D&D 2E What were the Treasure Types and what did they mean?

[Tonguez]

So I managed to find a copy of Birthright campaign King of the Giant Downs, its probably the best of Birthrights modules. Its got 5 or so factions, 8 interconnected adventures but is left open ended with no conclusions to any of the possible paths.

Because its AD&D it makes reference to Treasure Types D etc, can anyone tell me what that means and if theres an easy translation of the Treasure types to actual value?

 

[Davies]

H is the richest, representing dragon treasure -- and given that identifier for the word "hoard". Other than that, you're going to need to check the treasure table in the 2e DMG.

 

[Malmuria]

Every treasure type has its own random table in the DMG. You can use this generator to roll on those tables automatically: donjon; AD&D Random Treasure Generator

 

[Staffan]

There's no easy translation, because each row on the treasure table was completely its own thing. It looked something like this:

So, treasure type D meant there was a 10% chance of 1d8x1000 cp, 15% chance of 1d12x1000 sp, 15% chance of 1d8x1000 ep, and a 50% chance of 1d6x1000 gp. You also had a 30% chance of 1d10 gems (to be rolled separately), 25% for 1d6 pieces of jewelry (ditto), and 15% chance of 1 potion + 2 other magic items.

There's little easily discernible logic to these tables, but I'm sure they made sense to Gygax because they definitely lean in different directions. I found a reference somewhere that type D was meant for dwarves (which is why they have a fairly high chance of gold), for example, but that's not explained anywhere that I know of. But the only systematic thing I remember is that the higher letters were for individual treasure and the lower for the collected treasure of a monster lair. In 2e, this was generally represented with individual treasures in parentheses. For example, goblins had treasure type "C (K)" meaning that a goblin lair/tribe would have treasure type C collectively (usually held by the chief or in a safe place), and each individual goblin would have treasure type K.

I wasn't able to find an authentic source for the treasure tables in full, but as Malmuria mentioned there are automated tools for it online.

 

[Malmuria]

This is for b/x not ad&d, but here the average amounts for each treasure type are worked out:

Treasure Types - OSE SRD

oldschoolessentials.necroticgnome.com

They also have treasure generators for their "advanced" fantasy which might yield results similar to ad&d

OSE Generators

oldschoolessentials.necroticgnome.com

 

[Voadam]

B/X and AD&D had a logic to their treasure types but I never saw it explained and could never figure them out to apply to a new monster creation or such. Some favor gems, some favor magic items, some have hoards of coins, some have a dozen or two silver pieces, some are based on the monster gathering stuff, some are based on the incidental loot of dead prior victims of the monster. I rarely used those charts unless I was doing a random encounter in the wilderness or such and it was already listed in the monster entry. For my original monsters I just gave them what felt appropriate in the situation.

Here is the chart from the 2e DMG page 180:

 

[Jmarso]

Srt of shows on the table above, but treasure types were also broken down for individual treasures (coins you might find in a coin purse) vs lair treasures, like finding pots of gold and Sting in the troll cave in The Hobbit.