Skip to main content

Auto-treasure, batch 1

So here's a thing. Having tired of the thug-o-matic for the time being, I've turned my attention to something that'll automatically generate treasures based on DF8. It randomly picks a bunch of items and embellishments with total values within a range I provide (in this case, $1000 to $5000), spits out the list and grand totals, and I come up with suitable prose. Here's a bunch, which seem to have ended up no more than slightly Vancian. I don't think it's quite accounting for everything yet, but it's at least partly there:

A high-quality if well-used piece of leather armor, dyed a deep, dull blue but marked with an indelible bloodstain over the heart. It carries an unmistakable chill with it, but allows the user to cast the Cool spell. Leather armor; Fine quality, Stained (CF -0.1), Dyed (average), Aura Of Cold; Cool enchantment. $4,380; 7.5 lbs.

An articulated, albeit mundane and inert, prosthetic hand, inlaid extensively with tiny beads of glass and glazed ceramic in shades of yellow and red. Prosthetic Hand, Inlay (cheap, extensive). $3,200, 1 lb.

A pair of magnifying lenses held in a large, hinged, v-shaped frame, suitable for perching on one's nose. The frames are gilded, inlaid with a curling, wave-like pattern in pale blue enamel, painted with tiny fish and birds around the waves, and decorated with long braided silk tassels which double as ties to keep them on the user's face. Corrective Spectacles, Gilding, Inlay (cheap, extensive), Painting/Enamel (minimal), Fringe (expensive). $4,425.00; 0.5 lbs.

A plumbata which leaves a shower of tiny sparks when it moves and allows the user to speak with remarkable powers of persuasion. Plumbata, Visible Trail (Sparkling Motes), Silver Tongue enchantment (cast only). $4,040, 1 lb.

A solid necklace made from bronze, covered in geometric patterns of red enamel and inlaid with the crude shapes of hammers and spears picked out in flecks of polished marble. The torc is somewhat worse for wear, with some of the exposed bronze gone green with age. Average Bronze Torc, Painting/Enamel (extensive), Inlay (cheap, extensive), Corroded (CF -0.25). $1,788, 2.25 lbs.

An iron strongbox divided into small cubicles. It carries with it the faint scent of decay, but provides the user with flaming hands while the moon is waning. Strongbox, Iron, Compartmentalized, Scent (Decay), Burning Touch (Time Restrictions (Waning Moon)). $4,725, 18 lbs.

Comments

Iron Llama said…
Unfortunately, it's a bit of a mess. I started by leveraging the Access database I assembled to write DF13 with. However, VBA is clearly not the right language for it. I'm all but resigned to porting it to Java, and if I'm doing that, I may as well change the database back end to something like MySQL, and the whole thing smacks of effort.

For those of you not from a technical background: since the prophecies from the ancient scrolls aren't compatible with duotronic circuits, I'll need to reroute sub-light power through a matrix to regenerate the dilithium crystals before I can get the warp drive back on line.
Douglas Cole said…
I need an Alien'o'matic and an Army Ranger o' Matic for my GURPS Alien Menace campaign!

Popular posts from this blog

Ferrous Metal Food Fighting Guy!

(This is something I wrote up some years back. I'm putting it here so I can find it more easily when I want to. Though it's rather silly, it's also where I came up with the idea of high-quality materials which don't provide a bonus to the craftsman's skill, but do add to the margin of success, a mechanism which later appeared in the crafting rules in GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3 .) One of the things not to be found in GURPS 4e is extensive rules for competitive cooking. If two cooks of steely resolve rise up to face one another across a cooking coliseum, the GM can only fall back on hand-waving and contests of skill. This article fills that much-needed gap. GURPS chefs can now stage furious contests wherein they construct fanciful dishes, the more elaborate the better, and prove whose cooking rules the day. To the kitchen! Procedure These rules provide guidance for attempting to cook complex dishes and comparing their quality when the cooking is done. A che

Car Wars Minis, Third Batch

Still having a go at these, trying out some new ideas. The short version is that having the right tools and materials is still key, but I've got a way to go with some other stuff. I think this one looks better in person than as a picture. A couple of shades of blue here with a blue wash and drybrushed metallic blue on some components. Oh, and purple spikes. I didn't even try to figure out something clever to do with the windshield. I'm finding that it's hard to make yellow work, but this one wasn't too bad. I initially tried masking the area for the blue stripe with tape, but it pulled off the paint instead. Had to do a swipe with a broad brush, which isn't great but worked better than I expected. Another one that looks better in person than on film. Tried to do a few different shades of green, which wasn't entirely successful. Probably my best out of this batch. I credit the red wash, which ended up being kind of glossy and goes well with the copper accents

Charcuterie Bard

A few days ago, I dropped this random gag:   I shall make a character for an RPG who has powers related to artistic creativity, but instead of music and song, they come from arranging cheeses and cured meats. A charcuterie bard. — Turhan's Bey Company (@turhansbeycmpny) December 21, 2021   But then I remembered that there's absolutely precedent for food-based magic:  So, then, obviously we can have food-based bards in GURPS, right? The best approach I see is modifying the Enthrallment skills (p. B191). However, rather than requiring Public Speaking at 12+ as a prerequisite, a charcuterie bard requires Cooking and Professional Skill (Food Stylist) at 12+; see Ferrous Metal Food Fighting Guy for a bit on the latter. The skills are used by preparing and feeding an audience with tasty, tasty foods. The elements of food in question cost a minimum of 1% of COL per target, though higher quality ingredients provide a bonus (use costs and reaction bonuses for styling, GURPS Low-Tech