My intro to RPGs was AD&D 1st Edition. As soon as I could I bought the Players Handbook, the DMG, and the Monster Manual. But it was always the DMG that had a spell on me (no pun intended). From the cover art, to the densely worded pages, it seemed to contain so much cool information. I read alot of it (far from most of it I will admit), but the biggest thrill was looking at warships and the fortress construction costs. I dreamed of getting to that point, but never did.
The other thing about the DMG was the crash course introduction to Gygaxian Prose, or High Gygaxian as it's been called. His writing style was amplified by the two column layout of 8 (smaller?) point font. This thing was packed with words! Yes, yes it was. But that layout and style made it difficult to easily (or quickly!) parsed out the rule details one needed.
I was the forever DM because I would take the time to read the rules and figure them out. My main playing buddy Craig did not have the patience for that, and was content for me to be the DM and educate him in the rules. He would skim them over and have a basic understanding at least, but I would have to run things. That worked, and we played alot, and a few different games besides D&D (Traveller, Aftermath!, Gamma World, Twilight 2000, Top Secret, even Bushido I think).
So that is all a rather long introduction to a recurring feature idea I had, to select a random paragraph from the DMG, to share and discuss the Gygaxian it contained, and parse out what it was actually trying to say.
So here we go. I'm only dealing with the first 120 pages, because the treasure tables called for those long descriptions, plus the appendices and tables would be no fun either.
Page 86, GAINING EXPERIENCE LEVELS. Eleven paragraphs, almost the entire page, discussing the finer details of gaining experience levels. The first paragraph has the first Gygax warning: UPWARD PROGRESS IS NEVER AUTOMATIC (all caps in the original). The remaining paragraphs go one to explain how it is automatic, it will just take longer to train for the next level if the DM has judged you the player as having not played your character well to type (class). The DM is to rate each character after each adventure from Excellent to Poor. A poor rating should be given to 'cautious' characters that do not pull their weight.
Of course Gary created a formula form the ratings that determines the number of weeks of training required to gain the next level. Down to the decimal 'because each .145 equals a game day'. Poorer performance will require longer to train (have to remind that character how to act properly in that class!).
If you are below the 'named level' of your class you only have to train with someone of your class that is at least one level higher. Well, that is not clearly stated but inferred by the sentence 'Training under a higher level character applies only to characters who are below the "name", or nominal upper level, of their class and profession." So even with eleven paragraphs dedicated to explaining the gaining of experience levels, the critical point for beginning characters is not clearly stated.
Training will cost 1,500 gp per week per (current) level of the trainee. Above the named level, you self train, but are still assessed a cost for various things depending on your class (vestments, largess, tithes, equipment, etc).
So Gary set up a system where treasure is experience points, and so you need alot of it, but then had to have ways to remove said treasure from the characters lest they spend it on something they want or need. Training.
Reading this makes me wonder if Gary wasn't ever in the Air Force. The Air Force is very proscriptive in what their pilots can do (that which is not explicitly allowed is forbidden). I was a Navy pilot, and the Navy operates more independently. Our mantra was 'that which is not explicitly prohibited is allowed.
The ending paragraph is a litany of prescriptions:
- All training/study is recorded in game time.
- The period must be uninterrupted and continuous.
- He/she cannot engage in adventuring, travel, magic research of any nature ...
- If there is a serious hiatus .. lose all of the benefits of the time spent prior..
- Under no circumstances can a character gain additional experience points by any means until he or she actually acquires the higher level
Look, I get it, what Gary was trying to do. He was trying to define everything, explicitly, every case, so that there was ONE way to play D&D. A '"universe" into which similar campaigns and parallel worlds can be placed.'
But in the end, what GM rated their players? At best it was assumed you played your character correctly per class, so you had one week of training to level up, at 1500gp times your current level. It was always an option to make finding the required instructor a bit of a quest. But at lower levels it shouldn't be that hard to find a 2nd or 4th level of just about any class.
So maybe no great High Gygaxian prose in this section, but plenty of directions and proscriptives. And you can definitely get the feeling of DM vs players, keeping the players 'in check'. I always wonder if this was just Gary, or if it evolved as his DM style because of his players? From Blackmoor and early Greyhawk, it seems the players were always trying to see what kind of crazy stuff they could do, really testing the boundaries of the game and systems. Maybe from the wargame history of us vs them, and someone has to 'win'.
The way we played, and the way I think the game has evolved, is the DM wants the players to have fun. And leveling up is a main source of the fun in D&D - more HP, new spells, new abilities. So there isn't much impetous to restrict leveling up - actually the opposite, with the creation of milestone experience points, or even milestone leveling up!
I personally prefer the slog of gaining experience points, so you never really know when you will be leveling up. That makes it more exciting and satisfying when it finally does happen. Even just making second level is an achievement!
