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If the adventurers in your game lust after something, if there's something they desperately want, there are two different approaches to making the situation interesting:
- Avoid giving them what they want for as long as you can. Keep it tantalisingly out of reach, as a promise for completing various quests, but one which is constantly frustrated.
- Give them exactly what they want. With a catch.
What sort of catch? The object of their desire might not live up to expectations. Or it could be cursed. Or it could cause new problems:
- Being a desirable object, someone else wants it, and will pursue/steal/kill in order to get it. This works well for anything obviously valuable.
- Riches come with a host of problems of their own: taxes and nosy tax collectors, a potentially unwelcome change of social status, sycophantic hangers-on, criminal investigations into where the money came from, sudden relatives you never knew about it.
- New, powerful weapons cause suspicion by law enforcement, or even outright declarations of criminality. They also cause enemies to load up on bigger weapons too.
- Both magic items and computers/robots can have personalities of their own, which may make them reluctant or annoying assistants.
- Fancy vehicles require maintenance, which costs money. They can also be conspicuous and attract the wrong sort of attention.
- Books of magical lore... well, we already said "cursed" above, which covers most of what could happen. Or there could also be vital parts missing. This may or may not be obvious. If it's obvious, the new owner will be frustrated and want to find the missing pages even more fervently than before. If it's not obvious... well, you can imagine what sorts of mishaps might happen while trying to brew a potion or summon a demon when you're missing some of the steps.
- The item, although perhaps acquired legitimately by the adventurer, was stolen from a former owner, who is looking for it. Bonus points if it's an artefact level item and the former owner is a god.
- If the object of desire is something like "marrying a princess", then congratulations, you now have a bossy king and queen as in-laws. Royal court intrigue can follow, or they may plain dislike the adventurer and send them on impossible quests. Or the princess herself may not be what she appears.
Overall, the possibilities are endless. Think of yourself as a genie, granting the heartfelt wishes of your adventurers. Yes, that sort of genie.
Commentary by Keybounce (who has not seen the movie)
So... an open air trough, in the desert. A beast that just slobbers water onto the sands. So, they've been through the desert on a happabore with no name?
The comment about having multiple asymptotes made me look it up on Google. I figured it was some type of graph that I hadn't heard of. Nope. Google has nothing but Star Wars related hits, including food at Disney restaurants.
And the sand creatures source book has a creature. It's not a very good source book, is it?1
[1] The idea of having things marked in footnotes to read comes from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy computer game2.
[2] Not a very good footnote, is it?
Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)
Immediate first thought: Ewwww! I'd never do that!
Immediate follow up thought: Actually, I don't know if I'd never do that, I have no idea how I'd react in this scenario. I've been fortunate enough not to be in a survival situation where I need to focus on living over personal comforts, like not drinking from a giant farm animal's trough. I think I'd be able to get over it, but I really have no idea until I'd encounter the need to drink water like this.
That definitely explains why none of the traders were interested in drinking water though; it's thought of as for happabores! That would be a big mental block for the outpost residents against drinking water. Who would want to eat or drink anything these giant hippo-pigs get if there's better fare available?
Removing two Fatigue points so quickly feels rather generous. I suppose we have no idea how many points Finn has at the moment though, so it could be a lot more than just two. I would certainly take a lot more time to recover after walking in direct sunlight, much less walking in the desert. I'm guessing the GM doesn't really want to deal with fatigue rules, but also feels the need to have them there for the semi-realism of it.
Transcript
Finn: Water...
GM: <roll> You hear splashing behind you.
Finn: I turn around!
GM: A happabore is drinking at a trough, slopping water onto the sand.
Finn: I run over and drink greedily.
[SFX]: slurp!
GM: It smells appalling. <roll> But cancel one Fatigue point.
Finn: Bleah!
[SFX]: slurp! slurp!
GM: Remove another Fatigue.
BB-8: Happabore?
Poe: {dead} It has multiple asymptotes! Do not taunt it!
GM: It’s a 6-metre long omnivore from the Giant Sand Creatures book.
Rey: All right! Prepare for combat!
GM: It’s an utterly docile domestic beast.
Rey: Is there anything good in that book??