unusual treasures for scroungers/barterers to find

[Olefin]

Had some ideas the other night when I was reading Lucifer's Hammer again - the scene where the hero dives thru a flooded drugstore for those who have read the book.

You always see people bartering for things like ammo or weapons or spare parts or scrounging for them. But what about having them find other things instead?

Like for instance a crate of toilet paper ("I am not going to be using leaves" from Red Dawn comes to mind)? Or a big cache of Necco Wafers or other similiar candies? Or a working CD player or VHS player and movies? People pay a lot for comfort - imagine going into Krakow not with Reset but instead with twenty rolls of real toilet paper or two packs of Marlboro tobacco cigarettes or two bottles of Chanel or a bottle of pre-war Scotch you found in a wrecked house.

Its also a great way to add to what people could be carrying when you search them after a firefight - instead of the usual useable ammo or food or weapons you find a half pack of Marlboros or a paperback book or toiletry items (there arent going to be a lot of new toothbrushes, razors or brushes being made in 2000)

and those kinds of things can make interesting scenarios as well - i.e. you get into a huge firefight, finally win and find out the reason they opened up on you wasnt that they were marauders or Soviets - instead they were sitting on a hoard of a thousand cartons of cigarettes or fifty bottles of Jack Daniels and thought you were trying to steal it

We had that happen in Gateway to the Spanish Main - we got into a big firefight against what we thought were Cubans -and instead it was against five guys who had found a plane in a swamp carrying a huge amount of cocaine and thought we were there to take it from them -and also in Armies of the Night where we took shelter in a building only to almost get taken down by four hoarders sitting on 500 cans of SPAM