When PCs go back to civilization, roll 1d100. If the result is lower than the number of days passed since they left, an interesting event might have occurred. If the result is EQUAL than the event happens in the day they arrive! If the result is higher, there is no event for now (but it can happen in a few days...).
If there is an event, roll 1d100 again and check the table below:
1-10. A random important NPC dies. Roll for motive: old age, accident, disease/infection, adventure/travel, battle, assassination/execution.
11-15. A random important NPC is diseased/maimed.
16-20. Extreme weather (heat, cold, storms, floods, drought - according to season and place).
21-22. Mass heresy.
23-24. Natural disaster (earthquake, volcano, tornado, tsunami - according to season and place).
25-26. Ominous cosmic spectacle (comet, eclipse, etc.).
27-30. Famine.
31-33. Fire.
34-37. Plague.
38-42. Important birth or marriage.
43-45. Arrival of an important NPC/creature.
46-49. Rebellion.
50-55. Random encounter with a creature from nearby territory.
56-60. Invasion (roll random encounter, multiply NA by 1d6).
61-52. Internal strife/feud.
63-65. War with nearby community.
66-67. Foreign invasion.
68-70. Shortage of essential supplies.
71-72. Mass hysteria/paranoia.
73-75. Robbery.
76-77. Exceptionally good harvest.
78-79. Supernatural event.
80-81. Tyranny – draconian laws.
82-83. Anarchy – laws are ignored.
84-86. Inflation.
87-89. Important NPC decides to leave place/function.
90. Meteor strike.
91-100. No event.
Roll 1d6 to measure severity. 1 is mild, 6 means total disaster.
A natural disaster of severity 6 may kill/displace 1d100% of the town's population.
Let me know which other entries I can add to the list!
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How did we get here?
As if often happens, my first attempt at creating a new house rule ended up being more complex than I'd like.
In response to my last post and questions, I got a couple of good "random disaster" lists that are relevant - one in Oriental Adventures, the other in the RC.
The Rules Cyclopedia lists "Dominion Events" on page 142. It mentions 1d4 events per year, and lists both natural (tornadoes, earthquakes, etc.) and unnatural (rebellion, assassination) ones.
Here is a brief excerpt:
The other source mentioned was Oriental Adventures, which also has a pretty good list.
My list is a combination of the two, reducing them to the entries is found most interesting.
Ideally, I'd turn that into 100 entries, each with a bit more detail. Most entries should be mild to avoid wiping up the place every year. OTOH, I want to keep boring/subtle stuff to a minimum.
Please let me know if you have any ideas on how to improve the table!
One thing to notice is that some entries will be notice by the PCs while travelling - comets, earthquakes, etc. So maybe I should roll beforehand.
Well, this will do for now... I'll run a game this week and the clock is ticking!
Anyway, let me know what you think!
Note: some Classic D&D modules and OSR stuff are included in the current setting sale. I definitely recommend checking out Night's Dark Terror if you haven't. I'm tempted to buy Night Below for myself.
For the RC domain events I made an excel generator to make a random event each season(1d4 a year). I have been using it, but still need to work on what happens where in relation to where the PCs are and if news of an event has reached the players. It's good for generating in world rumors too.
ReplyDeletehttps://42ducktape.blogspot.com/2023/12/domain-events-generator.htm
Neat, looks great! Having automated tools like that is ideal.
DeleteA couple more sources of inspiration/event entries:
ReplyDelete- Pendragon: Noble's Book, Book of the Manor (latter more detailed)
- Savage Worlds: Hellfrost Resource Management (2e more detailed)
- Harn: HarnManor
Nice, thank you!
Delete