Old-school-style play: Going back to XP for treasure

[Aspeon]

I've been bouncing around ideas in my head for an old-school-esque sandboxy kind of game. Reading about how older versions of D&D used treasure as the primary source of XP gave me an idea:

Mark where the treasures while building the sandbox- at least one per (non-random) combat encounter, but probably more in odd places, hidden by minor traps, etc. When the party finds one, roll for treasure per the Essentials rules (or pick one of the DMG1 treasure parcels), and check off how many they've found so far. When the party finds all ten, they level.

This gives you some interesting pacing opportunities- if you put ten treasure points in a dungeon, you know that the party could gain a level there if they clean the whole place out. Unfortunately, you lose the option to have quest XP, but you can probably work it out by having quests be rewarded with money.

The Essentials random rolls give you more granularity, since you can break up the ten treasures into forty separate rolls. You could even improvise in a treasure roll or two on the fly- you mention a tapestry on the wall and players ask if it's worth anything? Make an art object roll! The bard tells an awesome story in the bar of the dragon they slew? Make a gold roll or two to see if he gets any tips!

 

[LostSoul]

If you set the level of the treasure parcel to the level of the encounter (or encounter area), then players are double-plus rewarded if they take on higher risk. If they head into a level 5 area, the treasures are level 5 and the XP is 200 per loot stash.

If your players are of the "overcome challenges" type, you're feeding into what they want to do with the game. The more they play the game the way they want to, the more they are rewarded for it.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Actually, I like this idea a lot.

It solves one of the problems that can occur when PCs level up without having the right gear. OK, it's not as bad as the 3.xE "Christmas tree" but there is still an expectation, reinforced by 4E's maths, that certain items will be in the possession of the PCs by certain levels.

I might experiment with this in the first adventure of my next campaign. Anyway, thanks for posting your idea!

 

[cavalier973]

You could also have the characters required to pay a tutor for training them, back at the adventurer's guild, or whatever, instead of being automatically levelled up.