Flea Market Treasure-Like Finds

Had the day off. Went to a flea market cause I didn't go to the movies. Neither one has anything to do with the other, but that's how it happened. I took pictures of some interesting items I thought would be interesting to add to a random table of some sort of stuff the party finds.

Creepy ass dolls are always good for loot. Creepy ass rat dolls are even better.

A couple of simple African statuettes. I like the dude's white necklace. Maybe these could be some sort of Figurines of Lesser Power. Dude has a white necklace and a giant butter knife. The lady is holding a water jug on her head. I think both would make great magi items.

Not something I would put in the dungeon, just thought it was funny.

This thing was about 4' tall. Not sure what it is. Looks like it would tip over if you put anything in it. Giant candle stick?

Again, not found in my game, but funny. It wasn't for sale. I was sad.

Another creepy ass item, this time featuring a soulless mask dedicated to a duck god of death.

Don't judge my photo skills. I think this was a bull mask with a mohawk. Yeah this has to find its way into my game.

Wait for it.

I found this a little funny.

And this. So close!

Okay, that was my trip.

Bye.

Breaking Down Metal Prices

Once in a while I get these questions in my head that I can't shake.  The one that's been bouncing around in my head had been price values of different metals.  Since I use a silver standard in my game I'm wondering how many 1oz silver pieces would be equivalent to a 1oz gold piece using today's prices?

Google research time.  I found at the time of my search gold is selling for $1730.50/oz.  Wow.  But then I watch shows like Gold Rush and think about how much they have to spend to get at the gold.  What a pain. Current silver prices are at $32.58/oz.  Wow again.  What a gigantic divide between values.  Using today's it would take 53.11 silver pieces to equal one gold.

I can see using this in game.  Round it to an even 50 silver and it makes for easy conversions.  Here's why I like using the silver standard.  It makes gold valuable.  When you make gold the standard it devalues the silver.  Since I only use a 3 metal coin system for sanity sake it makes sense to make silver the standard.

ERROR FOUND and Fixed...I think
Now let's take a look at the lowly copper piece.  The given price for copper is in pounds not ounces.  For one pound of copper you'll get handed $3.43 which works out to about .21cents/oz.  It would take 155 copper to make a silver.  I would round it again to 150.

So using today's metal prices the conversion rate would look like this.

	Copper	Silver	Gold
Copper	1	1/150	1/7500
Silver	1/150	1	1/50
Gold	1/7500	50	1

Let's say you like platinum in you game.  When I looked up its price I found something surprising for a gamer who always thought platinum was 5x more valuable than gold.  Not so.  Today's market will write you a check for $1559.40/oz.  Almost $200 less than gold.  Oh how the lofty have fallen.  That means platinum is only worth 47.86 silver pieces.  Over five silver less than gold.  Do I really need two metals that are almost the same value?  Not really.  So platinum gets the boot.  Maybe make it the 'gold' of another land.  Who knows.

And for my final calculation I thought it would be interesting to see how much tin, coal and iron ore are going for.  I think those are the three mines I usually set up in my game.  The prices in metric tons.  Tin came out way fricking ahead at $23,233.70/metric ton (for those unaware like me, a metric ton is about 2200 pounds).  Which gives it a price of $1056.07/lb and $66/oz.  Tin is more than twice the value of silver.

Coal comes in at $81.44/metric ton.  About 4 cents a pound.  And an ounce is not worth bending over to pick up.

Iron Ore is valued at $113.95/metric ton.  You can get a 5 cents/pound and again for an ounce it might be better to kick with your shoe.

I'm not sure exactly how knowing this will help me the the development of my campaign world, but its good to have a baseline.  Because it is a fantasy medieval setting I am thinking the prices for coal and iron would be high and the tin lower.  Either way what it shows me is tin barons would be hell of a lot wealthier than their coal counter parts.  Just interesting I think.

If anyone sees a problem with my math let me know.  As I've said.  I used the prices of the moment.  Since I wrote this gold went up to $1731.

Giving Mundane Treasure a Kick

Over at the Tower of the Archmage, David is doing a series of posts based on how he is stocking his megadungeon, particularly the first level. His most recent post was on rolling random treasure and fitting it into his dungeon. He adjusted the values of the gems so 1st level character could not retire after a few rooms. That got me thinking how I do treasure, especially coins, gems and jewelry and some artwork.

I'm always one who likes to add a few layers to things. Sometimes I over complicate them, in which I just toss the idea into the mental bin and continue. When I decide treasure I may add a few curves into the value of things. Easiest one is coins. The standard is copper, silver and gold. I'm not one for platinum or by all the horrors above and below, electrum. What I do like to do is introduce simple variants in value and worth to them. An example is there is silver and hard silver. Hard silver is worth much more that regular silver and not found in coins, but rather small bars. What makes hard silver so valuable is that it accepts enchantments easily. It is usually part of a recipe when someone wants to make an enchantable weapon.

Keeping with the coins I like to slip in ancient coins which are different size and value. A gold coin from the third kingdom is three times as large as the ones minted today. The reason I like this is it adds depth and character to the treasure connecting itself to the world around. But again, sometimes it gets too complicated and the focus is elsewhere so then the players will just find a pile of gold coins.

Gems can hold enchantments, be an ingredient in an alchemical recipe or a component in some spell ritual. To cast a gate spell a mage may need to have the dust of 10000gp worth of diamonds or some such thing. To create a potion of strength the potion may require the chips off a ruby. Its fun to have these layers, but only if the players buy into it. Again if it seems to be something that bogs down the game or the players don't seem interested in that aspect I drop it.

Artwork is tricky, but I like to add a significant painting or sculpture. Like in the real world the value is not often the quality of the work, but who created it. Some of the paintings in a recent adventure I designed show significant details of a lost dwarven mine. It was an adventure hook I laid there to see if the players would pick up on it. If they do plan to explore, fantastic. If not, no problem.

As I have stated above sometimes this gets me too involved in details many times may not matter, but if done correctly and with a light touch, adding this kind of thing to your mundane treasure rewards will make it more exciting.

Monster Treasure Tables : To Use or Not to Use

I have to say I don't have much use for them. I like them for the general idea of what kind of treasure value a monster should have, but I've always stayed away from the rolling dice to determine what the critter has stashed in its nest or stuffed in its pockets.

Last few days without a computer I've been unable to work on my one adventure so I started writing a new one. This one I am writing without a map first (which I will go into in another blog). The one area is populated by a tribe of goblins and the goblins have in their possession a intelligent, lawfal good dagger. The leader of tribe can't use, knows its powerful so they put in on an altar and worship it. In my world goblins are not only scavangers of things, but also of religion and culture, they just sorta pick up things along the way.

It added a nice flavor to the adventure I wouldn't have if I followed the treasure tables. I'm curious how much people adhere to the treasure types for monsters. These new adventures I am creating for OSRIC and S&W and soon LL when I shell out the dough for the books, I haven't been as stingy with the magic items as I used to be. So I don't want to have to roll a 5% or less to give a critter a little something cool in their pockets.

So today's question is, how many of you use the the treasure tables? Or better yet, how do you use the treasure tables for monsters?