Was AD&D1 designed for game balance?

[vagabundo]

I got bettah!

As a young DM I read the books. I read about avoiding the pitfalls of Monty Haulism or being a Killer DM. Yet I fell into both until I had the experience not to. So, either the advice was not as strong as it could have been or I was more lacking in my comprehension than those who "got it right from Game 1."

I went the opposite way and never gave out very much magical loot - my players called me stingy.

I learned the game just from reading the books; I did not see a game played until I was much older.

 

[Hussar]

Heh, we were pretty heavily into Monte Haul territory. Ran far too many modules.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

From the 1e DMG, p. 11, paraphrased:

Method I
Roll 4d6 for each stat, drop lowest, rearrange to suit

A very long time ago, we started using Method I except with 5d6, and it's worked great ever since!

We used Method I with an added "reroll 1's once" and that seemed to work for us. Of course the players wanted to use Method VI(?) from UA (even for their non-human PCs). Nothing like rolling 9d6, drop the 6 lowest to get that 18 you want.

 

[Raven Crowking]

What Gygax lacked as a technical writer, he more than made up as an inspirational writer, IMHO. I can read and reread those books with great enjoyment every time. There are far too many recent gaming books that are as dry as dirt to read.

Heh, we were pretty heavily into Monte Haul territory. Ran far too many modules.

That's not the fault of the modules.

We used Method I with an added "reroll 1's once" and that seemed to work for us. Of course the players wanted to use Method VI(?) from UA (even for their non-human PCs). Nothing like rolling 9d6, drop the 6 lowest to get that 18 you want.

We used Method I, no reroll on 1s.


RC

 

[billd91]

Heh, we were pretty heavily into Monte Haul territory. Ran far too many modules.

We ran a lot of modules too and, though we had plenty of stuff, none of it was particularly unearned though lack of challenge and most of it was redundant, thus preventing the "being decked out like an Xmas tree" phenomenon. So I wouldn't call it Monty Haul territory.
In fact, most of the redundant stuff ended up being sold for level advancement training.

 

[Garmorn]

From the 1e DMG, p. 11, paraphrased:

Method I
Roll 4d6 for each stat, drop lowest, rearrange to suit

Method II
Roll 3d6 12 times, take the highest 6 scores, rearrange to suit

Method III
Roll 3d6 6 times for each stat and take the highest, do not rearrange

Method IV
Roll 3d6 once for each stat, do not rearrange; repeat 12 times, choose one set

A very long time ago, we started using Method I except with 5d6, and it's worked great ever since!

Lanefan

Man! This make me hate house rules even more. I don't think I even came close to any of these as a player of 1e.

 

[Hussar]

We ran a lot of modules too and, though we had plenty of stuff, none of it was particularly unearned though lack of challenge and most of it was redundant, thus preventing the "being decked out like an Xmas tree" phenomenon. So I wouldn't call it Monty Haul territory.
In fact, most of the redundant stuff ended up being sold for level advancement training.

Damn, how much were you paying for level advancement? IIRC it was like 1500 gp/level for training no? Considering the general consensus is that people gained far more xp from treasure than kills, you should have had lots of gold to flog for training.

Then again, we sold off the buckets of magic for the xp AND the training.

Well, no matter how you slice it RC, the fact that there is OVER a million GP in the G series of modules is pretty hard to avoid. And that doesn't count magic items at all. Heck, even if you're forcing your players to develop spontaneous cataracts every time they find treasure, they're likely to pick up a bit of flash once in a while.

But hey, to each his own. To me, when you're outfitting all of your followers (and I played a cleric!) with magic weapons because you just can't be bothered selling them, well, that's pretty Monte Haul to me.

I still loved ending up with the trifecta of the girdle, gauntlets and hammer of thunderbolts in the hands of my paladin. Wahoo. Blowing away dragons in a single round was just fun.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Well, no matter how you slice it RC, the fact that there is OVER a million GP in the G series of modules is pretty hard to avoid.

Not if the DM is competent.

It is telling, perhaps, that the winner of the Origins tournament in which the G series first appeared did not gain any of the major treasures from G1, being forced instead to use speak with dead to learn where to go next.

(We are not told how they fared in G2, and only that they were unable to complete -- and the judges thought that they would not survive -- G3. They thought they would survive it, however. )


RC

 

[Undermountain]

Our games were mostly homebrew back then - I love established settings, but there's something about a good homebrew campaign that really brings the story out!

 

[JRRNeiklot]

But hey, to each his own. To me, when you're outfitting all of your followers (and I played a cleric!) with magic weapons because you just can't be bothered selling them, well, that's pretty Monte Haul to me.

I always made sure my followers were outfitted first, before I even thought of selling anything. Well, after the ale and whores, of course.