d100 - Frustrating Fines & Sumptuary Statutes

One is occasionally in need of some ideas for additional ways to help the Player Characters part with some of their hard-earned Treasure. I am a firm believer that one of the more frustrating ways this can be found in the form of fickle fines or tricky types of taxation. I have seldom seen Players get more incensed at the very notion, and therefore supremely motivated to try and weasel out of these sorts of financial obligations. The desire to avoid paying them often leads to additional Adventure or interesting complications.

I do think it’s best to use these rather sparingly, and to signpost them thoroughly. I’ll often include Gossip about them on my Rumor Tables or drop details about them in conversations with NPCs so they don’t quite seem to spring from “out of the blue.” But they can also be a good way to add some local laws to a specific Settlement or apply some unusual customs to a Kingdom. As always, feel free to season any surcharges to taste for your table and the factors you see fit.

d100 - Assorted Alchemical Gimcrack & Enchanted Ephemera

Here are a hundred Minor Magical Wonders that didn’t quite fit nicely into lists of their own. The intention was to provide some ideas for stocking the shelves in your typical “Magic Shop” or some trinkets to represent an Itinerant Alchemist or Medicine Show's Wares. Most of these are intended to be single-use and not too terribly expensive. They fall under the framing of permitting the Player Characters to spend some of their hard-earned money in order to potentially improve their chances of success in an Adventure. As always, most are very specific Tools for Problems that are undefined, so it is often up to the reader to imagine situations where they might be found to be extremely helpful to have on hand.

As I rounded it out, I began to notice that many of these items might serve as a substitute for systems that invoke Cantrips to perform minor magical deeds, or some could even stand-in for those neglected “utility” spells that often go unprepared. If you decide that these aren’t too dreadfully dear in price, they might even help pad out a party’s arsenal to make a Magic User feel more Magical at those lower levels. Prices, Availability, and Reliability can always be seasoned to table taste.