Aeolius
Adventurer
"I know of an island," the native guide spoke quietly to the party "Where the coin of the realm is strewn upon the ground, for all to see. The local coin is fair game for the taking, if you are stealthy."
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Treasure In A Land Without Coin Or Quality Goods
- Thread starter Kaodi
- Start date
"I know of an island," the native guide spoke quietly to the party "Where the coin of the realm is strewn upon the ground, for all to see. The local coin is fair game for the taking, if you are stealthy."
I've wanted to run a colony style campaign for some time. I had a friend that ran such a game, and I greatly enjoyed playing in it.
Are the PCs basically the only ones in the land, or is there an actual colony being set up? If a colony is being created, then it is likely that some quality goods will be imported. Also, there will be coinage at the colony, although most of the enconomy is likely to be barter.
I recommend spending some time deciding what local animals are useful for food and other things. Discovering new species of animals or plants (or fungi or the like) with their own uses can be a great reward. Also, having someone else looking into the uses of such things can be useful, and provide future adventure hooks as they ask the PCs to acquire more of it.
Fellow colonists taking care of the PCs houses, building them up, working land for them, in return for their help with various problems or bringing back important resources. This also helps to tie the PCs to the community and develop relationships that can come in handy as both adventure hooks and possibly solutions to future problems.
Information can be fun to give out as treasure. If the land is discussed in legends of ancient empires, scholars back home might pay for information about the ancient empire, and anyone could be interested in artifacts (magical or not) such as art objects and the like. Such rare items are also excellent status symbols for the PCs.
Are the PCs basically the only ones in the land, or is there an actual colony being set up? If a colony is being created, then it is likely that some quality goods will be imported. Also, there will be coinage at the colony, although most of the enconomy is likely to be barter.
I recommend spending some time deciding what local animals are useful for food and other things. Discovering new species of animals or plants (or fungi or the like) with their own uses can be a great reward. Also, having someone else looking into the uses of such things can be useful, and provide future adventure hooks as they ask the PCs to acquire more of it.
Fellow colonists taking care of the PCs houses, building them up, working land for them, in return for their help with various problems or bringing back important resources. This also helps to tie the PCs to the community and develop relationships that can come in handy as both adventure hooks and possibly solutions to future problems.
Information can be fun to give out as treasure. If the land is discussed in legends of ancient empires, scholars back home might pay for information about the ancient empire, and anyone could be interested in artifacts (magical or not) such as art objects and the like. Such rare items are also excellent status symbols for the PCs.
Celebrim
Legend
1) Furs and pelts - Smilodon pelts are valuable commodies
2) Ivory - So are smilodon tusks, mammoth tusks, and whalebone
3) Other monster parts - perfume ingredients, poisons, feathers for hats, reagents for spells and magic research
4) The Monsters Themselves - Young monstrous scorpions fetch a high price in markets
4) Valuable minerals - uncut gems, jade, gold nuggets, gold dust, etc.
5) Collectible Items & Curiousities - necklaces made from coral, jade, and sea shells, woven baskets, wood carvings, shrunken heads vodoo fetishes and charms (works like wands and scrolls), anything that a tourist would buy or a rich person might hang on his wall.
6) Spices and exotic food stuffs - "Hey! This entire grove is cinnamon trees. We could easily harvest a couple hundred pounds of bark, dry it and sell it for a 1 g.p. a pound back in civilized lands!" Spices, nuts, dried fruits, seeds, live plants, tea, coffee, exotic alchohol. A good portion of the world was explored because rich people were bored at dinner. And as long as you have a ship, a couple tons of coconuts will do noone any harm.
7) Slaves - No body is going to miss a few indigenous peoples.
8) Other trade stuffs - Cork, wicker, hemp, flax, opium, etc.
2) Ivory - So are smilodon tusks, mammoth tusks, and whalebone
3) Other monster parts - perfume ingredients, poisons, feathers for hats, reagents for spells and magic research
4) The Monsters Themselves - Young monstrous scorpions fetch a high price in markets
4) Valuable minerals - uncut gems, jade, gold nuggets, gold dust, etc.
5) Collectible Items & Curiousities - necklaces made from coral, jade, and sea shells, woven baskets, wood carvings, shrunken heads vodoo fetishes and charms (works like wands and scrolls), anything that a tourist would buy or a rich person might hang on his wall.
6) Spices and exotic food stuffs - "Hey! This entire grove is cinnamon trees. We could easily harvest a couple hundred pounds of bark, dry it and sell it for a 1 g.p. a pound back in civilized lands!" Spices, nuts, dried fruits, seeds, live plants, tea, coffee, exotic alchohol. A good portion of the world was explored because rich people were bored at dinner. And as long as you have a ship, a couple tons of coconuts will do noone any harm.
7) Slaves - No body is going to miss a few indigenous peoples.
8) Other trade stuffs - Cork, wicker, hemp, flax, opium, etc.
howandwhy99
Adventurer
Value all depends upon the local economy. It sounds like a primitive era, which could include stone age, hunter / gatherer, early civilization, or bronze.
In any case, remember that treasure is everything. That includes information. Bones can be crafted by NPCs into skin and bone equipment, armor, and weapons. Food, water, shelter, and clothing are going to be more valuable, but more prevalent in the environment.
Poison is probably more prevalent too, but should have suitable taboos and saving throws for use in place.
All of the more civilized medieval and later eras are using the same materials as those from before. The difference is they have created means to manipulate those materials in more diverse ways. Iron and steel, for instance, come from iron ore and coal deposits. Mining and building practices are more complex. Gold, silver, and other precious metals and gems could still be used as a common currency, albeit unrefined.
I know you want to do away with coin and quality goods, but for your own sake I would begin with some kind of value standard like the West's gold standard. It could change from culture to culture or tribe to tribe, but having a base will allow the trading game to give treasure value. Then all those treasures found in lairs are worth the challenges to reach them.
Lastly, go for something fantastical. Have decaying alien technology found on a mutating ground sloth whose brain is inhabited by the dying extraterrestrial hivemind. Or make up primitive treasure which behave differently like Magtetum, a metal that "grows" when magnetized.
In any case, remember that treasure is everything. That includes information. Bones can be crafted by NPCs into skin and bone equipment, armor, and weapons. Food, water, shelter, and clothing are going to be more valuable, but more prevalent in the environment.
Poison is probably more prevalent too, but should have suitable taboos and saving throws for use in place.
All of the more civilized medieval and later eras are using the same materials as those from before. The difference is they have created means to manipulate those materials in more diverse ways. Iron and steel, for instance, come from iron ore and coal deposits. Mining and building practices are more complex. Gold, silver, and other precious metals and gems could still be used as a common currency, albeit unrefined.
I know you want to do away with coin and quality goods, but for your own sake I would begin with some kind of value standard like the West's gold standard. It could change from culture to culture or tribe to tribe, but having a base will allow the trading game to give treasure value. Then all those treasures found in lairs are worth the challenges to reach them.
Lastly, go for something fantastical. Have decaying alien technology found on a mutating ground sloth whose brain is inhabited by the dying extraterrestrial hivemind. Or make up primitive treasure which behave differently like Magtetum, a metal that "grows" when magnetized.
Viking Bastard
Adventurer
Wenches!
(Can't believe this hasn't been posted yet!)
(Can't believe this hasn't been posted yet!)
If there's little to no magic, then what exactly will they be spending their treasure on?
I mean once the PCs acquire wealth... what do they do with it? Unless it's to just "build a bigger house"?
My point is you might not need treasure if the goal isn't to acquire wealth. They level up, they get the best nonmagical gear, and they're set.
I mean once the PCs acquire wealth... what do they do with it? Unless it's to just "build a bigger house"?
My point is you might not need treasure if the goal isn't to acquire wealth. They level up, they get the best nonmagical gear, and they're set.
Merkuri
Explorer
The 4th edition Dark Sun book has some rules for favors that could probably easily apply to Pathfinder or any game. To sum it up, you basically assign a monetary value to the favor, and you can call on the person or group later and get that much worth of resources from them. It's like you have a credit account with that person or group.
Kaodi
Legend
The idea is that the PCs are the primary scouting party for an expedition. They land in a more or less friendly looking place, and while the go off exploring the remainder of the expedition builds up the first settlement.
At some point, the settlement would be attacked by orcs, who are pretty much the only inhabitants of the initial island, and the leaders of the expedition would be dragged off and killed, at which point the PCs transition into a Kingmaker type game, with the difference at the start being that they inherit a settlement that has grown for a few months already.
Probably this means there are going to be a ton of resources, meaning a booming economy, and most of that money is probably going to go back into expanding their burgeoning little colony.
A lot of the conflict in such a campaign would be against terrifying beasts of epic proportions. Though once they make it to the mainland, it will become clear that this continent does in fact have its own inhabitants, though most of them may not build settlements much larger than a village. Orcs, lizardfolk, grippli, boggards, degenerate serpentfolk... It could be an interest sub-plot perhaps to incorporate the relation between these orcs and the half-orcs of the civilized lands, who would be a true breeding race much like half-elves in Eberron's Khorvaire.
Also, I was thinking that if I really wanted to emphasize the cyclopean scale of this new worlds fauna (and probably flora too), that it might be interesting to make the initial expedition one made up entirely of halflings, many of whom might have a similar station before to those in Cheliax.
The challenge rating would probably be something to keep an eye on, especially if none of the PCs specialize in AC, because things like the CR 15 Colossal Black Scorpion could possibly waste TPK unpreppared 20th level parties if they unlucky. Throwing lower level challenges would nicely stretch out the levels though...
At some point, the settlement would be attacked by orcs, who are pretty much the only inhabitants of the initial island, and the leaders of the expedition would be dragged off and killed, at which point the PCs transition into a Kingmaker type game, with the difference at the start being that they inherit a settlement that has grown for a few months already.
Probably this means there are going to be a ton of resources, meaning a booming economy, and most of that money is probably going to go back into expanding their burgeoning little colony.
A lot of the conflict in such a campaign would be against terrifying beasts of epic proportions. Though once they make it to the mainland, it will become clear that this continent does in fact have its own inhabitants, though most of them may not build settlements much larger than a village. Orcs, lizardfolk, grippli, boggards, degenerate serpentfolk... It could be an interest sub-plot perhaps to incorporate the relation between these orcs and the half-orcs of the civilized lands, who would be a true breeding race much like half-elves in Eberron's Khorvaire.
Also, I was thinking that if I really wanted to emphasize the cyclopean scale of this new worlds fauna (and probably flora too), that it might be interesting to make the initial expedition one made up entirely of halflings, many of whom might have a similar station before to those in Cheliax.
The challenge rating would probably be something to keep an eye on, especially if none of the PCs specialize in AC, because things like the CR 15 Colossal Black Scorpion could possibly waste TPK unpreppared 20th level parties if they unlucky. Throwing lower level challenges would nicely stretch out the levels though...
Kaodi
Legend
On a related note... does anyone think 10 point buy would be too harsh to saddle players with? I want the game to be gritty, and characters natural abilities should not feel superhuman... Especially since given that civilization is a month or two by sea away, it would be odd if replacement characters just popped up out of nowhere that had abilities so beyond the pale that it would strain creduility for them to have not been well known before...
BriarMonkey
First Post
Um... If this new colony is a month or two away, then I doubt it would have a "booming economy". Most everything would be barter, and they would still be very much in a period of trying to survive. Defenses always need improving, resources need to be turned into goods, and disease and natives will take their toll. Especially if Orcs ravage the colony.
And, from my personal point of view, I do think a 10 point point-buy is too low. Think of it this way, if these are the explorers of the colony, they actually have one of the most dangerous jobs. Thus, they should be some of the best people the colony can afford to send out into the wilds. Unless the PCs have high skills in things like Farming, Blacksmithing, Building, Cooking, and other skills that the colony would need - why were they part of the undertaking? Starting out, a colony's first wave is typically those that have the skills to get everything up and running.
Thus, let the PCs be PCs. They have a task to do, otherwise they wouldn't be there.
And, from my personal point of view, I do think a 10 point point-buy is too low. Think of it this way, if these are the explorers of the colony, they actually have one of the most dangerous jobs. Thus, they should be some of the best people the colony can afford to send out into the wilds. Unless the PCs have high skills in things like Farming, Blacksmithing, Building, Cooking, and other skills that the colony would need - why were they part of the undertaking? Starting out, a colony's first wave is typically those that have the skills to get everything up and running.
Thus, let the PCs be PCs. They have a task to do, otherwise they wouldn't be there.
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