Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!
Today is Part 42 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Monsters & Treasure Volume 2.
**For those coming in, in the middle of this series I am giving you my take on OD&D during my first exposure starting in Sept of 1975. For this first part it is just the first three books of the original woodgrain box set and prior to obtaining the Greyhawk, Blackmoor and later Supplements.**
Today we continue on with the Treasure Types tables:
I will post the section of the table for Types B, C and D and then discuss it:
First up today is Type B Treasure and it has an interesting mix of monsters. First which monsters get Type B Treasure? Ghouls, Wights, Hydras, and Nixies. Rather an odd mix would you not say? A 50% chance of Copper and a 25% chance of everything except Magic which is only 10%. There is no upside to fighting any of these monsters, avoiding them is by far the best course of action.
Next up is Type C Treasure and it also has an odd mix of monsters. Which monsters get Type C Treasure? Ogres, Gargoyles, Lycanthropes, Minotaurs, Pixies, and Gnomes. Wait what? Yeah, Gnomes! Seems odd company for Gnomes. A little odd for Ogres too. Ogres are our first special case, if you recall in the Monster Reference Table, Ogres have 1,000 GP plus Type C - so they have a base amount of treasure.
Now what is Type C Treasure? It is a very low chance for Copper and Silver, Nil chance of Gold, low chance of Gems & Jewelry, and only a 10% chance of Magic. So there is no upside to fooling around with any of these except for Ogres who have a base amount of Gold even if they have nothing else. Now the Gnomes you might be able to trade with or buy supplies from, although you must be careful about signing contracts without very careful thought.
Last in this group is Type D Treasure, which again has an interesting mix of monsters. Orcs, Hobgoblins, Gnolls, and Trolls which is pretty logical, but then we add Mummies, Cockatrices, Manticores, Purple Worms, and Dryads.
So let us now look at what Type D Treasure is, a very low chance of Silver and Copper, but they do have a 60% chance of Gold and then a low chance of Gems and Jewelry and an even lower chance of Magic, although you do have a chance at two items plus a potion. The big thing with orcs in their descriptions is that they might be moving wagons with a sizable amount of Gold. If you were lucky you could collect a toll from them with minimal risk.
Although I was not aware of it for years, outside of our little group, dungeons were the thing because that is where the large treasures and big hauls of magic were to be found. Although I did eventually start building dungeons, my original campaign was much more wilderness focused at the beginning and later on was always at least 45% and 10% was village, town, and city.
Next up let us look at Type E and Type F Treasure.
Type E Treasure is the province of Giants, Wraiths, Spectres, Gorgons, Wyverns, Elves, and Griffons. What is Type E Treasure, minimal chance of Copper, low Silver and Gold, very low Gems & Jewelry and low magic, but if the change is for any three Magic Items plus a Scroll. The exception here are Giants which have 5,000 GP plus Type E Treasure, so like Ogres they have a base amount. Later on I revised the tables to give most of the intelligent creatures - especially the humanoids and certain others a base amount also.
Next up is Type F Treasure. Here we are looking at Vampires, Basilisks, Medusae, and Chimeras. These are all quite dangerous foes and so let us see what kind of Treasure they have. Type E Treasure has no Copper, very low Silver, a decent chance of Gold, low chance of Gems and Jewelry and a 35% chance of any three non-weapon Magic Items, plus a Potion, plus a Scroll. So I put a base amount of 2000 GP for these and I always increased the chance of Gems and Jewelry for Vampires and Medusae from 20% to 35% for Gems and from 10% to 35% for Jewelry as it seems to me they would be interested in such items.
Now we will look at Type G and Type H Treasure.
Type G Treasure is the Treasure Type of only one Monster - Dwarves. Now that is interesting Men and Dwarves get their own Treasure Type, but Elves do not. Type G has no Copper and no Silver, but they do have a 75% chance of Gold (10,000 to 40,000 Gold) and then 25% each for Gems and Jewelry. They also have a 40% chance of Magic of any four items plus a Scroll. So a much better potential Haul than Humans or Elves.
Type H Treasure is also the Treasure Type of only one Monster - Dragons. Dragons as you would expect are the biggest potential haul (as well as risk). A chance of Copper, a 50% chance of 1000-100,000 Silver, 75% chance of 10,000 to 60,000 Gold, 50% chance of 1-100 Gems, 50% chance of 10-40 items of Jewelry, and 20% chance of any four magic items, plus one scroll and plus one potion.
That leaves Type I Treasure.
There is also only one Type of Monster that has Type I Treasure and that is the Roc. Type I Treasure is no Copper, Silver or Gold, a 50% chance of Gems and Jewelry (Birds like shiny things) and a small chance of one Magic Item.
Some monsters were not assigned a Treasure Type. Skeletons and Zombies - that makes sense. Unicorns, Ents, Pegasi, Hippogriffs, Invisible Stalkers and Elementals. That all makes sense to me. But Djinn and Efreet have no Treasure Type and that makes no sense, until you remember their Treasure is spelled out in their description. Then the cleanup crew, animals and insects have no treasure and that makes sense. Then there are those for no information listed. I gave Hobbits Type A, like humans; Balrogs I treated like Vampires; Titans and Cyclopes I treated like Giants; the other miscellaneous monster have nothing, but Gelatinous Cubes carry theirs with them.
I gradually quit using these tables and just assigned Treasure/or not to them as I went.
Tomorrow we will get into the Magic/Maps Determination Table.
Today is Part 42 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Monsters & Treasure Volume 2.
**For those coming in, in the middle of this series I am giving you my take on OD&D during my first exposure starting in Sept of 1975. For this first part it is just the first three books of the original woodgrain box set and prior to obtaining the Greyhawk, Blackmoor and later Supplements.**
Today we continue on with the Treasure Types tables:
I will post the section of the table for Types B, C and D and then discuss it:
First up today is Type B Treasure and it has an interesting mix of monsters. First which monsters get Type B Treasure? Ghouls, Wights, Hydras, and Nixies. Rather an odd mix would you not say? A 50% chance of Copper and a 25% chance of everything except Magic which is only 10%. There is no upside to fighting any of these monsters, avoiding them is by far the best course of action.
Next up is Type C Treasure and it also has an odd mix of monsters. Which monsters get Type C Treasure? Ogres, Gargoyles, Lycanthropes, Minotaurs, Pixies, and Gnomes. Wait what? Yeah, Gnomes! Seems odd company for Gnomes. A little odd for Ogres too. Ogres are our first special case, if you recall in the Monster Reference Table, Ogres have 1,000 GP plus Type C - so they have a base amount of treasure.
Now what is Type C Treasure? It is a very low chance for Copper and Silver, Nil chance of Gold, low chance of Gems & Jewelry, and only a 10% chance of Magic. So there is no upside to fooling around with any of these except for Ogres who have a base amount of Gold even if they have nothing else. Now the Gnomes you might be able to trade with or buy supplies from, although you must be careful about signing contracts without very careful thought.
Last in this group is Type D Treasure, which again has an interesting mix of monsters. Orcs, Hobgoblins, Gnolls, and Trolls which is pretty logical, but then we add Mummies, Cockatrices, Manticores, Purple Worms, and Dryads.
So let us now look at what Type D Treasure is, a very low chance of Silver and Copper, but they do have a 60% chance of Gold and then a low chance of Gems and Jewelry and an even lower chance of Magic, although you do have a chance at two items plus a potion. The big thing with orcs in their descriptions is that they might be moving wagons with a sizable amount of Gold. If you were lucky you could collect a toll from them with minimal risk.
Although I was not aware of it for years, outside of our little group, dungeons were the thing because that is where the large treasures and big hauls of magic were to be found. Although I did eventually start building dungeons, my original campaign was much more wilderness focused at the beginning and later on was always at least 45% and 10% was village, town, and city.
Next up let us look at Type E and Type F Treasure.
Type E Treasure is the province of Giants, Wraiths, Spectres, Gorgons, Wyverns, Elves, and Griffons. What is Type E Treasure, minimal chance of Copper, low Silver and Gold, very low Gems & Jewelry and low magic, but if the change is for any three Magic Items plus a Scroll. The exception here are Giants which have 5,000 GP plus Type E Treasure, so like Ogres they have a base amount. Later on I revised the tables to give most of the intelligent creatures - especially the humanoids and certain others a base amount also.
Next up is Type F Treasure. Here we are looking at Vampires, Basilisks, Medusae, and Chimeras. These are all quite dangerous foes and so let us see what kind of Treasure they have. Type E Treasure has no Copper, very low Silver, a decent chance of Gold, low chance of Gems and Jewelry and a 35% chance of any three non-weapon Magic Items, plus a Potion, plus a Scroll. So I put a base amount of 2000 GP for these and I always increased the chance of Gems and Jewelry for Vampires and Medusae from 20% to 35% for Gems and from 10% to 35% for Jewelry as it seems to me they would be interested in such items.
Now we will look at Type G and Type H Treasure.
Type G Treasure is the Treasure Type of only one Monster - Dwarves. Now that is interesting Men and Dwarves get their own Treasure Type, but Elves do not. Type G has no Copper and no Silver, but they do have a 75% chance of Gold (10,000 to 40,000 Gold) and then 25% each for Gems and Jewelry. They also have a 40% chance of Magic of any four items plus a Scroll. So a much better potential Haul than Humans or Elves.
Type H Treasure is also the Treasure Type of only one Monster - Dragons. Dragons as you would expect are the biggest potential haul (as well as risk). A chance of Copper, a 50% chance of 1000-100,000 Silver, 75% chance of 10,000 to 60,000 Gold, 50% chance of 1-100 Gems, 50% chance of 10-40 items of Jewelry, and 20% chance of any four magic items, plus one scroll and plus one potion.
That leaves Type I Treasure.
There is also only one Type of Monster that has Type I Treasure and that is the Roc. Type I Treasure is no Copper, Silver or Gold, a 50% chance of Gems and Jewelry (Birds like shiny things) and a small chance of one Magic Item.
Some monsters were not assigned a Treasure Type. Skeletons and Zombies - that makes sense. Unicorns, Ents, Pegasi, Hippogriffs, Invisible Stalkers and Elementals. That all makes sense to me. But Djinn and Efreet have no Treasure Type and that makes no sense, until you remember their Treasure is spelled out in their description. Then the cleanup crew, animals and insects have no treasure and that makes sense. Then there are those for no information listed. I gave Hobbits Type A, like humans; Balrogs I treated like Vampires; Titans and Cyclopes I treated like Giants; the other miscellaneous monster have nothing, but Gelatinous Cubes carry theirs with them.
I gradually quit using these tables and just assigned Treasure/or not to them as I went.
Tomorrow we will get into the Magic/Maps Determination Table.
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