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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 5263815" data-attributes="member: 80487">First, it is not necessarily a problem for players even to accumulate large stocks of real wealth, so long as there are yet more things for them to desire. Indeed, moving up in the world to have one's stronghold and army and (eventually) stable of dragons to ride on forays into the outer planes can simply add to the fun.Being a spendthrift is both evocative of some fictional heroes (and more generally of the medieval virtue of largesse) and expressed in the rules for upkeep. Other impositions are at the DM's disposal to keep the balance between risk and reward. The more common imbalance back in the day was too-great generosity in rewards, but the target remains the same even if one tends more to err in the other direction.==================================================Treasure made an appealing "token" for XP partly because it is so easily described even in character.It is part of the utility that players can potentially find out approximately how many XP are in what hoard, and weigh that against the risk. Discrete cases are not uniformly balanced. A poisonous spider might be a terrible wandering monster, yet carry no loot, and even its "lair" might hold little or nothing of value. A trap might be baited with treasure, but more often it will offer nothing but trouble. Then again, a windfall might merely be hidden, free for the finder's taking.Considered in a larger context, looking for instance over a whole dungeon level (and multiple levels), the richer treasures will tend to be more challenging to acquire -- and the really spectacular hauls to be the most difficult.Getting through that larger context is part of the challenge, and in an old-style game there might even be the strategic consideration of rival adventurers!==================================================What may trip up a DM not accustomed to the old style is that attaining the objective -- bringing home the gold -- is the basis. The problem I sometimes see arise is that DMs think players should get docked for "avoiding encounters". They divide up XP so that an ogre is worth so much, and a troll so much, all neatly in proportion -- so that the best strategy is just to hit everything, and it probably does not much matter in what order.It should be more like a ball game in which you score points by getting the ball through a goal. The other team should put up a good defense, so that the game is an exciting challenge, but you don't score more points by playing a worse offense -- or fewer for a cunning end run.There was a time when I found that adjustments for character level were not necessary. Besides the math of the old game, players just were not interested in futzing around with things beneath their stations. They were more likely to go deeper into the dungeons and up the stakes.However, sometimes even the level ratio may be too generous. Sometimes beating a bunch of monsters is so trivial that it really warrants no XP at all.==================================================It's not necessarily a case of only XP for treasure and slain monsters, either. Spot awards for figuring out puzzles or the like can also be good.</blockquote>

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