101 Uses for a (Wet) Blanket
by Spike Y. Jones
Along with the all-important swords, scrolls, torches, and money-pouches on the average fantasy PC's equipment list, there are usually a few other items put there just to spend a few coppers and because they felt "proper." Sadly, while these items appear on everyone's character sheets, few gamers ever make use of their tallow candles, holy symbols(wooden), small mirrors, and sprigs of wolvesbane. Yet these "extraneous" items can be among the most versatile and important pieces of adventuring equipment, if only players would realize how to utilize them.
Case in point: many years ago in my AD&DŽ campaign, Maishazzit the Mage(although "the Apprentice" would have been more accurate) was traveling alone, on foot, through dense wilderness, when he encountered a ravenous giant beetle. Realizing that his one spell, affect normal fires, would be of little use in this situation, and that his pair of daggers were no match for the beetle, he cast about for another weapon. Then the player (Mike Sinardi) noticed the blanket on his character sheet.
Bravely(or foolishly, depending on who narrates the story), Malshazzit dived at the beetle, and with an exceptionally lucky roll he wrapped the cloth around the beetle's head, blinding it long enough for him to work his way around to the beetle's back where he could then plunge his daggers into the beetle's vitals, killing an opponent which I had expected him to run from. There must be, I said to him, more than a hundred uses for a simple blanket. The following are the rest:
2. (Dry): As a simple disguise, such as a makeshift robe or, with a hole cut in it, a poncho.
3. (Dry): As a complex disguise involving cutting, sewing, dying or staining (think The Great Escape).
4. (Dry): As padding for use under a disguise, to create the illusion of pregnancy, obesity, or muscularity depending on the distribution of material.
5. (Wet): As a makeshift weapon; wet it to add weight and swing on a rope. Damage is minimal and subdual only, but if it's all you've got...
6. (Wet): As part of a trap; water adds some weight and while it won't be as evvective as a net, it can hamper something long enough for you to get close and thump it.
7. (Dry): Work a bunch of threads loose to use as kindling for a fire.
8. (Dry): As "firewood" after #7.
8. (Dry): To make smoke signals. Of course, for the signals to be properly understood, a code has to be worked out in advance; but, even if one isn't, smoke signals provide unambiguous signs of where you are in case you're lost and need to help rescuers find you. And they might scare away people who interpret them as evidence of a stronger fighting force than one miserable mage alone in the woods.
10. (Dry): As a thread source for tying fishing lures, marking paths through labyrinths, etc.
11. (Dry): To hide things. Dark blankets work best at night or in the woods, while light ones are best in the desert.
12. (Dry): As a fake ghost. White blankets work best, but it'll take more than a single sheet flapping in the breeze to scare a hardened orcish hunting party; better practice your spooky noises as well.
13. (Dry): As spell material components or substitutes; check the Player's Handbook. There must be some.
14. (Wet): Depending on the material, it may stink when wet, so it could be used to attract or repel creatures with sensitive noses. Some careful experimentation will reveal which.
15. (Dry): As the world's worst pipeweed. Give it to a "friend,"or use it to drive away smell-sensitive people or creatures.
16. (Dry): As the key component of a kite. The blanket had better be thin, or the winds strong, for this one.
17. (Dry): As emergency bandages or tourniquets. Best used for tying clean bandages to the wound, as they are highly unlikely to be sterile, especially if previously used.
18. (Wet or Dry [depending on personal preferences]): As a strangling cord. This works best with thin blankets.
19. (Wet): For towel-snapping. The victim's skin must be exposed if this is going to cause even minimal subdual damage, but even if not, it still makes an interesting noise and can be a shock.
20. (Wet): As a subdual club. Try tying a handful of iron spikes inside to give it some heft.
21. (Dry): For concealing secret messages. You can do his by inserting scraps of cloth (better than paper, as the texture is correct) into a lining, if there is one. It's more likely to be prepared well in advance by weaving a coded message into it during its manufacture, with or without the knowledge of the bearer.
22. (Wet): As a seed bed to grow grass on. What you want the grass for is your concern, but see #13 and #15.
23. (Wet): As temporary protection for running through walls of fire and the like.
24. (Dry): As a throw rug. Primarily appropriate indoors, but a blanket can be used in the wilderness as a welcome mat in front of a tent, or as a rug inside. If an enemy steps on your "rug," you can turn it into a weapon by pulling it out from under him.
25. (Wet): It'll conduct a shocking grasp so that the caster doesnt have to touch the behemoth in the suit of plate mail. Either lay it on the ground to be stepped on, casting the spell from nearby concealment, or use it as a wet whip, casting the spell just before. The damage is reduced by 1 point either way, and the blanket may be singed in the process(see #15 for discussion of the smell).
26. (Dry): To wrap clanking metal bits to muffle the sounds they'd make during a stealthy approach or retreat.
27. (Dry): To chop up and feed to a cow; they can digest just about anything.
28. (Dry): Combine it with a staff, an empty scabbard and some other odd pieces to make a scarecrow.
29. (Dry): To make imposing shadows, with the afore-mentioned staves, etc. to give it a framework and to move it around menacingly.
30. (Wet or Dry): To put out fires.
31. (Dry): As a makeshift canvas for anything from a sign or shield blazon to a fine painting. Unfortunately, the warmer and fuzzier the blanket, the harder it is to paint on.
32. (Wet - with oil, not water): As a makeshift sailcloth. As with #31, heavier blankets don't necessarily make better sails. Oiling is necessary to make a lighter blanket airtight.
33. (Wet): As an abrasive scrubbing material. (Some of the blankets I've had to use have been about as scratchy as steel wool and about as tough.)
34. (Dry): AS a polishing cloth. (Some of the blankets I've used have been a trifle softer.) You want to look your best for the king, even if it's only the king of the goblins.
35. (Dry): AS the main component of a small tent or lean-to. It may not keep the rain out well, but wind, snow, hail, and wind will be warded off somewhat.
36. (Dry): As rope. If only a single blanket is available, it'll have to be a short one, unless the blanket is cut into strips, which can reduce its strength dangerously.
37. (Dry): For instant accessorizing! Unlike using it for a disguise, this can be used to enhance one's appearance, not to cover it up.
38. (Dry): As a makeshift saddle on a stolen horse.
39. (Dry): To keep that stolen horse warm at night in the wilderness.
40. (Wet): In a particularly cold climate, mold it into shape and let it freeze to form a makeshif toboggan.
41. (Dry): As a summer grass-sliding toboggan.
42. (Dry): As a flag. A white blanket can be used to surrender or to call for a parley, or it can be painted or stitched to approximate a real flag. Darker blankets can be made into pirate colors with white paint or stitchery. A plain brown or grey blanket-flag can make just foster confusion, or could accidentally be reminiscent if an ogrish battle-banner.
43. (Dry): To cover nettles, barbed wire, or other pointy or scratchy impediments. Multiple blankets (or alternating a pair of blankets) can make a pathway. (Also useful at picnics; if the picnic runs long, the blanket can be converted to other uses, such as #35, #45, and #101.)
44.(Dry): Wrapped around hands (or other body parts) to prevent rope-burns, or as "armor" before breaking a window with your fist.
45. (Dry): Folded repeatedly to form a pillow for sleeping on.
46. (Dry): Use that same pillow to silence a gunshot. Of course, this isn't much use in a standard fantasy campaign(although you could use it to muffle screams), and see prior comments on the smell of burning blankets.
47. (Dry): As a cape to wave at charging bulls. Despite centuries of tradition and misconception, it's not the color of a matador's cape that enrages the bull, but its movement. Thus, any color blanket will work, as long as the user remembers to stand aside and let the bull pass through the blanket and not his midsection.
48. (Wet): In conjunction with some plaster of Paris(or mud, if there's no Paris in your world), it can be used to protect fragile relics or other items.
49. (Dry): As a decorative wall-hanging (patterned blankets are best), possibly concelaing a secret door, peephole, safe, trap, or other surprise.
50. (Dry): As a surface upon which to display portable wares. Very convenient, as the table can be folded into a carrying sack for those same wares.
51. (Dry): To provide some discretion when enjoying a private moment with an attractive royal ward.
52. (Dry): Hung over a clothesline it can serve as a room divider.
53. (Dry): As a unique fortune-telling implement. The adept (or charlatan) could learn to read omens in the folds formed by the cloth when it was thrown to the ground.
54. (Dry): As a gag for a talkative prisoner. If you're not worried about other people hearing the prisoner's cries, but are worried that you will harm the prisoner if his chatting keeps up you will harm him, earplugs can be fashioned from small strips.
55. (Dry): Filled with gunpowder and various pointy things, with a strip cut out and soaked in a gunpowder solution before being dried into a wick, it could be used as a relatively weak bomb.
56. (Dry): As raw material for any item of clothing, as long as a little scratchiness or floral print isn't going to cause too much discomfort.
57. (Dry): As blinders for horses.
58. (Dry): As a fake flying carpet to sell to a gullible adventurer(he had better be gullible, as even a mage with a levitation spell will have trouble explaining the carpet's plain, threadbare and definitely non-magical appearance).
59. (Dry): As the primary material component in the manufacture of a real flying carpet. Unfortunately, a poor-quality blanket will make a poor-quality flying carpet.
60. (Dry): As a makeshift stretcher, either by holding the corners, or by cutting holes along the edges and inserting poles. (The stronger the blanket, the better.)
61. (Wet): As cooling headgear in the desert. You'll have to keep re-wetting it as the water evaporates, but remember not to wet it just before sundown, as you'll want it warm and dry for those cold desert nights.
62. (Dry or Wet): As a source of quick cash. (Use this article to prove that it is very versatile and worth every copper you're demanding.)
63.
Transfer interrupted!
