Kylaan is dead and his minions have dissipated. Lying in the corner of the room is a heap of treasure beyond the party’s wildest dreams. Piled on a table are seven ivory statuettes of women in states of leisure set beside two chests of glittering sapphires and eight great tomes bound in leather and tooled with precision, their pages illuminated by colored ink of silver, gold, red, and blue. Behind the table four mannequins stand proudly with suits of bronze plate mail, each set with the blazing sun of Pelor in copper upon its chest. A single scroll case of ivory rests against the leg of one armored statue, packed with ancient parchment. To the left, three great casks of dwarven liquor that gives off the pleasant scent of sweet honey draped in red and gold velvet cloaks.
The party salivates with anticipation.
Or you know … I could have given them 50,000 gold coins and sent them on their way. Which sounds better? If you said 50,000 gold coins then you may not be playing this RPG for the RP part. That’s cool. I won’t treasure shame you. Treasure’s treasure, right? And we all want it.
There’s something inherently more satisfying about acquiring treasure when it has personality to it. Anyone can find a chest of gold coins in an ancient dungeon. But a gold bound chest of sapphires and lapis lazuli stones with a single silver dagger plunged into the heart of the glittering gems? I hunger for that chest. I want to buy that chest dinner and some wine, play a little elven lute music to set the mood, and then spend the hell out of it.
It takes a bit of prep … that’s an understatement … it takes a metric butt ton of prep to create a treasure with the right personality. I’ve spent the better part of an hour creating just the right treasure with the right descriptors and the right gold value. I’ve done that more than once. I did that on Monday. Twice.
Hashtag real talk, everyone. A lot of us at one point in our life wanted nothing more than to become a pirate or an adventurer or Indiana goddamn Jones. We wanted to plunder ancient tombs or unwary merchant vessels so that we could have chests of gold and jewels to just look at. I think of it like a fire. You’re drawn to the fire just as you’re drawn to the idea of coins and jewels you can run your hands through. I have a complicated relationship with treasure and I accept that.
RPG’s let us do all of that. Rolling some dice and reading some numbers off of a character sheet gives us the opportunity to be rewarded for bravado, daring, and a clever wit. Sitting and laughing with friends about the silly thing we did a tavern that one time is its own reward but learning that our character is going home with a jeweled goblet and a longsword with a diamond in its pommel is a different matter.
So far all I’ve done is tell you that treasure is cool. You know that treasure is cool. You don’t need my help to know that treasure is cool. We’ve been trained from birth by movies, games, and books to know that treasure is something we want.
Here are my tips for creating the most delicious treasures in the world:
- There are resources for you. Old Sword and Sorcery stories are bursting at the seams with descriptions of city’s literally made out of gems, silk garments and the people wearing them, and what parts of attire should and should not be made out of gold. Seriously, go read an old Conan the Barbarian or Red Sonja story and tell me you can’t find description of a treasure hoard somewhere. I’ll wait. I’m still not gonna wait. I’m sorry I keep lying to you … I’m not, actually. That was also a lie. I’m a bad person, reader.
- Not all that glitters is gold. Silver, Copper, Bronze, Brass, Electrum, Gemstones, Marble, Polished Wood, Jade, and even Silk can shimmer and glitter and draw attention to itself. Someone in the world wants giant insect chitin. I don’t know if I want to be friends with that guy but he’s out there and he thinks chitin is treasure. Give that man some chitin.
- Little treasures are important. Giving the player an ivory salt box at the start of the dungeon can peak their interest. They might even become attached to the idea that someone in the world would go through the trouble of having a small salt box made out of ivory. Give them vials of ink and feathers from rare birds, belt buckles and velvet gloves, gem dice and illuminated playing cards, ornate weapons, beautiful pieces of armor, and even just a jeweled scabbard for their cutlass.
- Big treasures are important. A Black Iron Suit of Platemail with Gold Trim and a Winged Helmet is going to be worth quite a bit of coin. Or maybe the tank likes the idea of wading into a fight with black iron and gold. A magical artifact that grants the user the ability to talk to birds can be exactly what one of your players has always wanted and if its magic its gotta be worth a bit of cash.
- Give the players exactly what they want. If they’re raiding a silver mine then there better be some damn silver treasure in there. If they raid a library there better be a book or two. Even a book titled Codex Dracarys sounds like it might be valuable to people who like dragons. If they plunder the ancient and forgotten tomb of Sar-Azria, Sorceress Queen of long dead Kula, then there better be some ancient and forgotten mysteries that should have remained buried. Also gold. Gold’s good.
- Give the players what they never expected. The bones of a long dead saint who was important to your paladin’s god? Rad. Your warlock has been branded with the sigil of a lesser devil by touching its severed horn? Awesome. The rogue found a treasure map leading to the last treasure her father was searching for? Sounds like you know what you’re doing next week. Use treasure and loot to give your players direction for their characters.
Offer them more than mere gold.
No comments:
Post a Comment