D&D is mostly a game about killing exotic monsters and taking their stuff. But occasionally, you run into a situation where that isn't the goal, or you've got a player who's not into that. So how do you deal with it?
A lot of this can come down to separation of in-character knowledge from "us-as-player" knowledge. We as players might objectively think that burying people with gold coins and jewelry is pretty much a waste, but a character who grows up in that culture is much more likely to be respectable of that, and have taboos against stealing from the dead (even if they're just plain dead, no chance of becoming a Wight and coming after you). They're going to remember the offering they left to their grandfather, the sword buried with their mother, and the flowers they put on their brother's grave as an infant. A player who's making in-character choices is likely to be much less likely to take that treasure, whethere it's incidental set-dressing or the loot you've set up for the end of the dungeon. In terms of how you can deal with this, there are a few options. You might have all the treasure in a dungeon be cursed so it turns to dust when it leaves, but if that's something that actually happens in your world, it makes the adventuring profession a pretty terrible career choice. You might have some Clerical option like a spell or even using Turn Undead to "settle" the deceased person, allowing you to take their stuff, but it still feels a little artificial. One option would be to allow a ritual to speak to the dead, and give you a chance to persuade them out of their stuff, or bargain for different things. As with life in general, consent is key- if your dead king knows that his legacy is forgotten, he might prefer someone to take up his gear and get out there remembering him, instead of having it just locked up with him. One of the other options is to put it behind a "paywall"- have a tomb complex with lots of treasure scattered around, with the knowledge that any dead who have their stuff disturbed will come fight you for it. This way there's a risk-reward system which means prospective thieves (of all classes) have to carefuly consider their choices, or they'll end up with a literal army of dead guys coming to get back their stolen stuff, the same way they would in life. If you're only after the boss room lot, having to ignore all that glittery jewelry along the way could be a definite challenge. Traps can fall into this category, with the old problem of "exactly who has kept that spring oiled, and the traps in good condition, for the last hundreds of years?". There are some definite things to think about when you're considering raiding tombs as a career choice, and ways that you as a GM can assist that along. Also posted on Game Masters Stash on 18 May 2019. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm Luke. He/him pronouns. Archives
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