Continuing to muse about oracles and campaign building. Nick started these thoughts, and I’ve done dungeon rooms, hexes and NPCs. What about treasure?
I think the best take on creating interesting treasure recently was Ty’s Treasure Squares. I’m going to iterate on that here. I want to see if I can get that system to rely on me less.
I’m going to be explaining with an example. Any card can be drawn reversed, so take the main theme and do the opposite. I’m using the MTG Randomiser, though, so no reversals for me.
Draw three cards, to find your origin, theme and twist.
Draw two cards to find your binaries.
Now draw four cards to find the appearance or type of the items.
This gives us a square for four treasures (honestly, I can’t figure out tables in wordpress, so I’m not drawing the square) Let’s smith them!
Devilish duplicating protection
Kizgul’s Wings (construct, body, travel): At rest, a cage of interlocking silver webs and blades, that one must manoeuvre through to reach the glowing red gem at its heart. Whe the gem is bonded with, the web unravels, turning into six-winged gossamer armour with a slithering voice.
Kazgul’s Tomb (obelisk, body, home): A massive, dimly red obelisk, breathing imperceptibly. Thought to hold Kizgul’s soul, rather when bonded with, it holds a clone of the bonded within its walls, released on their death, or perhaps when needed to do Kizgul’s convoluted bidding.
Kizgul’s Spyglass (eye, aura, travel): A foot-long, ornate, extendable spyglass, with two red gems inset. When the first is pressed, the focus of the spyglass is lit with a demonic aura. When the second is pressed, everything in the aura is instantly teleported to the location of the operator.
Kizgul’s Pavillion (tool, aura, home): A lace umbrella of red and black thread. When spread, it forms into a large impenetrable tent with no entryway, and no ability to perceive in or out of the tent.
This is fun! Honestly, this might give me too many ideas, and make it more difficult. I’m not sure off the top of my head how many other areas would benefit from an approach like this. Any ideas?
Idle Cartulary
17th July 2022
Playful Void 