Ragitsu Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 When it comes to looting dungeons beyond merely pilfering the obvious and conveniently centered pile of gold (pulling free every iron nail, dislodging every plank of rare timber, loosening out every ornamental agate, ferreting out the mastercraft codpieces from the bedchambers...), how far do you tend to go? How about your group on the whole? What was the most involved salvage operation you ever played out, and did the extra attention to detail make a significant difference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Our GM thought he was being smart by giving us a huge treasure ... mostly in the form of copper pieces and other small assorted coinage. Tonnes of coins. He assumed we'd curse, take the small percentage in easily portable loot and move on. Oh, no. We weren't going to pass this up. What we did was dig in like ticks to defend the hoard, repurposing traps etc and turning the dungeon into a fortress, while one PC hightailed it to the city, rented some ships and pack animals, and then sailed back. we shipped the lot back home, tonne by tonne down to the last copper piece and half-bit and were ever after feeeelthy rich, with completely level-inappropriate magical gee-gaws. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Our GM thought he was being smart by giving us a huge treasure ... mostly in the form of copper pieces and other small assorted coinage. Tonnes of coins. He assumed we'd curse, take the small percentage in easily portable loot and move on. Oh, no. We weren't going to pass this up. What we did was dig in like ticks to defend the hoard, repurposing traps etc and turning the dungeon into a fortress, while one PC hightailed it to the city, rented some ships and pack animals, and then sailed back. we shipped the lot back home, tonne by tonne down to the last copper piece and half-bit and were ever after feeeelthy rich, with completely level-inappropriate magical gee-gaws. cheers, Mark It would have been an interesting and mildly-humorous turn of events if the player characters became the dungeon's next set of "monsters" for another group of adventurers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Well, in a way, we did: we had to fight off several attempts on our heavily laden "money convoys" Cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher R Taylor Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I did that with a dragon's hoard once. The PCs found out that a dragon had been killed and got to her heaviy trapped lair to loot it. Well others were there trying to do the same thing, but by the time they got to the actual hoard they found out that it was mostly big stuff and non-treasure items like beds, tapestries, artwork, statues, chariots, and so on. They couldn't cart out all the coins and most of them were low value anyway. And the layout of the lair made it nearly impossible to use carts and such to lug stuff out. So they had to leave most of it behind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I'm surprised "owned by a dragon" wouldn't be a big enough selling point to append to a random tapestry of the Eighth Kingdom's Glorious War. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesguy Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I ran an adventure in my Valdorian campaign. The players pieced together an old treasure map and legend about a long dead hero who meet his demise fighting the last (or one of the last) dragons. They were primarily going so they could recover the hero's armor, shield and sword which were suppose to be magical - a very very very rare thing in the Valdorian campaign. The party found out the old lair was now inhabited by trolls and was really hard to get to. They did get in and eventually killed the trolls. Because the party knew they were going to a dragon's lair they brought mules, saddle bags, and a lot of rope. When they got inside they found They found four large chests that were burned/broken from the fight between the hero, his companions and the dragon. The coins inside had been melted into big globs. The four chests had a combined weight of about one ton ... Well they went after the one full of silver, dragged it to the lip of the cave/lair entrance and pushed it out entrance so it would crash down on the rocks below (~100'). That definitely broke it into more manageable pieces ... They found a bunch of copper ingots 'welded' to the floor, walls and ceiling - part of the after effect of the battle with the dragon. They did spend a bit of time debating how to get all the chests out or coming back. In the end they took what they could without killing their mules and left the rest. The did swear they would go back for the rest but never did once they realized how much silver they got(+10,000 sp - a huge amount in my campaign). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 When I read the thread title, I immediately imagined a "Wagon Train" meets D&D fantasy campaign. When I was younger, the campaigns I played in all had an "easy come, easy go" mentality in regards to treasure. In a funny way, it was very much like the Hero concept of spending points on something versus not. We all would get a signature treasure (my dwarf got his Hammer of the Dwarves or whatever the Mjolnir clone was called in the old D&D). That was always a fixture of his character. All other treasure, be it monetary or magic, could be gone in a moment's notice. The GM's favorite critters were "Disenchanter Bats" that siphoned the magical energy from any item short of an artifact or relic. Scrolls, potions and other expendable items were to be used or lost; the disenchanter bats would automatically get the magical energy stored in those. Other items at least got the benefit of a Saving Throw. On the other hand, Bags of Holding were fairly common items and we had lots of monetary treasure that we used to outfit a manor home as our lair. It was a rather haphazard setup because none of us were all that interested in keeping track of individual coinage. We had a lot of fun back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher R Taylor Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 I think its ideal for players to not get too attached to magical items, at least from a GM's perspective. The richer and better equipped they are, the less interesting adventure and new items are. If you have a golf bag full of magical swords, one more is something to shrug at, not be fascinated by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 Since I dumped D&D for Hero, I have tried (not always successfully) to make every single permanent magical item something unique. Sometimes it is just an origin story. Sometimes I develop a very specific set of powers for the item. Sometimes, the item in question serves but a single use (and is thus more a plot device than anything). Sometimes it is more of a general purpose item. I always hope that the item is memorable in the minds of the players. I just don't want to have the whole "Hmmm another +3 Longsword? Can we put it on the sale pile. I am sure that Rasheed can find a buyer somewhere. Though, I do believe the Kingsguard snapped up all the others we brought. Maybe that will drive up the price. Or we could hang it above the mantle. It looks nice enough right?" dynamic. (Paraphrased conversation between two the of the PCs in my old D&D campaign.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted February 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 I think its ideal for players to not get too attached to magical items, at least from a GM's perspective. The richer and better equipped they are, the less interesting adventure and new items are. If you have a golf bag full of magical swords, one more is something to shrug at, not be fascinated by. For myself, it depends on how intricately described the weapons are. I wouldn't mind getting four large knives with the same stats if they're constructed of different materials/look notably different from each other/possess varying histories of use. Granted, I am likely not thinking about such descriptive color when my character is in a knife fight, but I may consider it during an outfitting montage...and those minute touches of detail add up over time to enrich the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 That's funny. One of the players in my old game had a character with three identical magical daggers that he named Manny, Moe and Jack*. He was very explicit about which one he was using. He eventually lost Moe to a Disenchanter Bat attack but still designated which of the other two he was using. The character was a loon that had a very unique perspective but that threatens to derail the thread. Anyway, your comment about four identically stat'ed knives brought that to mind. * Manny, Moe and Jack are the mascots of Pep Boys, a parts store/mechanic shop. I don't know how far out they are spread so this is just for reference. You may have already heard of them. They have a very poor reputation and in the late 80's had an obnoxious series of commercials on the air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted February 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 It's funny that I used four instead of three for my off-the-cuff example, given that it's a number with a particularly bloody background. *I have heard of Pep Boys via their commercials in these parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesguy Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 In the case of the adventure I am describing the armor and weapons were best given to an NPC the players needed to help them with the war against the master villain in the campaign. They couldn't use all the powers available in the weapons and armor. In exchange they were given a magical item that would help them in the upcoming war. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher R Taylor Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 I agree that interesting trumps powerful for many players, especially if it has rich history and reputation. The two "artifacts" that have shown up in my games were a big golden icon and a sword. The icon was just a foot-tall gold tree statue, but enchanted to be indestructable. It was immensely valuable and but would have led to an uprising by elves (many of whom are still alive hundreds of years after the last war). It was a sacred leadership item to them, and the leader who had it could count on pretty much every distruntled elf joining his banner. And it was so valuable no body could buy it but a king, and everybody would want it. They ended up giving it to some merfolk in deep sea to guard. The sword was just a mithril blade with armor piercing. Powerful, but not earth shattering, but it too had deep historical significance beyond just the blade, with elves. They used it, but it caused them no small trouble. Eventually they were captured by a band and stripped. They got most of their gear back but an elven queen got the sword. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 When I read the thread title, I immediately imagined a "Wagon Train" meets D&D fantasy campaign. "I'll explain this one more time. You are not being railroaded. This campaign is not on tracks. Okay, it was on tacks when you went through the Pawnee Narrows, but that was because of the ruts. Now you're on a trail. Completely different." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 In most of the fantasy books I read, magic items are pretty much always a big deal. Same in my games - I rarely (very, very rarely)* give away magic items. I always hated the fact that in many fantasy games, the characters are defined by what items they own, not by the characters' abilities and personality. In my own games, PCs can make them themselves, if they want, but given that they have to pay character points and also take the "independant" limitation, it's rare for any PC to make more than magical trinkets. So when players do find a magical item, that makes it a red -letter day, and said item almost always has a history attached. As a GM, it's way easier to make a backstory if you only have to do it once or twice a year, then for every other session. It's also very easy to give them something that makes them very happy, when they are used to getting mundane items. Cheers, Mark *in the last campaign that ran for 4-5 years, the players got their first magic item after more than 2 years of play - a flying ship (which they promptly lost, after one use ). It took them another year or two before they started turning up magic items again, this time by a direct quest to start tracking certain things (weapons, armour) down, in preparation for the final confrontation with the big bad (which, in all honesty, they didn't need, but I let them because they wanted it so much). In the game before that, I think I gave away one significant magical item (a sword) in about 4-5 years play: the PCs gave it away. Games - even standard fantasy games - don't have to be all about the magic loot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted February 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Too true, Markdoc. There are other kinds of booty to seek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NuSoardGraphite Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 I gave my players access to such a treasure horde once. Then promptly destroyed it during a battle between a dragon and a deathknight. The pcs were making off with what loot they could carry (mostly magic items, gems and platinum pieces) Surprisingly, they never we t back to see if treasure was still around. (It was, just buried beneath Earth and rock.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NuSoardGraphite Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 I love giving away magical loot. When i was a new inexperienced GM, i was fairly Monty Haul, giving away magic item after magic item. The pcs in my DnD grkup back then were absolutely decked out in the stuff. Of course im much more conservative on what i give out now, many years later, though i done still have a great love for magic items and will eventually make sure everyone in the party has at least two significant items and a few minor ones. In my last campaign setting, they ended up gaining some of the most powerful artifacts in the setting (terry k amthors shadow world. They got the phoenix pendant, the phoenix sword and the mentalist got ahold of a royal grade Itani Mindstone) and surprisingly they didnt abuse a single item. (The items were a part of the plot) The sea elven pirate captain (my wifes character) did get her flying ship though, about halfway through the campaign. they had a lot of fun with that ship (death from above on a circle of mages doing a major necromantic ritual was classic) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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