Treasure (RDG)

Treasure represents valuable goods that characters may obtain through exploration, combat and interaction with their environment. Found in various locations, treasure serves multiple purposes both within the game and in the broader context of the setting. Treasure provides tangible rewards for players, incentivizing exploration and the overcoming of challenges. It acts as a benchmark for success and progression within the game, offering characters means to improve their abilities and achieve their goals. Many treasures, such as magical items and rare materials, directly enhance a character’s capabilities or provide essential resources for crafting and other activities.

Pieces of treasure often carry sentimental, historical or cultural significance, offering insights into the world's environment. For those who possess it, treasure represents wealth and economic power, used to trade for goods, services and influence. It also symbolizes status and prestige, often held by powerful entities or used to display one's prominence and success. Through these roles, treasure contributes to both the practical and immersive aspects of the game, making it a central element of the adventuring experience. The significance of treasure goes beyond its immediate utility; it serves as a key motivator for interaction between different groups within the setting. The pursuit of treasure can lead to alliances, rivalries and conflicts, driving the dynamic interactions that shape the game's motivations.

It is very important to recognise that the CIRCUMSTANCE in which the treasure is found becomes more important than the gold piece value of the treasure. For example, it matters a great deal that a 1 g.p. lapidary stone is found on a plundered body ... but finding hundreds of lapidary stones piled in with other treasure lacks any sentimental significance, and therefore the experience value for each object is correspondingly less.

Treasure comes from many sources, each requiring its unique approach and consideration. Crafting comprehensive treasure tables becomes essential, requiring tables that record lists of items for players to find. Treasure tables must reflect a diversity of situations and contexts in which treasure might be found, ensuring that the rewards feel authentic and appropriate to the setting. Therefore an effort is being made here to craft a set of tables that encourage players to engage with the world more deeply, as they must adapt their strategies and expectations according to what they pursue, based on what they expect to find.

Plundering Bodies

One of the most basic forms of treasure is that which is acquired from looting a body — specifically that of a humanoid. This practice is a fundamental aspect of many adventure settings, where characters often find valuable items, equipment and resources on the remains of defeated foes or unfortunate victims. Looting bodies serves several purposes: it provides immediate rewards for characters, offering tangible benefits for their efforts in combat or exploration. These rewards can include simple objects that individuals carry as a personal connection with their world, minor valuables, food or drink, among other things.

From a practical standpoint, looting bodies reflects the harsh realities of survival in many game worlds. Characters must make use of all available resources, and scavenging from fallen enemies is a logical means of acquiring necessary equipment and supplies. This also underscores the unpredictability of the setting, where danger can come from any encounter, and the spoils of victory are a vital part of a character's progression. Looting also offers a glimpse into the lives of the defeated. The items found on a body can tell a story, revealing the background, status and intentions of the individual. A simple soldier might carry standard-issue gear and a few personal objects, , while a more significant adversary could possess rare or unique items that hint at unknown challenges.

Plundered body table

Roll	Result
01-25	1-4 gewgaws
26-65	1-2 trinkets
66-85	ornament
86-92	tool
93-00	lapidary stone

The different types of treasure that may be found on a body are detailed as follows, appearing on the table shown.

Gewgaws: It's assumed that every humanoid carries between 1-4 of these items, each of which are worth very little or nothing, a mere 0-3 c.p. Examples would be a bone die, shoe buckle, seashell, ceramic button or bead, playing card, iron key, river stone, pouch of herbs or seeds, 15 ft. of twine, charcoal stick, animal tooth or claw, iron finger ring, fragment of fur, piece of chalk, leather patch, iron rivet or bit of ribbon. These are those objects that most intelligent creatures carry around for their personal or cultural significance, reflecting the individual's connection with self and clan. Each weighs 1 oz. and may be kept and traded for the worth they may have at a market. In addition, each is worth 1 experience (x.p) if discarded upon finding, and 3 x.p. if kept and sold later. This x.p. has less to do with the object's value than with the connection the player character also feels with the game world.

These may be accumulated and counted merely as "gewgaws," noting total weight and without providing details as to the specific objects, or a separate table can be made with perhaps hundreds of possibilities. It may work to simply say the character has a 1 in 100 chance of having a specific gewgaw that's wanted per total number of gewgaws. For example, if the party has 86 different gewgaws between them, there's an 86% chance that one of these (or perhaps 1-4) are varying lengths of twine around 15 ft. long.

Trinkets & Baubles encompass an eclectic array of ornamentation and objects of slight value, serving as a keepsake, memento, or token of sentiment or memory; they are worth from 2-12 c.p. Trinkets tend to possess a certain aesthetic charm or attractiveness, whether through intricate craftsmanship, unique design or fine detailing, despite the relative cheapness of the material; they're used for adornment, and sometimes as status symbols. Some trinkets may serve practical purposes, while baubles may be pretty or comforting to the senses when held. Examples include beaded, leather or woven pieces of adornment such as anklets, bracelets, headbands or necklaces, with minimum amounts of iron or pure copper metal, but no better; iron spoons, fish hooks, thimbles, throwing dice made of carved bone, glass beads, coloured glass pieces, uncut quartz, agate or other comparable stones, medallion-sized porcelain or stone carvings, large wooden or ceramic beads, wooden or bone pendants, small brass bells or copper brass shoe or belt buckles. Each weighs 2 oz. and may be kept until sold; each is worth 2 x.p. if discarded upon finding, and 8 x.p. if kept and sold later. Like gewgaws, they may be accumulated and counted as "trinkets," without needing to define the specific objects. If trinkets occur on the table, there will ALSO be 1-4 gewgaws as well.

Ornaments are single objects of established value (listed in c.p.), such as a codpiece (16); neckerchief (8); silk belt (7); zuchetto, or clerical cap (12); eye patch (8); comb (22); smoking pipe (17); and so on. This list can be expanded as the prices of additional articles becomes available. Weights for these items vary considerably. Each, if found, is worth 4 x.p. if discarded, and 20 x.p. if kept and sold later. They should be recorded in equipment lists as what they are. If an ornament is found, then there will also be 1-4 gewgaws as well.

Tools, like ornaments, have an established value (listed in c.p.): belt pouch (23 c.p.); chopsticks (1); coin sack, empty (19); marking guage (23), stake (4); straw broom (16); ten-foot pole (14); torch (12); wedge (9); wooden serving spoon (11); and so on. Like with ornaments, this list can be expanded. As with ornaments, weights vary; each tool if found is worth 4 x.p. if discarded and 22 x.p. if kept and sold later.

Lapidary stone adjustment

Roll	Result
1	Stone increases to 5 g.p. in value; roll again; with each additional "1" rolled increasing the value of the stone to 10 g.p., 50 g.p., 100 g.p., 500 g.p. and 1000 g.p.
2	Treble the value of the stone; do not roll again.
3	Double the value of the stone; do not roll again.
4-10	Present value is unchanged; do not roll again.

Lapidary stones are "polished" gems that are considered "rough" and uncut as gemstones. That is, the stone has undergone treatments to enhance it's appearance, removing surface imperfections, irregularities and dull areas, revealing some of it's natural beauty and potential. Such stones have a base value of 1 g.p. and a weight of 1 oz. For each, a d10 can be rolled, consulting the table shown. Lapidary stones, regardless of value, are worth 30 x.p. when found.

Stone varieties are nearly always some type of agate, azurite, cat's eye, greenstone, hematite, lapis, malachite, prase, quartz, rhodochrosite or turquoise, with some rarer ornate examples. Stones that are worth 10 g.p. are likely to be amethyst, bloodstone, carnelian, chalcedony, chrysoprase, citrine, jasper, moonstone, onyx, opal, zircon or some form of poor corundum. Those that are worth 50 to 100 g.p. are liable to be alexandrite, amber, aquamarine, garnet or peridot, among many, many other possible gems. Naturally, still more expensive stones may be jet, spinel, topaz, tourmaline, emerald, ruby, sapphire or diamond.