Monty Hall was the host of
Let's Make a Deal.
Gary Gygax named the style of
roleplaying gameplay where
game masters hid treasures behind some doors, monsters behind others and then let the players choose their fate "monty haul" gaming, making a pun on the game show host's name. The term has come to be used to refer to sessions where game masters encourage
munchkin players.
TheBooBooKitty: Actually my w/u is quite correct. Although I had used the term for years before writing it I cribbed information from part 5, question G8 of the rec.games.frp.dnd FAQ which reads as follows:
G8: Who's this "Monty Haul" character I keep hearing about?
A: Monty Hall was the host of the 60's & 70's, and 90's American game
show _Let's Make a Deal_. People would dress up in silly costumes,
then be chosen out of the crowd to play the game. Monty would give
the lucky contestant a handful of money, then talk them into trading
the money for whatever was behind door number one, door number two,
door number three, or what was in the box, or they could just keep the
money. Each time they traded, he would give them another choice.
After they decided to stick with a choice, Monty revealed what had
been won. Prizes could be anything, good or bad, such as money, cars,
jewelry, a years supply of auto wax, goats, inner tubes, exotic
vacations, a pound of confetti, etc. Gary Gygax named the style of
play where game masters hid treasures behind some doors, monsters
behind others and then let the players choose their fate "Monty Haul"
gaming, making a pun on the game show host's name.
The term has come to be used to refer to sessions where game masters
encourage munchkin players; basically any game can be considered a
Monty Haul game where the game master sets up unfathomable amounts of
treasure and earth-shattering magic items guarded by weak and wimpy
monsters, thus giving enormous amounts of power to beginning-level
characters.
Also keep in mind that what exactly qualifies a game as "monty haul" varies widely depending on who you ask. Be sure to wear your Nomex undies if you bring it up online (or even offline with some people).