Saturday 19 January 2013

Long Stair Items - Loot from the other world

My whinge about whinging
My mother who once complained people dont write or write letters anymore tells me online relationships are not like real interactions with people. The net is clearly the biggest help to writing and has replaced letters quite effective. Consider many cities ran 4 deliveries a day a hundred years ago and had mail by street urchin if needed and we have just got back to letter writing again plus more deliveries per day and international distances.

One thing that proves the net is like the real world is you can have meaningful fights that hurt. I managed to have thee fights last sunday - one with a friend who was unhappy i didn't comment on one item on a list of his activities as i was meant too (i avoided the bait). He deleated the whole thread. Another accused me of being arrogant because i didnt want to explain logic and debate terms on a FB page. They baited me by saying i was belittling every one of his readers intelligence . So I wrote a one paragraph explanation that took 2 hours to write. To which he replied why didn't you say that in the first place. I had a fight with a design nazi over the use of a font. I tried to address general design flaws i dislike while he went on to list why the font was evil and they wouldn't read the best book in the world if it was in that font.

Gaming has been a good outlet for friends most of my life. Being a artist for a living and involved in highly competitive graffiti for a living, gamers are by contrast mostly imaginative, collaborative and friendly. Two noteworthy exceptions to this are rules and realism. Every now and then I meet someone who thinks the game is defined by a very limited set of parameters often from specific published products. I can just state i disagree but the group dynamic and style of play rate above rules anyway to me. People can accept ideas like alternative universe versions of games and stories nowadays more easily, but it was once only weird sf and comics that accepted it. Ask what is the authentic version of Batman or DnD nowadays and you'll get a different answer. Its cool to discuss your adeas as a preferance but perhaps not come off as inflexible.

Then there are realism crowd. Obsessed with simulation of some kind of realism and contemptuous of those that do not. Historical wargamers I would expect this from because they can use history and referencing. But DnD is a straight up fantasy. You can have different realism styles - gritty, mythic, 80s swords and sorcery films, or some literary model. Just like there is not one kind of realism in books and mythology there is no single right answer for everybody. The realism to me is just part of the setting and the story. Moorcock taking from the Gothic romance, has the world reflects the heroes emotional state. We play with many style worlds where realism, physics, economics  may vary and that's fine.  But to abuse people over realism in game economics and morality when your game still has spells, hobbits, dragons seems very silly.

I dont consider gaming a hobby where i ever have to get angry or abusive or swear at someone to cause offense. I feel sorry for people that do feel a hobby is so important they can act like spoiled children having a tantrum. When you start being personal and making assumptions about someone from no information for your abuse, any claim of being more logical or reasonable go out the window. The way we all win is to have fun.

Anyway, on with the fun then Id better write some invoices and clean stuff.

Loot by Dungeon Zone
Below are some item tables which are just meant to suggest the style of item found in each zone to help you create your own. Consider that the dundeonworld often places items as bait, and things may appear just out of sight responding to character subconscious desires. Or not. Some items tempt the finder to take home for their own nefarious purpose.

Gothic Zone 1d20 - the haunted cathedral crypt
1 - Miniature painting depicting religious persona in gilt frame
2 - Skull with metal plating and a magical inscription
3 - Ornamental prayer book with illuminated pages and semiprecious stones
4 - Holy symbol with gold and semiprecious stones
5 - Locket with tiny portrait made from gold or silver
6 - Tiny statuette made from gold or semiprecious stone like jade
7 - Doctors bag with 1d6 silver daggers, wolfsbane, wooden steaks, garlic
8 - Holy water in exotic canteen - durable steel, or ornate silver
9 - Gilded staff or rod from some ancient church office holder
10 - Bejeweled and gold Hat from some ancient church office holder
11 - +1 weapon of fine quality, engraved and rust free and sharp
12 - +1 Shield or piece of armour
13 - Cursed weapon of fine quality, engraved and rust free and sharp
14 - Cursed clothes or armour
15 - +2 item but intelligent, spirit of ancient dead or minor holy
16 - Magical horn - calls food, skeletons, allies, dead or wine
17 - Doctors bag with 1d6 different potions, one always bad
18 - Magical lantern - permanent light spell on cylinder with a sliding hood
19 - Scroll of protection from undead or a spell
20 - Everfull begging bowl - fills with d100 copper pieces per day


Redbrick Zone 1d20 - the dungeon that Ikea built
1 - Jeweled tiny music box with poison needle
2 - Parchment with trap blueprints written in kobold
3 - Box with beautifully packed trap parts and vial of poison (Ikea traps dept)
4 -  Set of high quality bold tools
5 - Collection of fake jewelery and gold that looks appealing
6 - 1d6 Vials of acid or oil or poison in leather sack
7 - Ornate beerstien and 20 bottles of beer
8 - A delicious meal of roast, sausage, mash and gravy, steaming and smelling delish
9 - A crowbar or jimmybar or brick carrier with bricks or battering ram
10 - Devil Gem - all who see it and fail charm save see as hearts desire
11 - +1 weapon of fine quality, engraved and rust free and sharp
12 - +1 Shield or piece of armour
13 - Cursed weapon of fine quality, engraved and rust free and sharp
14 - Cursed miscellaneous item like tools, personal grooming items, instruments
15 -  Mortar pot of plenty - old iron pot produces 20 lbs of mortar a day
16 -  Magic Brick - produces up to 1d100 bricks per day when slapped
17 - Leather sack 1d6 different potions, half always bad
18 -  Kobold amulet - daily summons 4 kobolds to work for 4 hours, come with basic tools
19 - Scroll of detect traps and secret doors or spell
20 - Portable hole - one use


Goblin Mine 1d20 - humanoids and holes
1 - Carbide spelunker lamp
2 - Map of local area with cache or seam marked
3 - 1d6 x 3 sticks of sweaty old dynamite
4 -  Mining cart full of rope, tools, spikes and other supplies
5 - Mining cart full of rich ore needs refining
6 - 1d6 Vials of acid or oil or poison in leather sack
7 - Barrel of beer or water or mild acid
8 - A sack of dried old miners biscuits, mystery jerky and cheese
9 - A sack of uncut gems
10 - Devil Gem - all who see it and fail charm save see as hearts desire
11 - +1 weapon of fine quality, engraved and rust free and sharp
12 - +1 Shield or piece of armour
13 - Red gold - all who see resist charm or desire it and crave more
14 - Cursed miscellaneous item like tools, containers, clothes
15 -  Goblin fetish - +1 on a type of saving thr
16 -  Burning kobold metal in jar of oil to keep it safe
17 - Leather sack 1d6 different potions, half always bad
18 -  Sack of raw adamant, mithril, meteorite, ornichalum, or other
19 - Scroll of detect gems and minerals or spells
20 - Portable Sack - fits 100lb inside weighs only 10% real mass 


Amber Manour 1d20 - mad magic mansion
1 - Small masterpiece painting
2 - Candelabra made of gold
3 - Fine crystal and classwork of incredible quality
4 -  Wooden Furniture of great craftsmanship with artistic inlays and secret compartment
5 - Ornate quill writing set in case with vellum and ink, silver inlays
6 - 1d6 Vials poison in silver and glass ornate vials in box
7 - Case of fine wine or brandy or exotic spirits
8 - Gold case with drugs and drug paraphernalia, syringe or pipe or snuff etc
9 - Small but valuable jewelery item dropped by someone
10 - Painting with portal to pocket dimension within
11 - +1 weapon of fine quality, engraved and rust free and sharp
12 - +2 weapon or item with intelligence, serve amber family if possible
13 - Magic miscellaneous item like clothes, jewelry, art, armour
14 - Cursed miscellaneous item like clothes, jewelry, art, armour
15 -  Magical book with summoning or golem making powers
16 -  Magical feast, cannot rot or be poisoned, valuable silver dinner set
17 - Silver case 1d6 different potions, one is poison
18 - Intelligent, possibly animated item, was a family member
19 - Scroll of detect secret doors and passages or spells
20 - Painting is a permanent gateway to entire plane


Fortress 1d20 - ruins of elder giants
1 - Huge coin 100 times larger2 - Huge silver dinner utensil or jewelry or button
3 - Giant book or scroll of impractical size
4 -  Wagonload of food with broken wheel
5 - Barrel size of a house with beer inside
6 - 1d6 huge cheese wheels in a garden shed sized sack
7 - Gigantic used handkerchief made from fine embroidered silk
8 - Huge bag with pipe, giantweed, matches
9 - Giant brandy bottle with floating preserved exotic corpse
10 - Giant sized magic item - mostly useless for human sized
11 - +1 weapon of fine quality, engraved and rust free and sharp
12 - +1 weapon of giant size hand weapon but can be used as 2-h weapon by human
13 - Magic miscellaneous item like tools, instruments, grooming aids or jewelery
14 - Cursed miscellaneous item like tools, instruments, grooming aids or jewelery

15 -  Magical book with spells and lore but huge - 100lb
16 -  Bag of hydra 2d10 teeth - each turns to skeleton if planted
17 - Giant potion vial with 1d6 doses left
18 - Magic intelligent farmyard animal
19 - Scroll of detect secret doors and passages or spells
20 - Magic seed or tiny potted fruit tree


Alcheringa Zone 1d20 - ancient haunted land

1 - Huge quartz crystal
2 - Collection of artist ochres 1d6 colours
3 - Gigantic size flint weapon
4 - Beehive dripping with honey
5 - Collection of tribal clubs, spears, darts, shields
6 - Collection of fish and eel traps and nets
7 - Fine possum skin cloaks
8 - Bag with healing and stimulant herbs, pipe
9 - Huge glob of resin to attach flints to wooden hafts and other uses
10 - Death Spear +1 vs chaos or evil or oath breakers or tribal traitors
11 - +1 weapon of fine quality, stone and wooden mostly clubs and spears
12 - +2 weapon of fine quality, stone and wooden mostly clubs and spears

 13 - Magic miscellaneous item like tools, vessel or a cloak
14 - Cursed miscellaneous item like tools, vessel or a cloak
15 -  Magical relic houses ancient spirits who may aid worthy
16 - Talisman or cloak or body paint transforms to animal one form
17 - Body paint with potion like effects 1d6 doses
18 - Magic intelligent animal
19 - Bark picture scroll with spell or protection from spirits
20 - Magic seed or tiny potted fruit tree


Cyclopean 1d20 - lost world of sorcery & science

1 - Crumbling ancient alien text
2 - Pendant device not working but intersting
3 - Giant book or scroll of impractical size
4 -  Crumbling robot or android body
5 - Food replicating machine 1d100 charges, reads your mind
6 - Vial of ancient magical drug - mind travels through time or to dreamlands
7 - Strange apparatus of crystal prisms and rods
8 - Crystaline stasis box with sleeping being inside, various sizes
9 - Exotic out of place item left by time or space or surface traveller
10 - Idol with trapped elder horror bound inside whispers to anyone holding it
11 - +1 weapon of fine quality, engraved and rust free and sharp
12 - +1 weapon with alien hand grip unsuited for human use
13 - High tech miscellaneous item (see gamma world etc)
14 - High tech miscellaneous item (see gamma world etc) but bad outcome
15 - Mutagen formula - black ooze in jar mutates subject, 1d4 doses
16 - Elix - drinker swaps minds with yithian from millions of years ago
17 - Crazy brain in metal jar with speaker and on switch
18 - Dream crystal - user projects thoughts into pictures
19 - Trapezoid crystal with captive evil god or monster
20 - Genetic material to restore long extinct species in crystal vial


Lost Temple 1d20 - ancient desert temple and tomb
1 - Gold holy symbol with semiprecious stones
2 - Silver idol with semiprecious stones
3 - Scroll or tablet with interesting documents
4 - Scenic engraved chest with royal every day items (clothes, toiletries)
5 - Fine painted sealed jars of finest beverage of intoxicating drink
6 - Fine painted sealed jars or oil or grain or flour
7 - Bejeweled funeral jar
8 - Semiprecious stone jar with yummy narcotics, 1d6 doses
9 - Semiprecious stone jar with yummy poison, 1d6 doses
10 - Bejeweled Instrument +2 Skill
11 - +1 weapon of fine quality, engraved and rust free and sharp
12 - +1 weapon attuned to an alignment race or bloodline
13 - Magic miscellaneous item like instruments, clothes, grooming aids or jewelery
14 - Cursed miscellaneous item like instruments, clothes, grooming aids or jewelery
15 -  Magical books with spells and lore but fragile scrolls or heavy clay tablets
16 - Animal headed jar summons a loyal beastman follower (various species)
17 - Potion set in 7 jars depicting gods, 1d6 left different
18 - Magic intelligent hybrid animal idol comes to life when called as follower
19 - Jar with bound Djinn or efreet, offer wish to those who free him
20 - Magical Necromancers relics - embalming tools, sickle, crown or rod 


Forbidden City 1d20 - sunken jungle city ruins
1 - Corroded mass of mixed ancient coins
2 - Ancient metal dishes, bowls, urns with decadent scenes embossed
3 - Rotting pile of ancient scrolls or crumbling tablets
4 - Wagonload or pack beast load of merchant goods with broken wheel
5 - Barrel of grog or bail of drugs dropped of back of a wagon
6 - Leather bag with poorly preserved but edible food
7 - Savage tribal mask with ivory and semiprecious stones
8 - Goblin Fetish grants one +1 on a saving throw
9 - Ancient drug of decadant elder races, mindswap with being in the past
10 - Inhuman magical implement not usable by humanoids
11 - +1 weapon of fine quality, engraved and rust free and sharp
12 - +1 weapon of giant size hand weapon but unusable by human
13 - Magic miscellaneous item like tools, jewelery or idols
14 - Cursed miscellaneous item like tools,  jewelery or idols
15 -  Magical book with spells and blasphemous forbidden by law knowledge
16 -  Shamanic potions in clay urns 1d6 different items
17 - Frog Idol can turn to giant frog servant once
18 - Inteligent frog, newt, spider, lizard, bird or other valuable pet
19 - Scroll of detect evil or spells
20 - Magical gateway to past, usually hard to move


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