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There are things more valuable than gold pieces.
In most RPGs, there’s always a few gold pieces in that
goblin’s pocket or hidden in a small alcove in the wizard’s tower.
But all that gold (and occasionally electrum and platinum
and silver and whatever), can get a little boring.
It’s a lot more fun for everyone when they find something of
value that isn’t something to throw in their pockets and spend at the next
magic item shop they can find.
If you’re as bored of gold as we are, use these treasure
ideas in your next game.
Art. When players
open the treasure vault expecting bags of gold coins or piles of gold bricks,
they find a collection of priceless art. A whole host of adventure threads will
spill out when they try to figure out who the art was stolen from or where they
can fence the items to get the gold they want. Or which ones they want to hang
on their wall.
Property. The
deed to an old fort or a wizard’s abandoned laboratory is way more exciting
than another gold necklace worth 15 gp. What are you gonna do with it? Rehab
the fort and make it your party’s hideout? Raid the wizard’s lab and find some
magical wonderment within?
Keys. Unlike some
dungeon-delving video games, there aren’t enough keys when playing D&D.
Maybe the key unlocks a special room in the dungeon or maybe it unlocks a
completely different building or dungeon altogether.
Books. Adopt
something from a favorite video game. In Skyrim, you’ll often find books on the
shelves in dungeons and houses. They have lore about the Elder Scrolls world or
are sometimes a short story. But every so often, you’ll read a book that gives
you a bonus to a skill. You can drop books into homemade dungeons that give a
player a permanent or temporary bonus if the spend rest time reading them.
Favors. When the
king gives a quest, he often promises a monetary reward. But what if the
kingdom is strapped for cash? The king can offer a favor. Accomplish a task,
and he’ll owe you one. It will invest your players in the story, and it gives
them a way to solve a future problem. Someday, they may find a foe that seems too
tough to defeat, but they could call in a favor with the king for some help.
Disguised items. Maybe
an expensive gem is hidden in the hilt of a plain-looking axe, or a magic
scepter has been turned into a strange centerpiece on a banquet table. Or
perhaps the magic sword you’ve been questing after has rusted over time.
People. Instead
of a treasure room or a pile of gold, maybe players find a room full of
imprisoned people bound for the slave trade. It could be fulfilling for players
to free them plus they may gain a couple loyal followers in the process. We
once found a friendly goblin imprisoned in a sewer lair, and he ended up
helping out party on multiple occasions. He was more valuable than any
masterwork dagger.
Something not from
this world. Another fun idea is to drop anachronistic or simply
otherworldly items into a medieval fantasy realm. What’s this motorcycle doing
here and how does it work? What is this laser gun?
Get more inspiration and adventure at Dungeoncrate.com
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