I tend not to place common objects, I invent them. What I mean is, if I imagine my character running, and using a rock sticking out of the grass as a springboard to vault up behind the villain on their warhorse, then I simply assume such a rock exists.
If I want to slam a tankard down on the table to grab everyone’s attention, then there will be a tankard on the table. I may not be mine, and it may not be empty, and I may have to do some explaining afterwards and probably buy someone a new drink, but the tankard existed because I wanted it or needed it.
I could have simply made a DEX check to vault onto the horse, or a Persuasion check to grab everyone’s attention, but I envisioned the action with the rock and the tankard.
Some of these objects come into existence when ‘Paint The Scene’ is used. I imagine the biggest and most impressive thing in the scene, and I picture it in as much detail as I can. I then place that thing into the location and imagine how it interacts with its location. Is the villain’s warhorse striking sparks off the cobbles as it gallops out of the castle? Is the most impressive thing a massive hearth in the tavern that paints everything red and orange in its glow? Then I consider how everyone else reacts to that most impressive thing. Are city folk surging out of the way of this galloping horse? Are patrons warming their toes before the fire, snoozing, or moving away because it is too hot? Only when I have the scene in my mind’s eye do I insert my character and other key NPCs into the scene.
So that creates common objects, but have you considered asking questions about them? Try picking anything that played a part in your last scene, and ask, “Is this <thing> significant?” If you get a yes, then a Muse question can suggest details. Maybe the rock was the head of someone petrified by a medusa, or the tankard bears an engraving that it was gifted to Atlande the hunter, who your character is trying to find. Maybe the wooden spoon you just hit your sidekick over the head with is actually the key to a secret door?
Anything can be a plot device to drive your story forward, and while it may be fanciful to have the holy grail as a dog bowl in a tavern, if the game is fantasy, these things can happen.
How often you do this is up to you; how you interpret the Muse’s suggestions is up to you. If you want dark and gritty, then you will produce dark and gritty answers. If you want noble bright, then that is what you will get.
These not-so-common objects are just another lever we can pull or a thing we can question to give us options. What if that rock was the head of someone petrified by Medusa, but you also happened to have Speak To Stone learned as a spell that day? You suddenly have a cameo NPC that you can interact with.
It is just a thought. It was new to me, but possibly I am the only person not doing this as a matter of course.
~Peter
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