How much treasure - one of my players posted about it

Following up on yesterday's post, here is what one of my players commented on over on Dungeons on Automatic:


Vic LaPira wrote:
"Over the last 15 Felltower sessions that I played in (I missed one where there was lower than average loot), the average over that time period is around $5,844 without the major haul (average of about $1,000 per share, because the number of shares varies). The average INCLUDING the big haul where we got $141,000 in one haul ($28,200 each) for almost no work (!) is $16,241 (average of $3,153 per share for 5-6 shares). That does not include magical items, such as the magical longword from the Sword Spirit duel; the huge equipment haul from the Baron Sterick fight: @$250,000 Worth of armor; a fine meteoric iron broadsword worth $25,800; a fine balanced dwarven throwing axe with puissance +1 and accuracy+1, which destroys any shield (except meteoric iron or orichalcum) on impact and has quick draw on it, probably worth upwards of $30,000); and the magic items from the huge loot haul, which included an iron ring of endurance, a ring of three wishes, a necklace of fireballs, and a “ring of protection +1” that was really a cursed poison ring that killed one of the characters (and there went $15,000 of that $28,000, LOL).

It’s great fun, but definitely NOT too much loot. The characters could each be earning $3,000 per session and still be dead broke every few sessions. That’s why they keep delving!"

That's actually more than I'd expected. I did have to increase the loot a little while back when I realized I was being too parsimonious. But my players spend money like water going through a fire hose, mostly on things they'll need that don't last:

- potions
- scrolls
- hirelings
- food
- upkeep
- research
- healing
- consumable magic items

on a few permanent things:

- new armor
- new weapons
- replacements for the above when they're damaged beyond useful repair
- minor magic items and enchantments I allow for easy purchase
- better mundane gear

Even with the money that the PCs see, and the gear they find but keep, I'm probably still giving out loot a little on the low side as evidenced by how often PCs go broke and have to beg and borrow to get what they need to delve.

Still, I bet if I gave them twice, triple, even five times as much loot . . . they'd still spend it down like crazy and hope for more to make up the loss. Expensive one-time things start to become expensive every-delve things very quickly . . .

Post recommendation: How much treasure?

Kyle Norton responded to a question/comment I had about "too much treasure." I wanted to link it here for my own sake and for any other GURPS Dungeon Fantasy / DFRPG GMs who wonder about how much to give out.

My TL;DR of treasure is "limit what's for sale, provide lots of services to rent, and hand out scads of money." It doesn't always work that way but it's what I'm aiming for.

The view from the throne - a looter's perspective

The other day in game, a PC found a hidden item through the simple expedient of sitting on a "throne." A stool, actually, set up in the chamber of the chief of some tribal humanoids, but set up as a ruler's seat.

Now, every time I've had an evil throne, or the throne of some dead king, or a throne-like seat of someone the PCs have defeated, someone has had their PC sit in it.

But Sunday had a first - or at least, something so rarely encountered in my play that it seemed like a first. Someone had his PC sit on a "throne" and ask how the room looked, and what he could see, from the throne. As the player noted, there is always something different about the room from the King's perspective.

In this case, it was an axe, hidden in such a way that it was ready to hand but out of view of anyone not seated. Facing the chief, he's unarmed, or armed with only what you see.

As a player skill moment, this was a good one.*

As a GMing moment, it made me think - when I put seats and chairs in a room, what do they face? What does that say about the room? Is there something the boss/chief/king/etc. expects to see, and things he/she/it expects the others to see?

It just so happened that I had put in a hidden weapon. But I hadn't given express, distinct, specific thought to what someone seated in the chair would see, only what was there and what people facing the chair would see.

Thanks to clever play, one of the players found a little bit of extra loot. But he also added a quick mental checkpoint I'll use to make better rooms in my castles, keeps, and dungeons. Thanks man!


* I still made a Perception roll, with a bonus for him. Sometimes you miss the totally obvious. But a +10 for "in plain sight" helps, especially when that bonus isn't there if you're facing the other direction.

What the @!¢%*# is GURPS

Timothy Brannan posted about Dragon Magazine's issue #111.

He put up a copy of the big ad for GURPS from the issue:



I still pretty much feel like that's the reaction when I explain my hobby or my writing to non-hobbyists or casual hobbyists. As if explaining tabletop RPGs isn't hard enough, I have to explain it's an acronym, what the acronym is, etc. Some of my friends and acquaintances are still convinced I write manuals for video games.

Dungeon Alphabet 4th printing Kickstarter

Way back when, I got a copy of the Dungeon Alphabet. It really helped rekindle my interest in playing some Dungeon Fantasy, running a dungeon-based game, which eventually led to making a megadungeon, converting Keep on the Borderlands to GURPS, and starting a long-active campaign.

Several printings, including an expanded one, have come and gone. But I noticed this up on Kickstarter:



It's significantly expanded. Plus, the pricing is quite good for me. The price worked out to $17 for a physical copy, PDF copy, and shipping. That's not bad at all - if I found the hardback for $17 in a store with a free PDF download I'd grab it. So I backed this.

I really enjoyed the earlier version, and I think I'll get enough enjoyment out of the new one that I'll get my money's worth. Ultimately I've learned I vastly prefer reading tables to rolling on them - I'm a roll and re-roll until I like what it comes up with kind of person - these were fun and idea-provoking table entries. It's worth checking out to see if it's worth it for you as well.

GURPS Sales on my stuff

Some of my books are on sale during this Warehouse 23 sale.


$21.55 on sale


$3.84 on sale


$6.15 on sale


$7.69 on sale


$4.61 on sale

That's not them all - for everything I wrote, you can search under my last name: Dell'Orto.

I'd also recommend this compilation of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy related material, if you don't have it. Even as someone who owns all of the covered issues, I find this very useful:


$12.31 on sale

Iron Crawlers from GM Games

I received a nice package in the mail on Saturday from GM Games, and I finally had time to give it a bit of a look:


Tim Shorts was nice enough to send me a copy of Iron Crawlers, Micro-Adventure #70, for Swords & Wizardry Continual Light. It also came with two S&WCL character cards:





It's all of four pages, includes a nearly full-page map and text covering the entire front, below the map, and another page an a half. It also finishes out with a roster of the bad guys in the adventure - the Iron Crawlers (sometimes also called the Iron Mongers, confusingly.)

It's an introductory-level adventure, and it's complete: bad guy roster, introduction and a reason to delve, map notes (including wall HP if you want to break them down!), info the bad guys know, etc. - it's all there. Treasure and enemy stats are easy to spot, and magic items are in bold, making them even easier to pick out for the GM.

It's good, it's complete, and it's inexpensive (aka free in PDF). And it's up to Tim Shorts's usual production quality.