This is a game about treasure hunting. Obviously, that involves a lot of daring-do: avoiding deadly traps, facing terrifying monsters, solving tricky puzzles, and, apparently, talking to ghosts. A lot of them. A surprising number of ghosts. Some real sad-ass specters. At the end of such adventures — and probably along the way as well — there is of course treasure. But it’s the journey that really counts, right? It’s not where you’re going, it’s how you get there, right?
Wrong. NO.
I’m kidding. Yes, of course. The adventure is great. But that’s no reason that you shouldn’t have fun with treasure and all the stuff that comes next.
So, when the characters return from an adventure, they are going back to a settlement of some kind. They should have some gold or valuables in tow. They get to town, and they commence with spending their gold.
But — here’s the important part — there are actually interesting and useful things to buy. A handful of shops, each with their own menu of items and services for sale.
So here’s the thing: The GM actually needs to take some time to prepare the town. It’s just as much a part of the adventure as the dungeon. It needs some attention. The GM needs to decide what shops/merchants/interesting people are in town and what services and gear they are selling. This doesn’t need to be difficult, though.
RPGs always have monster lists and sample characters, so that you don’t have to make up all the enemies in every combat yourself. In this game, shops and merchants are given the same treatment: there will be a bunch of pre-made shops and sample items for you to populate your towns with. Ideally. this will be available as a deck of cards, so that you can just lay out the shops in the middle of the table, perhaps alongside some index cards with useful notes. Designing a settlement is as simple as picking a size and a culture, then selecting an appropriate number of shops. That’s all you actually need, and you can fill in the other details to your own taste: drawing up maps, writing histories, listing other important characters, only as much as you think you need.
Here are a couple sample shops:
Amulets of Protection (traveler: craftsperson)
Bearded man in a red turban and long black coat. Carries a heavy backpack
Samuel, Amulet Maker (The Book); lv 6 magician, lv 5 pilgrim
Human. He studies the mystical disciplines of the Book to guard against the dangerous shades and sorcery. He carves and inscribes protective amulets to this end. Unmarried. More concerned with his studies than starting a family.
Items for Sale:
Amulet Against Shades (4): 80 gold. When a shade attacks you in any way, they automatically fail, causing you no harm of any kind, and they suffer 2D8 holy damage (resist +10 for half damage). The amulet then crumbles to dust.
Amulet Against Sorcery (2): 80 gold. When an unwanted spell or prayer would affect you, it instead has no effect upon you. The amulet then crumbles to dust.
Services:
Magician Trainer: Samuel tutors the trainee on topics of magical science with the books he carries, which all have commentary written in the margins by his teacher.
Pilgrim Trainer: Samuel takes the trainee to a holy place for fasting and meditation.
You All Meet in Here (shop: inn)
Looks like a traditional tavern, but a little too new and a little too perfect. Kitschy treasure hunter theme.
Carmelo, Cook/Bartender, and Peter, Housekeeper (The Spire)
Humans. Dressed in a perfect facsimile of traditional local attire. Cheerful in a very practiced way. They go out of their way to cater to treasure hunters, as well as locals who enjoy the “treasure hunter aesthetic”.
Services: They will direct treasure hunters to helpful shops and merchants.
Tavern: There are usually one or two traveling merchants here.
The Bar Menu:
Healing Cocktail (3): 20 gold. Potion. Standard healing potion, but with a splash of whisky, bitters and a slice of seasonal fruit. Heals 2D6 HP or a wound.
Strong Brew (2): 80 gold. Potion. Standard strength potion, brewed as a dark, creamy stout beer. +3 to damage rolls for the rest of the day.
Rations: “Hidden Treasure” Rolls: 2 gold per day. A hearty roll with a sausage baked into the center. Heal 1 HP at the end of the day.
These are a couple of basic shops. Notably, both provide at least one “standard service”, alongside their unique aspects. As a general rule, we assume that, while in a settlement, the characters can always find someone selling rations or offering training in the four basic character classes (Magician, Pilgrim, Warrior and Vagabond). It’s still useful to have the shops offer those services, as it provides us a clear prompt for describing those scenes. They’re not just “buying some rations”; they’re going to the inn to have Carmelo fill up their backpack with sausage-filled rolls. They’re not just “leveling up”. They’re spending their evenings studying with Samuel, reading his books and asking him questions while he carves new amulets.
Importantly, each shop only has a handful of items listed. While we can logically assume they sell other things, we choose simply to focus on the handful of items or services that would likely be of interest to treasure hunters. It’s best to keep these things simple, as it makes them more memorable.
Next time, we’ll discuss the playtest campaign and their adventure ascending a library tower that was sort of loosely inspired by Game of Death.