Greetings gamers from all systems, places and timelines.
Adventurers take on quests for a lot of different reasons. One of the extremely fun but less noble is getting that big payoff at the end. Because after most parties have slain the dragon and saved the kingdom, they won’t be budging an inch until the treasure horde has been utterly ransacked.
But what if the treasure horde was just so over the top that instead of its collection being an awesome moment it was more of a WTF one?
So you might be thinking, “Why, in the actual Nine Hells, did you put so much loot in an adventure?” And my answer is, I didn’t. This happened during the module Greyhawk Ruins, which was released in 1990.
To be fair, Greyhawk Ruins is a well-written, detailed and challenging module. The problem is, at its end, our heroes walked off the field with so much treasure that everyone was speechless.
So, let’s take a look at the module that made my players feel like they both jumped the shark and nuked the fridge, and what was done to keep the campaign going afterward.
A Little Backstory
If you’re not familiar with this module, the premise is pretty straightforward: Zagig, who is the Oerth world’s version of Merlin on steroids, created three towers where he could house his minions and experiments. These were named the Towers of War, Power and Zagig (which admittedly just sound awesome, but I digress). Then one day, he walked off his own show, and as the years passed, the towers became broken monuments of their former glory.
However, the real action was beneath them, and Zagig’s minions didn’t want to hear the party was over.
But OK, so this wizard was extremely powerful and had a lot of resources at his disposal. How much treasure could he possibly have that it nearly derailed a campaign? To answer that, here are some of the loot drops your party could have the good fortune of coming across:
Everyone Loves the Classic Dragon Guarding a Horde
The party comes across a venerable red dragon who ironically has some of the most mundane treasure that made this list.
The dragon’s treasure: 55,760 gold pieces, 124,600 silver pieces …
… 570,000 copper pieces, 23,000 platinum pieces , 73 gems totalling 120,000 gp. He also has a variety of dwarf and human arms and armor, plus these magical items: sword +I, sword +3, axe +3, sword +1 (luck blade), javelin of piercing, plate mail +2, chain mail +3, shield +5, wand of fireballs (20 charges), bracers of archery, cube of frost resistance, helm of brilliance, and a stone of good luck.
We Are the Lizard Kings!
There was an encounter where the party came across 80 Lizard Kings – which, by itself, was wild because that’s a lot of reptilian royalty in one place. However, in one of their huts, they stashed 320,000 gold pieces, 500,000 silver pieces and nearly 1,000,000 copper pieces. So, considering the literal king’s ransom that was in it, I can’t help but think this hut looked more like Scrooge McDuck’s money vault.
Diamonds Are a Wizard’s Best Friend
The party enters a room guarded by a diamond golem who was literally tougher than nails. However, once defeated, there are two chests the players discover that contain the following swag:
Westernmost Chest: 100,000 gold pieces, 40 gems (all 5,000 gp rubies, totaling 200,000 gp in value), plus the following magical items: ring of fire resistance, ring of sustenance, rod of security (50 charges), staff of withering (25 charges), wand of wonder (100 charges), and a variety of books: book of infinite spells, libram of gainful conjuration, libram of silver magic, and manual of golems.
Easternmost Chest: 100,000 sp, 80 gems (all1,000 gp fire opals, totaling 80,000 gp in value), plus the following magical items: elven chain mail+4, large shield +1 (+4 vs. missiles), sword of dancing, sword of sharpness, hammer +3 dwarven thrower, gauntlets of ogre power, girdle of giant strength, manual of gainful exercise, and manual of puissant skill at arms.
It’s Never too Early to Get Ready for Mardi Gras
In this room there are a number of ruptured jars, spilling glass beads onto the floor. The beads are black, each one roughly 3/4 of an inch in diameter. They are powerful magical items, either beads of force or individual missile globes from a necklace of missiles. However, even by magical detection, they are indistinguishable. Roll effects randomly:
- 01-50 2-die missile globe
- 51-70 3-die missile globe
- 71-80 4-die missile globe
- 81-85 5-die missile globe
- 86-88 6-die missile globe
- 89-90 7-die missile globe
- 91 8-die missile globe
- 92 9-die missile globe
- 93 10-die missile globe
- 94 11-die missile globe
- 95-00 bead of force
Now there are said to be “a number of” jars in this room each containing 300 beads.
Although the writers didn’t commit to how many of these beads were in this room, it’s safe to say any party could walk out of this room with 100s of these bad boys.
The Nod From the Big Man Himself
While this isn’t exactly treasure, when the party reaches the earthly remains of the wizard Zagig, it is revealed that he has transcended this mortal coil and is off on even greater adventures. Zagig will, however, note that any who make it here have performed an admirable feat of adventuring, and in admiration, will grant them an increase of one level of experience when they reach the surface. So, your character might be cool, but they will never be cool enough to grant a bunch of other adventures a level with a thumbs up kinda cool.
The River of Money
Allow me to quote directly from the module:
“There is a stream of silver liquid running through the room, emerging from the eastern wall and running to the west. The stream is liquid silver (not molten, since it is at room temperature). The silver will harden once removed from the stream. Items thrust into the stream are coated with silver. Globs can be scooped out to form unyielding blocks of pure silver. The silver cannot be moved by magical means (the spells simply fail). This is an endless supply, so the PCs can take as much as they can carry.”
Oh, just as much as they can carry? What could possibly go wrong???
How it was handled
From this module – which was aimed at character levels 2 -15, by the way – my players emerged with more magical items and money than you could shake a silver-coated stick at. So, the question then becomes: How do you keep players who have that level of resources still engaged?
To handle this without just robbing them, a two-part approach was used. First, the characters were allowed to do fun things with their newfound wealth and have it open up doors that otherwise would have been closed. For example, the cleric’s church had been from a poor sect of the order. Well, not anymore, as he transformed that meager little abbey into the D&D Taj Mahal.
Then, in the second phase of the plan, new villains of a much grander scale were introduced. You know, the kind that you can’t pay off because they just want to see the prime material plane burn. This allowed the characters to saddle up for another episode of mission impossible. Since the new villains were equally over the top, the party actually needed the amazing gear they found in the tower to survive this latest and greatest threat.
In Conclusion
This module was written in the 90s, and it was not my intention to rip it apart – it would be easy to look back at an older work like some sort of 5E Monday Morning Quarterback. However, despite the treasure scaling being a pretty big issue, it did not manage to tank the campaign. It did force me to take things in a different direction than expected, but then again, anything can get stale if it always plays out the way you expect it to.
Everyone from my group who played this adventure enjoyed themselves, at least after they got past the shock of the treasure list. Not because it was a perpetual treasure bath, but because it was a challenging adventure filled with a lot of memorable and creative moments. Therefore, if you’re running an adventure and are tempted to give out tons of loot, ask yourself: How will that affect the following games? Or, if your players do something unexpected that provides the same results: How can the game pivot into something that everyone will still enjoy?