Monsters & Treasure

Most monsters don’t carry valuables around with them. Non-intelligent monsters may not even consider their treasure valuable or have a very different perspective on value than character races. So the adventurers may need to find and ransack a creature’s lair, and/or the bodies of its victims to uncover its hoard. The search itself will likely trigger a Discern Realities move.

Sample Hoards

• A goblin’s stash; 2 coins
• A lizardman’s trinkets; 5 coins
• A “priceless” sword; 80 coins
• An orc warchief’s tribute; 250 coins
• A dragon’s mound of coins and gems; 130,000 coins

Customizing Treasure

Monsters, much like adventurers, collect shiny useful things. When the players search the belongings of a monster (be they on their person or tucked away somewhere) describe them honestly. If the monster has accumulated some wealth you can roll that randomly. Start with the monster’s damage die, modified if the monster is:

• Hoarder: roll damage die twice, take higher result
• Far from home: add at least one ration (usable by anyone with similar taste)
• Magical: some strange item, possibly magical
• Divine: a sign of a deity (or deities)
• Planar: something not of this earth
• Lord over others: +1d4 to the roll
• Ancient and noteworthy: +1d4 to the roll

Roll the monster’s damage die plus any added dice to find the monster’s treasure:

• 1: A few coins, 2d8 or so
• 2: An item useful to the current situation
• 3: Several coins, about 4d10
• 4: A small item (gem, art) of considerable value, worth as much as 2d10×10 coins, 0 weight
• 5: Some minor magical trinket
• 6: Useful information (in the form of clues, notes, etc.)
• 7: A bag of coins, 1d4×100 or thereabouts. 1 weight per 100.
• 8: A very valuable small item (gem, art) worth 2d6×100, 0 weight
• 9: A chest of coins and other small valuables. 1 weight but worth 3d6×100 coins.
• 10: A magical item or magical effect
• 11: Many bags of coins for a total of 2d4×100 or so
• 12: A sign of office (crown, banner) worth at least 3d4×100 coins
• 13: A large art item worth 4d4×100 coins, 1 weight
• 14: A unique item worth at least 5d4×100 coins
• 15: All the information needed to learn a new spell and roll again
• 16: A portal or secret path (or directions to one) and roll again
• 17: Something relating to one of the characters and roll again
• 18: A hoard: 1d10×1000 coins and 1d10×10 gems worth 2d6×100 each

Customizing items 

(from The Perilous Wilds)  To further detail an item, roll 1d12 once for general category (utility or art item) and then again for specific type and consult the chart below.

Roll	1-8 Utility Item	9-12 Art Item
1	key/lockpick	trinket/charm
2	potion/food	painting/pottery
3	clothing/cloak	ring/gloves
4	decanter/vessel/cup	carpet/tapestry
5	cage/box/coffer	statuette/idol
6	instrument/tool	flag/banner
7	book/scroll	bracelet/armband
8	weapon/staff/wand	necklace/amulet
9	armor/shield/helm	belt/harness
10	mirror/hourglass	hat/mask
11	pet/mount	orb/sigil/rod
12	device/construct	crown/scepter