What's Treasure Worth?

One of the sacred crows of Old School gaming that I've always had a strange relationship with is the concept of 'Treasure'. 

Let me start by saying I will not be addressing Treasure from my usual vantage point as a Gamemaster and (occasional) player of games wherein Treasure simply isn't a thing - Star Trek, Star Wars, Superheroes, and others. I may talk about this in a separate post. We'll see. 

Instead, my goal is to discuss Treasure from a more general gaming point of view; though obviously one that is based on my own experiences and ideas on the subject, including my earliest forays into Dungeons & Dragons with Basic and Advanced 1st Edition.. 

Treasure is defined by Merriam-Webster as 'Wealth (such as money, jewels, or precious metals) stored up or hoarded'. 

Also:

Something of great worth or value

A collection of precious things

These certainly fit the traditional RPG meaning of Treasure wouldn't you say? We usually imagine piles of gold coins, a smattering of jewelry and gemstones, and perhaps a magical sword or ancient urn. Riches beyond ones wildest dreams are to be had for the Adventurer brave enough to seek them. 

Unless...that isn't what the Adventurer seeks.

In order to discuss Treasure as an Old School fan might understand it, I went to an Old School D&D fan - JB of B/X BLACKRAZOR - to give me his explanation of what Treasure is and why its awesome:

- As a goal, "money" is easily understood / recognized by players.

- As a goal, treasure acquisition is an objective, measurable means of success. You're not worried about what constitutes "good role-playing" or humor awards, etc.

- As a measurable objective, it invites risk-reward assessment (should we spend our resources (HPs, spells, etc.) to take down a big difficult score? etc.).

- For a GROUP of individuals (the players) it provides a unifying objective...we all want treasure, let's work (together, cooperatively) to find treasure.

- As a target objective, it invites a multitude of ways to accomplish the objective (stealth, trickery, negotiation, combat, etc.). When experience is only awarded for combat (as in 3E and 4E D&D, for example), there is only one means of earning experience points (fighting), limiting the experience overall.

- As a "tangible" objective of play (the imaginary characters must go after it), it encourages proactivity on the part of the players in order to gain the reward. Passive reward systems (XP for participation, for example) do not encourage proactivity. It provides no game-related impetus/motivation.

- With regard to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (first edition) specifically, treasure is tied directly to the game economy (it's needed for hirelings, training, equipment replacement, magical research, tithes and fees, construction, etc.) providing reinforcement of the reward system (we need money - we need to adventure - we acquire money - we spend money - we need money). 

Money is a common and easily understood goal and a common motivator for adventurers in many stories across an array of genres. Except...it isn't really. Certainly Captain James T. Kirk, Luke Skywalker, and Superman aren't motivated by the promise of wealth. Ah, I said I was going to avoid those universes so let's look at Fantasy...

Bilbo Baggins does not except the undertaking of traveling to the Lonely Mountain for the treasure. At the end of the Hobbit he is indeed a wealthy man but he is back home with a story to tell and that is his reward. 

Frodo Baggins doesn't go to Mount Doom to get rich. He journeys to rid the world of the evil of The One Ring and Sauron. 

Neither Elric, Corum, nor Dorian Hawkmoon were motivated by wealth but rather a mixture of political power, obligation, and on occasion love. 

Surely, Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser, the quintessential D&D Fantasy style heroes were drawn to the call of adventure by wealth, yes? Well...many of their adventures start with this idea but along the way they end up with more altruistic goals of saving cities and defeating villains. 

Money is mundane. It is a base need in societies that utilize it. The desire for it is easy to understand but simple, even shallow. There are also easier ways to obtain money than go through a trap laden cave network infested with monsters. If you're going to go through all that you'd better come out with a king's ransom in gold and there is the second problem...

If a group of PCs go through an adventure and face the hardships referred to above, do they get the same share of the Treasure? Perhaps. Though perhaps one believes they did more work and they deserve a larger share. Another feels they exhausted resources and need extra Treasure to recoup their investment. A Fighter might begin and end a dungeon excursion with the same sword or find a magic sword but a Wizard isn't often getting their material components back if used and wands have charges. Incidentally, it always kind of bugged me that such items were finite while a dagger never runs out of stab. 

Wealth and the desire to obtain it promotes greed and greed is one of the lowest and saddest qualities of your...of the Human species. How many Thieves have attempted to rob from their own party? The common motivator of Treasure can easily become the thing that divides a group. A lot of wealth is never enough. On that note...

With the exception of the misprinted Treasure cache' at the climax of Tomb of Horrors, no published adventure I've ever seen delivers what it promises in the wealth department. I've yet to see a dragon's hoard that is truly a Dragon's Hoard, with PCs swimming in coins and jewels Scrooge McDuck style. 

Bilbo Baggins and Smaug

Art by Anatofinn Stark

Funny enough, if PCs did come across a Treasure trove like that they'd likely be done. They'd stop adventuring. That's how most folklore and legends go after all; hero goes to save their true love, must defeat a cruel antagonist, does so, and finds out their opponent has a vast collection of money, gems, etc. This signals, 'And they lived happily ever after', with the hero and his beloved wedding and settling down as a rich couple with a want for nothing. 

These are the issues with Treasure that have always perplexed me. 

• It is a simple, common, base desire/need that isn't heroic.
• It isn't noble, emotionally driven, and serves no greater purpose beyond personal gain.
• Making it the primary goal promotes envy, greed, and distrust. It can divide the group.
• It is never enough, partly because no reward is as epic as described in stories or art.
• If genre appropriate, Treasure would end the story. Filthy rich PCs need not adventure.

With all this in mind, we come to the real purpose of Treasure in most old school TRPGs: Rule mechanics. Treasure is a means to an end and that end is the meta-reward of Experience Points.

How much money you have translates to how good you are at your chosen vocation. Basically, the more coins you find on the floor the better you are at shooting arrows or praying to your deity for spells. All I can say to this is...HUH?!? This never made any sense to me. Never. Beginning with my first read throughs of Advanced D&D in the late 70s/early 80s to now I can not understand why the game was constructed this way. It feels like design laziness, though I will fully admit that's with the benefit of 40+ years of hindsight.

Dating back to my very first gaming session ever - August 25th, 1977, Holmes Basic Dungeons and Dragons - we had a plot. We had reasons for adventuring that weren't related to treasure. 

My Halfling was searching for his father who disappeared.

The Cleric was seeking a cure for a Curse.

The Elf was running from Human Undead out to get him. 

As it turned out, my father disappeared trying to deliver potions to the Human Kingdom (in the form of Hot Sauce!). The Cleric discovered the cure to the Curse involved using the potion, which had magical ingredients. The Curse was turning the dead into the Undead that were hunting the Elf.

The Elf turned out to be the lost Prince of his Kingdom but that's another tale...

The point is we were motivated by something more than money and it gave us deeper purpose. Instead of a group of ne'er do wells looking for wealth, we were heroes trying to save our Kingdoms and each other from an evil priest and his Undead curse. Everything connected and it unified the game to create a story I still remember 44+ years later.

Remember that one time you found that dollar bill on the floor? No? Neither do I. I know I've found money on the ground in the past but if you think any one of those times is specifically memorable to me...nope. Sorry. 

Art by Izzy Medrano

More thoughts to come...

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Analyzing The Analytics Analytically

Inspired by Noisms recent post about how his blog is doing these days, I decided to take a closer look at my own and how its going. 

The answer is...a little odd.

Take a look:

As with others who've been looking at this sort of thing recently, my statistics only go back to January of 2011. They go up and up from their, reaching a high point around third quarter of 2015 before dropping down again for a while. 

Viewership raises again in late 2016, peaking pretty high at year's end. It's second highest height comes around January of 2018 and then...damn. What a drop. This is followed by a continual lull for nearly two years. 

Things start to pick up again in 2020 and then...whoah. Look at that massive spike! That was only a month or so ago.

So...what the heck is going on with this blog?

It's rather simple actually. As Jeff Rients told me in the early days of Barking Alien, the more one posts, the more people will come to read them. 

I go through periods of little to no blog activity and can't expect the world to check back constantly to hang on my every non-forthcoming word. At the same time, evidence shows that when I do speak, a lot of people are willing to give a listen. More accurately, when I write they are willing to read it. 

Additional credit mist be given to social media sites like Facebook and especially Twitter. Traffic to my blog has increased significantly since I started linking my posts there.

What does this mean for the future of Barking Alien? 

Who knows? I'm just going to keep doing what I do until I tire of doing it and with my 45th RPG Hobby Anniversary coming next year, that isn't going to be any time soon.

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VISIONS Statement

Star Wars: Visions is here and it is The Way! 

As a long time fan of Star Wars and Japanese Anime - and as someone who has added elements of the latter into RPG campaigns of the former since the late 80s - I was incredibly excited for this project. Now that it's out and I've seen it, I'd like to discuss my opinions about the series and what game related possibilities the episodes suggest. 

I am going to address each installment separately and as a result my reviews* (such as they are) will be fairly brief. At the end of the post I will throw in some RPG related thoughts. Please be aware that with nine episodes, even brief overviews will result in this post being a bit on the long side. As there is a lot to unpack from some of these pieces, I will not get to all I want to discuss in this one blog entry. You are likely reading the first of several posts. How many and in what form it's difficult to say.

Always in motion is the future.

-SPOILERS-

See Star Wars: Visions before reading this.

Trust me. Trust in The Force.

The Duel (by Kamikaze Dougal) 10/10

I don't know where to begin. This. Thing. Was. FLAWLESS! Every aspect of it from the art style and palette (black and white with only highlights of color) to the storytelling and pace were absolutely astounding! The voices, the sound effects, the music - all perfect!

A clear homage to the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa that inspired George Lucas to create Star Wars in the first place, this work brings it all full circle in a stunning display of culture and cinema.

My only complaint is that it was an odd choice to open with this one as it is literally the best of the best. It is so good in so many ways that every other entry pales in comparison. Even when the other episodes are excellent, they still can't hold a candle to 'The Duel'. 

Tatooine Rhapsody (by Studio Colorido) 6.5/10

Fun and adorably animated with a bit of pathos mixed in, this one was enjoyable if not particularly deep or groundbreaking. It reminded me of an old campaign of Star Wars I ran back in High School called 'Near Miss', about a misfit rock band of Humans and aliens who moonlight as Rebels against the Empire. 

The Twins (by Trigger) 5/10

While visually distinct and impressive, The Twins was by far my least favorite of the assortment. 

What we see happening is far too over-the-top to be taking place in the Star Wars universe, though it is reminiscent of some older, 'Silver Age' Anime. It also pulls on elements from the Sequel Trilogy and that was a definite turn off for me. All in all this episode is very pretty nonsense and I expected more from Studio Trigger.

The Village Bride (by Kinema Citrus) 8/10

This was a very interesting entry with great potential that was regrettably limited by its length. I felt there was a lot more to this story than we got to experience and unfortunately that holds it back from being scored higher. 

Don't get me wrong, I really liked it; I just feel the power of the planet and its connection to the people who lived there, the female Jedi's former master who hailed from this world, and whatever was up with her mask and suit was information I really wanted to know that the episode merely hints at and then moves on from. It was all cool but not completely satisfying. 

Example: The people and world were linked and the Force visibly present but it never really applies to the fight against the enemy. To defeat the invaders an outsider is needed and that outsider, the very cool female Jedi, doesn't seem to tap into the planet's power, so why mention it?

The Ninth Jedi (by Production IG) 9/10

Now this...this is how you make a Star Wars story. 

The premise of The Ninth Jedi is what a Star Wars universe 'sequel' should be. Set far in the future of that galaxy far, far way, the Republic and Empire are mere memories and the Lightsaber is a thing of legend. Sith have returned and they are many, the Rule of Two (which I never liked) long forgotten. Will the Jedi be reborn as well to save the galaxy?

I loved the art and design sense in this one, the simple but epic story that, like The Village Bride, hints at something largely but its my personal opinion that The Ninth Jedi pulls this off more completely than its predecessor. 

T0-B1 (by Science SARU) 7.5/10

A beautiful, sweet, magically heartfelt homage to both the Droid characters of Star Wars and Tetsuwan Atom/Astro Boy, this tale of a robot who wants to be a Jedi Knight is totally delightful. T0-B1 - which eludes to Tobi, To Be One (a Jedi), and also a little Obi-Wan - leans more heavily into the realm of fairy tale than space opera but it definitely achieves what it sets out to do.

The Elder (by Trigger) 6/10

Given the incredible talent of the Trigger group, it is surprising to me that their entries were my least favorite of the bunch.

While 'The Twins' was way too over-the-top, 'The Elder' is underwhelming; slowly and dare I say awkwardly paced, and even a bit lazy. For example, in the rain sequence there is no water on the ground and the rain doesn't interact with the environment or characters in any way. We do not see any attempt to animate the combatants becoming wet. There is no halo or aura of falling droplets on them, something I have seen in Japanese Anime many times in the past.

The story was OK but very 'Plain Jane'. Compared to all the other episodes, this one is the most solidly situated in the standard canon Star Wars universe and also the least intriguing as a result. 

Lop and Ochō (by Geno Studio) 9/10

Lop and Ochō is a quintessentially Anime Anime.

It features a cute girl protagonist, a good guy who is crime boss and gang culture themed, martial arts combat, and wildly stylized technology. It's plot is straight forward and relatable in an abstract way; two people who believe they know what's best for their people and their home are in direct opposition to each other, leading to conflict. An outsider who's been accepted in as one of the family must figure out which side is right and stand up for it.

Quality-wise, I think I would have to score this episode at more like a 7.5 or an 8. It isn't a very complex tale, quite cliche' in fact, its characters aren't particularly layered, but I absolutely loved it. It is just so Anime with a capital 'A' that I scored it higher than perhaps it really deserves.

Just as I like the Rebels cgi animated series more than Clone Wars but completely acknowledge Clone Wars is the vastly superior product, I similarly confess to liking Lop and Ochō because it appeals to my personal tastes. 

I also adore Lop's design. Her species is definitely making an appearance in my next Star Wars campaign.

Akakiri (by Science SARU) 7.5/10

The final episode has a rather unique art style and one that isn't typical of modern mainstream Anime. It reminded me more of the French animation of Tales of Alethrion. The storytelling and indeed the story being told are not unlike European animation shorts either. The somber, arguably tragic ending, is another example of how different this one is from the rest of the selection. 

Although I liked Akakiri, I feel like I need to watch it again to truly understand it. At a number of points the narrative confused me and it has a rather sad ending, though one that need not be final. There is not much else I can say on this one without a re-watch.

Now as for how gameable it is...Incredibly gameable!

 As I noted about under The Ninth Jedi, that short is clearly the start of a long running series of adventures to re-establish a Jedi Order in the distant future of Star Wars, perhaps altering what that even means. It has 'campaign premise' written all over it! 

Many of the others that I could see adding something to a Star Wars RPG game would do just that; inject a sense of newness to the universe with things both never-before-seen and yet familiar:

• A Jedi Padawan escapes Order 66 and finds a new destiny as in Tatooine Rhapsody
• A Sith hunting other Sith like the lead character in the Duel.
• A small alien piloting a Probe Droid as seen in The Duel.
• Connecting with the Living Force of a planet as implied in The Village Bride. 
• Lop's species, a possible variant of the Lepi?
• The Oil Tea drinking Ferry/Shuttle Pilot Droid of The Ninth Jedi.

What Star Wars: Visions shows us is that you can do so many things in and with the Star Wars universe, making me wonder why the inhabitants of The Mouse House (and I am even including my beloved Dave Filoni in this) keep going back to the same 5-10 characters. Star Wars: Visions does what an untold number of Star Wars RPG Gamemasters and players have been doing for 44 years - making up a planet, creating some characters, and telling a tale.

May The Force Be With You Watashi no Tomodachi**!

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*I don't really do reviews (clearly), just give my initial thoughts and feelings on things. 

**Watashi no Tomodachi means 'My Friend'

He Lived Happily Ever After

I've been trying to complete this post for about a week now. For some reason I couldn't quite put my finger on, I haven't able to say what I want to say in the way I wanted to say it. 

A number of recent blog posts and social media discussions drummed up some negative memories about my gaming experiences during a specific, early period of my 'life and times' in the hobby. At the same time, I didn't want to make a negative post; I didn't want to dwell on cynical opinions and depressing feelings but I did want to convey a story and a true one at that.

Once Upon A Time, in the Dark Days of Old School Gaming...

Between 1978 and 1982 I would run and play a lot of RPGs. A lot. I was my favorite pastime and although I preferred to GM, I was often participate in games run by both friends and acquaintances (friends of friends usually). The game of choices was almost always D&D prior to '82, with Basic eventually giving way to Advanced 1st Edition. Other games were given a go but it we rarely played them more than a couple short campaigns. After 1982 things would change dramatically with the purchasing of FGU's Villains and Vigilantes and FASA's Star Trek (as revealed in my Secret Origin).

In the years between 1980 and 82, a reoccurring theme of playing D&D under another Dungeon Master was that the games would end up thoroughly disappointing if not outright discouraging. I played a number of games with friend's friends or siblings who were my senior in age. It seemed the older gamers got the more asinine and unpleasant they became. In retrospect, that is absolutely the case as they become teenagers. What did I expect? 

Nonetheless, it wasn't long before I equated Dungeons and Dragons players and DMs with being jerks. Did D&D make them into boneheads or were boneheads attracted to D&D?

Yet with this in mind, sometime in the Summer of 1982 I participated as a player in a short campaign of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition run by an older fellow in another camp group. Instead of my usual Summer gaming gang, this was one of those games with a bunch of guys one or two years my elder. The Dungeon Master ran us through one of the TSR modules. 

I can't remember the specifics of the campaign. I don't recall my character, any of the other PCs, the module, or much of anything else. I do remember it ended on a 'technical TPK', with all the PCs being killed in the last session, just not in the same battle; not all at once. It was one of the last D&D campaigns I would play in for a very long time after (though I continued to run ones myself - heavily modified). 

It had been yet another fairly crappy campaign and one consistent with my aforementioned D&D experiences. The group was made up of what we today would call Munchkins, Power Gamers, Rules Lawyers, and there had been very little in the way of Role-Playing. I was teased and treated like a Newbie even though by 1982 I'd been gaming for about 5 years and had probably played and run more non-D&D games than most of the older gamers. 

To me, this is Old School. This is what I think of when someone uses the term. It isn't fair, I'll grant you that and I have come to realize this is not what it means to most everyone else. I even see some of the positives and the reasons why some have great reverence for the 'era' of Old School D&D but it doesn't change the fact that to me it is synonymous with 'unfun', 'boorish', and even 'a little toxic'. 

Between 1982 and the early 90s I cemented by own style and approach to gaming (though I hope I to be self aware enough to continue to improve and evolve). In those first few years it was largely motivated by not wanting to be anything like the GMs and players who'd made those games so unpleasant and uninteresting for me. Some of those ideals have become mantras I still adhere to today:

Clever Player ideas trump the numbers or at least modify them. 

Character Backgrounds/Backstories are more material for the GM. Use them. 

Don't be afraid to say Yes. Yes, And, Yes, But, and No, But. 

Don't Railroad - Improv. Stay open-minded and flexible within the genre/setting established.

Have a Narrative/Story in mind for the adventure.

Let that Narrative change based on PC actions. 

Reward engagement, immersion, and creativity.

These are just some of the tenets I go by and each has its own conditions and exceptions but generally they serve as my guide to running what I define as good games. My only acknowledgement that they work is that people from across several states have, in the pre-pandemic era, adjusted their schedules and made travel plans to be in my games. Players from games I ran 30+ years ago remember their characters and the events of the campaigns I ran. 

What more could a GM ask for?

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Why Join The Party?

Why do 'Adventurers' stick together?

Just the other night, the members of one of my gaming groups (for whom I am currently running Champions 4th Edition in my friend William's 'Age of Champions' universe) got into a discussion about Player Character groups or 'parties', why and how they form, and what are their reasons for remaining as a unit. 

It struck us as noteworthy that a lot of games (especially ones we play) have a built in conceit for this:

• Blades in the Dark PCs are a Crew, out to perform a heist or other criminal enterprise.
• Call of Cthulhu PCs may be from different walks of life but all are Investigators
• Star Trek PCs are all Starfleet Officers and the Crew of a Starfleet vessel on a mission.
• Star Wars PCs are often a Rebel cell, in the Grand Army of the Republic, or members of the Jedi Order
• Superheroes are all, well, Superheroes. Often they're part of a team or acting as one to fight evil. 

The list goes on and on. Of course someone out there is saying, "You don't have to be Starfleet Officers in a Star Trek game. You can be a bunch of Smugglers and Mercenaries just like in other Space Opera settings." Yes, you can. You can do whatever makes you happy. I am simply addressing the default assumptions of the games noted above and the majority of people who play them. 

My point is, you don't need to find a reason for your Superheroes to unite and battle crime and villainy. They are Superheroes. That's what Superheroes do. If you sat down to play Superheroes your reason for being part of the team is pretty much baked into the crust. Sure, each character might have their own inciting moment in their backstory, their own personal motive that drives them but since we've decided to play Supers, yeah, we've going to play Superheroes doing Superhero stuff. 

As always, the odd one out is the most popular one...Dungeons and Dragons. 

DM: "Alright, so with the map provided by the Inn Keeper, you set off to defeat the dragon Blorfog and obtain the Lost Treasure of Iron Smoke Mountain!"

Player 1: "I don't see why my character would go on this quest."

DM: "I'm sorry...what?"

Player 1: "Sure, I could use the treasure but I'm a Thief who is easily killed. My stats and such aren't great. It would make more sense to stay around the city and just pick pocket locals."

Player 2: "Yeah, and my character is a Ranger. I could see him leading the group to the mountain but then I'll probably just get paid for that and head back. My sworn enemy is Werewolves. I'm not really equipped or motivated to go against a dragon in tunnels under the ground."

DM: "Why would you make Adventurers who don't want to adventure together?"

Players (Together): "I'm just playing my character."

D&D, as well as all the D&D Clones and Cousins, aren't alone in this aspect. Traveller and other open universe, sandbox Space Adventure RPGs also see this sort of thing from time to time. Just as the default assumption of many modern games and IP settings is that the PCs are like-minded people who've formed a team from the start, older Sandbox games tend to default to a bunch of disconnected individuals who need to come up with a reason to join forces.

D&D Party Commission By ABD-Illustrates

Commissioned by  sinaasaappelsap

Thinking about this sent me down a rabbit hole of analyzing why these games are built this way, are they even built this way in reality, and why certain players feel it necessary to assert their defiant independence in what is clearly a group activity. 

When RPGs first emerged out of Wargaming, I don't believe a lot of thought was given to motivation, story, or any such concerns. It was, after all, just a game and while fun it hadn't yet evolved to be more than the sum of its parts. Your reason for going on a given adventure was that there was one and you wanted to play an RPG, ipso facto you joined a party of other players that wanted to do the same thing. 

Let's assume for just a moment that this is a truism. The idea here is that the creators of D&D, Traveller, and similar games of the era didn't expect the players to need motivations for their characters to go on dangerous journeys with others because that is simply what playing such games is about. A player plays an Adventurer and that is just what Adventurers do. 

Maybe that didn't come through clearly. Maybe that wasn't the point after all...

Eventually, quite organically I would imagine, someone added a bit more backstory to their character than was the norm at the time, taking the PC beyond a set of numbers representing game mechanics and into the realm of a protagonist in an emerging narrative that was developing at that very moment. 

So when exactly did the first player say to their Gamemaster that they needed a reason to go on the adventure presented outside of the fact that the adventure existed? Moreover, why did they themselves not try to provide a reason? 

Honestly, I don't know. I couldn't say. The ideas presented here are foreign to my thinking.

This is where I need all of you Old School Grognards to fill me in. This is one of those elements that fascinates and baffles me because my very first character had a motivation in my very first story driven adventure back in 1977. A reason to adventure was both provided by the players AND given by the Gamemaster since moment I entered the hobby. 

Follow that up with the fact that I enjoy and most often play/run games with the built in purpose I mentioned at the start and you can see why I have trouble comprehending this concept. 

To finish up I'll say this - As a player, find a way to motivate yourself. Give yourself a reason to adventure. Understand that you are joining other players and participating in a group event. Don't make the GM or other players have to cater to you and you alone. That's a violation of Rule Zero: Don't be a D**k.

GMs, keep in mind who your players are and who they are playing. Include elements of the PCs backstories and goals in your scenario and plot to give them something to latch on to. Making it more personal will make it more interesting and engaging. 

Work together and achieve more than you could in a vacuum.

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Barking Alien