Bulky Treasure

I’ve been thinking a lot about treasure lately, specifically treasure where the extraction of the treasure, after dealing with any guardians, or the conversion of said treasure to gold, is an adventure in itself.

This would be the obviously valuable statue that is difficult to move, or the 100 sacks of flour that are collectively valuable but can’t exactly be carried in a purse, or the tapestry that is 12′ long rolled up, or the jewelled cup stamped with the mark of the Evil High Priest you plundered it from or recognizable by agents of the enemy.

Awarding Experience for Treasure

One of the staples for old school play is the awarding of experience for treasure instead of for combat.  This creates a disincentive to engage in risky combat unless there is an expectation of a treasure reward, and encourages creative schemes for obtaining treasure while minimizing risk.

Now, when I was a tween and a teen playing first edition, I hated experience-for-treasure.  I thought you should gain experience for what you were doing, i.e. you got better at fighting by fighting.  It wasn’t until much, much later that I decided that (a) experience also comes from being cunning, clever and resourceful; (b) adventurers have more skills than just fighting; and (c) the benefits of incentivizing certain types of behavior for certain types of play outweighs any reduction in realism.

The irony is that experience-for-treasure was dropped in later editions at the same time that skill systems and other out-of-combat options (like fourth edition rituals) entered the game.  Experience primarily from combat began to be less and less realistic as PCs gained the ability to improve in actions taken outside of combat.