History Main / MontyHaul

*** ''Dead Money'' can be a trying DLC, but the rewards are enormous. If you take the time to win as much money as possible from the Sierra Madre Casino, you'll get an automatic 1100 Sierra Madre chips every three in-game days, which you trade for stacks of stimpaks, chems, and weapon repair kits. In addition to that, there's also the gold bars you can haul out of the Madre's vault and powerful weapons like the Automatic Rifle and Holorifle (the latter of which doesn't degrade when used with regular ammo).

[[folder:Comics]]

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' has no end of loot from {{randomly generated|Loot}} quest rewards, RandomDrops, and the chance for any container to hold a level-scaled precious item. By the late game, players are certain to be trading bales of mismatched [[ColorCodedItemTiers Legendary]] jewellery and equipment to item vendors alongside the usual VendorTrash.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' has no end of loot from {{randomly generated|Loot}} quest rewards, RandomDrops, and the chance for any container to hold a level-scaled precious item. By the late game, players are certain to be trading bales of mismatched [[ItemTiers Legendary]] jewellery and equipment to item vendors alongside the usual VendorTrash.

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'':
*** The ''Operation Anchorage'' DLC takes the player through a short, relentlessly linear, and relatively easy (depending on character build) campaign, at the end of which you're awarded with a treasure trove of goodies not available anywhere in the core game.

*** ''Lonesome Road'' is the biggest haul of them all. Aside from the fact that it straddles the line between a DiscOneNuke and a GameBreaker (you can come and go from the Divide at any time in the game), you can obtain many powerful sets of armor (including Elite Desert Ranger and military armor variants), upgrades for ED-E (which make it a GameBreaker in the base game), an insanely-powerful Deathclaw Gauntlet if you can beat the BonusBoss, and if you make a certain decision during the ending, you get access to two other areas that offer unlimited high-level weapons, tons of rare ammunitions and two incredibly-powerful sets of faction armor (NCR Scorched Sierra Power Armor and Legion Armor of the 12th Tribe), not to mention a chest full of unique and customized weapon pieces.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' has the ''Vault-Tec Workshop'' DLC, which adds Vault 88 to the game. A short questline has you aid the Overseer in recruiting residents to the Vault and then conducting a variety of experiments on them. Each experiment mission follows the pattern of "build an experimental object, set a parameter on it, and test it on a resident". Only one of the four experiment missions even requires that you leave the Vault, while all four pay out a base of 350xp upon completion. (An experience payout comparable to ''main quest missions'' which are all far more involved.) In addition to the experience rewards, Vault 88 has an epic amount of settlement salvage which will leave you wanting for very few building materials for the rest of the game (including rare Nuclear Material due to the Vault's uranium deposits). Additionally, after completing the experiments, you can build new happiness-increasing technology at all of your settlements. (If you chose the least reprehensible experiment options for each, there is literally no downside to building them either.) Finally, upon taking over as Overseer at the end of the quest line, you can use the Overseer's Terminal to gain a semi-permanent +1 increase to your Intelligence.

Monty Hall (note the lack of a "U") was the host on the game show ''Series/LetsMakeADeal'', which was cancelled [[MostTropersAreYoungNerds before some of you were born]]. The show could give away massive amounts of prizes to the lucky winner (or cunning or destined-to-win or however they pick winners on game shows).

** These are extremely popular in the series' massive {{Game Mod}}ding community. Install a few of them for any given game and you'll quickly find yourself absolutely bombarded by god-level artifacts, abilities, companions, [[AHomeOwnerIsYou player houses]], and even titles of nobility which quickly destroy any semblance of balance.

** For a savvy party, going into Watcher's Keep in ''Amn'' and stealthing your way past most of the enemies on the first two floors will net you tons of +3 and +4 weapons and ammo to sell, long before you'd get anything else in the main plotline that compares.
** ''Throne of Bhaal'' definitely embraces PowerCreep, with regular merchants selling tons of +3 (or even better) weapons like they were chips. And by this time you definitely swim in gold that you might wonder why don't you rent your own army to dwelve with the Five...

* Zigzagged by Creator/MatthewMercer, the DM for ''WebVideo/CriticalRole''. He ''is'' very generous with his items - by level 10, almost everybody has a magic weapon or weapons with magical effects, and the party has a magic carpet, a bag of holding, an immovable rod, and numerous other fun things as well as a ''lot'' of platinum and gold - but it's balanced out by the fact that his fights are ''hard.''

* In the Malikar campaign of ''WebAnimation/PuffinForest'', Ben was a very generous dm who gave out lots of loot and even let the players buy magic items from a vendor. This later created a problem, as the players eventually became so loaded that there wasn't really anything else Ben could give them that they didn't already have.

*** ''Dead Money'' can be a trying DLC, but the rewards are enormous. If you take the time to win as much money as possible from the Sierra Madre Casino, you'll get an automatic 1100 Sierra Madre chips every three in-game days, which you trade for stacks of stimpacks, chems, and weapon repair kits. In addition to that, there's also the gold bars you can haul out of the Madre's vault and powerful weapons like the Automatic Rifle and Holorifle (the latter of which doesn't degrade when used with regular ammo).
*** Upon finishing ''Honest Hearts'', you'll obtain a chest full of powerful loot, including a very-overpowered unique Power Fist for Veronica. There's also a set of Desert Ranger Armor set and a Survivalist's Rifle, which can be found in a sidequest and aren't normally found in the main game except on high-level NCR rangers.
*** Just by finishing ''Old World Blues'' and obtaining all the upgrades for the sink, you can get several immensely useful benefits: passive bonuses whenever you rest, your own seed farm (where you can grow and create virtually anything in the game), several implants that provide a host of ancillary benefits, and all the spare skill magazines you could want. The DLC also gives several perks that seem specifically designed for dealing with [[DemonicSpiders Cazadores]], a set of powerful stealth armor, the best silenced sniper rifle in the game, and several Jury-Rigged Energy Rifles that can chainsaw through enemies like butter.

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' has the ''Vault Tec Workshop'' DLC, which adds Vault 88 to the game. A short questline has you aid the Overseer in recruiting residents to the Vault and then conducting a variety of experiments on them. Each experiment mission follows the pattern of "build an experimental object, set a parameter on it, and test it on a resident". Only one of the four experiment missions even requires that you leave the Vault, while all four pay out a base of 350xp upon completion. (An experience payout comparable to ''main quest missions'' which are all far more involved.) In addition to the experience rewards, Vault 88 has an epic amount of settlement salvage which will leave you wanting for very few building materials for the rest of the game (including rare Nuclear Material due to the Vault's uranium deposits). Additionally, after completing the experiments, you can build new happiness-increasing technology at all of your settlements. (If you chose the least reprehensible experiment options for each, there is literally no downside to building them either.) Finally, upon taking over as Overseer at the end of the quest line, you can use the Overseer's Terminal to gain a semi-permanent +1 increase to your Intelligence.

%%[[folder:Literature]]

%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* Griffin of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZone'' leaves a small fortune in {{Gold Piece}}s and a useful pair of magical boots lying on conveniently pre-dead dwarves, just waiting to be picked up. If only [[HonorBeforeReason Merle]] wasn't such a prude about looting the dead....

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' is this, but it's an odd example since VendorTrash, RandomlyDrops and (at the end of the game) MoneyForNothing[=/=]MoneySink are all in play.

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* Griffin of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZone'' leaves a small fortune in {{Gold Piece}}s and a useful pair of magical boots lying on conveniently pre-dead dwarves, just waiting to be picked up. If only [[HonorBeforeReason Merle]] wasn't such a prude about looting the dead....
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* Griffin of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZone'' leaves a small fortune in {{Gold Piece}}s and a useful pair of magical boots lying on conveniently pre-dead dwarves, just waiting to be picked up. If only [[HonorBeforeReason Merle]] wasn't such a prude about looting the dead....
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Referenced and played with in ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}''.
** Forgoth mentions that Minmax cannot simply walk into a blacksmith shop and buy a magic sword, as that would be too Monty Haul, but that's exactly what [=PCs=] are expected to do with their treasure. (If you look in the DM's guide, it clearly says a PC can generally buy any magic item on the list, though they need to look for a seller.) Monty Haul only comes in when [=PCs=] have too much money for their level.
** The campaign itself definitely is Monty Haul. All the heroes are low-level, but have improbably powerful magic items that even the playing field. The paladin has an axe that acts as the [[SealedEvilInACan can for a world-destroying demon]], the cleric has a spear that multiplies when thrown and then returns to his hand, and the {{minmax|ing}}er got a sword made out of oblivion. Which is perhaps fair enough, considering [[KillerGameMaster everything else.]]
** It's also made clear that the combat is not based on baseline mechanics, but by a heavily house ruled set that flattens the gap between character levels substantially. Even without the equipment everyone punches well above their weight.
* Jerry Holkins (Tycho) accuses Mike Krahulik (Gabe) of this in ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'', then decides to balance it -- Tycho being a Killer GM.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* Zigzagged by Creator/MatthewMercer, the DM for ''WebVideo/CriticalRole''. He ''is'' very generous with his items - by level 10, almost everybody has a magic weapon or weapons with magical effects, and the party has a magic carpet, a bag of holding, an immovable rod, and numerous other fun things as well as a ''lot'' of platinum and gold - but it's balanced out by the fact that his fights are ''hard.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Dee Dee from ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' becomes one after taking over DM-ship of Dexter's game. Considering that Dexter is a Killer GM, the players are much happier with the change. Even funnier is the treasures she hands out: the Archer gets a stronghold (basically the most awesome tree fort ever), the Knight gets a "[[CoolBike noble steed]]", and the Magician gets a LovelyAssistant and a lifetime of sold-out shows in UsefulNotes/LasVegas. Dexter's character asks for the chalice they were questing to obtain, and is upset that all it does is "you can drink from it and it'll never spill."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* TruthInTelevision for most professional [=GMs=] who are promoting a game system for a company. Their real job (other than to run a great session) is to get people to want to buy the source books themselves. Naturally, it’s a good idea to end the session with the player characters fabulously wealthy and successful, because they leave the table feeling good about themselves (this is also why the company usually supplies their [=GMs=] with {{Feelies}} to pass out as prizes or participation gifts).
** A notable non-TableTopGames example comes from a review of ''VideoGame/DayZ'', whose creator allowed a couple of gaming journalists to spawn the basic pistol and some ammunition by server command where normally they'd be completely unarmed at first. This was the exact same weapon that used to be part of everyone's StarterEquipment until it was removed, somewhat controversially, and the player base did not find this at all amusing.

* It zigzagged by Creator/MatthewMercer, the DM for ''WebVideo/CriticalRole''. He ''is'' very generous with his items - by level 10, almost everybody has a magic weapons or weapons with magical effects, and the party has a magic carpet, a bag of holding, an immovable rod, and numerous other fun things as well as a ''lot'' of platinum and gold - but it's balanced out by the fact that his fights are ''hard.''

** Played straight by quests that offer [[LegendaryWeapon artifact]] [[InfinityPlusOneSword level]] [[InfinityPlusOneArmor items]] as rewards. These are typically high end [[SidequestSidestory faction questlines]] and [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric]] quests, and the items themselves are typically some of the very best available in the game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''
** Operation Anchorage DLC takes the player through a short, relentlessly linear, and relatively easy (depending on character build) campaign, at the end of which you're awarded with a treasure trove of goodies not available anywhere in the core game.
** Ditto ''Mothership Zeta'' (powerful alien weapons, weapon repair epoxy, and crystals that can be sold for a motherload of caps), and the steel ingot {{fetch quest}} in ''The Pitt''.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''' [=DLC=]s each have this, in the form of a boatload of loot, skills and weapons you can acquire.
** ''Dead Money'' can be a trying DLC, but the rewards are enormous. If you take the time to win as much money as possible from the Sierra Madre Casino, you'll get an automatic 1100 Sierra Madre chips every three in-game days, which you trade for stacks of stimpacks, chems and weapon repair kits. In addition to that, there's also the gold bars you can haul out of the Madre's vault and powerful weapons like the Automatic Rifle and Holorifle (the latter of which doesn't degrade when used with regular ammo).
** Upon finishing ''Honest Hearts'', you'll obtain a chest full of powerful loot, including a very-overpowered unique Power Fist for Veronica. There's also a set of Desert Ranger Armor set and a Survivalist's Rifle, which can be found in a sidequest and aren't normally found in the main game except on high-level NCR rangers.
** Just by finishing ''Old World Blues'' and obtaining all the upgrades for the sink, you can getseveral immensely useful benefits: passive bonuses whenever you rest, your own seed farm (where you can grow and create virtually anything in the game), several implants that provide a host of ancillary benefits and all the spare skill magazines you could want. The DLC also gives several perks that seem specifically designed for dealing with [[DemonicSpiders Cazadores]], a set of powerful stealth armor and the best silenced sniper rifle in the game, and several Jury-Rigged Energy Rifles that can chainsaw through enemies like butter.
** ''Lonesome Road'' is the biggest haul of them all. Aside from the fact that it straddles the line between a DiscOneNuke and a GameBreaker (you can come and go from the Divide at any time in the game), you can obtain many powerful sets of armor (including Elite Desert Ranger and military armor variants), upgrades for ED-E (which make it a GameBreaker in the base game), an insanely-powerful Deathclaw Gauntlet if you can beat the BonusBoss, and if you make a certain decision during the ending, you get access to two other areas that offer unlimited high-level weapons, tons of rare ammunitions and two incredibly-powerful sets of faction armor (NCR Scorched Sierra Power Armor and Legion Armor of the 12th Tribe), not to mention a chest full of unique and customized weapon pieces.
** The Black Jack tables in ''New Vegas'' (and more so the slot machines if you have high luck and too much time on your hands) are ridiculously easy ways to clean out every casino that has these minigames and earn up to 100,000 caps.

[[folder:Literature]]

[[folder: Podcasts]]
* Griffin of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZone'' leaves a small fortune in {{Gold Piece}}s and a useful pair of magical boots lying on conveniently pre-dead dwarves, just waiting to be picked up. If only [[HonorBeforeReason Merle]] wasn't such a prude about looting the dead....
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder:RealLife]]

* The [[LevelEditor Architect Entertainment]] buildings in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' were created to allow players to write their own story arcs for other players to enjoy. Among most of the community, however, it's better known for its "farm" missions, as they're called. It reached to the point where some farms had earned "Hall of Fame" status for having so many favorable ratings among players. The earliest farms would take advantage of exploits to allow characters to go [[GameBreaker from creation to level cap in a single day]] of beating up [[PinataEnemy defenseless enemies for disproportionately high XP]]. Naturally, the devs did not take kindly to this, and closed such loopholes whenever they find them, even banning the most {{egregious}} exploiters of them. Newer farms aren't quite as efficient, and are not cracked down upon as forcefully. Another side-effect is that the XP for player-created enemies ended up up being slashed due to farmers making silly, weak enemies, and this resulted in a lot of otherwise creative story arcs with custom enemy groups going largely unplayed because of the "custom characters" stigma that resulted.

* In ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'', the seasoned, regular [=GMs=] generally either run balanced campaigns or go the opposite direction of this trope. However, when Bob or Dave step behind the screen to run a game, it goes this route.

* This trope plays an unusually huge role in the book, ''Slathbog's Gold''.

* Minor example. Griffin of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZone'' leaves a small fortune in {{Gold Piece}}s and a useful pair of magical boots lying on conveniently pre-dead dwarves, just waiting to be picked up. If only [[HonorBeforeReason Merle]] wasn't such a prude about looting the dead....

* Referenced briefly but incorrectly in ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}''. Forgoth mentions that Minmax cannot simply walk into a blacksmith shop and buy a magic sword, as that would be too Monty Haul, but that's exactly what [=PCs=] are expected to do with their treasure. (If you look in the DM's guide, it clearly says a PC can generally buy any magic item on the list, though they need to look for a seller.) Monty Haul only comes in when [=PCs=] have too much money for their level.
** However, at the same time, the campaign itself definitely is Monty Haul. All the heroes are low-level, but have improbably powerful magic items that even the playing field. The paladin has an axe that acts as the [[SealedEvilInACan can for a world-destroying demon]], the cleric has a spear that multiplies when thrown and then returns to his hand, and the {{minmax|ing}}er recently got a sword made out of oblivion. Which is perhaps fair enough, considering [[KillerGameMaster everything else.]]

* Arguably averted by Creator/MatthewMercer, the DM for ''WebVideo/CriticalRole''. He ''is'' very generous with his items - by level 10, almost everybody has a magic weapons or weapons with magical effects, and the party has a magic carpet, a bag of holding, an immovable rod, and numerous other fun things as well as a ''lot'' of platinum and gold - but it's balanced out by the fact that his fights are ''hard.''

* Dee Dee from ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', after taking over DM-ship of Dexter's game. Considering that Dexter is a Killer GM, the players are much happier with the change. Even funnier is the treasures she hands out: the Archer gets a stronghold (basically the most awesome tree fort ever), the Knight gets a "[[CoolBike noble steed]]", and the Magician gets a LovelyAssistant and a lifetime of sold-out shows in UsefulNotes/LasVegas. Dexter's character asks for the chalice they were questing to obtain, and is upset that all it does is "you can drink from it and it'll never spill."

* The ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series and the majority of its clones tend to be like this in the end game. Bosses and major loot caches will often release a screen-filling fountain of gold and enchanted gear- from which players will pick the one or two very best pieces and leave the rest lying on the floor. At early levels, however, the player will want to keep anything that's better than the standard vendor gear. For a game where the whole point is to constantly upgrade your equipment, the progression is fairly even.
* High Rate Private Servers of any given MMORPG are more often than not Monty Hauls meant to fuel a player's armory with the weapon needed to fight big bosses and most of all each other.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'''s Operation Anchorage DLC takes the player through a short, relentlessly linear, and relatively easy (depending on character build) campaign, at the end of which you're awarded with a treasure trove of goodies not available anywhere in the core game.

** Just by finishing ''Old World Blues'' and obtaining all the upgrades for the sink, you can several immensely useful benefits: passive bonuses whenever you rest, your own seed farm (where you can grow and create virtually anything in the game), several implants that provide a host of ancillary benefits and all the spare skill magazines you could want. The DLC also gives several perks that seem specifically designed for dealing with [[DemonicSpiders Cazadores]], a set of powerful stealth armor and the best silenced sniper rifle in the game, and several Jury-Rigged Energy Rifles that can chainsaw through enemies like butter.

* The [[LevelEditor Architect Entertainment]] buildings in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' were created to allow players to write their own story arcs for other players to enjoy. Among most of the community, however, it's better known for its "farm" missions, as they're called. It reached to the point where some farms had earned "Hall of Fame" status for having so many favorable ratings among players. The earliest farms would take advantage of exploits to allow characters to go [[GameBreaker from creation to level cap in a single day]] of beating up [[PinataEnemy defenseless enemies for disproportionately high XP]]. Naturally, the devs did not take kindly to this, and closed such loopholes whenever they find them, even banning the most {{egregious}} exploiters of them. Newer farms aren't quite as efficient, and are not cracked down upon as forcefully, however.
** Another side-effect is that the XP for player-created enemies ended up up being slashed due to farmers making silly, weak enemies, and this resulted in a lot of otherwise creative story arcs with custom enemy groups going largely unplayed because of the "custom characters" stigma that resulted.
* In the MMO ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'', it is ridiculously easy to gain the best gear and equipment for little risk via earning special ingame currency, and via crafting said gear using easily farmed resources called "data samples". Also any dropped gear that's rare but you don't need can be sold on the player exchange for insane amounts of ingame currency. Many players become multi-millionaires this way, making said currency practically worthless - save for some special items like rare bridge officers that boost your in-space abilities (only one type which is so rare that it sells for millions on its own).
** Subverted now for crafting when the game went free to play, as crafting high level items now requires Dilithium. Which can only be produced in quantities of 8,000 a day, and most items require around 12,000 Dilithium to craft. Only players willing to spend real money on the game to trade it to others for Dilithium can really craft the high level items.
* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGate 2'', you couldn't throw a rock into a dungeon without it bouncing off at least a half-dozen magical goodies. You don't even need to go that far from the start of the game to get Lilarcor, an [[InfinityMinusOneSword Infinity Minus One Two-Handed Sword]] that'll easily last you most of the game at the least. Then again, [[NintendoHard you'll need as much help as you can get.]]
** Firkraag's Dungeon (Chapter 2) in particular had a metric ton of unique loot, including a +3 bow, a Dragon helm/shield/sword/scales (all with bonus resistances), Full Plate Mail +1, the best two-handed sword in the game (Carsomyr), a shield cloak, not to mention a ton of ammunition and various minor weapons. Any party that ventures in will find enough gear to make a killing on the resale market.
** To be fair, Carsomyr is only available if you decide to fight the BonusBoss inside. And unless you cheat, defeating him in chapter 2 is a tenuous suggestion at best.

* The ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, starting from ''Black and White'' and progressing as it goes on. In the [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY first pair of Kalos titles]], as a mandatory part of the story, you can choose to take on a Pokémon that will completely wreck the rest of the game singlehandedly, about a quarter of the way in. This is not getting into the numerous useful, initially rare items random {{NPC}}s will throw at you for no effort on your part other than talking to them.

** This is invoked in-game with the [=MJ12=] Underground Base level. Having been [[spoiler:caught and imprisoned underneath UNATCO]], your main objective is to escape. Most friendly characters encountered in the base will either give you codes to important places or sell you needed items. There's an armory you can sneak into that has [[BagOfSpilling all your gear]], along with a ton of ammunition, additional weapons and a rare Plasma Rifle, long before you start finding them on enemies. And then, when you get up to [[spoiler:UNATCO itself, Sam Carter ''orders you'' to take as much gear as you can carry, while Shannon (one of the employees) offers to sell you expensive and rare scramble grenades]]. The only question is not how much you take, but how much you can store in your inventory (barring a [[GoodBadBug glitch that allows you to stack items on top of each other in the menu screen]]).