Thursday, May 27, 2010

Trifling Treasures: Ordinary objects to make treasure extraordinary

We search the goblins' purses, pockets,and backpacks. What do we find?" "Well, the biggest one-you figure he’s the leader-has one gold and six silvers. The rest have three silvers each."

Take a moment to empty your own pockets. What have you got in there? Some money, the stub from a ticket to The Crow, a tattered receipt from the last module you bought, some lint, and, oh, wow! Your missing d10. Strange that a monster as slovenly as a goblin would have such clean pockets!

Filling NPCs' pockets with a few worthless oddments makes the monsters seem more real, and their treasure hoards less mundane. Take a generic bugbear. Maybe he's got eight coppers, 14 silvers, and two gold. So what? But add a daisy with two petals left (she loves him...she loves him not...); Wow, poor guy, unlucky at love, unlucky at war. Suddenly you have a monster with personality.

Trifling treasures are not meant to advance the plot or give clues to the PCs. Far from it! Use them as red herrings to drive players crazy. What lock does that minotaur's key open? Who's the "Gargolina" that the ogre's note mentions? Of course, some objects can be used as jumping-off points for new adventures. But by not using them that way all the time, the DM gives his players a view of a larger, more realistic campaign universe, where not everything directly affects or is affected by the PCs.

I've used the following system in my own campaign for two years. My players love it. Their PCs' pockets and backpacks are filled with weird things. These treasures provide plenty of role-playing:  "Cookies!? I scarf them down before the halfling can grab them." "Gorg, that ribbon really is your color!"

Once in a while these items even come in handy. Some can be used as spell components, but how about the party's evil nemesis slipping on a strategically placed sliver of soap? Imagine the thief PC, confronted by a guard patrol, using that wig and perfume to disguise himself as one of the queen's ladies in waiting. Sell the party a leaky boat, but allow them to be saved from sinking (and drowning) by a wad of bubble gum.

The tables are designed with simplicity in mind. Roll 1d20, 1d6, and 1d10 and consult the table. You can throw in as many "useless" items from the charts as you like, but one or two items for each monster and a maximum of ten items for a communal hoard should be enough. Though intended for fantasy role-playing games (RPGs), a little work can convert the following tables for modern systems. Just throw in a disposable lighter, a pocket protector, or a can of hairspray.

The DM is encouraged to add to the tables, especially .Cryptic notes. Entries from which shouldn't appear more than once. Using 1d6 and 1d10 rather than 1d100 makes this easier by allowing the DM to expand the tables in blocks of 10.

Now let's check those goblin's pockets again: "The first one has three silvers and some empty nut shells. The second has three slimy silvers and a leaky half-full vial labeled "sword oil" It makes your fingers greasy. You pull a piece of cloth from the third one’s pocket. Looks like a hankie...and, it’s been used."

(PLEASE NOTE: The list items are showing up with little flowers instead of being numbered 1-10 as they should be. I'm looking into how to fix this. Anyway, each of the items should be numbered 1-10 on its individual list.)

Table I
1d20 Roll
1-6     Food, Table II
7-10     Plants & Animals, Table III
11-13     Ornaments, Etc., Table IV
14-19     Miscellany, Table V
20     Cryptic Notes, Table VI

Table II: Food
1d6 roll     1d10 roll

l-2
  1. A shriveled apple
  2. A handful of dried beans
  3. A small wicker strainer filled with tea leaves (50% chance used)
  4. A small sack of dried fruit
  5. Empty nut shells
  6. A cookie with a bite taken out
  7. Cookie crumbs and a dead beetle
  8. A sticky wad of sweet smelling pink goo (hard to scrape from fingers, hair or clothing. If chewed, bubbles can be blown, but 10% chance of contracting disease)
  9. A head of garlic
  10. A piece of (sticky) hard candy
3-4
  1. A dried-out hunk of cheese
  2. A heel of stale bread
  3. A piece of soggy bread
  4. A handful of nuts
  5. A hunk of meat or bread crawling with maggots or weevils (DM's choice)
  6. An oiled cloth packet containing a chunk of smoked fish
  7. A sausage with a bite out
  8. Peel from an orange, banana, or other fruit
  9. A tin labeled .chocolate covered rot grubs. (contents are dead and harmless)
  10. An awful-smelling hunk of blue-green-gray fuzz (somewhere in the center of the mold is a hunk of cheese)

5-6     
  1.  A tiny packet of folded parchment (contains salt or pepper)
  2. 1d6 rosehips (useful for tea or itching powder)
  3. 1d6 berries (75% chance 1d4 are smashed)
  4. A small wooden bowl with scraps of pork rind and beans stuck to the bottom
  5. A small vial (50% labeled "The Feudal Gourmet's Red Dragon  Sauce," filled with a red liquid (as hot as it sounds)
  6. A small, stoppered clay jar labeled .honey. (half full, honeycomb
  7. included)
  8. A bag of dried split peas
  9. 1d6 potion-vials filled with liquid (each contains a different type of cordial or liquor, value 1d3 sp each)
  10. 1d10 small, translucent red items, of a rubbery texture, shaped like adventurers (mages, rogues, priests, fighters), cherry-flavored

Table III: Plants & Animals
1d6 roll     1d10 roll
   
1-3
  1. A handful of fur
  2. A bruised and faded flower
  3. A dead spider
  4. A bit of dry moss (tinder--helpful if it's been raining and the party's
  5. tinder is wet)
  6. A dead grasshopper
  7. A daisy with two petals left
  8. A carefully folded parchment packet containing a very pretty, dead butterfly
  9. 1d8 feathers
  10. A handful of burrs stuck to a colorful bit of thread

4-6
  1. 1d8 flies without wings
  2. 1d6 dead fireflies (20% chance still glowing for 1d4 rounds)
  3. 1d8 tiny pinecones
  4. A snake.s shed skin (5% chance intact)
  5. A square of cloth wrapped around a bit of dung
  6. A cloth packet containing 1d4 packets of tea leaves
  7. A handful of bark and leaves
  8. The hind foot of a rabbit (50% dyed a vivid color)
  9. A dead frog
  10. 1d3 live mice in a small metal cage

Table IV: Ornaments, etc.
1d6 roll     1d10 roll

1-3
  1. A brass tin, the lid polished to mirror shine, filled with colored powder and a tiny brush
  2. A vial of dark liquid (50% labeled "Vorgadern.s Gray-Away," hair dye)
  3. A string of tiny glass beads (breaks and scatters when examined)
  4. A vial of transparent, foul smelling yellow liquid (cheap perfume.50% labeled "Eau de Troll")
  5. A tiny brush and a tin of soft (mustache) wax
  6. A broken silver ring with a smashed stone (value 1sp)
  7. A bone button with colored thread in the holes
  8. A single earring, clay beads strung on copper wire (no value)
  9. A handkerchief, clean
  10. A handkerchief, monogrammed

4-6
  1. A handkerchief, used
  2. A black half-face mask
  3. A bracelet of tiny brass bells strung on a brass wrist or ankle chain (value 1sp)
  4. A lace garter adorned with satin rosebuds
  5. A rolled-up pair of filthy, damp, socks
  6. A pair of super-thin silk stockings (75% full of runs and holes)
  7. A small, rectangular tin containing a stick of black kohl
  8. A codpiece of embroidered, but filthy velvet
  9. A wig (DM's choice of hairstyle and color)
  10. A strip of cloth an armspan long, 3" wide

Table V: Miscellany
1d6 roll     1d10 roll

1
  1. 1d6 small painted wooden blocks
  2. A pair of six-sided bone dice
  3. Six oddly shaped bone dice
  4. A needle and thread
  5. Two fish hooks with a 5' coil of string
  6. Flint and steel
  7. A brightly painted gourd with a stick attached
  8. A corkscrew
  9. A tiny vial (10% labeled .Fairy Dust.) filled with glitter (mica and colored sand)
  10. A tiny sliver of soap

2
  1. A whetstone
  2. 1d6 pretty pebbles (no value)
  3. A brass key (fits no known lock)
  4. A playing card --ace of stones
  5. Three 1" red-painted wooden discs
  6. A reed whistle
  7. A miniature lead figure of an adventurer (25% each fighter, mage, priest, rogue)
  8. A broken glass vial (PC must pass a Dexterity check or take 1 hp damage)
  9. A small rectangle of copper with a line of raised numbers punched into it, engraved on the copper is "Waterdhavian Express: Don't leave the keep without it."
  10. A prayerbook (deity of DM.s choice)

3
  1. A bit of partially started crochet with a crochet hook and a piece of  yarn
  2. A small loop of string with a knot tied in it
  3. A snapped bowstring
  4. A red stocking containing a piece of coal
  5. A box of white talc, labeled "Vorgadern's Famous Medicated Foot-Powder."
  6. A small length of copper wire (long enough to act as impromptu handcuffs)
  7. A half-burnt stick of incense
  8. 1d8 clay marbles in a leather bag
  9. A dart
  10. A drinking horn (still smells of ale)

4
  1. A leaky, half-full vial of sword oil
  2. 1d6 crudely carved wooden chess pieces
  3. A lock of hair tied with a ribbon
  4. A small rag doll resembling a bear
  5. A piece of chalk
  6. 1d3 nails
  7. A handful of sand
  8. A scrap of leather
  9. A broken quill pen
  10. A pipe and a small pouch of pipeweed

5
  1. 1d4 candle stubs, providing 2 rounds of light each
  2. A handful of lint
  3. A bloodstained bandage
  4. A wooden token "Good for 1 free drink in The Bowels of the Earth"
  5. A gilded copper piece (actual value 1 cp)
  6. An arrowhead attached to a broken shaft
  7. Toenail clippings
  8. A small tin containing a horrid-smelling white paste (50% labeled "Vorgadern's Super-Strength Skunk-Oil Healer"
  9. A roll of string (1d4. long)
  10. A miniature portrait of a very attractive member of the same race, but opposite sex of the bearer

6
  1. A broken tortoise shell comb
  2. A citronella candle
  3. A stick of sealing wax
  4. A piece of vellum with a square grid drawn on it
  5. A 10' length of string with knots at 1" intervals
  6. A small wicker basket
  7. A pair of spectacles with broken lenses
  8. A pig.s bladder bearing the painted message "Joyous Day of Birth"
  9. A small leather collar with a brass medallion hanging from it, with "Vicious" engraved thereon
  10. A twisted metal fork

Table VI: Cryptic notes
Notes can be written on nearly any surface (burned into leather, scratched on rock) but most often appear on vellum or parchment. They can be in any condition (neatly folded, torn and crumpled, bloodstained, soggy, etc.).
1d6 roll     1d10 roll

1-3
  1. "Take the first wight after the well."
  2. A half-written letter to a lady
  3. "Triia Redbunting, Number Four, Street of the Swords, Waterdeep"
  4. A colored chalk drawing of a red dragon
  5. "Meet me under the bridge at midnight."
  6. "Floor show & Dinner at Dareena's"
  7. An appointment calendar
  8. "Gargolina is looking for you."
  9. A religious pamphlet (75% of a PC.s rival or enemy faith)
  10. "Flour, eggs, a barrel of pickled fish, ten yards Widow Othry's cloth, pink or yellow, a new yoke for the mule..."(a shopping list)

4-6
  1. A smeared note "Ungodly treasure!" is the only legible part
  2. A pamphlet detailing local gossip
  3. "I'd try the yellow powder."
  4. The note contains 1d4 rather stupid puns or jokes, which the DM should detail
  5. "Three steps right. Three steps forward. Spin around. Five steps forward, bending low. Jump back." (dance instructions, but could be mistaken for treasure directions)
  6. A recipe for "Chocolate Covered Rot Grubs in Port"
  7. A "Last Will and Testament."
  8. The NPC's family tree
  9. "The object in question is at the miller's."
  10. Song lyrics (15% referring to a quest the PCs had been on previously)

This article originally appeared in Dragon Magazine # 207.  Used with permission.

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