Random Treasure

Although the Savage Worlds rules don’t assume the Sorting Algorithm of Evil by default, I sometimes find it useful. When I do, I assign threats and treasure by ranks much like character ranks – i.e. Novice, Seasoned, Veteran, Heroic or Legendary.

MUNDANE TREASURE

I use one of two options here, because I haven’t quite made my mind up which is best.

• CV: Each monster slain adds its CV (Showdown points value) to the next treasure the heroes find. (I use MetaCreator, which calculates the CV for me, so this is data I get as a byproduct of creating monsters and NPCs.)
• AHQ: This method was inspired by Advanced HeroQuest. The party may roll as many dice as they like, and get loot equal to the total score times $10 – so, a result of 7 would give $70 in coins, gems, chalices, carpets and what have you. However, if any of the dice roll a 1, the heroes find nothing of value in that cache. The die type depends on the treasure’s rank – Novice treasures use d6, Seasoned ones d8, Veterans d10, and Heroic d12; at Legendary level, the heroes are not pursuing mere gold, but artefacts of world-shaking importance.

MAGIC ITEMS

Here’s my table of random magic items for dungeon crawls. I treat them as if they had been made by Weird Science, so that each comes with a charge of 10 power points. I determine the power randomly, based on the rank required to learn it (which I assume matches the rank of the treasure hoard) and then decide what form the device takes – Bolt, for instance, might be a rod or wand, while Detect/Conceal Arcana might be a necklace or amulet.

Die	Novice	Seasoned	Veteran	Heroic	Legendary
01	Armour	Barrier	Fly	Shape Change	Shape Change
02	Beast Friend	Blast	Greater Healing
03	Bolt	Dispel	Puppet
04	Boost/Lower Trait	Invisibility	Shape Change
05	Burrow	Quickness	Zombie
06	Burst	Shape Change
07	Deflection	Telekinesis
08	Detect/Conceal Arcana	Teleport
09	Elemental Manipulation
10	Entangle
11	Environmental Protection
12	Fear
13	Healing
14	Light
15	Obscure
16	Shape Change
17	Smite
18	Speak Language
19	Speed
20	Stun

You’ll notice some gaps there; nobody’s made it past Novice yet, so it hasn’t been a problem so far! I plan to use a d20 for Novice powers, a d8 for Seasoned, and a d6 for the others, although that could well change if I introduce more powers. One could also have items granting the user temporary edges.

Shape Change appears in several lists; use the table on p. 93 of the rulebook to determine what sorts of animal the item can turn the finder into at each rank.

Boost/Lower Trait requires a subtable to determine which trait it affects, and another die roll to see whether it boosts or lowers the trait. Any trait not available in the campaign indicates an item broken beyond repair, and possibly of unidentifiable purpose.

D6 + D6	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Agility	Climbing	Intimidation	Piloting	Survival	Psionics
2	Smarts	Driving	Investigation	Repair	Swimming	Spellcasting
3	Spirit	Fighting	Knowledge	Riding	Taunt	Weird Science
4	Strength	Gambling	Lockpicking	Shooting	Throwing	Power Points
5	Vigour	Guts	Notice	Stealth	Tracking	Power Points
6	Boating	Healing	Persuasion	Streetwise	Faith	Power Points

The type of Knowledge boosted depends on the location – in the tomb of a mighty warrior, for instance, it might be Knowledge: Tactics.

Power Points indicates a device with no specific power, just points someone with an Arcane Background can use to cast – usually the item has 5 power points.