Why it could be just as challenging rescuing that peasant girl as the princess. ie even in your paradigm can be incredibly challenged and logically get no gold. It was entirely about setting a tone of greed motivation AND yes it wasnt the story any of my players or myself wanted to play.
That is actually an inaccurate statement.
In B/X, the rules for Giving out Experience are on page B22:
Experience points (abbreviated XP, as ep
stands for electrum pieces) are given for non-magical treasure and
for defeating monsters. For every 1 gp value of non-magical
treasure the characters recover, the DM should give 1 XP to the
party (this will be divided among all the player characters).
Note the award is for 1 gp value of non-magical treasure the characters
recover. The reward gold would not grant experience.
I posit two scenarios
1. A barmaid was abducted by goblins. Her father, a local farmer offers 50gp (the entirety of his savings) to return her safely.
2. A princess was abducted by goblins. Her father, the king of the land, offers 20,000gp (a fraction of his royal coffers) to return her safely.
The goblin abductors, in both scenarios, are exactly the same in composition and loot that they possess.
In a game with XP for killing monsters: 3rd edition, 4th edition, 5th edition. The party would receive the same experience for choosing to rescue the barmaid as they would for choosing to rescue the princess. The only difference is the gold rewards. The players have the
choice to be motivated by heroism to save the barmaid or by greed to save the princess.
In a game with Xp for gold: B/X, OD&D, AD&D. The party would receive the same experience for choosing to rescue the barmaid as they would for choosing to rescue the princess. The only difference is the gold rewards. The players have the
choice to be motivated by heroism to save the barmaid or by greed to save the princess.
In essessene the games are exactly the same.