Der PigDog's PigBlog

Some controversy in the Table-Time discord server. When you play old-school D&D, does the game get harder as you progress? Do you need to do more adventuring for the same reward? Is that good, or bad? I don't intend to answer the evaluative questions here. But I can definitively answer the purely quantitative question: the game gets harder, and you do need to do more adventuring for the same reward. Let's assume you have a party of 6 thieves at level X. They each need about 1500 * 2^(X - 2) points to progress to the next level. They collect all their XP from treasure rooms in dungeons. These treasure rooms are generated using the procedures in the 1974 D&D publication. How many treasure rooms do they need to get to the next level? Treasure rooms per level up by level   Between 6 and 400, my math says, and the number goes up as you level up. Here's the same data in number form, with a bit more context.   Note that these values are really swingy at low levels. Most o...

The following is excerpted from the zine that Adam and I wrote, Reavers , about our campaign. It's necessary context for a few other posts I want to make, I'm copying it here. Progression Progression in Wolves Upon the Coast works a bit differently than in standard dnd, so I thought it'd be worth laying out how it normally works, and what effect that normal operation has, before discussing the difference wutc's progression system makes. In ordinary dnd, xp serves two purposes: it's a score, keeping track of achievement; and it's a pacing mechanic, gating mechanical benefits behind a length of gameplay.[^1] [^1]: I owe this latter insight to Simon Carryer.} In old-school dnd, we usually reward collection of treasure and (to a lesser extent) victory in combat. These activities are, to some extent, what the game is "about". If a player creates a character who only wishes to live a quiet life farming, why aren't they playing Wheat Harvest Simulator ...