Loot

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“The evil wizard stumbles backwards and falls to the ground. There is a sigh and then nothing. He’s dead.”

Everybody at the table cheered

“I search his body!”

“I look for chests!”

“Is there anything that looks expensive!”

The players all scramble for loot.

I flipped through the book

“Ok, let’s see, you find 200 gold pieces, 40 silver pieces, and 20 copper. There is a scroll of magic missile and a scroll of water breathing, oh and a +1 dagger.”

“That’s it?” I could tell that everyone was a little dejected, but I didn’t know why.

“There are 2 minor healing potions as well.”

“Ok”

That was it. No more excitement, they just marked them on their character sheets and moved on.

It took me a while to realize that I had completely screwed up loot. I didn’t look at it as part of the story, as a scene unto itself. Instead, it was just mechanical. Something to jot down on a character sheet. I had missed a great opportunity to improve the players, the game, and the setting.

I wasn’t the only one.

Handling loot seems like a very simple thing, but if not done right can screw up the game just as quickly as a TPK. In this episode Mike, Christina and I are going to talk about Loot and give you some ideas for your games.

Mike, what’s your favorite piece of loot you ever rewarded your players with in a game?

[Kick to Mike]

What about you Christina?

[Kick to Christina]