Treasures & Trinkets

1d6-Lovecraft

1d6 Lovecraftian Trinkets

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Encounter Roleplay asked me to write a table of Lovecraftian trinkets to go with their Cthulu games.

If you would like you own table of trinkets, drop me a tip on Ko-Fi!

  1. A long, sinuous key set in silver. Eldritch symbols are embossed along the shaft, and the teeth of the key resemble grasping tentacles.
  2. A map of a large, sprawling manor house, drawn on a thick leathery parchment. It has been annotated in an unknown hand that writes of strange geometry and spaces behind the walls that should not exist.
  3. A long twisted wand made of crystal. The tip splits into three thick points, each carved with a leering face.
  4. A train ticket, torn partway through and clipped with a conductor’s ticket punch. It is valid for one journey from Newburyport to Arkham.
  5. An antique, yellowed photograph. It depicts a group of men standing on the end of a long wooden jetty. The are dressed in high-collared black coats and tall narrow hats, and each of them is holding a long, narrow knife. A shape on the floor at their feet appears to be a mutilated human body. A handwritten note on the back of the photo states “Innsmouth, 1845”.
  6. A stack of glass beads on a long wooden dowel. They are cloudy and imperfect but their hues and deep and luscious, a variety of purples, greens, and deep oranges, flecked with yellow and gold.

If you would like you own table of trinkets, drop me a tip on Ko-Fi!

Image Credit © Penetralia Press/Alex Mayo used with permission

1d6-Grim

1d6 Grim Trinkets

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Encounter Roleplay asked me to write some trinkets to tie in to their Zewihander Grim & Perilous game. Trinkets within the system tend to be low-value objets d’art, which is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy writing.

If you would like your own set of trinkets, drop me a tip on Ko-Fi.

  1. A green velvet coin purse tied with black ribbon. It contains a handful of brass pennies, worn smooth and shiny from regular handling.
  2. A thick iron ring holding a pair of heavy keys. The head of one has been shaped and engraved to resemble the head and beak of a raven. The head of the other resembles an hourglass.
  3. An oilskin bag containing a collection of severed fingers and toes. They have been wrapped in gauze and soaked in saline in order to preserve them, but they began to rot a long time ago.
  4. A set of false teeth housed in a wooden box. Each tooth has been carved with a different alchemical symbol.
  5. A foot-long piece of driftwood carved with a two-headed horse. One of the heads has a single long horn; the other has tusks descending from its lower jaw.
  6. The boss of a shield, dented and battleworn. It is engraved with a roaring lion’s head.

If you would like your own set of trinkets, drop me a tip on Ko-Fi.

Image Credit: James Graham Marquess of Montrose about to mount the ladder to the gibbet in the marketplace of Edinburgh. Wood engraving after C.R. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

1d12-CultistItems

1d12 Cultist Items

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This set of trinkets was created for ThatSaltyGinger in exchange for a tip on Ko-Fi. Lauren is one of my favourite streamers and an all-around good person, and I was really happy to come up with some evidence of the Cult of the Bloody Tongue.

  1. This small figurine is around 8 inches tall and carved from a solid piece of red onyx. The base resembles bubbling liquid, with a single long tentacle extending upwards out of it. 
  2. A tangled mass of glass and metal that resists your attempts to make sense of what it looks like. Pieces of the glass seem to pass through the metal in places, and sections of it twist in ways that don’t seem possible. It draws your eye constantly even though looking at it fills you with a low-level sense of dread.
  3. A small music box with a copper crank. It is painted with stars and strange symbols, and when the crank is turned it plays sounds of quiet sobbing and howling winds.
  4. A glass dome mounted on a heavy piece of wood, like a snowglobe but bigger. It contains a miniature diorama of an unknown city complete with temples, red-roofed buildings, gardens filled with fountains that somehow flow with real water, and bridges of veined marble arching over wide streets and narrow waterways. The windows blaze in an unseen sunset, and staring at it too long fills you with a sense of something almost-remembered.
  5. A small urn made from red-veined marble. It is empty, but smells faintly of burned spices.
  6. A black velvet pouch with a silk drawstring. It contains a set of seven-sided dice carved from bone, with numbers stained in shimmering black ink. Each of them is marked with an ankh in place of the number 7.
  7. A small travelling chest containing sets of ceremonial robes. They are made from long strips of silken fabric in the deep red hues of the setting sun.
  8. A miniature oak tree growing in a wide, shallow pot lined with mossy stones. The wood is twisted and warped, the boughs twining over each other as though trying to reach out and grasp something.
  9. A mask of a man’s face, made from soft wax that is cold and clammy to the touch. It is very pliable and seems like it should be easy to pull the wax apart, but it resists any attempts to do this. There are no holes for the eyes, and sinuous red lines are painted down the cheeks from the base of the eye socket. 
  10. A glass vial stoppered with blood-red wax. It contains a shimmering, metallic dust that calls to mind the silent burning fury of a falling star.
  11. A heavy book bound in an unidentified black material that is always slick and clammy to the touch. The pages are thick, irregular sheets of paper and containing seemingly nonsensical scrawlings of strange symbols and formulae. It looks like nonsense, but it’s easy to find that you have spent long minutes blindly following the shapes of the ink of the paper.
  12. A thin flute made from bone. One half has been dipped in deep red pigment. Playing it produces no audible sound.

If you want your own table of items, drop me a tip on Ko-Fi and give me a theme to play with!

Image Credit © Penetralia Press/Alex Mayo used with permission

1d6-CoastalMaine

1d6 Items Found in Coastal Maine

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Encounter Roleplay asked me to write some trinkets to tie in to their game The Haunting of Seawall Orphanage. which is a modern horror game in the vein of Stephen King’s Castle Rock novels. This is one of my favourite genres to play in and writing these was very satisfying!

If you would like your own set of trinkets, drop me a tip on Ko-Fi.

  1. A brass lamp with a carnival glass lampshade painted with dancing children. They are smiling, but something about the way their mouths twist is deeply unsettling.
  2. A boat made from folded newspaper and sealed with paraffin wax to make it waterproof. One of the stories on the page used to make it seems to be about the disappearance of a local child, though most of it is lost in the folds of the boat.
  3. A thick book bound in faded red cloth. The title is embossed in flaking gold leaf, in strange symbols that do not look like any real language. The pages inside contain script in the same language, and the paper feels like it was once submerged in water. The inside front cover holds a bookplate from the Flagg Public Library. The only person to ever withdraw it was called Randall, though their surname is missing.
  4. A small painting, oil on canvas, in a driftwood frame. It depicts Pretty Marsh Harbor on a stormy night. High waves crash against the docks while a bright moon peaks out from behind heavy clouds, picking out the figure of a woman in white with her back to the viewer as she strides into the water. It almost seems like she moves slightly every time you look away.
  5. An old brass key sealed in a rectangular block of glass. The key is coated with verdigris and what appears to be bioluminescent algae which is somehow still alive even though the glass must be air-tight.
  6. A shrunken head. It is gaunt to the point of emaciation, the skin pulled tight over the bones so that they jut out at strange angles. The eyes sit deep in their sockets and the lips appear tattered and torn. There is a strange reddish brown stain around the mouth.

If you would like your own set of trinkets, drop me a tip on Ko-Fi.

Image Credit: A storm at sea, with a sailing ship being wrecked on rocks, scavengers on the shore haul in booty. Etching. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

1d6-ExplorersPack

1d6 Items In An Explorer’s Pack

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As part of my continued effort to make 5e’s starting equipment packs more interesting, today I present the Explorer’s Pack!

You can find the other packs in this series here.

If you would like me to write a table of trinkets for you, leave me a tip on Ko-Fi!

The Pack Itself

The explorer’s pack is a sturdy canvas backpack treated with wax to resist the elements. It carries a large number of external pockets fastened with heavy leather straps, and another pair of heavy straps over the main top flap to hold a bedroll in place. The top flap is made of a large piece of tarp that folds up to sit on top of the pack. When unfolded it opens to a large sheet 6 feet long and 4 feet wide, which can be tied off to a tree or overhang as a makeshift shelter, with the weight of the pack holding it down where the tarp joins it.

Inside The Pack

As well as the basics – a bedroll, a mess kit, a tinderbox, torches, rations, a waterskin, and 50 feet of hempen rope – the explorer’s pack contains the following items:

  1. An assortment of short pieces of rope fashioned into loops to act as slings when climbing. Useful for tying off to rocks to run rope through, anchoring yourself, or for tying directly around lengths of rope to make ascent easier.
  2. A rolled piece of thick canvas tied with narrow strips of leather. When unfurled it has a number of compartments sewn into it to hold cartographer’s supplies – calipers, a pair of compasses, slim vials of ink, a narrow quill, and a ruler. A wax-lined pocket sewn into the lining holds sheets of parchment.
  3. A hollow wooden pole segmented into increasingly narrow sections so that they can be pushed down into each other. It is only a foot long when collapsed but extends up to ten feet. It comes with a set of different tips that can be screwed on or off – a sharp point, a small brass hook, a miniature saw blade, and a heavy brass ball.
  4. A small belt pouch stained with ink made from bioluminescent plankton, so that it glows a dull greenish-yellow in low light. It contains essential items for exploring cave networks and other labyrinthine environments – lengths of different coloured string, a selection of coloured chalks, plus a lodestone and set of needles pushed through pieces of cork, used to make an impromptu compass.
  5. A thick pocket-sized notebook filled with your notes and sketches. It is string-tied and bound in mulberry bark.
  6. A strange insect encased in amber. It has a long armored thorax with multiple legs, and appears to have a head at both ends. The amber has been seated in a brass housing and hangs from a slim chain necklace.

If you would like me to write a table of trinkets for you, leave me a tip on Ko-Fi!

Image Credit: Explorers cutting up whales.. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

2d6-DiplomatPack

2d6 Items In A Diplomat’s Pack

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As part of my continued effort to make 5e’s starting equipment packs more interesting, today I present the Entertainer’s Pack!

The Diplomat’s Pack is an interesting one, because RAW it contains a chest – which you obviously aren’t going to be carrying with you. So for this one, I split it into two and wrote trinkets for the chest and for a smaller pack that you carry with you.

If you would like me to write a table of trinkets for you, leave me a tip on Ko-Fi!

The Pack Itself

The diplomat’s pack comprises a sturdy travelling chest sealed with a number of heavy locks, and a small leather briefcase. Both are of high quality materials and emblazoned with the coat of arms of the country or ruler you serve.

Inside The Chest

The chest contains the most valuable things you bring with you, and is generally left under lock and key in a safe place – an embassy, your rooms in a royal palace, etc. As well as the expected items – two cases for maps and scrolls, fine clothes, extra bottles of ink and sheets of paper, perfumes, a lamp and oil, etc. – it also contains the following items:

  1. A portfolio case containing generic “boilerplate” documents to use as templates when agreeing new treaties and agreements. 
  2. A heavy ledger sealed with a padlock. This contains minutes of meetings and conversations you have had with rulers and leaders during your travels. The information contained in it could be very damaging if it fell into the wrong hands.
  3. A slim, flat case that is hidden inside a concealed compartment in the base of the chest. It contains documents with details of the information networks your employers have in place in the locations you are tasked to travel to – aliases and locations of informants, details of dead drops, and the like. It is written in a cipher you know how to decode.
  4. A pair of sandalwood boxes, finely crafted and inlaid with ivory with a red felt lining inside. These are used to present small gifts to rulers who you are meeting with, though the gifts themselves are left up to you to source.
  5. A thick, finely-crafted chain. One end has a strong manacle for your wrist, and the other can be fastened securely to your briefcase. 
  6. A long velvet cape embroidered with the coat of arms of the ruler you serve. This is purely ceremonial, worn when you are representing your country at large events.

Inside The Case

The briefcase contains your day-to-day items – a bottle of ink, an ink pen, a small vial of perfume, sealing wax and a seal, and fine soap – along with the following items:

  1. A letter written on heavy parchment and treated with wax to protect it against wear. It serves as both a letter of introduction and proof of your position, and is signed with the official seal of the ruler you serve.
  2. A slim scroll tube. The lid locks with an intricate twisting mechanism that only you know how to release. You use it to hold vital documents as you go about your daily business.
  3. A letter-sized piece of slate mounted in a silver frame, with a piece of chalk mounted on a silver handle attached to it by a chain. This is magically twinned with an identical slate kept by the people you report to. Anything written on either slate appears instantly on its twin. 
  4. A quill pen made from the tail feather of a bird native to your home lands. It is deep purple, streaked with mustard and iridescent silver.
  5. A pocket-sized leatherbound book that contains facsimiles of various official seals of the lands you are tasked to travel to, annotated with information about how to detect forgeries.
  6. A felt pouch containing 15gp worth of coin in various denominations and currencies. A small inner pocket contains a handful of coins that you find interesting or attractive and that you have kept aside so that you don’t spend them.

If you would like me to write a table of trinkets for you, leave me a tip on Ko-Fi!

If you would like more trinkets, check out my work on the DMs Guild.

Image Credit: Saint Wilfred (Wilfrid, Wilfrith) the Younger (of York): he petitions King Cædwalla of Wessex to grant him land, at Selsey, which is granted. Engraving by T. King, 1807. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

1d8-SexWorker

1d8 Items Carried by a Sex Worker

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I was asked by Kitty Dorkling to produce a table of trinkets suitable for a rogue who is a dressmaker and sex worker. Kitty is part of the cast of The Mortal Path, my favourite actual play podcast, and it was an honour to write these items for her. This table also pushed me well outside my comfort zone, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I highly recommend checking out The Mortal Path, as well as reading their GM Yubi’s guest post on this site about running a game for an audience.

Feel free to use these items in your game, and be sure to let me know if you do!

  1. A delicate glass vial stopped with a crystalised rosebud, containing perfume bought for you by a client who particularly admires you.
  2. A set of lightweight manacles, cushioned with soft leather and linked by a fine chain plated in low-carat gold. Though they lock like normal manacles, a small hidden catch on each cuff allows quick release without the need of a key.
  3. A slim hair clip made of porcelain, lacquered in a deep red varnish and painted with delicate golden flowers. A small double-edged blade hides within it, and can be removed without needing to take the clip out of your hair.
  4. A pair of black lace thigh garters threaded through with strong wire that allows them to function as garrottes.
  5. A compact powder pot made of bamboo, with strong magnets in the lid and base that seal it tight. It holds a cake of deep red powder that appears to be simple pigment but is actually a strong contact poison that can be brushed onto the skin of the victim.
  6. A small glass pot containing what appears to be shimmering, opalescent eyeshadow. On closer inspection this is actually finely ground glass that will shred the skin of anybody who touches it.
  7. A long roll of ribbon marked off with measurements that appears to be a simple measuring tape. It is reinforced with a core of coiled wire that can easily support your weight, allowing it to be used as a rope if necessary.
  8. This sturdy leather case contains a set of lockpicks disguised as different sized needles, along with a small pair of scissors with serrated edges that function as a tension bar to go with the picks.

If you’d like your own table of trinkets, drop me a tip on Ko-Fi and give me a theme to work with!

Image Credit: The rake carouses in a tavern full of prostitutes. Engraving by Thomas Bowles, 1735. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

1d6-FoundInTheThaw

1d6 Things Found In The Thaw

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This set of trinkets was created for C. A. Berlitz in exchange for a tip on Ko-Fi.

Feel free to use these trinkets in your own games – and if you do, please let me know about it!

1d6 Items Found In The Thaw

  1. A broken wooden spear, half rotted. The tip is the long white tusk of some large creature, lashed to the shaft of the spear with thick leather. 
  2. A walking stick shaped from a long length of bone, carved with intricate runes and bearing a curved onyx handle mounted on the top.
  3. A gnarled, blackened hand, severed at the wrist and missing the ring finger above the second knuckle. It has been wrapped in thick black leather tied off with lengths of red silk ribbon.
  4. A small golden statue of a woman sitting cross-legged. There are no features on her face, and the statue always feels cold to the touch even when it was been dried and removed from the snow.
  5. A six inch long shard of glass that looks like an icicle. It turns rose pink when it is near fresh blood.
  6. A charm bracelet made of fine silver, holding a collection of teeth hung from thin chains.

To get your own set of trinkets, leave a tip on Ko-Fi!

Image Credit: Geography: a snow bridge formed between two glaciers. Coloured wood engraving by C. Whymper. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

1d6-EntertainersPack

1d6 Items In An Entertainer’s Pack

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As part of my continued effort to make 5e’s starting equipment packs more interesting, today I present the Entertainer’s Pack!

If you would like me to write a table of trinkets for you, leave me a tip on Ko-Fi!

The Pack Itself

The entertainer’s pack is a sturdy leather backpack decorated with swirls of green and red pigment. Thick straps hold a bedroll over the main opening of the pack, making it difficult to access quickly – perfect if you need to put it down beside a stage or table while you perform. The interior of the pack is divided into different sized compartments to make for efficient storage of all the items you might need.

Inside The Pack

As well as the general items carried by most travelling entertainers – a couple of different costumes, candles and rations, and a disguise kit – the entertainer’s pack contains the following:

  1. A pair of telescopic poles with heavy bases, joined together at the top with a 10 foot length of wire. When erected a sheet or similar can be thrown over the wire to allow it to function as a makeshift backdrop for your performances.
  2. A thick notebook tied with heavy leather cord and stuffed full of handbills and notes on scraps of parchment. This contains songs and stories you have picked up during your travels.
  3. A small set of wooden juggling balls, painted in various garish hues. They are housed in a wide tube with a hinged lid, not unlike a scroll case. It is padded with thick purple felt to protect the balls as they are being transported.
  4. A felt bag with a sturdy wooden hoop for a mouth attached to a long handle. The bag contains an interior pocket; a hidden switch on the bottom of the handle can be moved with one finger, pulling the mouth of the pocket across the hoop so that it is either hidden or able to be accessed. This is a simple “magic trick” that gives the illusion of vanishing an item placed in the bag, without any need for real magic.
  5. A simple jewellery box filled with rings, necklaces, bangles, and other items of jewellery. They look expensive, but on closer inspection all the gold is cheap plating and any gemstones are stained glass.
  6. A hand mirror on a telescopic arm with a small clamp on the end. This can be easily clipped to shelves, railings, and the like, so that you can apply makeup and costumes with both hands without needing somebody to hold a mirror for you. 

If you would like me to write a table of trinkets for you, leave me a tip on Ko-Fi!

Image Credit: The twelth night entertainment in Hanwell Lunatic Asylum. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

1d6-DungeoneerPack

1d6 Item’s In A Dungeoneer’s Pack

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The Pack Itself

The dungeoneer’s pack is a sturdy canvas backpack coated with wax on the outside and lined with thick fur on the inside. A series of hook-and-eye fasteners inside the pack can be undone to allow the whole bag to unfold and open up into a makeshift blanket. Thick leather loops attached to the outside of the pack make it easy to hang tools like hammers and crowbars from it, and also mean it can be hung from wall mountings to keep it out of reach of scavengers overnight.

Inside The Pack

In addition to the essentials for any delve into the deep places – a crowbar, a hammer and pitons, rope, torches, and the like – the dungeoneer’s kit contains the following:

  1. A ten-foot-long wooden pole divided into ten sections that each fit inside one another, allowing it to be collapsed down to a foot in length with a simple twist. 
  2. A leather pouch with a wide mouth that closes with a sturdy leather drawstring. It contains a block of chalk, useful for marking your route or for chalking up your hands for extra grip.
  3. A leather strap that looks like a small belt, complete with sturdy brass buckle. A small mirror is mounted on it, with a spike to hold a short candle in front of it. The whole contraption can be mounted on your head to act as a quick and easy headlamp, leaving your hands free to explore.
  4. Tapered wooden blocks used for jamming beneath doors, either to prevent them closing or to keep them open behind you..
  5. A block of soap wrapped in waxed cloth. Not just for hygiene, this is lighter and easier to carry than oil and can be used as a lubricant in a pinch.
  6. A small portfolio case treated with wax to protect it from moisture, used for safely storing maps, notes, fragments of parchment, and the like that may prove valuable in your explorations.

For your own table of trinkets, written to whatever prompt you like, drop me a tip on Ko-Fi!

Image Credit: Geology: two soldiers being shown the interior of Poca Roca Cave. Coloured aquatint, 1801.. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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