Twelve Things Found In A Dead Adventurer’s Pockets…

Another Handy 1d12 Table for the Harried DM...

(A Gothic ivory carving from 13th-15th century Europe. Held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

You’ll find them. Dead adventurers.

The Valorous Vagrants of Vihmy or some other band of enterprising young adventurers descend into the dungeons beneath Tower Tenebrous... but don’t come out.

Maybe the DM shouldn’t have put those two ogres armed with mauls on that level, but hey… this is AD&D and he’s not going to hold the players’ hands. You choose your fights.

So now, your party… the self-styled Knights of Alondra, fresh young paladin in the lead, decide to take their shot at Tower Tenebrous.

The place looks damned empty at first. Has someone else been here? The barkeep back in town said nothing about another adventuring party in the area.

The Knights make their way through a pretty ransacked first level... dead goblins all over the place… and find the stairs leading to the second level. This is where… rumors have it… all the cool stuff was supposed to be stored.

You turn a bend in the passage… and there they are… looking like a 3D Salvador Dali painting… certain areas of their bodies flattened more than usual. The Valorous Vagrants met their end right here. Right… here…

Time to loot the bodies.

Now, of course the DM has already determined their personal treasure… which isn’t much and the goblins upstairs certainly didn’t have shit… but what else would these unfortunate souls have to their names?

That’s where you get creative.

I’ve been there… having to come up with stuff off the top of my head to give things a little flavor… to make the players wonder and possibly waste time.

I’ll do it so you don’t have to. So, let’s give that dodecahedron you never use a little more love.

Here’s a nice little table of 12 unusual things found on the body of a dead adventurer. Some might be useful. Some might be mysterious. Some might make the player wonder what this guy got up to in his spare time. All are designed to make the player stop and think...

Roll 1d12:

1. A bundle of twelve iron spikes wrapped in cloth so they won’t rattle. This will make the party rethink their OPSEC.

2. A weighted throwing line made of unusually strong silk with a small lead hook on the end. Useful for snagging objects. About 150 feet in length.

3. A small, empty collapsible cage with possible bird crap on the bottom of it.

4. A map fragment sealed in a small tube waxed shut on both ends. The map shows a partial dungeon level or maybe a wilderness route. One important chamber or landmark is circled in red ink with exclamation or question marks. The rest of the map is missing. Of course, the place detailed has nothing to do with this one.

5. A stoppered clay jar of lampblack. This stuff can be smeared on armor or skin to reduce shine and help hide in darkness. This brings a lively OPSEC discussion since it sounds like a good idea, but obviously didn’t help this party.

6. A bone whistle carved with strange symbols. It makes a sharp, extremely annoying tone that carries over a great distance. Adventurers use them to signal underground or across wilderness distances.

7. A small cloth pouch containing six perfectly identical human incisors.

8. A scrap of parchment listing 25 names. Six have been crossed out. The DM can introduce future NPCs this way.

9. A small brass mirror mounted on a hinged wooden handle. Useful for peering around corners.

10. A pouch containing dried apple slices and honeyed nuts. Enough for two good meals.

11. A stoppered flask of extremely strong spirits. Good for drinking if you’re a lush, as a disinfectant, or as a fire starter when mixed with oil.

12. A letter from a bar wench in the nearby town to the now deceased owner. Damned saucy and badly written, she details her love for him and states their mutual treasure is buried 10 strides due east of “their tree.”

Weird things like this happen in Fayn. Fayn is my AD&D 1E campaign world under development. Occasionally I’ll throw tidbits and lore out here in the freebie section, but the good stuff is reserved for the paid tier subscribers. $5.99 per month gives you access to the information being spoonfed to me by the enigmatic Imp of Sodh from his tower. Step inside with us and see what’s afoot...