Tuesday, September 21, 2010

What's in the Urns?

In my last post I asked playfully what might be in the 50 brass urns Camaralzaman has found.  But how about some serious communal creativity?

You tell me what's in those urns.

Keep it succinct, so we can make these into a table, and limit yourself to two, so give me your most intriguing and interesting ideas.


I'll start off.  Inside the 50 urns you find:
  1. 50 smaller brass urns containing (roll again)
  2. 25 urns full of red-hot embers, 25 of flammable spirits-- battlefield hazard

16 comments:

  1. 3. A giant bumblebee in stasis in each urn. Wakes up when urn is opened.
    4. All urns are empty, except one, which has a magic ring in it. (25% chance to be cursed.)

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  2. I recently created a "Urn contents" generation table also! The most recent result to appear in my campaign...

    5. Honey (yummy in the tummy and neutralizes green slime too)

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  3. 5. A strangely preserved heart, still beating. If ingested works as Potion of Healing.

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  4. 6.The ashes of 50 dead adventurers. Mixing the ashes with wine and drinking the resulting cocktail induces a brief waking dream depicting the final moments of the deceased.

    7.50 different sounds.

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  5. 8. Tiny doppelgangers who assume your form an assail you with wicked barbs.

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  6. 9: The spirits of 50 slain men. If opened they will haunt the opener with a deafening cacophony. Insanity is likely to follow, as the horrible wailing never ceases.

    10: 50 unidentified liquids. Some might be acid, some might be the secret to eternal life, and some might be plain water. Drink up?

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  7. 11. When opened, each urn releases a monster (magically shrunken and in stasis) which attacks the heroes. The lid on the urn contains a clue about the nature of the monster (perhaps the first letter of its name) One urn contains a treasure (cryptically hidden) which should entice the adventurers to open an urn or two...

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    Replies
    1. The bottom of some lids should also have a hint that further narrows the search for the treasure... If someone else were to do this, anyway.

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  8. Each urn is stuffed full of seeds and nuts of all shapes and sizes. Each set of seeds when sown across a maximum 50x50 ft. square area and watered will overnight sprout into a dense, tall, undergrown redwood forest.

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  9. 12. Teeth. Each urn is filled to the brim with teeth from a different species. Twenty of the urns contain teeth from intelligent species.

    13. Forty-nine contain nuts, roots, berries and other edibles collected from the surrounding wilderness. One is filled with gold coins. A large, valuable gemstone is hidden in the urn containing acorns.

    14. Forty-nine contain nuts, roots, berries and other edibles collected from the surrounding wilderness. The last serves as the home of a leprechaun.

    15. Dirt. Digging into the dirt will reveal that a root, nut or seed has been planted in each. One of the roots is a mandrake root.

    16. The corpse of a very minor deity chopped into 50 pieces. Each piece will provide a minor magical benefit if carried in your right hand (though only one will work at a time), and a major, temporary benefit if eaten. If the pieces (minus any that was eaten) are put together again, or all placed in the same container, the deity will be revived, though missing any eaten pieces.

    17. The urns appear to be empty. However, one contains the spirit of a deceased adventurer which was trapped within the urn. For the remainder of the delve, the spirit will attach itself to a single party member and whisper genuinely sound advice in his ear. Once the party leaves the dungeon, the spirit will depart.

    18. Each urn appears to be a portal to another place. The urns' openings are large enough to stick an arm through, but most creatures won't be able to pass through entirely. If a urn is broken, everyone in the room is transported to the other end of the portal.

    19. The urns contain 50 dismembered and mummified hands. The hands can make gestures, and can hear what the adventurers say. Each hand has a unique personality (angry, helpful, cheery, lazy, etc).

    20. Clay tablets and rolls of papyrus. Roll for each urn:
    1: Useful knowledge: treasure map, map of dungeon, answers to riddles, placement of trap deactivation levers, etc
    2-3: Interesting knowledge: history of dwarven kingdoms, lineage of the local duke (blackmail material?), biography of dungeon's creator
    4-8: Boring knowledge: history of cheese, biography of local scribe, business ledgers
    9-20: The original material has been covered with badly drawn porn. Possibly of orcish origin.

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  10. Thanks, folks. Feel free to keep 'em coming. I'll try to compile a list this weekend.

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  11. Dehydrated zombies. Add water, pour and you have yourself a zombie minion.

    They are all empty. One however is an Urn of Devouring.

    Invisible paint. Paint yourself with it and ta-da you are invisible for 6 turns.

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  12. 25: Perfectly normal food and water. The witch whose larder this is will get mighty miffed if she finds any to be missing. Curse left to the imagination of the GM.

    26: 50 different spirits. Each will attempt to possess a character. If a character gets possessed, but manages to maintain control of his body, he will gain a power appropriate to the spirit released. The stopper on each urn has a picture of the creature from which the spirit within was taken.

    27: Treasure. Coins and gems. No traps or angry owners.

    28: Treasure. Coins and gems. The treasure is cursed. Characters inflicted cannot die, but cannot heal any wounds either, even by magical means. The curse is lifted if the treasure is returned.

    29: Treasure. Coins and gems. The treasure cannot be spent, as it will return to the character's person a few seconds after having been spent, given away or thrown away. The only place from which it will not return to the character is the urns.

    30: Fool's gold. The urns appear to be filled with gold. When the fool's gold is hit by sunlight, it turns into sludge.

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  13. Somewhat silly post, but interesting. You might find rings in there. But you can make sure to pick from a selection of quality urns and take your time to find the one you feel is best.

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