The Treasure of Ka'Taka (Swords & Wizardry Treasure Generation)

For the past three weeks we’ve been making an adventure from the old Frontier Forts of Kelnore supplement from Judge’s Guild.

• Part 1 was the basics of the Fort.
• Part 2 fleshed out the contents of each room.
• Part 3 was a custom monster (Bloodweed) that I made for the adventure. I didn’t number that one because it was generic enough to be used outside the fort.

This week I’m going to determine the treasure, and place it in the fort. To do so, I’m going to walk you through the treasure generation rules in the Swords & Wizardry RPG.

Step 1: Total XP Value

After we went through all the tables and everything, we ended up with the following encounters:

Monster	Quantity	Challenge Level1	XP Each	Total XP
Big Scorpion	1	1d6	10	10
Half-Orcs	20	1	15	300
Wolves	4	2	30	120
Bloodweed	1	3	60	60
Ka'taka	1	4	120	120

Adding all that together tells me that the players are facing 610 XP of enemies.

Step 2: Base Treasure Value

Once we know the total XP value, we multiply it by 1d3+1.² My result was a 3.

3 × 610 = 1,830. That’s the base value (in gold pieces) of our treasure.

Step 3: Trade-Outs

I think this step is cool. It’s probably the biggest thing that draws me to this system versus others. The one drawback is that it involves a lot of dice rolls. For our little treasure here it will require at least 19 rolls. I programmed a computer to do it for me.

Minor Trade-Outs

We roll 1d10 for every 100 gp of base value. Because our base value is 1,830, we’ll be rolling 18d10. For every die that comes up as a “10,” we have a Minor trade-out. My program tells me that we rolled two 10’s, so we have two small trade outs.

Each of those two requires a d20 roll. A “20” indicates a magic item, otherwise we roll on a Gems & Jewelry Table. My results are an “8” and an “18,” so we’ll be rolling twice on the (Minor) Gems & Jewelry Table.

The roll is a 1d6, and I get a “2.” The table tells me that’s “Gem or jewelry worth 1d100 + 25 gp.” I find that a little awkward, and too granular for my taste, so I’ll replace it with “(1d10 × 10) + 25 gp.” I roll a “6.” 6 × 10 = 60 + 25 = 85 gp. I decide that this will be an ornate, bejeweled unholy symbol that Ka'taka wears.

The second roll on the table is a “3,” which means “Gem or jewelry worth 1d100 + 75 gp.” Using the same substitution as above I roll “3” × 10 = 30 + 75 = 105 gp. That’s an awkward number, so I’m rounding to 100. We already have a jewelry item, so I’ll make this a gem. Based on the value, I decide it will be a large aquamarine.

Medium Trade-Outs

The medium trade-out process is identical to the minor, but we roll once for every 1,000 gp of base value instead of 100. If we get any, we roll on the Medium Trade-Out table, which offers more valuable gems/jewelry or more powerful magic.

1,830/1,000 = 1, after you drop the fractions.³ We didn’t get any medium Trade-Outs.

Major Trade-Outs

The Major Trade-Out is just like the others, but it’s for every 10,000 gp of base value. Our puny first level adventure doesn’t even qualify.

Subtract the Trades

The base value of the treasure was 1,830, but we had two minor trade-outs. We need to subtract that value from the base. We subtract 100 gp for each minor trade-out, regardless of its value. That leaves us with 1,630 in coins. Although we actually lost a little value in the trade outs (we traded 200 gold for 190 gp value of gems and jewelry), it’s still a pretty good deal for the players. If the DM counts encumbrance (and I do), those two items make it easier to carry more value.

Step 4: Coinify

Now that we know how much the coins are worth in value, we need to determine their composition. This is mainly important for encumbrance. A heavily equipped character might only be able to carry 1,800 coins. If the treasure is 1,630 gp of value and it’s all in gold, good for him! But if it’s copper pieces, he’s going to have a challenge transporting over 8 tons of coins back to his stronghold!

Swords & Wizardry does not provide any guidance. The Whitebox variant does, but it’s uninspiring.  I'll have to make my own.

They way I figure it, in day to day use amongst commoners, more copper pieces change hands than silver pieces, and more silver pieces change hands than gold.

So if a treasure is just a random collection of coins—for example collected by a bird who likes shiny objects—it will be mostly copper. But intelligent, wealthy creatures—say a dragon or a rich human merchant—will tend to stockpile gold over silver, and silver over copper. Somewhere in between are intelligent but not wealthy creatures; while they know to stockpile gold rather than silver, the simple truth is that gold seldom falls into their hands.

I figure that Ka'Taka falls in that latter category.

Here’s how I’ll do it: I will roll 3d10 and discard the lowest and the highest dice. The remaining die will be multiplied by 10. That’s the percentage of the coin value that will be in silver pieces. I then repeat the process, and that will be the gold. Anything left over will be in copper. I’ll demonstrate:

Silver roll: I roll 5, 5, and 3. Discarding the 3 and one of the 5’s, leaves a 5. 5 × 10 = 50%. So half the treasure is in silver. Our total coin value is 1,630 gold pieces. 50% of that 815 gold pieces. 815 gold in silver is 8,150 silver pieces.

Gold roll: 4, 6, and 3. The middle die is the 4, so 40% of the total treasure is in gold. 40% of 1,630 is 652 gold pieces. (Of course had the middle die been a 6 or higher, it would have just been considered to be a 5, because that’s all that was left of the treasure. In that case there would have been no copper).

Copper pieces: We don’t need to roll. The rest of the treasure is in copper. There’s 163 gp of value remaining, so that works out to be 16,300 copper pieces.⁴

The Total Treasure

So let’s sum up the treasure. While I’m at it, I’ll refer to my previous notes and place it.

Item	Value	Location	Notes
16,300 c.p. 7,250 s.p.	888 gp	Two chests in  Commander’s quarters (15)	This is the group’s day-to-day expense fund. Everyone knows that it’s there, which it why it’s trapped. This trunk can hold about 20,000 coins though it will break if you try to carry that many.
652 g.p.	652 gp	Barrack’s roof chimney	This is the metal box that’s down the chimney. The box is 5 inches × 7 inches and 5 inches tall. Ka'Taka and Mu'koto are supposedly the only ones that know it’s hidden there. Tupo knows something is hidden in chimney, however, as he has spotted Mu'koto checking on the box.
900 s.p.	90 gp	Crack in the wall of Crypt (2).	In three back packs, holding 300 coins each. This is the money that belongs to the mercenaries hired by Ka'taka. The chief mercenary keeps the money hidden in the crack in the wall of Crypt (2).
Bejeweled Unholy Symbol	85 gp	Carried by Ka'Taka	A holy cleric might insist on destroying it or melting it down or something. +1 bonus XP to that character if he does.
Large Aquamarine	100 gp	Carried by Mal'k'k	Mal'k'k is the first level cleric henchman.

It might not be very realistic that I grouped all the coins together in separate caches, but eventually you have to say “it’s just a game.” I say that, but I did use this calculator to check the container sizes for each cache.

Incidental Treasure

There’s some other treasure to be had, but the players need to work for it:

• If searching bodies, each half-orc will be carrying some coin. (For each half-orc, roll 1d10. On a 9 or less, that’s the number of copper coins it’s carrying. On a 10, roll again, but this time it’s silver. If the second roll is also a 10, roll again, but this time it’s gold and treat a 10 as a 10.

• If the wolves are somehow captured and befriended, they can be sold for a pretty penny. Even if they’re killed their pelts can be sold for a few gold.

• The carved pixie fountains can be sold.

• Returning Oggo to his home will result in a reward.

• Somewhere is a letter from Oggo’s wife to Ka'Taka, pleading for Oggo’s release. “Leggo my Oggo,” it says.

That’s all

I can’t top that last line. Let me know if you have any thoughts!

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1. Challenge level is generally equal to the hit dice, but it can be boosted for special abilities. I boosted the big scorpion one level for its poison. The Bloodweed got a boost for a combination of automatic blood drain, the nuisance of having to find the main stem before attacking, and the fact that you need to attack with an edged weapon (you can’t stab or crush).↩

2. There are four variants of Swords & Wizardy: Complete, Core, Whitebox, and Light. The 1d3+1 is found is Complete and Core. Whitebox says to roll 1d6 and consult a chart to generate a number between 1 and 4. Light doesn’t say anything.↩

3. I’m tempted to say that the fraction should be turned into a percent chance that you get another die, but that would add even more rolls.↩

4. The 16,300 copper pieces are valued at only 163 gold pieces, yet weigh over three-quarters of a ton. This is more than enough to fully encumber the entire party, unless they brought mules or hirelings. This is why many old school players consider copper pieces to be a trap.↩