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View Full Version : What would pass for loot in a post apocalyptic world?



Averis Vol
2013-01-25, 01:15 AM
Hey everyone. I'm going to be starting a game soon (Pathfinder in a homebrew world) where, for the sake of time, the world was basically hit with a Neutron bomb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_bomb) that destroyed nearly all mortal life, leaving only the nine utopias left standing. A few hundred years later though, mortality started coming back, but had to compete heavily with nature for some plots of land; a fight which they are unfortunately losing, forcing them into a very nomadic life style with each community led by an earth speaker (Druid of some sort) that would guide them to the next safe patch of land.

Entire background spoiled for those interested.
A little over a thousand years ago the world was at the epitome of its technological advancement. The world was controlled by powerful men, wielding weapons of near world breaking capacity. With such advanced technology people stopped using conventional means of daily life; they would use grand teleportation circles to move from town to town, golems to hunt and harvest crops, and you could not even walk down the street without seeing a Servant of the Nine standing patrol with their powerful adamantine golems. Yes, it was a grand time, but it was also one of worry; the head mage who had designed the entire magical circuit spent days at a time in his labs, performing various experiments deep within his inter-dimensional plane. When he re emerged he was nearly mad with his ranting. The other people of power saw a great chance to destroy a potential enemy, and they plotted for weeks before they eventually brought the servants of the nine to their side to finally do away with the madman. before he was imprisoned deep within the earth, hundreds of feet beneath his home in Notropol, the largest civilization in all of history, notes were pried from his hands, the last bit of his legacy.

These notes told of the foreseen future, and that if people kept abusing magic as they were eventually it would cause a discharge that would lay waste to the world as they knew it. But, alas, the other men of power ignored these texts, and called them the rantings of a fool, and now with arguably the most powerful man in the world imprisoned alive somewhere closer to the earths core out of the way, they expanded the use of magic, replacing even their golem work horses with bound demons and angels alike to such a catastrophic degree that the rambling mages fears became a reality, and with one great bang the world erupted in vicious blue and purple waves of magic; destroying nearly all life on the face of the planet.

now, after seven hundred years people are starting to re emerge in force, attempting to rebuild cities and gain entrance to the metropolis' known only as the "relics of the old world". Unfortunately this has proved a bit troublesome, the forces of nature have controlled the world for so long that mortal expansion is being hard pressed, and when paired with the demons and angels that survived the explosion, is making anymore then small groups of nomadic mortals impossible. You are part of a small clan known collectively as the quom, an ancient word meaning "Destined". you are led by the forest father Jien, a minor druid who leads your clans to the next safe settlement areas and provides guidance to the youth. he also has been known to recant tales of the olden days, though he seems old not many people believe he really lived through these events, but children cannot help but be drawn in by stories of the ancient treasures still scattered through the land; relics of days of old and items beyond human recognition, just waiting to be claimed by those brave enough to find them.

So, my question is, as the title of this thread states, what could I use as a suitable form of compensation for my groups work? for the first mission they're going to enter an ancient library they find while out hunting one day, from there they are going to have to traverse the entire place and all the creatures that have taken up residency there and eventually they will find a book locked in a strong box that will allude to a potential secret entrance into one of the nine metropolis and this is going to be HUGE for their clan. So with metal being only what you can find as pure ore and metallurgy being close to non existent....What could be considered loot worthy?

any help you guys/girls/chibi abominations can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Chilingsworth
2013-01-25, 01:43 AM
Pretty much anything from the old world that's still in usable condition might be considered loot worthy.

Mostly, this will be weapons, magic items, and information.

ArcturusV
2013-01-25, 02:19 AM
Sounds like you already touched on the idea. Anything metallic would count as good loot, and basically liquid currency in a setting like that. For some reason it keeps flashing my mind back to Dragonlance where Steel Pieces were the primary currency rather than Gold.

Of course anything that can function as Black Box Technology would be worth looting.

Morghen
2013-01-25, 06:43 AM
A set of steak knives
A compass
ANYTHING made of metal

randomhero00
2013-01-25, 11:38 AM
Ways of making fire reliably, such as flint and steel.

Iodine tablets for safe water without boiling. And any survival gear such as dehydrated food.

Medical stuff that could have survived. Like glyceryl trinitrate (nitroglycerin) for the heart.

Any liquor that might have survived would be worth a lot.

Even if the group doesn't need it, those things (even with magic in the world) would still sell quite well in any apocalyptic world.

Salt!

Preserved fruits that survived such as canned peaches or jam would be quite a treat.

Any source of vitamin C as that can be very difficult to get without citrus fruits (and those are usually always very difficult to grow in an apocalypse.) Scurvy would be rampant among the poor.

Tobacco that made it through the bomb.

Bags of seeds that might have been preserved in some way....could be worth a fortune if the seed is for something that has gone extinct.

Any fine equipment for workers, such as needles, tweezers, etc. would be worth a lot.

If most trees didn't survive even scrap wood could be useful...or perhaps fine carvings and lost art.

Slipperychicken
2013-01-25, 12:00 PM
Boxes of radioactive Salisbury Steak.

Crystals (and other shiny bits) which help power magic items.

Components to make magic items. This will mostly function as vendor trash.

Extremely old alcohol left over from the old civilization. The right buyer (rich people) will pay very well for these.

Other luxury items (paintings, sculptures, jewelry, intact clothing, currency) of Old World make will do well. Again, whatever passes for rich in this new world will pay big for such finery. Wearing it will make you a bandit-magnet, so everyone wins.

Nomad tribes would really appreciate cheap things like Everfull Mugs. One less mouth to hunt for, and you won't be eating radiation all day. But you're not likely to find that in a library.

"First Aid". Red tin boxes with white holy symbols written on them, containing Healers Kits and a potion or two of CLW (in shiny glass vials). Roll to determine whether it's already been looted, then roll again to see how much of it is still usable. The scrap metal is worth a few copper, but is generally unsuitable for weaponry or armor.

If any weapons and armor survived, it would be the non-rusting magic ones. Normal metal would surely decay to uselessness without maintenance. Weapons and armor made of special materials (mithral, Adamantine, cold iron, etc) would be very rare and very significant, maybe they find only one.

Spell Components.

You could look through some of the Fallout series for inspiration too.

Morghen
2013-01-25, 01:15 PM
A thing I just remembered:

Honey is the only food that never, ever goes bad.

Slipperychicken
2013-01-25, 01:34 PM
A thing I just remembered:

Honey is the only food that never, ever goes bad.

Good luck convincing a real person (I.e. non-PCs) to eat a jarful of yellow goop you found at the bottom of a haunted, dusty, monster-infested tomb. :smalltongue:

The Glyphstone
2013-01-25, 03:01 PM
Good luck convincing a real person (I.e. non-PCs) to eat a jarful of yellow goop you found at the bottom of a haunted, dusty, monster-infested tomb. :smalltongue:

Easier if you let them taste a fingerful first. Honey is delicious.

Averis Vol
2013-01-25, 04:59 PM
You could look through some of the Fallout series for inspiration too.

What a coincidence, I'm playing through new vegas right as we speak...errr, type.

As for everyone, thank you for the suggestions, they are exactly what I needed for todays game.

drawingfreak
2013-01-25, 05:43 PM
What a coincidence, I'm playing through new vegas right as we speak...errr, type.

As for everyone, thank you for the suggestions, they are exactly what I needed for todays game.

I'm almost done with the Pointe Lookout DLC for Fallout 3. I agree with using it as an example.

Slipperychicken
2013-01-25, 05:50 PM
Easier if you let them taste a fingerful first. Honey is delicious.

Spreading it on their toast before telling them where it came from seems like the best route.