Overview

No more scribbling treasure on sticky notes or arguing over who gets the magic sword. Deploy a loot table, roll the drops, pick a distribution method, and let ScryMarket handle the rest. Every claim is tracked, every split is fair, and every player can see exactly what happened.

What Are Loot Tables?

Loot tables are pre-built treasure lists with drop chances. Design “Dragon Hoard” with a 100% chance of gold, a 50% chance of a magic weapon, and a 10% chance of a legendary artifact. Deploy it to your party after a boss fight, and ScryMarket rolls the drops, reveals the items, and handles distribution however you choose.

The Problem Loot Tables Solve

Without ScryMarket:

• “Okay, roll percentile… 73… let me check my chart…”
• “Who wants the Flame Tongue?” three hands go up
• 20 minutes of negotiation later “Fine, take it. But I get the next rare.”
• “Wait, can my character even carry that?”
• Or worse: the GM just hands everything out arbitrarily and someone feels slighted

With ScryMarket:

• GM reveals the loot, picks a distribution method, players claim or vote
• Done in minutes
• Encumbrance checked, history logged, everyone sees the result in real-time

Quick Start

Two Ways to Get a Loot Table

Path 1: Use Existing Design (Recommended)

• Browse the marketplace for a community-created loot table
• Deploy it to your party from the loot detail page
• Takes about 30 seconds

Path 2: Create Your Own

• Design a loot table from scratch
• Add items with drop chances and quantity ranges
• Save and deploy
• Takes about 10 minutes first time

Deploy from Your Templates

Step 1: Open the Deploy Dialog

1. Navigate to your Party > Loot tab
2. Click the Deploy Loot button (visible to GMs only)
3. A dialog appears showing your loot templates with a search bar

Step 2: Select a Template

1. Choose a template from the list
2. Optionally override the loot table name (e.g., “Dragon Hoard - Session 12”)
3. Click Deploy to Party

Step 3: Control Visibility

• New loot deploys hidden (invisible to players) by default
• Prepare items and choose your distribution method while hidden
• When the moment is right, reveal the loot to notify all party members

The Reveal/Hide Mechanic

Controlling when your party discovers treasure is half the fun.

How It Works

State	Party Visibility	Use Case
Hidden	Invisible to all party members	Pre-combat prep, building suspense
Revealed	Visible and claimable by all party members	Post-combat treasure, quest rewards

When you reveal loot, all party members receive a notification that treasure is available. The GM sees an eye icon to toggle visibility, plus a banner when loot is hidden with a Reveal button.

Example: Post-Combat Reveal

Before the session, deploy loot for encounters you have planned:

• “Goblin Camp Spoils” (minor encounter)
• “Wyvern Nest Hoard” (boss fight)
• “Hidden Shrine Offering” (exploration reward)

Hide them all. During the session, after the party clears the goblin camp, reveal “Goblin Camp Spoils.” Players see a notification, open the loot, and start claiming. The wyvern hoard stays hidden until they earn it.

Understanding Loot Tables

Think of it like D&D monster stat blocks:

Concept	Description
Loot Design (template)	Like a Goblin stat block in the Monster Manual. Reusable blueprint. Share with the community. Edit without affecting deployed loot.
Deployed Loot (instance)	Like the actual goblin in your encounter. Specific to one party. Has its own item list. Independent from the design.

Snapshot Behavior

When you deploy a loot table, ScryMarket takes a snapshot of the template at that moment. If you later edit the template to add or remove items, already-deployed loot is unaffected. This means you can safely iterate on your designs without worrying about changing active encounters.

Drop Chances

Each item in a loot table has two properties that control what appears when deployed:

Drop Chance (0-100%): The probability that the item appears at all. Set a Healing Potion to 100% and it always shows up. Set a Legendary Sword to 10% and it only appears one time in ten.

Quantity Range (min-max): How many of the item appear if the drop succeeds. A range of 1-1 means exactly one. A range of 2-6 means a random quantity between two and six.

Example Loot Table: "Bandit Hideout"

Gold Pieces        100% chance, 10-50 quantity
Healing Potion      75% chance, 1-3 quantity
Shortsword          50% chance, 1-2 quantity
Cloak of Elvenkind  10% chance, 1-1 quantity

Five Distribution Methods

This is where ScryMarket really shines. Instead of one-size-fits-all loot rules, pick the method that fits the moment.

At a Glance

Method	Who Decides	Best For	Speed
Free-for-All	Players	Casual tables, trusted groups	Instant
GM-Only	GM	Strict control, narrative distribution	Manual
Need/Greed/Pass	Players vote	Competitive loot, MMO-style fairness	10 min timer
Round Robin	Automatic	Large parties, time-pressed sessions	Instant
Value-Balanced	Automatic	Even treasure splits	Instant

Free-for-All (Open Claiming)

The simplest method. Any party member clicks Take on any item. First-come, first-served.

This works best for tables where players trust each other and nobody is going to race-click the Vorpal Sword. It is also great for consumables and common items where nobody cares who grabs what.

How it works:

1. GM reveals the loot
2. Players browse the items
3. Any player clicks Take on an item they want
4. Item moves to their character’s inventory immediately
5. Other players see the item disappear in real-time

GM-Only

The GM retains full control. Players can see the items but cannot take anything themselves. The GM distributes each item to a specific character manually.

This is ideal for narrative-driven distribution where the story dictates who receives what. The dying knight hands the holy sword to the paladin, not the rogue.

How it works:

1. GM reveals the loot
2. Players can see items but have no Take button
3. GM selects an item and assigns it to a character
4. Item moves to that character’s inventory
5. Repeat for each item

Need/Greed/Pass Voting

The fairest method for contested loot. Inspired by MMO loot systems, this puts the decision in the players’ hands with built-in tiebreaking.

How it works:

1. GM selects which characters are eligible and starts a voting session
2. A 10-minute countdown timer begins (visible progress bar)
3. Each eligible player votes Need, Greed, or Pass on each item
4. When all votes are in (or the timer expires), items are resolved:
   • Need beats Greed beats Pass
   • Ties are broken by an automatic d100 roll
   • Items auto-resolve as soon as all eligible players have voted
5. Players who do not vote before the deadline auto-pass
6. The GM can force-resolve early or cancel the session at any time

Transparency: Vote counts are visible in real-time (e.g., “2 Need, 1 Greed, 1 Pass”), but individual voter identity is hidden until resolution. This prevents social pressure from influencing votes.

Round Robin

Automatic, rotation-based distribution. Fast and impartial.

How it works:

1. GM selects which characters participate
2. Items are distributed in strict rotation: Character 1, Character 2, Character 3, then back to Character 1
3. If a character cannot carry the next item (encumbrance), they are skipped for that item
4. Distribution completes automatically

This method is best for large parties or sessions where time is short and fair-enough is good enough. Nobody gets to cherry-pick, but nobody gets left out either.

Value-Balanced

Automatic distribution optimized for equal total value across all characters.

How it works:

1. GM selects which characters participate
2. Items are sorted from highest value to lowest
3. Each item is assigned to the character with the lowest total value received so far
4. Characters who cannot carry an item (encumbrance) are skipped for that item
5. Distribution completes automatically

This method is best for treasure hoards where the party cares about everyone getting a fair share of the wealth. The algorithm ensures no single character walks away with significantly more value than the others.

AI Auto-Populate

Building loot tables from scratch takes time. AI Auto-Populate lets you describe what you want in plain language and get a curated item list in seconds.

How it works:

1. Open your loot template and click AI Auto-Populate
2. Describe a theme: “treasure from a fire giant’s forge” or “contents of a noble’s stolen jewelry box”
3. AI searches the marketplace and curates items with appropriate drop chances
4. Preview before accepting — remove or keep individual suggestions
5. Bulk-add the accepted items to your loot table

Claiming and Encumbrance

Every claim validates your character’s carrying capacity before the item moves.

How Validation Works

When a player clicks Take (or receives an item via distribution), ScryMarket checks:

• Weight: Does the character have enough weight capacity remaining?
• Slots: Does the character have enough inventory slots?
• PF2e Bulk: For Pathfinder 2e parties, bulk limits are checked instead

The Take dialog shows a live encumbrance preview, color-coded so you know exactly where you stand:

• Green: Plenty of room
• Amber: Approaching your limit (encumbered threshold)
• Red: At or over capacity

Enforcement

If the party has enforce_encumbrance enabled, claims that would exceed capacity are blocked. The player sees a clear message explaining why they cannot carry the item. If enforcement is off, the claim goes through with a warning.

Subscription Usage

Each claim counts as one party action against your subscription usage. Free-tier users have limited party actions per month, while paid tiers get more or unlimited actions.

Transaction History

Every loot interaction is recorded and visible to the entire party.

What Gets Logged

The Activity tab on each deployed loot table shows a timeline of events:

• Claims: Who took what item and when
• Distributions: Which items were assigned to which characters (for GM-Only, Round Robin, Value-Balanced)
• Reveals: When the loot was revealed or hidden
• Voting events: When voting started, how votes resolved, d100 tiebreaker results

The activity feed is searchable and filterable, so you can quickly find specific events even in a long session.

Who Can Do What

Action	Who Can Do It
Create loot table designs	Any user
Share designs in marketplace	Any user
Deploy loot to a party	Party GM
Reveal/hide loot	Party GM or managers
Change distribution method	Party GM
Start Need/Greed voting	Party GM
Force-resolve voting	Party GM
Delete loot	Party GM only
Take items (open mode)	Any party member
Vote Need/Greed/Pass	Eligible party members

This means you can design loot tables for your own campaign while simultaneously being a player claiming treasure in someone else’s game.

Tips

Before the Session

1. Create or fork loot tables for encounters you have planned
2. Deploy them to your party — they start hidden by default
3. Set the distribution method you want for each one
4. Review drop chances and adjust if needed

During the Session

1. Reveal loot after combat or exploration
2. Pick the distribution method that fits the moment:
   • Quick trash mob? Free-for-All
   • Boss fight with a contested rare? Need/Greed/Pass
   • Large hoard with lots of items? Round Robin or Value-Balanced
   • Story-driven reward? GM-Only
3. Let ScryMarket handle the mechanics while you narrate

Advanced Techniques

Mystery Loot: Combine loot tables with item identification for dramatic reveals. Deploy loot with unidentified items — players see “Glowing Longsword” instead of “Flame Tongue” until someone identifies it.

Post-Loot Shopping: Deploy a shop alongside your loot table. After players claim their treasure, they can immediately sell unwanted items to the merchant or buy supplies with their new gold.

Mixed Methods: Use Need/Greed/Pass for the rare and contested items first, then switch to Free-for-All for the remaining consumables and common gear. The GM can change the distribution method at any time (as long as a voting session is not active).

Recurring Loot: Create a template for repeatable encounters like “Random Wilderness Encounter” with moderate drop chances. Deploy a fresh instance each time the party fights bandits on the road.

Common Questions

Can anyone create loot tables? Yes! All users can create loot table designs and share them in the marketplace. Within a party, only the GM can deploy loot. GMs and managers can reveal/hide and manage loot. Only the GM can delete deployed loot.

Do loot tables persist between sessions? Yes. Deployed loot stays in your party until the GM deletes it. Unclaimed items remain available across sessions.

What happens if nobody votes Need? If all eligible players vote Pass (or the timer expires with no Need/Greed votes), the item stays in the loot pile. The GM can then distribute it manually or start a new vote.

Can I change the distribution method mid-session? Yes, the GM can switch methods at any time — unless a Need/Greed/Pass voting session is currently active. End or cancel the vote first, then switch.

What are the subscription limits for loot? Free: 3 deployments per month. Player: 5 per month. GM and Patron: unlimited.

Do changes sync in real-time? Yes. Reveals, claims, votes, and distributions all broadcast instantly. Every party member sees changes immediately, whether they are on web or Discord.

What’s a drop chance? The probability (0-100%) that an item appears when loot is deployed. 100% means guaranteed. 50% means it shows up about half the time. You set drop chances per item in the loot template editor.

Does loot deploy visible or hidden? Loot deploys hidden by default (the opposite of shops). This lets you prepare everything and reveal it at the right moment.

Ready to Roll?

Build loot tables with real drop chances, pick from five distribution methods, and never argue about treasure again.

What’s Next?

• Shops Guide - Set up automated merchants
• Item Identification - Add mystery to your loot
• Currency - How gold and transactions work
• Discord Bot Guide - Claim loot from Discord