gains xp from earning money - it brings to mind the picture of an idle noble who refuses to do much of anything, but can get to the epitome of power just through wealth.</blockquote>

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