DIE DROP UNDEAD (and quick characters)

I've been a bit obsessed with die drop tables lately.

If you know what they are, you can skip the next bit.

A die drop table is a special type of random table. To use one, you need to roll your dice over a physical (printed) version of the table. The result of the roll will be determined not only by the number in the dice, but also by the place where the dice falls.

For example, if you roll a d10 over the next page, and get a 7, this might indicate different things depending on where the dice falls. If it falls near the upper left corner, give your NPC the “ranger” background. If it falls on the lower right, it might indicate that the NPC is carrying an oil flask… or has a wounded knee!

It is useful to have some sort of barrier (such as a box, etc.) to prevent the dice from rolling away from the page. This is not strictly necessary, however; you can just aim for the center and bring the back to the page if it falls somewhere else (if it falls to the right, for example, put it over “sins” or “motivation”). 

Here is the page I'm referring to; it is in the latest update for Dark Fantasy Characters:

So, in this example, the NPC the characters just met is a helpless cultist in rugged equipment. This is enough to generate at least a few interesting situations:

1) The poor old soul they met is a cultist in disguise. He will say he is lost, but he is only waiting for the right moment to betray the PCs.

2) This young woman really believed her cult would create utopia, until it became clear that the cult leader just wanted to sacrifice her. Now she on the run from crazy cultists and asks the PCs for help.

3) This young man's cult performed a ritual to bring prosperity to a village. Something went wrong. Everybody died. Now he s the only persons that can help identifying the evil they released upon the world. The surviving villagers, of course, want to kill him immediately.

If this information is not enough for you, you can roll to establish the character's appearance or motivation. Use d20s since there are two columns for each.

Let's try! I got 7 and 13. 13 means line 3 of the column on the right.

A disfigured appearance could fit any of our characters. For example, NPC 1 is mutated by demonology; NPC 2 joined because she was shunned for her looks; and NPC 3 got hurt in the ritual.

What about rebellion as a motivation? NPC 2 is already rebelling against the cult. Maybe the other NPCs are rebelling against authority? Could this cult have legitimate grievances against the local powers?

The possibilities are endless!

My latest effort in this area is an undead drop die table that I've included in my latest book, 100 UNDEAD.

So, we got a glowing ghost that moans and... drains your voice? Like some kind of banshee, I guess.

A baffling result, but looking for an explanation is part of the fun!

Source.

Maybe it needs your voice to be able to speak. Maybe it was killed by a knife in the throat. Maybe it hates noise, and it moans in despair, with hands on the ears, as the characters approach - so it silences them before attacking.

I can already picture an interesting encounter... The ghost shouts BE QUIET! And, suddenly, the PCs who cannot make a save lose their voices. Now they cannot communicate, cast spells, etc.

Anyway, this is an interesting mechanic that is largely ignored in most RPGs - except for a few OSR titles. It has a lot to do with the posts about RPG & Design I've been making... but the important part is that this is something cool for you to try and use in your games.