[Troika!] 1d6 Strange Stones & Gems.

Weird geology amongst the spheres...

I like gemstones as loot. They're shiny, feel more exciting to obtain than straight cash, and offer interesting possibilities for lore and mechanics.

They're also more tantalising to steal. All TTRPG players are magpies, and you need only look at the price difference between shiny dice and “normal” dice to see this.

Here are d6 (plus a bonus) with interesting/magical properties. All designed for Troika! but they'd work for most other OSR systems too.

Please excuse the Public Domain artworks, I made these before I had a real art direction in mind for this blog.

- 1. Gusavite -

For each tonne of jade mined from the lofty peaks of Karok Vodt there is a single emerald, and for each tonne of emeralds there is a single shard of gusavite.

Gusavite is a beautiful stone, yet neglected by jewellers and the aristocracy for its unusual properties; violently shattering in the presence of untruth - or rhyme. The sensitivity of each gem is unique, dependent on the crystal's structure, but almost all crystals will break if addressed in such a way directly.

Famously, the composer Björniln Zarmosst would insert rhyming couplets of blatant lies into his operas in order to weed out members of the cultural elite wearing cheap jewellery.

Worth 200 silver, less to poets and politicians.

- 2. Enriched Pyrite (Glittergeld) -

Alchemists, in their relentless quest for transmutation, discovered that by refining pyrite in a bath of pig's blood, grinding it into a powder, and re-casting the result to ingots, they could create a substance not entirely unlike real gold. Nevertheless, this wasn't good enough, and many toil on still.

Many beings go their entire lives without seeing gold, even counting the golden barges, and so any quantity present will instantly draw the eye. This naturally lends this substance, commonly termed "glittergeld", to distraction and misdirection. Intelligent creatures may Test Skill to see through the ruse, otherwise they are just as intrigued as anyone else.

One dead giveaway to the false nature of this metal is that it is much harder than real gold; and also not melting easily, even at extreme temperatures.

Worth a debatable amount between 5 to 100 silver, usually sold for nothing at one place and everything at another.

- 3. Nullstone -

Oily and black, it is said the dark god Glabb forged all the nullstone in existence from his own sweat and the milk of black she-goats after losing a bet with a crafty magician.

Nullstone is unique in that is has no magical presence at all. In fact, it acts as a void for Second Sight, hiding the flow of magic behind its form.

Rings of nullstone can be used, by Testing Luck, to stop one incoming spell; though blocking such energy will invariably pulverise the stone.

Worth roughly 20 silver per block.

- (Bonus!) Bellstone -

They say that behind the voice of every angel is, in fact, a lump of bellstone, gently calling out for its sibling stones.

Possibly the easiest gemstone to prospect for, bellstone is unique in that it vibrates and "sings" whenever it detects another piece within the range of 50 meters. The volume of this singing increases the nearer it gets to another piece, up to a volume comparable to that of a loud violin.

The pitch can be modified by precisely cutting the stone to shape.

In some cities across the spheres, bellstone is banned for the ear-splitting noise several pieces brought together would make.

Worth 10 silver.

- 4. Aerogem -

Thought to be formed by the dying breaths of sub-mariners or the tears of childless nereids, aerogems are found in the ceilings of undersea caverns on the water-sphere of Thalhetis.

When an aerogem comes into contact with a liquid it dissolves; making the liquid breathable for the next 3 hours. A single palm-sized cabochon is enough to imbue one small pond or tunnel's worth of liquid with bretheability.

The liquid retains all other traits, including potentially being unsafe to ingest or having an extreme temperature, even if now air supply is no longer a concern.

Should the liquid be boiled away or otherwise distilled, the dissolved aerogem could technically be reformed, albeit in a smaller quantity.

Worth 30 silver.

- 5. Projosite -

The foggy marshlands of Villey'dhe, long thought to be haunted, were actually discovered to simply be sitting above veins rich in this precious stone, alongside mundane tin ore. As such, the swamps were drained and intense mining operations began; leading to actual hauntings from the deceased workmen.

When touched to any metal, projosite creates ghostly pink trails around all metals previously present around a 30 meter radius within the past 24 hours. These trails "echo" the movements and shapes of the original, and loop continually through the previous day at the rate of 5 minutes representing 1 hour. They do not produce light, nor are they visible through solid surfaces.

This trait has made projosite understandably popular with detectives, bodyguards, and treasure-hunters simultaneously.

In theory, tweaking the quantity and quality of the stone could change the timespan it "remembers" for, and the range of detection, though this might require a grasp of geology beyond most.

Worth 60 silver, more to interested buyers.

- 6. Sewlym-

Henhmos The Wicked was said to have survived the duel against Zultoer The Mighty by tasking a thousand jewellers to engrave duplicates of his soulpattern onto slabs of refined sewlym, buried deep beneath the Gates of Ruantengi.

A skilled jeweller, an immensely skilled jeweller, can copy the soul of one standard living being into an acorn's worth of sewlym; the precise amount required and time-taken depending on numerous factors; such as the fate, prowess, life-lived, and cosmic significance of the being.

This procedure can take upwards of five years, and requires the jeweller to know the intimate details of the target's life story and personality. Trust is key.

Once the soul is enshrined in the material it is stored as a duplicate. In theory, this copy could be merged into a new body, though this would be vastly more complicated then simply reinserting the soul into the original body, or a genetic copy.

The flaw in the plan of many a would-be-immortal is, however, the lack of minions who truly are willing to go through the effort of returning them. People of such wealth and power rarely have true friends.

Priceless - but only to the right buyer.

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Optionally, you could force players to find an appraiser to accurately identify the gemstones, or make them test skill to figure out the respective properties.

Of course some appraisers charge a hefty fee, leading to a black market of sorts. While the identifications of the stones could still be accurate, the party should probably check to see if their priceless lump of gusavite has been replaced with a piece of old beer bottle...

Thanks for reading and, as always, share whatever your party does with them.