d12 | Result |
---|---|
1 |
Black Spine (30g) |
2 |
Crystallization Catalyst (10g per bottle) |
3 |
Collectible Sweets (50s each, double if in a set with all six flavours) |
4 |
Dead-Spice Liqueur (20g for the 40oz bottle, or 1g for a 1oz measure) |
5 |
Companion Lizard (10g) |
6 |
Deep Silk (20g for the full roll) |
7 |
Heaven Shrimp (1g each) |
8 |
Disgusting Art (50g) |
9 |
Opiate Fruit Seeds (1g each) |
10 |
Man-Egg (2g) |
11 |
Cosmic Steel (5g per sheet) |
12 |
Star Mask (50g) |
Interesting Treasures (INTO THE ODD) (d12)
The Key Principles of Odd Treasures
- Their value exceeds their usefulness.
- There's a reason they haven't been taken already.
- They needn't be complicated, but should provoke thought.
Big Stuff
The easiest way to (mostly) hit all three principles is to make it a big heavy useless thing that's worth money. I also like how it unifies the group, who have to work together to get this thing back to Bastion and split the profits.
Coins and Jewellery
I'm guessing this is the most common form of D&D Treasure, but it doesn't work so well with Into the Odd. There are just more gold-loving monsters (usually humanoid) in the D&D world, so it makes sense to be able to kill the green guy and find a chest of gold. I've heard people lauding the effect of using exotic currencies in your game, but that does nothing for me.
Gems are barely more interesting, notable only really in their physical appeal, and need of a single wealthy buyer.
So there are times when I'll put a case of 20g or a ruby ring into an expedition site, most often on corpses found in really nasty places. I just find treasure items to be more fun.
Hordes found at the very depths of the dungeon sort of fit into this, but they're still kind of dull to me in their overwhelming volume. With so much stuff in one room it's hard to make any of it have any impact. I guess I'd just always rather use one giant coin than a million small, which brings us onto...
By Chris McDowall creator of INTO THE ODD
Found on his blog BASTIONLAND
Original post: http://www.bastionland.com/2016/05/odd-treasures.html