I am running a campaign set in Cormyr, heavily inspired by the old Volo's Guide to Cormyr book from back in the days of 2e.
The party has decided to take up an adventure that was posted on a message board (always a great thing to have for adventure hooks--love who ever came up with that idea) to rid a ghost from the attic a young girl lives in.
The attic in question is that of the Wailing Wheel, an establishment known for being poorly cleaned but cheap to stay at (Millie is an eight-year-old girl who is the owner's only permanent employee). I was designed some battle sheets to use with Owlbear Rodeo and given the idea that is was a poor place to stay, people who were down on their luck would have left in a hurry abandoning some possessions there, which were thrown in boxes and shoved in the attic. (Either adventurers found a better job, or died on one and never could claim what was theirs.)
So, as I was vaguely calculating the max number of boxes that would fill up the attic (creating a maze), there will be about 100 abandoned containers. Now, eventually, some player is going to want to open them...
What I need is some ideas, not for wonderous items, but generic things that tell a little story of whomever left their stuff behind. Say, a few old cookbooks as well as a couple of spatulas and a frying pan in one left behind by a chef before they got a comfy job with an aristocrat.
Now this doesn't come off as very entertaining to help out with, so for every two solid mundane suggestions I'll entertain one elaborate one (say a mimic disguised as a box or some magic item). Top ten fantastic entries will be used in all the boxes with a double digit rolled on a d100.
Well, I figure most "boxes" will be unlocked trunks (chests) of goods folks were using as luggage when they were travelling. What do you travel with?
Some chests will hold blankets. Some will hold clothes; with fine clothes, traveling clothes, work clothes, foul weather clothes, etc. There might be a special garment among them.
Some chests might hold tools, instruments, crafting gear, navigator's tools, etc. Among these items you might find something exotic like a disguise kit, a mirror, etc.
Some chests will hold personal effects like towels, razor, mirror, soap, comb.
Some chests might contain a weapon like a dagger, short sword, dwarven axe, or even a family heirloom blade. You might find a shield, a helmet or something along those lines.
You might find old traveling rations that have since gone bad. You might find rodent's nests with or without rodents. Likewise, you might find rodent predictors like a cat or a snake in this attic.
A chest might contain the family silver and cookware, all packaged for travel. You might find a few toys wrapped for travel. You might find a couple books, and an exotic book might be a history of a specific area or culture, and even the start of a wizard's spell book that the wizard never came back to claim.
Well, those are a few ideas at least. Good luck. Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I would eagerly use the trinket table from the Player's Handbook for some interesting but not game-breaking items. There are many expansion trinket tables in other 5e books and online as well. You could probably choose a few that are also clues or plot hooks for your campaign.
As for the trunks rather than boxes, I agree with you, but it was easier to create a lone box and alter its color/shape than a trunk in photoshop. Using that because I'm lazy and not being paid for any of this ;)
The trinket table from Player's Handbook and Acquisitions Incorporated and the horror trinket table from that free little character options thing provides a lot of fun little weird items that work great for that type of thing. Also, including tools, gaming sets, and the musical instruments found in the Player's Handbook works well. Other options include:
-A dead cat
-A book but every other word is either written upside down, backwards, or side ways.
-A cracked teapot with a face painted on it.
- A pair of wooden clogs
-A set of dolls
-A toy train
-A wooden moose
-Three little pigs made out of pink stone with a brown stone wolf all bundled up in straw, sticks and a few bricks.
-A collection of coffee mugs
-A stamp collection
-A collection of bottle caps
-An insect collection
-An owlbear head
-A ship in a bottle
-A small painting that appears to be the mother of whoever is looking at it
-A gold ring that has the word "precious" inscribed on its surface
-A jeweler box with 58 gp worth of jewelery
- A winning lottery ticket
- A box full of horse shoes
-A cannonball
-A jar of glass eyeballs that are always watching you
-A cape with the letters SM embroidered in red and yellow on its back.
-A pair of shattered spectacles
- A jar of catnip (An illegal drug for Tabaxis)
-A box of stale bread
- A platypus bear egg
-A book called "Adolescent Mutated Warrior Tortoises"
-A book titled "Conversations with Fiends"
-A book about fiends titled "The Tapeworm Letters"
Why would the proprietor keep all the stuff left behind by travelers? Most would sell it off after a short period of time. Unless paid to hold it. The holding time would depend on the quality of the establishment. Spend more get more as they say.
Logically most of the stuff would just be the proprietors and their family stuff. Maybe more supplies for the establishment.
Though in one campaign I had a rogue who hid extra "go bags" of equipment in the attics of taverns all over town. Basically extra tools and disguise kits in almost every public house in town.
I actually spent some time recently coming up with random oddities that my players can find in situations like this one-- items that aren't valuable but have a little bit of personality. They're more like "trinkets" than mundane what's-in-the-box contents would probably be, but you might be able to use them in the context of, "underneath some moth-eaten linens, you find one thing of interest...." A couple of them have very minor enchantments, if it wouldn't be too out-of-place in your game.
* Old boots that have been repaired many times- they look ragged but are still durable and very warm
* A fine cloth handkerchief with a coat of arms embroidered on it
* A leather case containing sheets of pristine paper, a bottle of ink, and a raven-feather writing quill with a silver tip
* A scroll case containing a roughly-drawn map leading to ... something ... if you can figure out what area it's supposed to be mapping.
* A wooden pipe and some good-quality tobacco (which might be rotted, depending on how long it's been sitting there). The pipe has a very minor enchantment that allows you to blow smoke to form elaborate images and shapes, which dissipate after a few seconds.
* Coins made of tin or bronze, with markings you don't recognize. I wonder what land these might have come from....
* An alligator-hide pouch containing several smooth, brightly polished stones. Someone with arcane or religious knowledge might recognize their use in fortune-telling rituals. They have a minor enchantment allowing the user to cast Augury as a ritual, but only under the light of the moon.
* A notebook with some hand-written poetry in dwarvish, which is more elegant and emotional than one might expect.
* Dyed candles with a particular deity's holy symbol on them. When spending hit dice to recover HP during a short rest, burning a candle (which uses it up) and offering a short prayer allows you to re-roll any 1's on your hit dice... but only if your recent actions have been in accordance with the deity's teachings.
Forgot to post the follow-up to the game session...
...turns out nobody bothered to look in any of the abandoned boxes or luggage left behind. I want to thank everyone that contributed again, it was great to have even if it was never used.
I am running a campaign set in Cormyr, heavily inspired by the old Volo's Guide to Cormyr book from back in the days of 2e.
The party has decided to take up an adventure that was posted on a message board (always a great thing to have for adventure hooks--love who ever came up with that idea) to rid a ghost from the attic a young girl lives in.
The attic in question is that of the Wailing Wheel, an establishment known for being poorly cleaned but cheap to stay at (Millie is an eight-year-old girl who is the owner's only permanent employee). I was designed some battle sheets to use with Owlbear Rodeo and given the idea that is was a poor place to stay, people who were down on their luck would have left in a hurry abandoning some possessions there, which were thrown in boxes and shoved in the attic. (Either adventurers found a better job, or died on one and never could claim what was theirs.)
So, as I was vaguely calculating the max number of boxes that would fill up the attic (creating a maze), there will be about 100 abandoned containers. Now, eventually, some player is going to want to open them...
What I need is some ideas, not for wonderous items, but generic things that tell a little story of whomever left their stuff behind. Say, a few old cookbooks as well as a couple of spatulas and a frying pan in one left behind by a chef before they got a comfy job with an aristocrat.
Now this doesn't come off as very entertaining to help out with, so for every two solid mundane suggestions I'll entertain one elaborate one (say a mimic disguised as a box or some magic item). Top ten fantastic entries will be used in all the boxes with a double digit rolled on a d100.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Sign--
Wacky
Well, I figure most "boxes" will be unlocked trunks (chests) of goods folks were using as luggage when they were travelling. What do you travel with?
Some chests will hold blankets. Some will hold clothes; with fine clothes, traveling clothes, work clothes, foul weather clothes, etc. There might be a special garment among them.
Some chests might hold tools, instruments, crafting gear, navigator's tools, etc. Among these items you might find something exotic like a disguise kit, a mirror, etc.
Some chests will hold personal effects like towels, razor, mirror, soap, comb.
Some chests might contain a weapon like a dagger, short sword, dwarven axe, or even a family heirloom blade. You might find a shield, a helmet or something along those lines.
You might find old traveling rations that have since gone bad. You might find rodent's nests with or without rodents. Likewise, you might find rodent predictors like a cat or a snake in this attic.
A chest might contain the family silver and cookware, all packaged for travel. You might find a few toys wrapped for travel. You might find a couple books, and an exotic book might be a history of a specific area or culture, and even the start of a wizard's spell book that the wizard never came back to claim.
Well, those are a few ideas at least. Good luck. Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I would eagerly use the trinket table from the Player's Handbook for some interesting but not game-breaking items. There are many expansion trinket tables in other 5e books and online as well. You could probably choose a few that are also clues or plot hooks for your campaign.
Thank you both for your suggestions!
As for the trunks rather than boxes, I agree with you, but it was easier to create a lone box and alter its color/shape than a trunk in photoshop. Using that because I'm lazy and not being paid for any of this ;)
Sign--
Wacky
The trinket table from Player's Handbook and Acquisitions Incorporated and the horror trinket table from that free little character options thing provides a lot of fun little weird items that work great for that type of thing. Also, including tools, gaming sets, and the musical instruments found in the Player's Handbook works well. Other options include:
-A dead cat
-A book but every other word is either written upside down, backwards, or side ways.
-A cracked teapot with a face painted on it.
- A pair of wooden clogs
-A set of dolls
-A toy train
-A wooden moose
-Three little pigs made out of pink stone with a brown stone wolf all bundled up in straw, sticks and a few bricks.
-A collection of coffee mugs
-A stamp collection
-A collection of bottle caps
-An insect collection
-An owlbear head
-A ship in a bottle
-A small painting that appears to be the mother of whoever is looking at it
-A gold ring that has the word "precious" inscribed on its surface
-A jeweler box with 58 gp worth of jewelery
- A winning lottery ticket
- A box full of horse shoes
-A cannonball
-A jar of glass eyeballs that are always watching you
-A cape with the letters SM embroidered in red and yellow on its back.
-A pair of shattered spectacles
- A jar of catnip (An illegal drug for Tabaxis)
-A box of stale bread
- A platypus bear egg
-A book called "Adolescent Mutated Warrior Tortoises"
-A book titled "Conversations with Fiends"
-A book about fiends titled "The Tapeworm Letters"
-A crusty apron
-A snow globe with a volcano inside
-A snowball that has not melted
-Moist socks
-A stone glove
-A stovepipe hat that produces smoke
-A preserved pixie corpse in a box full of teeth
-A copper lamp
-A candle that smells like skunk when lit
Why would the proprietor keep all the stuff left behind by travelers? Most would sell it off after a short period of time. Unless paid to hold it. The holding time would depend on the quality of the establishment. Spend more get more as they say.
Logically most of the stuff would just be the proprietors and their family stuff. Maybe more supplies for the establishment.
Though in one campaign I had a rogue who hid extra "go bags" of equipment in the attics of taverns all over town. Basically extra tools and disguise kits in almost every public house in town.
I actually spent some time recently coming up with random oddities that my players can find in situations like this one-- items that aren't valuable but have a little bit of personality. They're more like "trinkets" than mundane what's-in-the-box contents would probably be, but you might be able to use them in the context of, "underneath some moth-eaten linens, you find one thing of interest...." A couple of them have very minor enchantments, if it wouldn't be too out-of-place in your game.
* Old boots that have been repaired many times- they look ragged but are still durable and very warm
* A fine cloth handkerchief with a coat of arms embroidered on it
* A leather case containing sheets of pristine paper, a bottle of ink, and a raven-feather writing quill with a silver tip
* A scroll case containing a roughly-drawn map leading to ... something ... if you can figure out what area it's supposed to be mapping.
* A wooden pipe and some good-quality tobacco (which might be rotted, depending on how long it's been sitting there). The pipe has a very minor enchantment that allows you to blow smoke to form elaborate images and shapes, which dissipate after a few seconds.
* Coins made of tin or bronze, with markings you don't recognize. I wonder what land these might have come from....
* An alligator-hide pouch containing several smooth, brightly polished stones. Someone with arcane or religious knowledge might recognize their use in fortune-telling rituals. They have a minor enchantment allowing the user to cast Augury as a ritual, but only under the light of the moon.
* A notebook with some hand-written poetry in dwarvish, which is more elegant and emotional than one might expect.
* Dyed candles with a particular deity's holy symbol on them. When spending hit dice to recover HP during a short rest, burning a candle (which uses it up) and offering a short prayer allows you to re-roll any 1's on your hit dice... but only if your recent actions have been in accordance with the deity's teachings.
Thank you all for your additions!
These will defiantly be added to the list :D
Sign--
Wacky
Such a cabinet of curiosities! :)
One such item should be an egg that is about to hatch or a infant of some species that has been magically put into stasis.
I like that idea--defiantly going into one of the magic slots...gotta start making a proper list for all of these.
Sign--
Wacky
Forgot to post the follow-up to the game session...
...turns out nobody bothered to look in any of the abandoned boxes or luggage left behind. I want to thank everyone that contributed again, it was great to have even if it was never used.
Sign--
Wacky
The good news is that you can always recycle the stuff by sticking it somewhere else.
The bad news is that unless they think it's going to be valuable or relevant to a quest, the players are probably going to keep ignoring it.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica's from 1983 should be in a box.