When I was much younger, we dissected a smallish Shark as part of a very educational Science Class. Imagine our Surprise when our careful cuttings revealed another, even smaller Shark inside of it! We dutifully dissected that one too, and found a Fish, which was then also carefully quartered, but sadly the marine Matryoshka Marveling ended there.
Although it doesn’t seem as common these days, I do recall a big part of Play in the Past involved finding some of the Treasure inside of certain Monsters after slaying them. This grisly task would be perfunctorily performed, just in case, to make sure absolutely nothing was missed or overlooked. It usually came with a Cost (taking a few extra Turns was a common one, and this Risks Wandering Monsters), but I also recall often calling for various Saving Throws or other Tests since I envisioned the process as quite smelly and stomach churning.
When this would come up more recently, I would sometimes quickly roll on my Random Impedimenta table for a starting point, sprucing the results up a bit as necessary and sprinkling in a smattering of coins or such. I decided a dedicated Table might be a little more useful though.
Many Monsters may not carry Treasure on their Person, or have a Happy Hoard to hole up with, so this table might inspire some ideas for what to reveal in those bulging bellies after diligent dissection. Since there are a few weird and wonderous things in these (especially in the bigger beasts, but those likely would have had a lot more Hit Dice to whittle down!), I’d likely ascribe a small chance, prior to rolling, or potentially tweak any extant Treasure Awards accordingly.
q.v. One Hundred Uses for a (Dead) Dragon
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