In most campaigns the characters find treasure, put it on their character sheets, and continue adventuring. It is as if they could just haul off Smaug's pile of treasure from under Lonely Mountain. This attitude misses a huge opportunity I call, for obvious reasons, the battle of five armies.
If the characters are ever so lucky as to find a large horde of treasure it is very likely others would try to make claims on it as the Elves and Orcs and humans all did at the end of the Hobbit. Even if the gold wasn't as famous as the pile of the King Under the Mountain there are rumors most likely. Those same rumors that brought the characters there in the first place ensure others know about the horde. It's possibly other groups have used spies to keep an eye on the treasure hunters. Once it is found such wealth only needs to be taken.
Players may resort to burying treasure, but that might be found by others later, or you might have the pirates problem that one of the folks that knows the location might come back for it on their own.
Another option is to hire people to haul the treasure away. It is likely such hiring will make keeping the project a secret nearly impossible. Other adventuring parties, and local warlords and kings will find out before long and they'll all want a cut.
This creates two fun elements to the end game. First, you have factions. Factions are the meat and drink of good role playing campaigns. A clever party can work one faction against the other. Second, by wheeling and dealing or even failing that large treasure pile will be reduced in size significantly. If things work out characters might feel super-victorious just to survive with a fraction of the original treasure.
This also leads to potential future allies and more importantly enemies. And on going enemies are super-useful in a campaign.
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