How do you handle jewelry and valuable art as a GM?

[haakon1]

“Your Friends and Neighbors” is interesting on selling loot.

John Hamm’s character goes to a jewelry shop in the Diamond District in Manhattan with a $300 k* stolen watch.

• No problem, but they need the original box and paperwork.
• He doesn’t have that, “it was a gift”. Can they do it without that?
• No … but here’s a card for someone who may be able to handle that. Tell them Sal send you.

At the pawn shop in the Bronx with a steel cage.

• Let’s see it first. OK, buzz you in back.
• You got paperwork for this?
• No, it was a gift.
• Uh-huh. I’ll give you 180 for it.
• It’s worth $300 k!
• Not as is … without the paperwork.
• Can you do $210?
• You want to negotiate now? OK, 160.
• You said 180.
• OK, done - you win, 180.

At the Bronx pawn shop …

• Do you buy art?
• No way, I don’t touch that stuff. But I know a guy who does …

Back to Manhattan, to an art studio …

* Numbers and names are half remembered.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

Deleted

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

What do your uncultivated barbarians find valuable?

Optionally, what would be the most art history geeky object they feel was not valuable, but suddenly find themselves in charge of a) recovering and b) ensuring it gets to where it needs to be safely?

The part of GM prep I enjoy the most is the development of fun, nuanced and multilayered NPCs, and their organic evolution during the campaign. Our campaigns are always heavy on roleplaying, conspiraces and webs of intrigue where well developed NPCs are a foundation. I have total buy-in from my players in this, it’s win-win and much fun is had.

Now, I want to build pieces of art with the same depth as my major NPCs. I want a single piece of art being able to carry and be the foundation for a whole campaign arch in it’s on right. So far I’ve been disapointed and met with very lukewarm response from my table

It makes me vomit in the mouth a bit, but what I probably want is The DaVinci Code the rpg

 

[Piperken]

Now, I want to build pieces of art with the same depth as my major NPCs. I want a single piece of art being able to carry and be the foundation for a whole campaign arch in it’s on right. So far I’ve been disapointed and met with very lukewarm response from my table

It makes me vomit in the mouth a bit, but what I probably want is The DaVinci Code the rpg

There's nothing wrong with DaVinci Code inspo'd adventure/campaign.
(Just don't write it like Dan Brown!)

Give it a go? Let them have the challenge of having to navigate their own and their characters' responses around that!

 

[Bill Zebub]

I play Shadowdark, so in terms of carrying capacity I work in inventory slots, not weight/volume. Most things (rings, crowns, paintings, statuettes, etc.) take up 1 slot. A rug or statue or the like might take up 2 or even 3. If they run out of inventory slots they have to decide what to leave behind; there are no "lightly encumbered" or "heavily encumbered" states to keep track of.

When it comes to selling those items, each item is specified to have a gold value. When they get to town they can freely convert those items to gold and get back to adventuring.

Gone are the days of adding up weights and negotiating about volume. Gone are the days of players rolling Charisma versus an NPCs Wisdom to see if they can eke an extra 15 silver out of the transaction.

Thank god.

 

[Bill Zebub]

That said...

When I was working on Beowulf, which has a strong themes of gift giving and reputation, I played around with a subsystem where your level is basically synonymous with reputation, and one of the ways you earn reputation (think "XP") is by gift-giving, but different NPCs have different preferences for types of gifts, and you can optimize XP by giving the right gifts to the right people. Figuring out who likes what is part of the challenge.

E.g., you find a rare Roman blue-glass bottle, and you save it to give to an NPC who you know has a fondness for Roman artifacts. Doing that increases your reputation more than giving it to somebody who just loves gold.

It all ended up being more complicated and less fun than I hoped, but the general idea still appeals to me...

 

[Baron Opal II]

So: Do you figure weights and values for jewelry and art pieces ad-hoc by hand-waving? Or do you have some sort of system? I'm interested in systems, particularly those that don't make a hash where the 'artistic' value is negative. I really want the minimum value to be the value of the gem and precious metal components.

I use a slot system for encumbrance, 1 slot/item per point of Strength. The typical "adventurer's backpack" weighs 6 "items".

Unless it's something like a crown or plastron I don't worry about weight for jewelry. For art objects, your average 4-6" statue of stone or metal is an item. Paintings are an item, but you can bundle them in groups of three if you roll them. Carpets, rugs, tapestries, &c. are 4-12 depending on size. A metal door 1/4" thick is around 40 items. (Because those wacky players want the BBEG's bronze doors for their own homestead. smh)

I determine value of the jewelry first, then what it is. Random tables provide ideas and inspiration for composition and form. Values for art are typically on the "low" side, but 3-5 times the value can be found in a larger city or a known collector. Some things, like elvish art are "exotic" and garner a higher price.

 

[Hand of Evil]

For me it comes down to "inconvenience factor". Could be weight, could be size or could be shape or all of those, if it is just inconvenient it is just going to be difficult and a pain to carry or work with.