Experiment: The Tower That Follows You

The Tower That Follows You is something I've always wanted to use in a game. It's exactly what it sounds like, some feature of the world that follows the party and inserts itself into the local landscape as they move. The players can go wherever they like, do whatever adventuring they want, but that Tower is always there. It just shows up, no matter how far they travel. They never have to go in or interact with it if they don't want to, but the option is always there.

It feels like a fun mix of mysterious, ominous, and unsettling.

It's also important to remember that the thing following the party doesn't have to be a tower. I just think of towers as the default because they're dramatic and near impossible to miss looming in the distance. It could be any type of building or location like a dungeon mouth, temple, spooky old manor, or something as simple as a distinctive ornate door that keeps showing up on random walls. It doesn't even need to be man-made. The party could keep running into the same forest clearing with a fairy circle, the same tree, a particular prehistoric standing stone, or just a rip in space-time that keeps appearing.

The key things are that whatever's following is:

1) Conspicuous. Extremely obvious, easily visible, and distinctive so the players can't miss it. The rest of the world might not notice it (or think it's always been there) but the party has to know it's there and be able to recognize it as the exact same feature from past sightings.

2) Ready to go. It needs to be something the party can interact with whenever they decide they've had enough of its malarkey. That means it's got to be fully prepared and ready to run at a moment's notice.

3) A constant and unavoidable presence in the world that confronts the party just by existing. They can choose not to interact with it, but they can't ignore it's there.

The real fun is it might not even be something menacing. They might just have a fan who's a wizard with a mobile tower. No way to know for sure unless they go in and check it out.

Monsters Can't See Pink

Color perception is very different between species. Just as most mammals can't see longer wavelength colors like red and orange most monsters, even those with otherwise human-like color perception, can't see pink. It's not universal of course, but for the vast majority of monsters different shades of pink from palest pastels to deep rose and retina-searing hot pink all wash out to a mix of dull grays. That's why pink camouflage and equipment is so effective in dungeon environments and recommended for all adventurers planning expeditions with a chance of encountering monsters. It blends in with the bare stone walls of ruins and caves, rendering the wearer practically invisible as long as they make an effort to disguise their silhouette and hold still.

Note:
- Pink only provides an advantage against monsters that are primarily visual predators. It doesn't give any protection against creatures that hunt with other senses.
- While they can't see pink monsters can see True Magenta, which is as outside our color perception as pink is to them. They are aware of this.
- Be wary of anyone you meet who's not wearing pink. They're either dangerously inexperienced, not concerned about monsters, or after something else.

1d30 Ill Omens

1 Blood-red comet out of the north. Visible night and day for thirteen days.

2 Stars begin vanishing from the sky.
3 The constellations rearrange into new and unfamiliar shapes.
4 Solar eclipse. Totality is universal, lasts an entire day.
5 Wild auroras across the land for three nights.
6 All birds depart, even the non-migratory ones.
7 The moon stays full for an entire month.
8 For three months all children born in the kingdom are twins.
9 All steel and iron rusts overnight.
10 A flock of nine black swans appears, can't be driven off.
11 Massive earthquake levels every temple in the capital city, no other damage.
12 Tolling bells heard from deep underground.
13 The moon vanishes, doesn't return.
14 Livestock are born with the heads of vultures and serpents.
15 New planets appear in the sky.
16 Thousand-strong flocks of ravens descend to bear witness.
17 Every mirror shatters at once.
18 Catastrophic thunderstorms, chain lightning strikes the palace non-stop for three days.
19 Hundreds of thousands of worms crawl from the soil and carpet the land.
20 Lights seen floating deep in the ocean, answering glows kindle in all the lakes and rivers of the kingdom.
21 Hailstones from a perfectly clear sky, sound like chimes as they fall.
22 The sun turns dull and gray, doesn't set for nine days.
23 Fruit trees bloom out of season.
24 Tsunami and rogue waves batter the coast but only destroy naval ships.
25 Meteor showers, the countryside is littered with sky-iron and craters in precise geometric patterns.
26 Every child in the kingdom has the same recurring dream of an endless sea of dust, slowly spreads to their families.
27 Doves speak with the voices of the dead.
28 Wildfires rage across the countryside in a pattern of perfect interlocking rings.
29 A multitude of fish and whales swim ashore to beach themselves and die.
30 The bees begin a new dance.

(This can be had in print and pdf form as part of Red Solstice issue 5!)

1d20 Produce Golems

All produce golems grow the crops they're made of, which can be harvested and used as provisions without harming the golem. They need at least 4 hours of sunlight each day to grow edible food, but their lives and other abilities don't rely on light.

1 Carrot. Sturdy, built from tessellating taproots of every color. Can quickly excavate tunnels and build earthworks. (60'/hour)

2 Radish. Bunches of greens bound into humanoid shape, bright red roots dangling from its back. Repels insects. (100' area)

3 Hot Pepper. Built of braided stems from dozens of varieties, its leafy ribcage is full of ripe and dried peppers. Breathes capsaicin cloud. (30' area, 1d12 damage/minute, double damage to fungi)

4 Garlic. Hundreds of heads of garlic strung together into tubular limbs, leaves and shoots sprouting out in finlike fringes. Wards off undead. (25' area)

5 Tomato. A thick coat of leaves concealing delicate vines wound around a wire cage armature. Every part of it aside from the fruit is incredibly poisonous. (Save vs poison, 2d12+20 damage, half on save)

6 Apple. Gnarled wood limbs with rough, cracked bark. A mane of flowering branches trails down its back. Supports a hive of bees that pollinate and protect it. (1d8 dmg/round if attacked, produces 1 pint of honey/week)

7 Lime. Bundles of straight, smooth-barked branches lashed into a quadrupedal form. Fans of leafy suckers along its back bend under the weight of fruit. Spits acid. (10' range, 1d10 damage)

8 Grapevine. A spherical core of woody vines twisted protectively around thick bunches of grapes, supported on six rangy legs. Produces drinks on demand, from grape juice to wine to pure alcohol. (30 gal/day)

9 Pea. Fine trailing vines twining around a string and wicker stake skeleton, festooned with bright flowers. Creates fast-growing tendrils to entrap creatures. (15' range, 17 STR save to break free, can hold any number of creatures)

10 Pumpkin. Gourds of all sizes stacked atop each other and carved with intricate geometric designs. Glows like a lantern. (60' area)

11 Onion. Stout, armored with a layer of close-fitted chunks of bulb. Can absorb damage by flaking off its outer layers. (100 HP/day)

12 Cabbage. Soft and fluffy with ostentatious frills of loose leaves. Can compact itself into a sphere to become a rolling battering ram. (Can break down doors and walls up to 5' thick)

13 Potato. Stringy nets of root and tuber woven together into chunky limbs. Grows small clones if a piece with an eye is cut off. (15% chance to sprout a new golem when damaged, matures in 1 month)

14 Corn. Tall and spindly with legs like stilts and a cornsilk mane. Can shake kernels free of itself to seed fast-growing stalk barriers. (Covers 30 sqft, corn barriers grow to adult size in 2 minutes)

15 Wheat. Tied sheaves linked together with braided stalks. Can fling grain spikelets as projectiles. (30' range, 5d4 damage, 30% chance spikes are ergotized)

16 Sunflower. Dozens of bouquets lashed together, topped with a giant orb of flowers for a head. Keeps perfect time and always knows the position of the sun.

17 Clover. Thick slabs of turf covered with pink and crimson flowers, rolled and layered into a humanoid shape. Grows fodder for pack animals and mounts. Can improve any soil it walks on. (6 acres/day)

18 Hemp. Long, slender, uncomfortably flexible limbs of aligned stalks covered in a sleek pelt of leaves. Produces rope, braiding it on demand. (500'/day)

19 Tobacco. A hollow, oblong body of broad leaves plastered over each other with smoldering ember eyes and sprays of star-shaped white flowers at its joints. Breathes clouds of obscuring smoke. (60' area, lasts for 10 minutes)

20 Indigo. Delicate filigree of leaves and violet blooms encircling a core of fermented vegetal slop. Produces vivid blue indelible dye paste and ink.

Delver's Tools

Crash Bar

3' long solid metal push bar painted bright red. Heavy. Turns one door into a portal out to a safe space, lasts for 5 minutes then melts. Has to be solidly bolted onto the door.

Spotlight
A flexible 10" wide film disc that floats and shines with sunlight when unrolled. Almost always points where you want, 1-in-8 chance it shines directly in your eyes.

Wall-In-A-Can
Metal canisters of compressed quick-curing epoxy. Pull pin, throw, and take cover. Explodes into a polymer net that expands and hardens into a 5" thick solid wall. Airtight and granite hard when fully cured, 3 minutes working time. Can completely seal off a 15'x15' area.

Smartpole
A 10' pole with built-in sensors to read air quality, electromagnetic and arcane fields, temporal distortions, physical force, temperature, and detect metal within a 30' range. Wirelessly relays data to a convenient wrist-mounted display.

Doorknockers
Shaped charges designed to neatly but firmly disagree with locks. Come in different sizes: Tiny (suitable for chests and padlocks), small (for single doors), and large (for vaults, city gates, and blast doors). Self-adhering and silent.

Plover(tm) Microscout
A tiny quadcopter with cameras mounted on the top and underside. Painted matte bubblegum pink to foil monsters' color vision. Has a remote control mode (range 150') and autonomous mode with a simple AI to guide it (600' range, no video stream past 150' but still records). Completely silent running.

Traveler's Tools

Packed Animals

A baggie of bright colored capsules that expand into life-sized animated foam sponge animals when soaked in water. Each can carry up to 200lbs of cargo or pull 400lbs. They shrink back down and go dormant if they dry out completely. Do not tolerate riders. A bag contains 3 mules, 2 donkeys, 1 ox, 1 camel, 1 draft horse, 1 llama, and 1 elephant.

Tourist's Map
A pamphlet-sized glossy folding map that shows local spots of interest and hidden gems within a 2-hour trip. Focuses on places to eat, shopping, entertainment, natural beauty, and cultural and historical attractions. Updates itself as you move. Occasionally reveals dark and terrible secrets. Doesn't work in places you're familiar with.

Trekking Pole
Sturdy ironwood walking stick with a 5" titanium spike on the end and a chime bell tied to the grip with a worn friendship bracelet. Gives its bearer unfailingly good morale and immunity to mind and emotion-affecting influences.

Money Belt
A nondescript black leather belt with a zippered compartment hidden on the inner surface. Chance it creates enough money to cover 1 day worth of basic living expenses each dawn.
Roll d20:
1-9 Nothing
10-13 Coins
14-15 Paper bills
16 Promissory note (legit)
17 Gems
18 Unusual/obscure currency
19 Foreign currency
20 Counterfeit [roll d10+9]

Sunhat
Wide-brimmed gray straw hat with a brass star medallion on a black silk hatband and black glass beads stitched around the brim's edge. Collects light during the day and releases it at night. Tapping the medallion turns it on and off. Also has strobe, emergency SOS, and cycling RGB modes.

Multifunction Compass
A clear octahedral crystal set in a stainless steel frame hanging from a steel snake chain. The fluorescent green indicator needle floating inside can swing freely to point in any direction on the X, Y, and Z axes. A button on the frame cycles the compass between modes to let it detect and lead to magnetic north, food, water, shelter, danger, treasure, or friends.

Miscreant's Tools

Crowdcaller

A painfully shrill brass whistle on a ball chain necklace. Summons a group of unrelated people to the area it's blown. Takes 2 minutes to gather enough bodies to cause a distraction or cover an escape. The assembled crowd doesn't know why they're there, they just felt compelled to show up.

Crowd's temper/behavior (d10)
1 Confused
2 Restless
3 Quickly disperse
4 Social and cheerful
5 Block party
6 Flash mob
7 Street brawl
8 Riot
9 Angry mob
10 Angry mob chasing you

Peephole
Tiny glass marble set in the middle of a 1" wide steel disc. Push it against a solid surface and it shows you what's on the other side with a fisheye distortion. Takes a few second to sink in and activate and to pry back out.

Granny Cart
A two-wheeled collapsible wire shopping basket with a long handle and cute floral-print canvas liner. Can hold up to 500lbs of stuff but never weighs more than 40lbs. Anyone looking in only sees groceries or thrift store and flea market finds.

Undercity Map
Pocket-sized folding map of thick waterproof paper. Shows the city's sewers, maintenance and utility tunnels, and service corridors in minute detail. Automatically redraws itself to show structural changes and current hazards, including guards and other people.

Anonymizer
An officious-looking matte black clipboard with a random assortment of forms. Blurs your image on live CCTVs and surveillance footage leaving only a pixelated mess. People can see you face to face but have trouble describing you or even remembering you were there once you're out of sight.

Payphone
A bright blue handset ripped from a public phone and trailing 2' of metal-sheathed cable. Can make calls anywhere no matter what signal's like for other phones. Completely untraceable. To make a call touch a coin to the exposed wires at the end of its cable. Each coin buys 3 minutes of call regardless of denomination. You can't use the same coin twice.

Caver's Tools

Canary Torch

A lightweight knurled metal tube with a domed crystal lens on one end. Glows in the presence of breathable air.

Walking Cam
A spider-legged automaton that can climb any surface. Strong enough to tow an attached person up a sheer wall. Can climb by itself to a specific location and set pitons for others to follow. Collapses into a 7" diameter orb.

Autocaisson
A heavy iron belt of sealed boxes 3" on a side. Explosively deploys in a cave-in or flood to form an interlinked spherical metal shell around the wearer and hold back fallen rubble or water.

Airbag
A light silk vest with padding along the spine and collar. Explosively inflates into a protective cocoon if the wearer falls, is thrown, or suffers an impact.

Glowstick
A four-color paint pen that writes on any surface and never runs out. The ink glows and self-erases by sublimation on command. Shake before using, makes a chiming noise.

Shrieker Box
A handheld rectangular device with a screen and dials on the front and a cone-shaped emitter on the top. Uses sonar to measure the thickness and depth of surrounding material when pointed at a solid surface. Can measure from 1/2" to 2 miles. Dials control the signal's strength and sensitivity. Works best on stone, do not operate on living tissue.

It lives!

My d23's now available on itch! 

It's a little more refined than the ashcan I had planned, but still a simple text doc focused on running a game. Go check it out and have fun!

The Leidgeist

Every musician dreams of renown, their work entering the cultural canon and being sung for generations. Some rely on their own genius to make it happen, others use magic. Ages ago an unknown bard wrote the base melody of the Leidgeist, catchy on its own but underlaid with memetic structures and enchantments to make it appeal and lodge in a listener's mind.

These days it's everywhere. It's the tune of a hundred folksongs; hummed by farmhands, drifting through taverns, and incorporated into works commissioned at court. It has more variations than scholars can record, with new lyrics appearing each year.

The Leidgeist is enduring, as intended, but only because it's alive. Without fully understanding the consequences, its composer conjured the heart of a memetic entity. Each time it's sung it grows, repetitions and changes layering over each other and feeding into an ever more intricate network. The centuries of escalating complexity sparked an emergent intelligence, coalescing from the noise.

Soon it will awaken into sentience.

Experiment: Omnisystemic Games

I've had this idea for a while. It's not good, it might even be stupid, but it's interesting and I want to try it anyway.

I call it an omnisystemic game.

The idea's straightforward: Run a system-agnostic adventure and let your players make their characters with any system they want, as long as it's one you feel comfortable running. So you might have characters from OD&D, 5e, bastards., Troika!, DCC, MoSh, WoD, whatever all at the same table. Run the game for them and switch between their separate systems on the fly when each character interacts with things in a way that would require rules to resolve.

The rules for each system would only affect the characters from that system. So Troikan characters would use Troika!'s token-pull initiative while 5e chars would roll d20+initiative for a turn order. Only DCC characters would use the dice chain. bastards. characters would have advantage/disadvantage while WoD chars would gain or lose dice from their pools. Difficulties for checks/saves/ACs/etc would shift depending on which character's acting to reflect what's reasonable for their system.

You would essentially be running [X] many different games at once depending on the number of systems your players chose. Each set of rules running in parallel with specific chunks temporarily being pulled to the fore when a character acts and then going back into standby after everything's resolved. It's what happens if you take system agnostic way too far, following the letter while obliterating the spirit.

I want to try and find out:
- Can I actually do it?
- How hard is it?
- Is it actually different from a normal one-system game in any appreciable way beyond (maybe) taking extra effort?

I think I can do it and I don't think it'll be that difficult. Converting the adventure into the different systems on the fly would probably be the most demanding part, and that seems like something you'd get used to with some practice. Just paying attention and staying flexible, which you're already doing as the GM. Might be a little more improv intensive than normal but it'd only be an issue when rules actually come up or you need a ruling, and you'd just have to remember who's using what system. Having players who know what they're doing (and I always assume mine do, trust your players) would also take a lot of the work off the GM. The thing I'm almost entirely unsure about is if it's worth it.

We'll see how it goes once I find a group of players willing to go along with my shenanigans. If you want to try running something omnisystemic good luck and let me know how it worked.

1d12.20 Signs and Symptoms

An extensive list of 240 symptoms for your bespoke plagues, curses, and afflictions. Roll a d12 and a d20 together and treat each as a digit instead of adding them together.

(Note: I always encourage folks to look up terms they're not familiar with, but for this be careful. If you search the ones that are real medical conditions you'll find pictures of the most extreme and absolute worst-case examples.)


1.1 Fever
1.2 Hypothermia
1.3 Headache
1.4 Dizziness
1.5 Fatigue
1.6 Fainting
1.7 Chills
1.8 Shivering
1.9 Sweating
1.10 Shock
1.11 Coma
1.12 Body aches
1.13 Swollen lymph nodes
1.14 Dehydration
1.15 Thirst
1.16 Hunger
1.17 Loss of appetite
1.18 Malnutrition
1.19 Emaciation
1.20 Weight gain
2.1 Weight loss
2.2 Elevated heart rate
2.3 Lowered heart rate
2.4 Arrhythmia
2.5 Avolition
2.6 Apathy
2.7 Anxiety
2.8 Paranoia
2.9 Confusion
2.10 Mood swings
2.11 Impulsiveness
2.12 Irritability
2.13 Rage
2.14 Hysterical strength
2.15 Uncontrollable laughter
2.16 Delirium
2.17 Delusions
2.18 Amnesia (short-term)
2.19 Amnesia (long-term)
2.20 Disorientation
3.1 Stupor
3.2 Unresponsiveness
3.3 Ahedonia
3.4 Aphasia
3.5 Echolalia
3.6 Faceblindness
3.7 Desire to sleep (somnolence)
3.8 Insomnia
3.9 Nightmares
3.10 Sleepwalking
3.11 Vertigo
3.12 Hallucinations (auditory)
3.13 Hallucinations (visual)
3.14 Hallucinations (olfactory)
3.15 Hallucinations (taste)
3.16 Hallucinations (touch)
3.17 Phantom pain
3.18 Slurred speech
3.19 Formication
3.20 Loss of proprioception
4.1 Loss of smell (anosmia)
4.2 Loss of taste (ageusia)
4.3 Synesthesia
4.4 Hypersensitivity
4.5 Hypoalgesia
4.6 Numbness
4.7 No reflex response
4.8 Tremor
4.9 Convulsions
4.10 Seizure
4.11 Paralysis
4.12 Hypertonia
4.13 Arthritis
4.14 Joint pain
4.15 Hypermobility
4.16 Ankylosis
4.17 Joints fuse
4.18 Extra joints
4.19 Brittle bones
4.20 Hyper-dense bones
5.1 Bones lengthen
5.2 Bones soften
5.3 Bones dissolve
5.4 Atrophy
5.5 Muscle weakness
5.6 Muscular hypertrophy
5.7 Tumors
5.8 Inflammation
5.9 Ulceration
5.10 Necrotic tissue
5.11 Gangrene
5.12 Hair loss
5.13 Hair growth (fast)
5.14 Hair growth (abnormal)
5.15 Dry hair
5.16 Split ends
5.17 Nail discoloration
5.18 Nails thicken
5.19 Weak nails
5.20 Nails fall out
6.1 Itching
6.2 Dry skin
6.3 Cracked skin
6.4 Peeling skin
6.5 Blistering
6.6 Rash (red speckles)
6.7 Rash (ring-shaped)
6.8 Rash (pale white spots)
6.9 Rash (oval blue spots)
6.10 Rash (black threadlike strands)
6.11 Rash (fractal)
6.12 Hives
6.13 Pox sores
6.14 Necrotic sores
6.15 Weeping sores
6.16 Bubos
6.17 Warts
6.18 Bruising
6.19 Skin discoloration
6.20 Jaundice
7.1 Cyanosis
7.2 Pallor
7.3 Veins visible through skin
7.4 Skin turns transparent
7.5 Itchy eyes
7.6 Red eyes
7.7 Bloodshot eyes
7.8 Bleeding eyes
7.9 Inky black tears
7.10 Cataracts
7.11 Blindness
7.12 Color blindness
7.13 Light sensitivity
7.14 No pupilary light reflex
7.15 Pupil shape changes (rectangle)
7.16 Pupil shape changes (star)
7.17 Pupil shape changes (slit)
7.18 Dark ring around the iris
7.19 Gold ring around the iris
7.20 Increased visual spectrum range
8.1 Eyes turn entirely black
8.2 Eyes turn entirely blue
8.3 Glowing eyes
8.4 Extra eyes
8.5 Deafness
8.6 Tinnitus
8.7 Increased hearing frequency range
8.8 Sneezing
8.9 Runny nose
8.10 Postnasal drip
8.11 Blocked sinuses
8.12 Nosebleed
8.13 Bleeding gums
8.14 Pale gums
8.15 Drooling
8.16 Sore throat
8.17 Difficulty swallowing
8.18 Swollen tongue
8.19 Fissured tongue
8.20 Thrush
9.1 Tongue lengthens
9.2 Loss of voice
9.3 Goiter
9.4 Grinding teeth
9.5 Teeth turn gray
9.6 Teeth crack and erode
9.7 Teeth fall out
9.8 Teeth regrow
9.9 Teeth change shape
9.10 Teeth fuse
9.11 Teeth replaced by metal
9.12 Teeth glow
9.13 Cough (dry)
9.14 Cough (productive)
9.15 Cough (bloody)
9.16 Difficulty breathing
9.17 Pneumonia
9.18 Blood won't clot
9.19 Blood congeals
9.20 Blood powders
10.1 Blood turns silver
10.2 Blood turns green
10.3 Blood replaced by milk
10.4 Nausea
10.5 Vomiting
10.6 Heartburn
10.7 Cramps
10.8 Gas
10.9 Burping
10.10 Flatulence
10.11 Constipation
10.12 Diarrhea
10.13 Autobrewery syndrome
10.14 Clear urine
10.15 Dark urine
10.16 Bloody urine
10.17 Sky blue urine
10.18 Anuria
10.19 Excessive urination
10.20 Incontinence
11.1 Priapism
11.2 Erectile dysfunction
11.3 Infertility
11.4 Excessive menstruation
11.5 False pregnancy
11.6 No pulse
11.7 Not breathing
11.8 Growth spurt
11.9 Fingers lengthen
11.10 Bifurcating fingers
11.11 Shrinking
11.12 Sweat turns caustic
11.13 Writing appears on skin
11.14 Progressive petrification
11.15 Vomiting toads
11.16 Egg-laying
11.17 Spontaneous bleeding
11.18 Spontaneous ignition
11.19 Spores
11.20 Fruiting bodies
12.1 Hives (insect)
12.2 Budding
12.3 Involuntary bilocation
12.4 Chronic teleportation
12.5 Levitation
12.6 Involuntary ventriloquism
12.7 Can only talk backwards
12.8 Involuntary telepathy
12.9 Telepathy
12.10 Clairaudience
12.11 Clairvoyance
12.12 Immateriality
12.13 Regeneration
12.14 Immortality
12.15 Undeath
12.16 Sunlight sensitivity
12.17 Silver allergy
12.18 Allium allergy
12.19 Autophagia
12.20 Temporal dislocation

Coins In the Dungeon

As an adventurer you're almost always going to have coins on you. Lots of coins. Whether you just got them from the dungeon you're exploring or brought them in yourself doesn't really matter, they're there.

Most of the time coins are treated as a burden. A valuable burden, but still just a weight to carry around that slows you down, takes up space, and alerts enemies by clinking at inopportune times. It's not entirely wrong. Coins are heavy, they do take effort to haul, and unless you find someone to trade with or bribe in the dungeon they're useless as currency until you bring them up to the surface and into town.

But they're not completely useless.

Treating them only as cargo ignores the fact that coins are physical objects with useful properties beyond their monetary value. (We forget that about real-world money too.) Coins are uniformly-sized and shaped pieces of metal that you can use for all kinds of jobs in the dungeon.

For example, you can take your coins and:

- Throw them down halls and into rooms as a distraction or to check if anything is lurking out of sight. It's the classic 'make a noise that the guards will investigate' ploy and it works. If you make a noise and something reacts, you know to be careful. Throwing coins in an opponent's face is also an effective distraction.

- Throw them ahead of you to check for traps. A single coin might set off a trap with a hair trigger and you can throw a sack full to test heavier weights. It'll also let you test for chemical hazards. If you throw a silver or copper piece in a room and it instantly starts tarnishing/patinating you can tell it's probably not smart to go in (without the right PPE). And if a gold coin starts reacting, then just run.

- Mark your path. Stick them in cracks in the walls, between floor stones, on ledges, anywhere they'll be visible and catch light. It'll give you a trail of reflective blazes that are easier to pick out in torch or lantern light than chalk marks for when you backtrack. Coin trails are good for navigation, temporary in case you want to be stealthy, and if they're gone when you come back at least you know someone's been there.

- Set them out as bait. Wait patiently and find out exactly who's following you.

- Use them as tools. Coins make great improvised screwdrivers, wrenches, and drifts. You can also use them to pry up the edges of stones, grills, grates, decorative facings, access panels, anything you want to break into.

- Use them as shims and jams. You can level or stabilize equipment and items on uneven surfaces by slipping coins under the unsupported parts until it's got a solid base. Tuck a short rolled stack of them into a door's strike box to keep it from latching if it closes. Shove coins into cracks like an old fashioned jammed cam/stop to hold ropes and climbing gear in place. (A bag of coins might actually be better than a traditional block cam because it's flexible but will seize up if you put force on it.)

- Use them as weights. A heavy pile or sack of coins makes an excellent anchor or counterweight, and of course they're good for holding down pressure plates, buttons, triggers, levers, and switches. You can accurately control the amount of weight you use too since coins are small units of mass and similar sizes.

- Test distances. You could drop a coin down a hole and listen for when it hits the bottom, but it's smarter to tie a pouch full to the end of a rope and use it as a plumb. That also works for measuring water depths. A weighted rope is really just a useful thing to have in general.

- Make a weighted rope. Coins on the end of a rope let you accurately throw it across gaps/chasms, up into trees or to ledges/areas above you, over water, wherever you need it to go without having to tie a heavy knot that takes up a portion of the rope's length. And if you tie the coins-on-a-rope to the end of your 10' pole you can swing them and (with some finesse) reach and interact with things outside the normal 10' range.

- Take advantage of their conductivity to close circuits and activate electric or magic-powered devices. Might short-circuit or explode, but it's probably fine.

- Shape them into whatever you need. Gold, silver, and copper are all relatively soft and ductile metals. You can treat coins as boullion/metal stock and cut, grind, hammer, or cast them into simple tools and shapes as needed. It might take a while and it might look rough, but you can do it. And yes, I did say cast. Gold, silver, and copper all have melting points within the range of what a stoked and tended wood fire can produce. (Au 1948F, Ag 1763F, Cu 1984F and a properly handled fire can make ~2000F.) It'd take work and planning to do, but it's possible.

- Roll them and throw them like bricks or use them as brass knuckles. You should be rolling your coins anyway. It makes them compact so they're easier to pack and carry, and keeps them from clinking.

- Use them as ammunition. Slings, slingshots, crossbows, and blunderbusses don't really care what goes in them. Coins are dense. They might tumble in the air, but you can practice and learn to compensate for it.

- Stick them in a sock and hit stuff with it. An improvised cosh is the best kind of cosh and terrible for enemy morale.

In the dungeon everything you have is a tool and everything can be repurposed, even your loot. Especially your loot. Your wealth is worth absolutely nothing if you die in a hole, so don't be too attached to it. Be creative and use everything at your disposal to survive.