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Post by mabon5127 on Oct 17, 2012 7:15:23 GMT -6
Scripted or random?
For years I placed every scrap of treasure in every room / encounter. I then got to the point that I wanted to inject some randomness into the game even for me as a GM. I began rolling treasure for encounters and the players, I believe, liked that randomness.
When placing treasure I was robbing my players of the opportunity to get certain items I thought were lame or less useful and use them in imaginative ways.
The issue is that it take too much time out of play to generate by random rolls.
I would really be interested in what others do in this area.
Thanks!
Morgan
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Post by Ghul on Oct 17, 2012 8:43:13 GMT -6
I do both. There are certain set pieces that I will want to include in the adventure, but then there are random treasures that I will roll for. For example, say one of the antagonists of an adventure location is a 6th necromancer. I may decide that this fellow has a necromancer's scroll that has a mix of first, second, and third level spells, but for other items in his quarters, I do like the use of randomness; especially when one considers the possibility of other adventurers having been defeated. What items has the necromancer confiscated?
I can completely agree that random rolling will often produce results that I might not have selected.
Good post!
Cheers,
Jeff T.
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Post by jasonzavoda on Oct 17, 2012 12:05:47 GMT -6
Scripted or random? For years I placed every scrap of treasure in every room / encounter. I then got to the point that I wanted to inject some randomness into the game even for me as a GM. I began rolling treasure for encounters and the players, I believe, liked that randomness. When placing treasure I was robbing my players of the opportunity to get certain items I thought were lame or less useful and use them in imaginative ways. The issue is that it take too much time out of play to generate by random rolls. I would really be interested in what others do in this area. Thanks! Morgan I do the same as Jeff and use both methods. It can be a lot of fun to see what a random draw will bring up but I also enjoy deciding on some treasure placement myself. |
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monk
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 237
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Post by monk on Oct 17, 2012 12:50:19 GMT -6
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Post by mabon5127 on Oct 17, 2012 14:22:45 GMT -6
These are great utilities. It would be great if the owner of the source could do one for ASSH. ;D There are quite a few magic items that fall into the weird alien science area and would not be represented. For the coins, gems, and jewelry though this would speed things up considerably. |
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Post by mabon5127 on Oct 17, 2012 14:31:20 GMT -6
I do both. There are certain set pieces that I will want to include in the adventure, but then there are random treasures that I will roll for. For example, say one of the antagonists of an adventure location is a 6th necromancer. I may decide that this fellow has a necromancer's scroll that has a mix of first, second, and third level spells, but for other items in his quarters, I do like the use of randomness; especially when one considers the possibility of other adventurers having been defeated. What items has the necromancer confiscated? I can completely agree that random rolling will often produce results that I might not have selected. Good post! Cheers, Jeff T. I find myself trying to be too "fair". There should be times when there is less treasure than they "deserve" and sometimes getting a great magic item from a lesser opponent just happens. I like the utility pointed out above particularly for the types of gems and Jewelry. The Items in ASSH are too custom. Morgan |
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Oct 17, 2012 16:49:42 GMT -6
I'm going to be completely original here and say I use both methods. It's nice to have some treasure that's set and ensures there's something cool to find for everyone, but at the same time if you only do that you avoid the really cool wacko random result that really makes a difference in the long run, and you also run he risk of repeating yourself all the time with the players always finding the same stuff over and over.
So yeah, a mix of both keeps everyone happy, and some amount of unexpected results are to be welcome, even embraced, not necessarily avoided, IMO.
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Post by Vile Traveller on Oct 17, 2012 19:54:56 GMT -6
That's pretty cool. I basically use random, and modify that if I want (which is not often). I think most of my scripted treasure comes from converting a lot of the coin into trade goods, or varying the miscellaneous magical weapon types. |
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Post by mabon5127 on Oct 19, 2012 15:03:38 GMT -6
I was creating a treasure for tonights game and rolled a "Zirconium Suit" Um well maybe I wont be totally random...
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Post by Ghul on Oct 19, 2012 15:41:08 GMT -6
I would go with the Zirconium Suit, but under one condition: since the party is such low level, I would give the suit 3 or 4 more crits before it breaks; with this in place (a heavily damaged suit, as it were), I might also scale its XP value. That way, give them a small taste of power, but it's not going to last.
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Post by mabon5127 on Oct 19, 2012 16:17:08 GMT -6
I would go with the Zirconium Suit, but under one condition: since the party is such low level, I would give the suit 3 or 4 more crits before it breaks; with this in place (a heavily damaged suit, as it were), I might also scale its XP value. That way, give them a small taste of power, but it's not going to last. Ok Dad. I won't be a wuss.... This should be interesting. 6 crits it is! Morgan |
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Post by Ghul on Oct 19, 2012 16:47:08 GMT -6
I would go with the Zirconium Suit, but under one condition: since the party is such low level, I would give the suit 3 or 4 more crits before it breaks; with this in place (a heavily damaged suit, as it were), I might also scale its XP value. That way, give them a small taste of power, but it's not going to last. Ok Dad. I won't be a wuss.... This should be interesting. 6 crits it is! Morgan Cool. I mean, how many times are you going to honest-to-goodness get that roll again? Enjoy!  |
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mythos
Level 3 Conjurer
Posts: 96
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Post by mythos on Oct 19, 2012 21:17:18 GMT -6
Like several here have already mentioned, I like to combine random rolls and selecting when placing treasure.
Usually when I place select items they will become useful later in the adventure or within the next couple of adventures. I love hearing players go, "Why the hell did we sell that (Place specific weapon/artifact here)?" Normally in much more colourful language.
That does not always mean I stick to the exact descriptions in the lists. More then once I've converted several hundred gps worth of coin into a tome on some obscure topic that would be worthless to the player characters, but resellable if they carry it back to the largest cities.
Or turn that loose number of gems into a gold plated, gem encrusted, well and heavely used chamber pot. All they have to do is clean it up.
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Post by mabon5127 on Oct 19, 2012 21:32:54 GMT -6
Ok Dad. I won't be a wuss.... This should be interesting. 6 crits it is! Morgan Cool. I mean, how many times are you going to honest-to-goodness get that roll again? Enjoy! Well dang that was fun! They found the z-suit and the fighter immediately messed with the controls on the left hand...he survived and earned the right to wear it! Morgan |
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Post by CivilianZero on Oct 27, 2012 1:14:54 GMT -6
Ok Dad. I won't be a wuss.... This should be interesting. 6 crits it is! Morgan Cool. I mean, how many times are you going to honest-to-goodness get that roll again? Enjoy! I'm embarrassed I've never thought of this, but since I've always loved using purely random methods from time to time, I believe this will now be the standard for my campaigns whenever I roll things I'd rather the players not have yet. Thanks! |
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