P L AY T E S T G M G U I D E L I N E S v 1 .

Playtest Credits
Design and Writing
Scott Fitzgerald Gray

Rules Development and Consulting

Aaron Gray, Matt Click

Cultural Consulting
James Mendez Hodes, Basil Wright

Sensitivity and Inclusion Consulting

Jennifer Kretchmer, Rogan Shannon, Take This

Alpha Playtest Vanguard Crew

David Otterson, Ron Graves, François Bertrand,
Aaron Gray, Shvaugn Craig, Colleen Craig

Front-Page Art
Xavier Beaudlet

Copyright © 2023 Scott Fitzgerald Gray and Insane Angel Studios

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by
Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document.
The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
 Playtest GM Guidelines

This document provides very brief guidelines for Gamemasters

running CORE20 games. Those guidelines are brief for two Cross References
reasons. Throughout this document, cross references will point out places
where additional information can be found on specific topics, either
First, this isn’t the complete CORE20 Campaign Handbook —
elsewhere in this document or in other CORE20 books.
the volume that’ll eventually be focused on the GM and the
process of crafting adventures, running games, and shaping Cross-references to other sections in this document appear with a
campaigns. (And which absolutely has not been written yet.) But page number. When a cross reference appears on its own with no
second, CORE20 has been specifically built so that all of the page number, that section is in the current section of this document.
Other cross references might direct you to the main books of the
rules of the game and the way in which the GM needs to
CORE20 RPG — the Player’s Guide, Magic Grimoire, or Creature
understand those rules are in the Player’s Guide. Because the
Compendium.
GM is a player too, the focus of that book is a presentation of
the game that fully explores the way the interplay between the
Characters in CORE20 are robust. They’re capable. Starting
GM and the other players shapes the flow of the game and its
characters with 20 feat slots can be roughly equivalent to
story. traditional 3rd-level characters in traditional d20 fantasy,
The presentation of all of CORE20’s major mechanical building depending on character build. Characters become steadily
blocks — including skill checks, combat, and magic — are fully more powerful as the game progresses, through the earning of
laid out in the Player’s Guide, and provide everything you feat slots and the acquisition of magic. Gameplay in CORE20
should need as a GM to play with and adjudicate those rules. focuses on the power band that many players of D&D (including
Likewise, many of the topics you might normally expect to find this author) identify as the “sweet spot” of the game, from
in a GM’s book — advice on running the game, table rules, on- around 3rd level to around 10th level. As such, it’s very difficult
boarding new players, modes of roleplaying, safety tools, to build a fantasy superhero in CORE20 — and the game is set
session zero, and much more — are in the Player’s Guide where up to take advantage of that.
all the players have necessary access to them. As such, this
document provides only a quick overview of some of the
important touchstones of the CORE20 ruleset, and a quick look
Relative Challenge
at how to work out appropriate rewards for adventuring. In a level-based d20 fantasy RPG, the characters’ progression of
(Guidelines for building combat encounters are in the power ramps up steadily and steeply. The part of the game that
introduction to the Creature Compendium playtest package.) focuses on combat is built around straightforward expectations
(and complicated math) defining characters of level X as being a
Player’s Guide/Running the Game (ch. 5) good match for monsters of challenge rating Y. But the freeform
With this information at hand, if you’re already familiar with character building of CORE20 throws those expectations of
running d20-based fantasy games of any sort, you’re in a good relative power away — meaning that the benchmark power level
position to run CORE20, because the broad framework of d20 of any group of heroes isn’t defined by formula, but is up to you
fantasy is largely the same. At some point, CORE20 is meant to as GM to reckon as you play.
have a free starter set designed to walk brand-new GMs through The encounter-building advice in the Creature Compendium
the process of running games and setting up campaigns, but playtest package talks about this subject in detail. But in a
that’s a future project. So if you’ve never run an RPG in your life general sense, CORE20’s freeform character building lays down
before, this playtest release of CORE20 is probably not the the sketch work for the big picture oil painting of the campaign
game you want to start with, unless you want to avail yourself of as a whole. You might run a traditional monster-hunter
some good system-independent advice for running games and campaign where the players load their characters up with
creating adventures and campaigns. (One book I can heartily combat feats, and roleplaying is that thing you do when the
recommend on those topics is Sly Flourish’s Return of the Lazy characters ask the townsfolk how to get to the Dungeon of
Dungeon Master. Not only is it one of the best Gamemaster Blood they’ve heard so much about. Or you might run an urban
reference books out there, I’m told that it features spectacular investigation campaign in a metropolis where none of the
editing: characters have taken a single instance of the Weapon Focus
https://shop.slyflourish.com/products/return-of-the-lazy- feat, because carrying weapons in the city makes for all kinds of
dungeon-master trouble. CORE20 can build both those campaigns perfectly, and
you as the GM will understand right from the get-go which types

The Game’s Afoot of encounters the players in those campaigns want their
characters to face.
The CORE20 RPG is a game of heroic fantasy, but that
commonly heard definition means a lot of different things to
different people. Every edition of Dungeons & Dragons and all
Coming Out Swinging
the games spawned by that progenitor game are games of When people talk about an RPG being “swingy,” they’re
heroic fantasy. But the Burroughs-and-Leiber-inspired heroic referring to whether and how often random chance feels like it’s
fantasy of original white-box D&D looked a whole lot different a bigger factor in a successful adventure than the characters’
than the MMORPG-influenced heroic fantasy of 4th edition. level of skill and the players’ ability to strategize and plan. Every
d20 fantasy game comes with a slightly different level of swingy,
From 3rd edition D&D on, d20 fantasy games have effectively
and each game feels different in play as a result.
been set up as two different games ingeniously linked together.
Set on the firm foundation of leveling up, those games start as CORE20 is extremely swingy — but with very specific intent. In
heroic fantasy — and then turn into superheroic fantasy at some the end, randomness feeds story in RPGs. The best part about
point. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But being a GM running a game is reacting in the moment to a
CORE20 takes a different approach. thing the characters and players do that you couldn’t possibly
have predicted. As such, CORE20 combat functioning as a

CORE20 Playtest — Insane Angel Studios © 2023 1

 Playtest GM Guidelines

series of opposed attack rolls and defense rolls, challenge Additionally, characters inevitably need to take downtime
throws and saving throws, creates a nicely unpredictable flow of during a campaign in order to heal up. Magical healing is readily
battle. But at the same time, that unpredictability is balanced by available in a CORE20 campaign, but it comes with a slow-
the ability of the characters and their enemies to make use of building cost — a penalty to a character’s critical points each
complications to create successes from die rolls that would be time they use magical healing. As such, any character who gets
flat failures in other games. routinely wounded while adventuring needs to eventually take
Because CORE20 combat can be unpredictable, your GM some time off. Those who avoid using magical healing will use
experience will be well served by any general guidelines for downtime for natural rest and recuperation, while characters
creating encounters and adventures that feature multiple paths who guzzle potions of cure moderate wounds by the case will
to success rather than a single linear throughline. Make sure that use downtime to restore the penalty to their critical points
most combat encounters have options for success other than incurred by that healing.
simply destroying foes with weapons and magic. Set up Player’s Guide/Healing Damage (ch. 9)
potentially deadly encounters with exit conditions, so that savvy
Another feature of downtime that a campaign can make use
players can have their characters retreat from a fight they realize
of — and which is often an easy sell to the players — is that
they can’t win — or so that you can have a boss monster do the
long-term downtime of three months or more effectively
same if the fight starts to swing the other way.
generates free feat slots. If the characters elect to take time
In exactly the same way that the mechanics of skill checks, away from their adventuring, perhaps even going their own
saving throws, and attack rolls work with the idea that success is separate ways temporarily, each can earn campaign feat slots at
a spectrum, not a rigid cutoff marking success or failure, so too the four high seasons of the year. When the characters then
can combat encounters in CORE20 be seen as a continuum. You reconvene, each player can tell the story of what they’ve been
have clear failure at one end and clear success at the other, but up to since the party was last together, adding an interesting
most encounters play out as varying degrees of complicated layer of personal story to the campaign narrative.
success in between those extremes.
Player’s Guide/Feats and Feat Slots (ch. 1)
Player’s Guide/Measuring Skill Success (ch. 6)
(One book I’m quite familiar with that’s packed full of encounter
design and campaign building information is The Lazy DM’s
Treasure in the Campaign
Forge of Foes. Though much of that book talks about 5e D&D, The amount of treasure you give out in your CORE20 campaign
its general advice and guidelines work for any fantasy RPG: depends directly on the nature of that campaign and the
amount of magic in it. Knowing that magic is typically the
https://shop.slyflourish.com/collections/the-lazy-dungeon- ultimate reward for characters, a low-magic campaign is likely to
master-series/products/forge-of-foes feature more modest financial gains than a high-magic game.
Likewise, because combat-focused magic items are of more
Magic and Power value to characters in a traditional monster-hunting or martial-
conflict campaign, those sorts of campaigns often work best
The milieu of CORE20 is one in which magic is everywhere. with more treasure than campaigns built primarily on espionage
Chapter 7 of the Player’s Guide and the introduction to the or social encounters.
Magic Grimoire talk about this. You can absolutely play a low-
magic, more sword-and-sorcery version of CORE20. The game is In the end, the players and characters will provide you with vital
effectively modular, and you can use or not use of any parts of it (and usually constant) feedback regarding how the flow of
without affecting the play experience. But magic makes the treasure feels. If the characters struggle to afford the magic they
heroes of the game special, whether through the signature need to take on the most formidable foes — whether that
spells of a spellcaster, or the magic items that allow characters means weapons and armor for dragon hunting, or the magic of
to defy the laws of physics or common sense in the pursuit of stealth and teleportation for infiltrating a palace — the amount
their adventuring goals. Whenever the characters earn treasure, of treasure you’re giving out might be too low. If the players
you can set up that treasure as magic items or new spells if you ever seem disinterested in the magic they discover in the
wish. If you don’t, magic items and new spells will be the main campaign, or in seeking out new magic with the wealth they’ve
thing the characters focus on with their other forms of wealth. earned, that’s probably a sign that the flow of treasure is coming
too fast.
Treasure in the Campaign

Adventuring Economics
Downtime The amount of treasure that characters can earn from
Downtime in CORE20 is an important component of the game. adventuring is relative to the amount of money they can earn
That’s not so say that every campaign has to involve month’s- from honest labor. But as every adventurer knows, honest labor
long stretches of downtime, but long narrative breaks between will never be as lucrative as sheer peril. The rules for earning
bouts of high-stakes adventuring can help make the characters’ income during campaign downtime in the Player’s Guide set out
adventuring exploits feel that much sharper. a range of income that characters can earn by plying a trade,
engaging in crafting, or other types of labor. A capable
Player’s Guide/Campaign Downtime (ch. 7)
character who succeeds on a DC 15 skill check each week can
Downtime in CORE20 serves the same purpose as it does in any earn 15 gp for that week. A skillful character who can succeed
fantasy game, giving the characters time to engage in long-term on a DC 20 check each week can earn 25 gp, while a character
activities serving the overall plot of the campaign. Long-distance talented enough to succeed on DC 25 checks can pull down 50
travel, extended research, seeking out important and reclusive gp per week. So using that general range as a starting point,
NPCs, tracking down specific lore or magic — all these things you set the amount of treasure the characters should find during
and more can be played out during downtime sessions.

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 Playtest GM Guidelines

their adventures by thinking about adventuring as an extremely often used for large financial transactions. But affluent
lucrative job. adventurers are more likely to use the portable wealth
represented by the magic items, gems, jewelry, and art objects
Player’s Guide/Earning Income/Chapter 8
that often come into their possession. These standard forms of
As a baseline example, think about a party of five characters wealth make a good baseline for determining how the
who spend a total of ten weeks successfully exploring a characters gain the rewards of their adventuring lifestyle.
monster-infested underground ruin. That time might break
down as two weeks of seeking the site and dealing with random Player’s Guide/Coinage and Currency (ch. 8)
encounters in the area around it, three weeks of actively
exploring the ruins, two weeks of downtime for research during Magic
the incursion, and three weeks of downtime after leaving the Giving out magic items as treasure is one of the best parts of
dungeon for rest and recuperation. being a GM. Sometimes those items are found in old ruins, the
If the characters had simply stayed home and worked a job over lairs of monsters, or the hideouts of bandits and cults.
those ten weeks, they could have earned from 150 gp to 500 gp Sometimes more traditional caches of coins and gems provide
depending on their skill and dedication to that job. That characters with the wealth needed to buy or commission such
establishes a quick baseline of “not nearly enough money” — items. Either way, though, magic is the currency of adventurers.
because if adventuring only earned what regular labor can earn, Most folk in the world have access to magic and the means to
no one would go adventuring. So start by thinking about buy it. But more than anyone else, adventurers need magic to
doubling the amount of baseline earnings, creating a range of survive.
300 gp to 1,000 gp per character — then think about the relative When placing magic items or other magic as treasure (including
danger of the adventuring scenario as an additional factor. If the spellbooks if your campaign features an arcanist who learns
challenges of the adventure were steady but never magic in written form), you might simply select items that seem
overwhelming, giving out treasure equal to double a regular interesting or that feel like the characters will have fun with
wage might be reasonable, especially in the early days of a them. You might choose items specifically related to the
campaign. But in an adventure where the stakes are high and characters’ roles and the things they’re already good at, letting
the risk of death is ever-present? A return of 2,000 gp or 3,000 a warrior buff their attacks or defense, making a sneaky
gp is probably reasonable — and will keep the characters in a scoundrel even sneakier, and so forth. Or you could award
good position to replenish and add to the magic they’ll need to magic items that allow characters to break out of their default
survive further adventures with the same level of danger. roles a bit.
Player’s Guide/Gaining Spells (ch. 10)
Special Investments (As always, when magic items become treasure to be claimed
As the campaign progresses and you push toward an eventual
after taking down foes, don’t forget that those foes should be
endpoint, you might find that the characters’ goals begin to
using any combat magic in their possession during the fight.)
drive the amount of treasure you want them to earn, rather than
the other way around. In a typical campaign with a focus on The CORE20 Magic Grimoire presently doesn’t allow for
discovering, seeking, and finally defeating a boss of some kind, random generation off the magic item tables. But if you like the
the characters might end up at a point where they realize what improv exercise that comes from characters trying to figure out
specific resources they need to take that boss down. When that how they might make use of unexpected magic, you can skim
happens, the players are effectively handing you an invoice for the tables in that book and pull items that sound interesting. Or
adventuring services up front, noting the cost to take down the you can use the following process to generate a relatively
boss. You can then use that as a guideline for doling out random item from any of the Magic Grimoire’s unnumbered
treasure leading up to the endgame, so that the characters can lists:
earn what’s necessary to equip themselves for getting the job • Pick an item you know you don’t want to use somewhere near
done. the middle of the table.
• Roll a d6 and a d12.
Types of Treasure • If the d6 is an odd number, move up on the table as many
entries as the number you rolled on the d12. If the d6 is even,
Treasure can come in many forms, depending on the nature of
do the same but move down.
the campaign and the story the characters are caught up in. In
• If the number you roll takes you to the top or bottom of the
an urban investigation campaign, all the characters’ wealth
table, switch to the other end and keep going.
might come from paid commissions, rewards, finder’s fees on
stolen goods returned to their rightful owners, or earning • If you don’t like the item you land on, roll the d12 again.
income during the downtime between high-stakes cases. A
mercenary company or party of bounty hunters might receive a Wish Lists and Commissions
regular wage from the ruler they serve, in addition to an agreed- During your session zero, you can talk to the players about
upon share of whatever riches they liberate when they take whether they’d like to set up magic item wish lists. A wish list
down evildoers. A group of hardcore dungeon explorers might collects items that a player knows their character would like to
finance their operations entirely on the coins and relics obtain at some point, and which you can then use to guide your
stockpiled in the hidden redoubts of long-dead tyrants, the choice of which magic items to place as treasure in the
hidden wealth of a cult and its dead gods, or the rewards they campaign. Some players and GMs love magic-item wish lists,
receive when the relics hidden in ancient tombs are returned to but others find that they take some of the fun out of obtaining
the folk they were stolen from centuries before. magic items as rewards for daring deeds. You can use them or
The Player’s Guide talks about the standard coinage of the not, as your group determines.
game world, as well as trade bars and notes of promise that are Player’s Guide/Session Zero (ch. 5)

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 Playtest GM Guidelines

Because the world of the CORE20 game assumes that magic

items are an active and valuable part of the economy, characters Art Objects
also have the option to simply purchase or commission any Art objects are often found in the estates of gentry, undead-
magic item they have a fancy for. It’s possible to run a campaign haunted mausoleums, the sanctums of vain cult leaders, and
with no magic items found as treasure, and to simply let the anywhere else where creatures possessing wealth feel the urge
characters use the cash and valuables they find instead to to show that wealth off. You can use the example art objects on
finance the purchase of the magic items they want and need. the “Art Objects” table to put together specific treasure
For most players, however, finding or claiming at least some of packages, or as inspiration for art objects of your own.
their magic items during adventures feels better than simply Most art objects are small enough to be readily carried, but
converting cash to magic in the marketplace. certain objects might require careful or complicated handling.
One thing that’s important to remember if the characters do Art objects of relatively low value can usually be freely sold to
want to spend money on magic is that only common magic antique dealers or in the markets of towns and larger
items are readily available for sale, and only in towns and larger settlements. More-valuable art objects must usually be
settlements. If a character has their eye on an unusual or rare appraised and purchased by specialists or collectors in cities.
item and has the cash to pay for it, they still need to go through The value of art objects is always assumed to be final sale value,
the process of tracking down someone who has such an item for including any appraisal costs.
sale, or to have the creation of the item specially commissioned. When selecting art objects as treasure, you can use the average
How much time it takes to do so is up to you, and you can easily value of general types of object, or you can roll to create a bit of
turn such activities into side quests or downtime. variation or to determine which art objects are of the highest
quality. You can also use the table to randomly determine which
Gems art objects are found in a treasure hoard.
Whenever the characters find or are paid in gemstones, you can Random Treasure (5)
use the information on the “Gems” table to describe and value
that treasure. Relatively low-value gems can be used as currency ART OBJECTS
in most towns and larger settlements after proper appraisal.
Characters needing to convert the most valuable gems to cash d100 Value Average Examples
must usually do so in a city. The value of gems is always 01–10 1d10 x 10 gp 55 gp Silver ewer; carved bone or ivory
assumed to be final sale value, including any appraisal costs. statuette; finely wrought small
gold bracelet
When selecting gems as treasure, you can use the average value
11–25 3d6 x 10 gp 105 gp Cloth-of-gold vestments; black
of specific types of gemstone, or you can roll to create a bit of
velvet mask with numerous
variation or to determine which stones might be particularly
citrines; silver chalice with lapis
valuable. You can also use the table to randomly determine
lazuli gems
which gemstones are found in a treasure hoard.
26–40 1d6 x 100 gp 350 gp Large well-made wool tapestry;
Random Treasure (5) brass mug with jade inlays
41–50 1d10 x 100 gp 550 gp Silver comb with moonstones;
GEMS silver-plated longsword scabbard
set with a jet jewel
d100 Value Average Examples 51–60 2d6 x 100 gp 700 gp Carved harp of exotic wood with
01–25 4d4 gp 10 gp Banded, eye, or moss agate; ivory inlay and zircon gems; small
azurite; blue quartz; hematite; golden idol
lapis lazuli; malachite; obsidian; 61–70 3d6 x 100 gp 1,050 gp Gold dragon comb with red
rhodochrosite; tiger eye garnet eye; gold and topaz bottle
turquoise; freshwater pearl stopper cork; ceremonial dagger
26–50 2d4 x 10 gp 50 gp Bloodstone; carnelian; with a star ruby in the pommel
chalcedony; chrysoprase; citrine; 71–80 4d6 x 100 gp 1,400 gp Eyepatch with mock eye of
iolite, jasper; moonstone; onyx; sapphire and moonstone; fire
peridot; clear quartz; sard; opal pendant on a fine gold
sardonyx; rose, smoky, or star chain; old masterpiece painting
rose quartz; zircon 81–85 5d6 x 100 gp 1,750 gp Embroidered silk and velvet
51–70 4d4 x 10 gp 100 gp Amber; amethyst; chrysoberyl; mantle with numerous
coral; red or brown-green garnet; moonstones; sapphire pendant
jade; jet; white, golden, pink, or on gold chain
silver pearl; red spinel, red-brown 86–90 1d4 x 1,000 gp 2,500 gp Embroidered and bejeweled
or deep green spinel; tourmaline glove; jeweled anklet; gold music
71–90 2d4 x 100 gp 500 gp Alexandrite; aquamarine; violet box
garnet; black pearl; deep blue 91–95 1d6 x 1,000 gp 3,500 gp Golden circlet with four
spinel; golden yellow topaz aquamarines; a string of small
91–99 4d4 x 100 gp 1,000 gp Emerald; white, black, or fire pink pearls
opal; blue sapphire; fiery yellow 96–99 2d4 x 1,000 gp 5,000 gp Jeweled gold crown; jeweled
or rich purple corundum; blue or platinum ring
black star sapphire; star ruby 100 2d6 x 1,000 gp 7,000 gp Gold and ruby ring; gold cup set
100 2d4 x 1,000 gp 5,000 gp Clearest bright green emerald; with emeralds
blue-white, canary, pink, brown,
or blue diamond; jacinth

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 Playtest GM Guidelines

Goods and Gear COINS

In certain scenarios — taking down a bandit gang, earning a Coins Average Number Value
reward from a merchant, liberating a fortress where an enemy 500 gp
army was ensconced, and so forth — part of the treasure or
2d6 x 1,000 cp 7,000 cp 70 gp
reward the characters earn might come in the form of mundane
4d6 x 100 sp 1,400 sp 140 gp
goods, merchandise, or gear. Any of the items detailed as
4d8 x 10 gp 180 gp 180 gp
equipment, armor, weapons, or trade goods in the Player’s
2d10 x 1 pp 11 pp 110 gp
Guide are suitable for use as treasure in certain circumstances,
whether the characters have use for such items or simply sell 1,000 gp
them. 2d4 x 1,000 cp 5,000 cp 50 gp
5d6 x 100 sp 1,750 sp 175 gp
Player’s Guide/Coinage and Currency; Equipment (ch. 8) •
1d8 x 100 gp 450 gp 450 gp
Armor; Weapons (ch. 9)
1d6 x 10 pp 35 pp 350 gp
Weapons, armor, adventuring gear, alchemical items, and
2,000 gp
special tools often have immediate use to characters. But don’t
1d4 x 10,000 cp 25,000 cp 250 gp
be afraid to drop odd or unusual equipment into the campaign
2d4 x 1,000 sp 5,000 sp 500 gp
as treasure. When the characters in an urban campaign take
down a corrupt thieves guild, they might discover that the 2d6 x 100 gp 700 gp 700 gp
thieves have procured a printing press they were hoping to use 1d10 x 10 pp 55 pp 550 gp
to produce forged promissory notes. The characters can sell the 4,000 gp
press easily enough. But they might also find some use for it 2d6 x 10,000 cp 70,000 cp 700 gp
that they would never have conceived had the press not fallen 2d10 x 1,000 sp 11,000 sp 1,100 gp
into their collective lap — for example, setting up a secret print 3d8 x 100 gp 1,350 gp 1,350 gp
shop to produce and distribute handbills exposing the shady 2d8 x 10 pp 90 pp 900 gp
activities of their enemies to the public.
When rolling for random coins, feel free to tweak the rounded
Random Treasure totals — for example, turning 100 gp into 106 gp — for a more
realistic feel.
At many points in your campaign, you’ll know exactly how much
treasure to give the characters, and in what form. Undertaking a Based on your sense of how much treasure an adventure should
commission or an investigation for a gentry earns the party an generate, you can build up a random treasure hoard in any
offered reward, payable in gold, platinum, or gems. Taking number of ways. You might decide that a pair of valuable magic
down a notorious bandit gang lets the characters collect an items make up the bulk of the 2,000 gp reward for the party’s
advertised bounty, paid out in bags of silver and copper coins, incursion into an evil temple, then roll for gems and coins to top
then claim some of the bandits’ spoils to be sold in a nearby that up. Or you might roll for the coins and gems in a monster’s
city. horde, then decide to add a magic item and some randomly
At other times, though, you might want to roll randomly for rolled art objects when those initial rolls come up short.
treasure found as a windfall or in a justifiably despoilable When rolling for random treasure, if do you come up short of
monster hoard. Random treasure works great in scenarios such what you’ve determined an adventure should earn the
as laying claim to the contents of a pay wagon belonging to an characters, you can roll for additional treasure to make up the
enemy kingdom’s army, robbing the treasure vault of a difference. But you can also use the treasure as rolled, with the
depraved merchant lord, or shutting down a local assassin’s understanding that rolling low for one adventure will inevitably
guild. And of course, there’s the always-popular infiltration of an be offset by rolling high for a future adventure. Having the
ancient ruin long abandoned by the mysterious cult, undead amount of treasure that appears in the game feel unpredictable
lord, or evil wizard who built it centuries before. can help lend a feel of authenticity to the campaign, as the
You can roll on the “Gems” and “Art Objects” tables above to characters are forced to cope with one adventure that didn’t pay
generate a wide range of portable wealth. Additionally, you can out as well as they’d hoped, before later reaping an
roll on the “Coins” table below to generate a stash of copper, unexpectedly rich reward.
silver, gold, and platinum in a range of values. Each section of
the table generates the indicated total on average, so choose
whichever option is in the general area of the amount of
treasure you’ve determined the characters’ present adventure is
worth.
Adventuring Economics (2)

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