"I search the body" tables

[Yora]

"I search the body" tables are a kind of random treasure tables that I believe first appeared in Vornheim, and which stand out for being full with seemingly useless junk. But it's setting specific junk! Things you wouldn't just find on corpses in any fantasy world. Many people who write big words about adventures and GM aids have described them as the best kind of random tables to use in a game, and I really agree with that. If you fill such a table with the right things, then they are a really great tool to show the players aspects of the setting instead of telling them. Simply by having them show up in the pockets of people you are showing that these objects are important in their culture. For example, if you make a table for hobbits in the shire you could set a high chance for pipes, bags of tobaco, and half eaten food. Might seem random at first, but after a couple ot times players will start to see the pattern.

If your campaign is somewhat flexible, you can also use these tables to give the players objects that could potentially be hooks for side quests. Maybe the players throw it away as random junk, but they could possibly get curious and start doing research on how that thing might have ended up in the pocket of that guy they killed.

What kind of stuff would you put on an "I search the body" table for your own campaigns?

Here's a few things I'll be using for the Ancient Lands, a Sword & Sorcery setting in forest world inhabited by giant reptiles and insects:

• Iron dagger (deals full damage to spirits)
• Obsidian knife (deals full damage to spirits)
• Amulet made of beaten iron (+2 on saves against abilities of spirits)
• Carved wooden idol
• Carved ivory idol
• Gold idol (worth 10d10 sp)
• Bundle of magical herbs (negages energy drain a single time)
• Pouch of opium
• Alchemical potion (+4 to all Constitution checks against exhaustion)
• Alchemical potion (Str 16 and Con 16 unless higher)
• Alchemical potion (heals 1d6 damage)
• Pouch with 1d100 silver coins
• Pouch with silver scraps (worth 1d100 sp)
• Map showing the location of a dungeon
• Animal tusk (worth 2d10 sp)
• Animal claw (worth 1d10 sp)
• Glas jar with glowing slugs (as bright as a candle, live up to 10 days if fed fresh leaves)

I think I can still add a lot more, but it's a start.

[jqavins]

Maybe the players throw it away as random junk, but they could possibly get curious and start doing research...

Or kick themselves later when they realize that they threw away an important, or at least useful clue.

Here are a few more, rather more generic than Yora's:

• Foreign coins, either among the familiar ones or foreign only.
• Sentient race body parts
• A newspaper (or clipping)
• Unidentifiable mineral. Unidentifiable by the PCs in the moment, but researchable if they so choose. Could be a rock or a vial of powder.
• Magic Ring of Something Useless. Something that seems useless to the PCs, but is a cultural clue, since it is obviously useful to someone.
• Functionally a Wondrous Item, but non-magical. (I.e. a bit of wondrous tech.)
• A recognizable but weird item, e.g. a kris instead of a "normal" dagger.

I didn't mean to focus exclusively on Items of Mystery, but it seems that's where most of my brainstorming is going, so I'll stop there until I think up something else.

[jqavins]

• A map of familiar territory, with small marks in familiar, uninteresting areas, maybe notations in another language or in code of some sort (but not prominent). These marks and notes are easily missed or ignored.
• His clothes are reflective of his culture.
• Tattoos, piercings, or other body markings are reflective of his culture. Or perhaps the lack thereof would be even more interesting, if he is a foreigner in a country where they are common.
• A Holy Symbol, or some less "official" sacred item can also be highly reflective of his culture.

Still working on it.

[Leewei]

This sort of thing is why I really liked the old AD&D module, A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. When players have only their innate abilities and what they can forage, and are in a race against time, the adventure has a decidedly different feeling.

Spoiler: Example

Show

PCs start out wearing loincloths, in a chamber with a sandy floor. One of the first things the PCs can do is take these off and improvise saps or slings.

[sktarq]

Actually in some Dungeon Magazine there were tables for exactly this. With bits of string, hard candies in shapes of adventurerers, beetle larva snacks, etc. Most were serious with some semi-humourous one mixed in. It was in the 2nd edition days and I have xeroxed copies of the tables in my storage unit. But if you can find them it is worth looking up.

[Vogie]

• Non-slotted jewelry - earrings, nose rings, bracelets, nipple rings, you name it
• Travelling food - loaves of hardbread, jerky, pickled foods, honey
• Wanted posters - Could be a side quest, or scrap paper
• Obscure ammo that the PCs can't normally use, such as sling rocks or hunting boomerangs
• Torch
• Flint/Steel or other firestarters
• Items showing a family tree or proof of genealogy - these very important in certain cultures, and could be used to diplomacize through certain encounters
• Maps showing areas to avoid - giving them an option to follow the map, or go into those areas for additional encounters
• Sealed Bait for certain monsters - it could be junk, or an encounter, or a distraction
• Magnetized metal - if the world doesn't understand magnetism, it would be considered a pseudo-magic item, throwing off compasses, et cetera.
• A tent with a basic local camouflage - If the party uses it, they can actually have long rests, and not be attacked in the night.
• A Bag of Ferrets
• One-use magic items - Bolt of Arrest, Arrow of Traveling, et cetera
• A domesticated Mule - The PCs can eat it, release it, or use it to carry their stuff. Bonus if there's saddlebags or a cart involved. There's also a hidden interaction if they try to walk into a normally peaceful area, and the guards/wardens recognize the mule/cart, and attack the PCs, thinking they're bandits.

[jqavins]

• A domesticated Mule - The PCs can eat it, release it, or use it to carry their stuff. Bonus if there's saddlebags or a cart involved. There's also a hidden interaction if they try to walk into a normally peaceful area, and the guards/wardens recognize the mule/cart, and attack the PCs, thinking they're bandits.

Which, depending on why there was a body to be searched, they may well be.

• Tools, e.g. a knife to small to be a weapon, a hammer, etc.
• Tinder. (Is it paper, grass, leaves, fibers of vine, fibers of bamboo, white oakum, etc.?)
• The local alcoholic beverage of choice
• Local recreational and/or medicinal drugs. (Good luck determining which is which.)
• The containers that these other things are in: pouch, pack, what have you.

[Rockphed]

In a wild west setting:

• Silver Bullets
• Religious Texts (main-stream)
• Religious Texts (Heretical)
• Mining Equipment
• Spade
• Pick
• Gold Pan
• Map of a staked claim
• Turquoise Jewelry
• "Indian" weapons (since without "indians", it really isn't the wild west.
• Sourdough Starter (in a pouch hung around the neck).
• Jerky
• Hard-tack
• Playing cards (possibly with duplicates up the sleeve)
• Dice
• A Brand (i.e. for cattle)
• Castration equipment (again, for cattle)
• A sack of law badges (from different jurisdictions)
• A sack of law badges (from a single jurisdiction)
• A tiny, single shot gun
• A toupee
• A woman's wig
• Stockings or Garters (for a woman)
• A playbill for an actual play
• A playbill for a burlesque
• A book on mining for silver
• A book on mining for magical materials
• Prayer beads
• Wanted poster (of the players)
• Wanted poster (of the guy they killed)
• Wanted poster (of people who have a superficial resemblance to the PCs)
• A bear skin cloak/blanket
• Hunting leathers (i.e. stereotypical indian clothes)
• A flask of whiskey
• A map of a well or spring
• A map of a pass over the mountains
• A map of a grave

[bryn0528]

• Salted fish wrapped in paper
• Whetstone, well-used
• Bronze torc (worth 1d4 gp)
• Small jar of perfumed oil (worth 2d4 gp)
• Black-iron paiza (worth 4d4 gp)
• Deed for chateau (foreclosed with massive arrears)
• Engraved cinquedea (disadvantage on attack rolls)
• Clockwork padlock, trapped
• Pouch of black powder
• Small lock-box containting 1d100 counterfeit white-iron ducats
• Bottle of wine, exquisite red
• Silk tabard bearing fox, hare, and pheasant courant
• Braids of dried sweetgrass
• Foul unguent (Con save 12 or be poisoned, heals 2d6)
• Severed tongue, branded

[falcon1]

An odd looking rock, root, or piece of animal
A scrap of parchment with some hard to read handwriting
A half carven block of wood
A sewing needle and thread
Some dice
A deck of cards
Some inks or paints.

[Newtonsolo313]

A drawing of their wife and kids

[Catalessi]

-big living grub in a bottle
-wax doll
-rare local plant
-golden theet (in pokets)
-golden theet (in mouth)
-ring with gem
-flask of sand
-wooden figurine of local mitological monster
-hat with secret poket
-small quantity of an illegal substance
-stuffed fish
-whistle made of glass
-bag of candied bugs

[DuctTapeKatar]

Here are things a person might not want to find during their rummagings through a dead person's pockets, for those who want to torture their PCs:

* A finger, toe, or other appendage, belonging to someone else.

* A shrunken head of someone they though was alive at one point.

* Broken bottles of potions, covered in some sort of sludge (glass vials are not meant for combat, in a bag or otherwise)

* The corpse of a rather large spider.

* A rather large spider, alive.

* Some other vermin in a swarming mass.

* An eyeball.

* A 1000X1000 rubix cube, with one blue tile painted white.

* The script to a 50-Shades-esque play, which they will have to perform in the future.

* A questionable amount of candy.

* A questionable amount of torn children's clothing.

* A comically large fishhook.

* A modern phone without power, or service.

* A belonging of yours you swore you had on you before you began fighting. On a person you never met before.

* A dirty handkerchief, still soggy.

* A map of your house, that you didn't make.

* Someone else's beard, jaw included.

* A bag of holding filled with nothing but water and piranhas (I have to try this idea out someday).

* A letter from their loved one(s).

* A letter from your loved one(s).

* A letter to your loved one(s).

* A lobster now covered in an absurd amount of mold and bacteria to the point that it evolves into a poisonous blob out to kill everything around it.

Rule number 1 of adventuring: Gloves.

[Gwaednerth]

A collection of interesting but worthless rocks

Handses, knife, string, or nothing (precious)

A tiny painted door which, if set against a tree, creates a door into the fey (too small for the players but
big enough for small faerie type creatures)

A box of spices, herbs, or tea leaves

a single silk ribbon

Moustache wax (especially for cleanshaven corpses)

An orchid in pristine condition despite being crushed under a dead guy

A nail or fishhook which does 1 hit point with no save

A fine rope made out of hair (possibly from a humanoid)

A jigsaw puzzle that, when assembled, looks like a logogram from a language none of the players speak

A bloody dagger that isn't an illusion, cannot be dispelled, and cannot be detected by any sense but sight

a bag of roasted maggots (tasty)

A key with a saw blade rather than teeth

World peace

A rulebook about some weird game called nerds & basements

A philosophical treatise written in language so bombastic and pretentious that it cannot be read

Springs, pegs, gears, and screws

Loaded dice (one that always rolls 1, one that always rolls 2 and two that always roll 5)

A children's toy like a rattle or stuffed animal, possibly a gift or a memento

A locket with a picture of a child

A small wooden flute that only plays jarring, unappealing notes

An alchemical powder that, applied to raw meat, cooks and seasons it immediately (can be used for cauterising wounds in a pinch too)

A wand that oozes a booger-like material that can be used as a adhesive

A paper IOU with the seal of a prominent lord from a distant area

A signet ring

No food, water, or anything for transporting such necessities. The body seems neither starved nor dehydrated.

A syringe with an unidentifiable liquid. When injected it warps the recipient, giving them a permanent -3 to one random ability score and +3 to another

A bag of holding filled with cabbages and locked with a padlock. Written on the bag are the words "Do not release without authorisation from the chief minister of the horticultural bureau of [a place that doesn't exist as far as the players know]"

A yoyo and and a slinky that are hopelessly tangled together

A book of hymns written in mirror-writing

A book on cyphers, a code book, a book on numerology, and a foreign language grammar

A beautifully carved statue of an otyough

An empty jar labelled "infectious hornets"

Juggling balls

A manuscript ruined by ink spilled when the dead creature fell over

A book of incredibly lame jokes

A modern ball-point pen

An extensive oral hygiene kit including brushes, floss, toothpicks, dental mirrors, scrapers, and toothpaste.

An infinite succession of boxes with just enough extradimensional space to fit an identical box. When two boxes are not being held, one will jump into the other.

A fantastic hat with a massive plume

Comfy knit socks

A bag containing negative five hundred gold and a diploma

[Bohandas]

Raging Swan Press has got a zillion of these tables

http://www.ragingswan.com/20-things-...ad-adventurer/
http://www.ragingswan.com/20-things-...m-a-dead-bard/
http://www.ragingswan.com/20-things-...-clerics-body/
http://www.ragingswan.com/20-things-...-dead-cultist/
http://www.ragingswan.com/20-things-...from-the-body/
http://www.ragingswan.com/20-things-...a-dead-kobold/
http://www.ragingswan.com/20-things-...-a-dead-rogue/
http://www.ragingswan.com/20-things-...-slavers-body/
http://www.ragingswan.com/20-things-...mugglers-body/
http://www.ragingswan.com/20-things-...-wizards-body/
http://www.ragingswan.com/10-things-...-robbers-body/

http://www.ragingswan.com/free-resources/

[jqavins]

* The script to a 50-Shades-esque play, which they will have to perform in the future.

Written in florid Shakesperian verse.

OK, seriously, a flask or pouch containing a powder, herb flakes, mineral, or some other substance. It looks like nothing special but the way it's packaged leads to the obvious conclusion that it is a spell component. This implies that it is rare, precious, holy, or otherwise special in the dead guy's culture.

[Bohandas]

* The script to a 50-Shades-esque play, which they will have to perform in the future.

Written in florid Shakesperian verse.

Sounds kind of like De Sade's stuff, except in English

[Catalessi]

illegal contraband
-false coins (4d10, difficult to recognise)
-small heretical idol
-small quantity of rare drug
-false coins (4d10, with the face of an inexistent king and misspelled words)
-vial of powerful venom
-scroll of "create gold"
-rare material components of a vile ritual spell
-horns of a protected animal (maybe because it's sacred, or for superstition, or because it's an endangered species)
-contract written in the language of an enemy country
-false license of some kind

[Rockphed]

illegal contraband
-false coins (4d10, with the face of an inexistent king and misspelled words)

-Possibly false coins (4d10, with face of the crown prince and a date some time in the future)

[jqavins]

Here's the opening of the OP, quoted here as a refresher:

"I search the body" tables are a kind of random treasure tables that I believe first appeared in Vornheim, and which stand out for being full with seemingly useless junk. But it's setting specific junk! Things you wouldn't just find on corpses in any fantasy world. Many people who write big words about adventures and GM aids have described them as the best kind of random tables to use in a game, and I really agree with that. If you fill such a table with the right things, then they are a really great tool to show the players aspects of the setting instead of telling them...

In that spirit, I suggest legal documents - contracts, licenses, visas/residency papers, or some such - from the characters' home city or country. That would be nothing remarkable to the characters, but a way of introducing such background color to the players.