DEEKIN'S PIT REVISITED
Overview
Deekin's Pit offers you a dungeon crawl. Your character's primary goal is to find treasure in a maze of caves, mines, crypts, dungeons, valleys, and forests.
To level up, characters sacrifice items to the "Glory Box" (a device found in the Glorious Tent back in camp). Your character will gain one experience point for each gold piece of the item's value. Sacrificed items are destroyed.
Your character does not earn XP for anything else.
While you will also find stories and quests to engage with along the way, much of play is about exploring, overcoming or circumventing challenges, securing the loot, and returning to camp.
Choices
Weighing cost against benefit is part of play. Some of the choices are:
Things versus Experience
Usually the XP gained from sacrificing treasure is more valuable than the benefit of using the item, but not always. For example, masterwork weapons grant +1 to attack rolls which is similar to gaining a level of Violence. Since sacrificing one won't gain you a level, you may want to use it instead. In fact, you may even want to buy one. But once you have a decent weapon, keeping additional weapons becomes less attractive than the XP.
Trade vs Conquest
Passing through an area or trading with the locals is easier when the locals are friendly. Be that as it may, they probably have treasure. Killing them and taking their stuff is effective, but makes enemies. Stealing is generally a lesser crime, but still pisses people off when you are caught. A mine full of indifferent goblins transitions into an armed, enemy camp fairly quickly. And if you gain a bad rep, the locals will remain hostile until you find a way back into their good graces.
Well Prepared vs Traveling Light
Treasure can be heavy, and you can only haul back as much loot as you can carry. On the otherhand, your gear can be heavy too. What gear is necessary? What can you skimp on? I recommend not skimping on torches. Each torch only lasts an hour of game time (ten minutes real time). The caves are dark.
Skills vs Violence vs Magic
At every level up, you choose between advancing either skills, combat prowess, or spell casting. This choice is less about cost versus benefit and more about what fits your style. I usually like a little bit of everything.