So I just recently began playing Might and Magic I: Secret of the Inner Sanctum. I've been exploring and picking fights around Sorpigal and all my characters are ready to advance to level 3. But training is expensive and monsters drop very little gold, not to mention I want to upgrade my equipment. Most of my characters are still using padded leather and clubs. Is there an efficient way to earn more gold at the beginning? Any tips would be welcome. Thanks in advance!

First, just to be sure, you are (S)earching after every fitght, correct? That's how you'll find most of your money and items in the game. Make sure to have your robber open the treasure so he or she can disarm any traps. If your'e injured, you can rest first, as long as you don't leave the square you're on. If you leave without (S)earching, you will lose the treasure forever.

The beginning is always a bit of a grind, but you should have enough money to train, just from what you find after killing monsters. As for equipment, you can always take the equipment off of the starting party and give it to your party. Just go to the inn, sign in with half of your characters and half of the pre-made characters, transfer all their stuff, then repeat with the other half and take their stuff too. That will give you a good edge in the beginning. Honestly, after that you will start finding much better equipment than you can buy. You should save gold for training.

I assume you are still exploring Sorpigal. When you've mapped it out, try exploring the dungeon underneath the town next. Enemies there are slightly tougher but will also drop more gold.

Train your characters as soon as you can affford it, because gaining levels makes a BIG difference in being able to fight effectively. If you have to choose whose level to raise, prioritize getting your spellcasters to level 3, because this will unlock the second tier of spells, which are very useful.

So I guess there isn't really a quick way to make money early on, just keep exploring and fighting and saving often and once you've gained a few levels and can start exploring the world in earnest things will pick up.

Have fun! I enjoyed the game much more than I expected... it gets really good once you're strong enough to leave the first town and go exploring, so keep at it!

If you've already mapped the town and the dungeon underneath, you could also try heading outside the town and exploring the overworld a bit. Encounters outside often have more monsters in them, but if you can handle them that also means more rewards.

And if you're still using clubs and padded armor, you should consider taking the equipment off of the pre-made characters as that will help a lot.

I've just started playing through this as well and was having a similar problem. I did venture over to Portsmith and did manage to get a bit more money from encounters but if you've got male characters then be prepared for plenty of resting and food is expensive there. Having gone back to Sorpigal I'm just going to the dungeon underneath and going straight across the room and following that path. There are always 4 encounters as you go past the doors and they aren't too difficult, particularly if you have a cleric for the skeleton one. Then run back to the inn to save game, sell any items I don't need and repeat. Now that my spell casters are at level 3 and above you can also use the jump spell to skip the squares that won't give any rewards. Once you are past about level 3 or 4 the experience points required for the next level are much more so you'll have more time to raise money for training.

Once you can get past the 4 encounters if you go into the two rooms that are to the left of where you got the scroll you'll get encounters in those rooms as well. Though they can be harder!

A few passes through that has started to yield the odd magic weapon and/or suits of plate armour which you can sell for money if you don't think you need them at this stage.

Also are you using the bless (during combat) and leatherskin (cast when leaving the inn/after resting) spells?

Portsmith is actually a (the most?) difficult town. After Sorpigal, you might want to go to Erliquin or Algary for an easier challenge.

Like Waltorious said, there will be a bit of grinding in the beginning. Try the outside areas. Although there are some deadly traps there too. The beauty of this game is that you *will* more than a few times wander into an area which will just be way too tough for you. Don't expect gradual increase in difficulty like you do in many modern RPGs.
But if you managed to get past the dated graphics and controls and haven't given up after half an hour then you're in for a really good game. I enjoyed it a lot.

Thanks - Portsmith was quite difficult! A case of get near an encounter, rest, fight, back to inn ... and hope for no random encounters! It did get more gold than Sorpigal though! Have visited Erliquin but might go back as I'm getting killed a lot in the castles at the moment :-(. Which is probably a case of shouldn't be going there yet!!!

In MM1, whenever you're having trouble, try exploring somewhere new. There are definitely areas that are easier and areas that are harder, and there's no easy way to know which areas are which until you try exploring them. Even if you die, you'll keep the map you made, so it's not a total loss, and you can then try going other places.

The plaques on the statues in Sorpigal give a few hints of some things you can try to do in the game that will help you out, too.