Loot Sucks

I'm a fan of ARPG's (You know, like diablo). There's something about finding a cool item that makes you go "oh, I know what to do with this" that never gets old.

It's fascinating really, Diablo and it's ilk were born from DnD, but it isn't clear how. Loot in DnD actually kind of sucks when you think about it.

Why TTRPG Loot Sucks

Imagine you bust open the ancient tomb of the Zarath the Lawbinder, the highest paladin of this or any age, and find his enchanted mace that brought a thousand-thousand demons a true death. It's a +3 mace.

It's boring. It's so obviously boring. It's so deeply boring it spits in the face of finding a cool ancient item. 

And the issue is that all items are boring! Items tend to fit into the categories of "does something objectively better" or "emulates a magic spell". +3 mace? Does a mace, but better. Horn of blasting? Glorified fireball. Very few items do things that are interesting, such as a dagger of returning.

So Define Interesting

There are two forms of interest: opening up a new playstyle, or refining a playstyle. Let's go into them one by one:

• If an item has a unique effect that creates a new playstyle based around it, then you've allowed a PC with that item to have a unique playstyle that is inherently interesting by virtue of being new. A dagger of returning allows someone to play a real throwing weapon based character, something that is somewhere between difficult and impossible in most other games. But why stop there? Why not have a sword that doesn't consume poisons applied to it when it hits opponents, or a set of armor that allows magic missiles to reflect off of you?
• If an item refines a playstyle, that helps a player focus in on the parts of their character they think are fun. Refining a playstyle isn't just a generic buff, it's buffing certain parts in fun ways. A +1 dagger of returning isn't meaningfully more interesting than a dagger of returning, it's just better. But a pair of gloves that improves throwing damage when attacking from shadows is deeply interesting. How do you get use from that effect? Now your throwing playstyle is even more interesting.

So How Does Diablo Relate?

Diablo-likes are defined based on having interesting loot. A Diablo-like with bad loot isn't interesting, as you need the loot grind to make playing for more than a few hours worth it. Getting upgrades, getting items that make you think, that's what Diablo-likes are focused on.

You see both styles of interesting item in Diablo-likes. A unique effect item might be a unique item that changes how one of your core abilities works, or any item with a stat that you can't use without a build designed around it. Refining items are also common, such as with uniques that provide powerful bonuses when used with a certain playstyle.

Of course, Diablo-likes also have lots of items with raw damage bonuses, but this is partially to make getting new items interesting long term. A 10% damage improvement feels good when you're chasing big numbers, but we don't need that in TTRPGs. We just want interesting items. 

Side Note on Baldur's Gate 3

I've been playing through Baldur's Gate 3 for the first time. That game fundamentally understands interesting loot, and at no point have I found an item and went "yawn". Every new thing I find makes me rethink what is viable, what is possible. This ability might suck, but these two items make it disgustingly strong.

How To Make TTRPG Loot Interesting

This is going to be a bit theoretical for now, but let me toss some ideas out there:

• Remove generic +X items. They're boring. Replace them with ones that are situational. A +1 if you do Y.
• Add items with unique mechanics. Like actually unique. Don't think about if the players can use them, that's their job.
• More loot. Replace the game's primary progression loop from levels and XP to loot. Loot can't be an occasional reward, it has to be constant, many items per session.
• If we want to go full Diablo: a system to create loot from random tables. Actual items, with mechanics randomly determined. They might be useless, that's half the fun. 

I do wonder what a game where loot is your primary progression looks like. I understand that games like Cairn and Knave do that, but not really. I want a game where players buildcraft with their items (anathema as you might think it), finding interesting synergies and fun play patterns.