Email with James Wyatt

I recently emailed James Wyatt, the D&D design manager at Wizards of the Coast. Since he runs and plays in various games I asked him for some advice on Treasure Parcels, he responded with the following...

"I humbly think they're the easiest method of treasure distribution the game has ever had. Because parcels aren't specifically tied to encounters, you can give them out any time and in any way you want to.
And because you have a list of parcels you can cross off, you don't have to keep a running tally of how much gold you've given out, just check off parcels as you give them out.

* I handle them by writing a list in my notebook of the 11 parcels I need to give out over the course of each character level (11 because I have a group of 6 players). Because I don't do a whole lot of prep for my game, I leave the magic items blank ("level 5 item") and just write down the gp values of the other parcels. I give out parcels when the inspiration strikes me, but usually at the end of an encounter or a session. But sometimes in the middle of a fight, like when vines started coiling around Turuk, turning his armor into life vine armor.
When the characters reached 2nd level, I still had a couple of parcels I hadn't given out, so I copied them onto the same page where I wrote the list of 2nd-level parcels, to make sure I catch up. I spent a little time a couple of weeks ago looking at what items I had given out so far, seeing who didn't have an item, and penciling in items meant to appeal to the other characters. At some point, I might ask the players for wish lists, but given this group I'm not sure I'll get much of a response!

* I'm pretty sure that Mike does pretty much the same thing in his lunchtime game. Periodically he'll send around an email asking what magic items we have so he can make sure he's keeping up and giving out items that appeal to all the characters.
* Andy uses wish lists, and actually has us set up on a rotation, so the characters take turns finding items from their lists. If I'm lax in giving him a wish list, and my turn for an item comes up, I might find an unspecified 7th-level item and have the freedom to choose what it actually is."