Greetings!

Forget the "Gold" ring on ypur finger, or your wife's. The stuff even in nice jewelry stores is junk--mere trinkets for strumpets on the street corner.

Ever seen Tutankhamun's treasure?

I have been fortunate to attend the official Egypt Museum exhibit twice--in 1976 in San Francisco, California, and at LACMA in Los Angeles, California some 25 years later. Yeah, the exhibit only comes to America like once every 25 years, it seems.

I saw the giant sarcophagus. It's like a huge bed, shaped for the Pharoah, with his stylized likeness on the front. It is huge, though. And heavy, and all GOLD baby. REAL GOLD. This stuff is so pure, so shimmering, it made my jaw drop in awe. The turquoise inlay, the workmanship, the detail. Then the absolute amount of gorgeous, awe-striking, pure gold.

This thing is priceless. I can see why whole kingdoms would go to war over gold treasure like this. This stuff make you feel--I don't know, a weird sense of awe and greed grips you instantly. It is mind-blowing to look at. For real, up close. Three feet or less from you. Covered in glass, yes, but I was very close to it. Very inspiring!

And just think--Tutankhamun was a young, minor Pharoah. His treasury has many items like his death sarcophagus--a vast fortune. I saw over two dozen gold gee gaws--gold couches, gigantic, jeweled hippos, inlaid urns, jewelry, all kinds of stuff. Tables with antelopes carved into them. Lion-headed bed frames. It is all really magical.

I think embracing some of that fantastic element for treasure is great for a campaign. I know my players love this kind of stuff. They love all the fine jeweled toys and things they find in the campaign! I always think of real-world treasures I have actually seen with my own eyes and embrace such inspiration!

And yes, besides a very nice picture book I got at the exhibit, and a history book on ancient Egypt--I also got a book-shelf ornament of a giant Blue Hippo, engraved with Egyptian runes--a miniature treasure reflecting a very real couch-sized Hippo thing in the Pharoah's royal treasury, of a jeweled hippo, covered in silver and inlaid with turqouise and lapiz lazuli. You know what I'm saying. It's gorgeous. I got the mini-Hippo as a memento. Awesome and inspiring!

Have you been inspired with crazy treasures for your campaigns in a similar manner?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

El Dorado. Ever since the Duck tales episode has been a fantastic idea on how to make a city out of gold.

Treasure like your jeweled hippo is fantastic loot. It's obviously worth something. Is it scrap value? Value to a collector? Historic or arcane value to a sage or wizard? The party can hang onto it in the hopes if selling it for a high price or they can liquidate it at some bumpkin's curio shop for a quick buck. This kind of loot gives the party a choice, and more choice is a good thing!

Creative loot can also help tell the story, reveal lore, and describe history. It helps with immersion.

I love including weird and wonderful loot. In my latest adventure, the levers that control several doors in a ruined temple are made of ornately engraved electrum rods (the goddess has a particular fondness for this metal). Each lever is unique, easily removable, and worth its weight in ep but potentially worth much more to a collector. But perhaps more importantly, the temple layout and its other hazards might cause the party to regret taking some of these levers, as there are opportunities to get separated from the party and locked in rooms without a lever. We will see if greed gets the best of them!

I think one of the biggest limiters in having "realistic" treasure like this is the transporting of it.
That could be an adventure in itself but, not often what "Adventures" aspire to.
Logistics is just not sexy enough.  Not to mention the exchange of it for equivalent worth.
Guarding your own stronghold to keep control over your valuables is again not exciting enough.
"The GM is punishing me for Winning all this loot!"

Quote from: Greentongue on September 18, 2023, 01:10:00 PM
I think one of the biggest limiters in having "realistic" treasure like this is the transporting of it.
That could be an adventure in itself but, not often what "Adventures" aspire to.
Logistics is just not sexy enough.  Not to mention the exchange of it for equivalent worth.
Guarding your own stronghold to keep control over your valuables is again not exciting enough.
"The GM is punishing me for Winning all this loot!"

Yeah, agreed. But I really like putting treasure like this in adventures. It's made my player's come up with some inventive ideas to get the treasure out if they want it bad enough.

I really like some of the treasure in Barrowmaze. These delicate amphora that have a chance of breaking if you're in combat....but get 'em out of the dungeon and to a buyer....xp baby

Quote from: Thorn Drumheller on September 20, 2023, 11:15:44 AM
Yeah, agreed. But I really like putting treasure like this in adventures. It's made my player's come up with some inventive ideas to get the treasure out if they want it bad enough.

I really like some of the treasure in Barrowmaze. These delicate amphora that have a chance of breaking if you're in combat....but get 'em out of the dungeon and to a buyer....xp baby

For sure. Interesting treasure is a bonus that rewards creative or tenacious play. If you really want those amphora, you come back with some hirelings and take them. If it's risky, you might get a bunch of hirelings killed, which could have ramifications for you down the road. If it's not risky, it takes 5 mins of IRL time.

Another cool thing about unique treasure is that it can lead to more adventure. Sure NPCs want gp just like everyone else, but maybe a particular NPC will stop at nothing to obtain that emerald encrusted statuette of the frog god you happened to find. Interesting treasure can easily become a MacGuffin more so than piles of coinage.

Quote from: Greentongue on September 18, 2023, 01:10:00 PM
I think one of the biggest limiters in having "realistic" treasure like this is the transporting of it.
That could be an adventure in itself but, not often what "Adventures" aspire to.
Logistics is just not sexy enough.  Not to mention the exchange of it for equivalent worth.
Guarding your own stronghold to keep control over your valuables is again not exciting enough.
"The GM is punishing me for Winning all this loot!"

I think adventures benefit from pacing changes. 100% balls to the wall adventure 24/7 can get boring. You need slow times to appreciate the fast times. As for weird loot being a punishment, do players really make this complaint? Why would they assume the GM would give them the same amount of gp?

Quote from: rytrasmi on September 20, 2023, 01:07:36 PM
I think adventures benefit from pacing changes. 100% balls to the wall adventure 24/7 can get boring. You need slow times to appreciate the fast times. As for weird loot being a punishment, do players really make this complaint? Why would they assume the GM would give them the same amount of gp?

A lot of players grew up on video games and expect the same ease for coin conversion.

I'm actually planning a game based on the pharaoh's curse meme, but since I only run prowlers, loot isn't really the point