One MILLION things... in one SINGLE table!

(I might have talked about this before, and I'm considering the idea again, so I apologize in advance for repeating myself).

This is from Dark Fantasy Characters:

And this is one example of PC would could get using the tables in the book (I did actually roll this):

[Format #1]

Name: Odo

Background: barbarian

Skill: thievery

Fighting style: bow

Armor: chain

Equipment style: Spiked

Flaw: lust

Motivation: Pride (family)

Appearance: Flamboyant

As you can imagine, you could generate millions of characters with a few die rolls (I use a 3d10 die drop table, include in the book; you can see the table here). 

You'd have to make sense of all this information to create a coherent whole. For example:

[Format #2]

Odo is a barbarian. He looks thin, tall, with strong muscles. He is stealthy and fights with a bow that matches his height. He wears leather armor and spiked pauldrons. While travelling through civilized lands to womanize (his favorite hobby), he acquired a flamboyant look, dying his long hairs and beard a bright blue, and wearing multiple precious rings. He fights for the honor of his family, although his family forgot about him years ago, when he left the clan. One day he hopes to come back rich and famous to prove everyone he is worthy.

Format #2 is a lot more useful if you need a quick NPC on the fly. But, of course, now you'd have at most twenty or thirty characters per page, instead of millions.

Now, there is a way to do both at the same time. You could create a d100 table with 100 different NPCs, all of them ready for play. 100 is a good number; it is unlikely you'll use more than that in a single campaign. But if you roll three times in this d100 table, combining appearance, skills, and flaws, you already have one million possible results (100 x 100 x 100).

Come to think of it, you could build an entire game (or at least the GM's guide) around that premise.

I'm not sure, however, people would enjoy this hybrid format; some would prefer format #1 for creating their own NPCs (you could certainly create a different Odo with the same results), while others might feel that if they have to "combine" three entries using format two, they'd be doing all the work anyway.

I'm curious to know your opinion. What do you think? Do you prefer to have ready-to-use NPCs (and magic items, plots, monsters, etc.), a few random tables, or some intermediate format? 

Let me know in the comments!

100 UNDEAD!

My latest tile is here: 100 UNDEAD!

This is a collection of undead creatures for your dark fantasy games.

Like other books from the Dark Fantasy line, it focuses on the grim, creepy and scary. However, it came out a bit darker than planned. There is nothing here that you wouldn’t see in a horror movie, but some of the themes are quite heavy. You’ve been warned!

This book doesn’t follow the tradition “bestiary” approach, with a collection of monsters and statistics. The goal is not opening the book when you need a monster on the fly.
Instead, each entry is a collection of visuals, stories and ideas for your games.

Here are a few pages (click to enlarge):

If you want to create your own undead, I’ve added a drop die table in the last page of the book to give you some inspiration. You can see it here.

Hope you enjoy it!

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.