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| I am gonna buy me so much XP... |
Presented below is a description of the rules designed by Dave Arneson to convert gold/treasure gained during adventures into experience points. The entries below includes the information that originally appeared in The First Fantasy Campaign released through Judge’s Guild. The source material was presented in what most modern gamers will consider a challenging arrangement and the description of each area of interest is verbatim.
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A. WINE: Spirits with a relatively High Alcoholic Content that is immediately consumed by the player to the limits of his capacity. This must be repeated after recovery, by the player until all the alcoholic beverages purchased have been consumed by the player before he can proceed on another expedition. An exception to this is if he comes into conflict with other players and loses the purchased wine, whereupon he can proceed on an expedition...Experience gained while drunk does not count but treasure does.
B. WOMEN: The player will immediately-proceed to the local establishment and expend all funds desired on Room plus Extras at that place. Slaves of the appropriate type (left to player) may also be purchased with the funds and utilized to fulfill this classification. These slaves may then be sold at reduced value, the difference being credited to the players account. Money stolen does not count in this area.
C. SONG: The player proceeds to the local tavern and expends his wealth on other players present in either category A or B or C. Damages assessed by the tavern owner are counted towards the players expenditures in this area. Experience gained as a result of area C will count towards this area only if the player is not inebriated when this was done. Inability to pay all debts so incurred in this, or the above areas may result in imprisonment (if they can get you) or banishment (if you get away).
D. WEALTH: Merely the stockpiling of Gold, Silver and similar items of value by the player, If these items are stolen, the player loses full value immediately upon discovery and may lose levels as a result.
E. FAME: This is gained by straight combat with creatures and players in the game. The qualifying factor is that there must be another player who attest to your prowess in public. Otherwise, no points are gained (Judges may award partial point totals if bodies are discovered later by other players, who must also attest to your results up to 75% Normal value). Flunkies (non-Player Characters) can also attest to your success (you get half value then) but can also (depending on loyalty) attest to deeds that you did not do...
F. RELIGION or SPIRITUALISM: Awarded when the player gains experience points while engaged on a Quest or otherwise co-operating with a Cleric (may be himself) on a task. Funds are given to the local Religious denomination (up to player) where upon he will gain the points. Real Player Clerics may refuse to accept the offering and the player will get no points. Refusal to accept may get the player in trouble, depending on what the cleric said. Money given to the denomination may be spent by the Clerical type once 40%-90% (roll six-sided die) is sent to H...See How To Become A Bad Guy for other details.
G. HOBBY: This is a catch all category left to the referee to award details on to the players. Examples of some of the more obvious pursuits would be Spell Research by Magic Users specializing in say Animal Control or the raising and breeding of Lycanthropes. Even the taking of spare parts and building a new creature...One's hobby could even be the devising of better Torture machines, making Gold, the Building of Flying Machines, all up to the Judgr to outline and define within the limits of his campaign.
Personality
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Fame
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Hobby
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Religion
|
Song
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Wealth
|
Wine
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Women
|
Type A
|
50
|
nil
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10
|
90
|
20
|
100
|
80
|
Type B
|
70
|
nil
|
nil
|
80
|
25
|
80
|
100
|
Type C
|
85
|
nil
|
15
|
100
|
30
|
90
|
80
|
Type D
|
75
|
50
|
25
|
30
|
100
|
20
|
25
|
Type E
|
100
|
80
|
80
|
85
|
75
|
70
|
50
|
Type F
|
80
|
nil
|
100
|
15
|
25
|
10
|
nil
|
Type G
|
80
|
100
|
nil
|
nil
|
50
|
nil
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nil
|
Table I shows the percentage of experience earned per gold point spent in the chosen area by character type. A type C Fighting-Man who spends 200 gold on musical entertainment gains 200 xp (assuming the festivities do not result in damages or fines). If the same character donates 50 gold at the local temple, he gains only 7 xp.
Arneson also suggests the possibility of varying the results by rolling 2d10 for each arear of interest, mulitplying by the number in the column, and then dividing the result by 10 to create interests that range from 2% to 200%.
Arneson also suggests the possibility of varying the results by rolling 2d10 for each arear of interest, mulitplying by the number in the column, and then dividing the result by 10 to create interests that range from 2% to 200%.
Class
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Type A
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Type B
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Type C
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Type D
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Type E
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Type F
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Type G
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Fighting-Man
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01-15
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16-35
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36-50
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51-60
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61-90
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91-95
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96-00
|
Cleric
|
01-10
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11-15
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16-20
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21-25
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26-40
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41-90
|
91-00
|
Magic-User
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01-05
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06-10
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11-15
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16-25
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26-45
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46-50
|
51-00
|
Ranger
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01-10
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11-20
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21-30
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31-40
|
41-75
|
76-90
|
91-00
|
Paladin
|
01-10
|
11-20
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21-25
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26-30
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31-60
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61-95
|
96-00
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Assassin
|
01-05
|
06-10
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11-15
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16-40
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41-45
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46-55
|
56-00
|
Merchant
|
01-10
|
11-15
|
16-50
|
26-70
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71-90
|
91-95
|
96-00
|
Sage
|
01-10
|
11-15
|
16-20
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21-30
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31-45
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46-50
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51-00
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Note, this table (referred to in the original text as “chart II” but labeled as “table II”) only included rows of numbers ranging from 5 to 50 in the original text but the directions indicate a percentile roll. Adding the numbers across yields a total of 100 so this re-creation assumes that each character rolls once on the table as a given class (rolling for multi-class characters was not discussed) to determine their type. It is possible that the numbers each represented the percentage chance of having the listed interest type and that the player continues rolling until an interest is found.
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| I think I'll make this into a level of Fighter. |
Examining the rules reveals that the activities associated with the interest types are in need of updating. Although it might seem amusing to play a type A character so that you have to get drunk (and spend real money) to have your character earn experience points or to play a type B paladin who levels by whoring it up and threading the resulting code of conduct needle, the potential for silliness is quickly evident. However, Dave Arneson and the first Blackmoor players were trying to have fun in what was at the time an extremely novel fashion. Silliness was meant to ensue, no doubt, and balanced character advancement was not in consideration. Also it should be noted that The First Fantasy Campaign is essentially a presentation of Arneson’s roleplaying house rules for Chainmail so these rules were at least conceived (and probably in play) before any of what became the D&D rules were finalized. Character advancement of any kind was optional.
The tables also show that some character types are clearly more desirable than others. Type F and G have a total of 230 percentage points across their interests (4 and 3 areas respectively) whereas type E has 540 percentage points across all 7 areas of interest.
Next time I'll provide an updated and expanded system along with my house rules for character advancement for use with Pathfinder (or any version of D&D).
