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Looking for a little clarification on Treasure Hoards.

In the Swords & Wizardry Complete section "Generating a Random Treasure Hoard" (p120) you determine total XP value of the monsters in the adventure, and multiply by (1d3)+1 for gold value. For argument sake let us say this total is 5050gp. I would then roll:

  • 50 times for 100gp trade-outs
  • 5 times for 1000gp trade-outs
  • 1 time for 5000gp trade-out

If I hit five 100gp and one 1000gp trade-outs, (1500gp total), then the party gets 3550gp plus whatever they received in the trade-out rolls.

If, however, I hit one of each (6100gp total) then I have a defecit of 1050gp. Does the party then get the entire 5050gp originally rolled, plus the result of each trade-out?

Either I am a bit thick, or it is wonderfully simple. Possibly both.

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That's correct! The second case you describe (in which the value of the trade-outs exceeds the total GP value of the hoard) is how a “Major” treasure hoard is randomly determined. In that case, yes, the hoard consists of all the trade-outs you randomly determined plus all the original gold piece value, as per the note under the main trade-outs table (p. 120):

Note: if there are several trade-outs, it is possible to end up without enough gold pieces to trade for them, in which case it is a MAJOR treasure – add all the traded-out gold pieces back into the treasure along with the items rolled on the trade-out tables!

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I have no idea why it was so hard to wrap my head arund that. I'm too used to Treasure Types, I guess. :-D \$\endgroup\$
    – user40124
    Nov 1, 2017 at 19:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ @DariusWhiteplume That particular case is counter-intuitive enough that it does easily make the reader second-guess their understanding! \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Nov 1, 2017 at 19:28

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