The silver baton torch stub in T1

[Beginning of the End]

Likewise, it's not a free standing item for the same reason, and because Gygax would have used brazier (because he uses them all over the place elsewhere) if it was free standing.

Given Gygax's effusive affairs with thesaurical tomes, I would dare a speculative hazard that your deductive assay would be in jeopardous error.

Personally, I suspect it's likely that Gygax had some experience with groups scavenging for light sources in the dungeon. (Something that crops up in my own games whenever I unleash a large dungeon complex and simultaneously require meticulous tracking of light sources and their use.) Ergo, there was a fair likelihood that someone would check the cresset to see if such a light source could be scavenged (whereupon they would discover the silver baton).

 

[Lanefan]

Personally, I suspect it's likely that Gygax had some experience with groups scavenging for light sources in the dungeon. (Something that crops up in my own games whenever I unleash a large dungeon complex and simultaneously require meticulous tracking of light sources and their use.) Ergo, there was a fair likelihood that someone would check the cresset to see if such a light source could be scavenged (whereupon they would discover the silver baton).

...and still be in the dark.

Lan-"continual light may be the best utility spell ever invented"-efan

 

[Beginning of the End]

...and still be in the dark.

Yeah. It's the gift that keeps on giving. There's a kind of Gygaxian majesty to it.

... You are likely to be eaten by a grue of elemental evil.

 

[Starfox]

This is incidental treasure, a reward for looking over rooms. But it also fuels a paranoid and time-wasting playstyle where every rock is turned over. I remember taking four inches of every wall in G2 and G3 to find every last secret niche - after all the giants were down, mind you. Completely boring, but very profitable. That was 30 years ago - my playstyle today tends a lot more to storytelling than small incidental treasures.

 

[diaglo]

I notice a lot of people mentioning search checks and the like. May I remind everyone that for the edition the module was written for there were no such rules. Saying "I search the room." Might net you the baton, or it might not, depending on the GM. You might have to be very specific about what you were seaching, and how.

search was based on a d6 for 1edADnD.

you can search for more than just secret doors.

OD&D(1974) had search too.

 

[diaglo]

The silver thing is worth 30GP.

in its present condition.


suggesting again that it may be tarnished or battered or ash covered or...

not sticking out for obvious collection. if it had been it would have been looted already.

or if it had been it would have sent alarms off in all the players heads about it being trapped, cursed, or used for something else like a lever for a secret door or key.

 

[ExploderWizard]

15. Domicile
This place was the domicile of the major-domo of the castle but is now stripped of everything save broken and ruined furnishings. One wall cresset remains near the outer wall, and its nondescript torch stub is a silver baton worth 30 gp.

Well that nails it. Anything dismissed as as nondescript is usually the most valuable object in the room.

This is incidental treasure, a reward for looking over rooms. But it also fuels a paranoid and time-wasting playstyle where every rock is turned over. I remember taking four inches of every wall in G2 and G3 to find every last secret niche - after all the giants were down, mind you. Completely boring, but very profitable. That was 30 years ago - my playstyle today tends a lot more to storytelling than small incidental treasures.

Searching for treasure shouldn't be boring. If it is, then skipping it and moving on is a good idea.

 

[Bullgrit]

Personally, I suspect it's likely that Gygax had some experience with groups scavenging for light sources in the dungeon. (Something that crops up in my own games whenever I unleash a large dungeon complex and simultaneously require meticulous tracking of light sources and their use.) Ergo, there was a fair likelihood that someone would check the cresset to see if such a light source could be scavenged (whereupon they would discover the silver baton).

I can't give you more xp, yet, so I'll just quote you and say I think you have a strong point.

Bullgrit

 

[Raven Crowking]

It is also possible that Gygax knew what a cresset was, and a torch stub in a cresset was intended as a clue to players who likewise knew.


RC

 

[Ed_Laprade]

search was based on a d6 for 1edADnD.

you can search for more than just secret doors.

OD&D(1974) had search too.

This is true, but there were more than a few modules written in this era which gave specific instructions on what the PCs had to do to find X. (Which is probably why I forgot about the D6 rule.)