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Tag Archives: Table

Twenty Locations in Town x2

April 6, 2012 8:31 pm / Leave a Comment / Chris

Elson said:

20 locations in town that will tempt the players into visiting them.

Elson, I have a table below with 20 locations for a high-magic, more metropolitan setting and one for a low-magic setting. I hope this is not too late.

Roll 1d20 High Magic Low Magic
1 Gnomish Flea Market Flea Market
2 The Pot and Potion (Potion Bar) Pot and Potion (ineffective alchemist)
3 Van Daryn’s Portraits (Specializes in Adventure Scenes) Van Daryn’s Portraits (Specializes in Adventure Scenes)
4 Library of Secrets Library of Secrets
5 Oozing Downs (Green Slime Race Track) Spider Races (in alley)
6 Von Patter’s Lab (Spell R&D and Firing Range) Archery Contest
7 Glowing Park The Countess’ Solarium (A Greenhouse)
8 Church of the Saucy Goddess Brothel (reputed to be clean)
9 The Slave Market Slave Market
10 The Gallows Yard Gallows
11 The Assasin’s Guild Games Manhood Trials
12 Ghost Casino Gambling Club
13 Bird Market Dog Market
14 Tunnel of Wailing Windmill
15 Carnivale Square Dance
16 Siren Opera Outdoor Concert
17 Mermaid Wharf Fish Market (contraband sold here)
18 Hall of Monstrous Mirrors Glass Maker Fair
19 Society of Exhibited Magicks Pilgrimage Site
20 Wax Museum Statue Garden
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Posted in: campaign window dressing, legacy D&D / Tagged: bring it, table, urban

What Does That Weird Busted Goblin Machine Do?

January 5, 2012 11:56 pm / 1 Comment / Chris
Ricardo Signes says:

“What Does That Weird Busted Goblin Machine Do?”

What Does That Weird Goblin Machine Do?
roll d20 What it does
1 dehydrates potions into pills.
2 turns any humanoid race into another humanoid race at random.
3 turns any humanoid race into a goblin.
4 creates harmless cattle of random flavor.
5 attacks as level 10 fighter. ten slicing blade attacks as +3 vorpal blades.
6 spits out a hundred pythons.
7 answers questions about the dungeon/region. just like goblins, they always say the opposite of the truth.
8 demon vending machine.
9 a mechanized exo-skeleton that doubles your strength and defenses, but uses you to its own ends (usually attacks the party). you are not being controlled mentally–just physically.
10 distracts you from a much simpler machine in the room–one that doesn’t even look like a machine, but allows time or planar travel.
11 save at -4 or be charmed into trying to fix it for 1d4 months, sparing no expense to get it home, buy parts, etc. it cannot be fixed.
12 processes corpses into meat products.
13 circumsizes titans.
14 lays large eggs. what hatches?
15 dispenses 10 x d100 killer bees.
16 tells bad jokes constantly.
17 teleconferences with similar machine on far-away planet. 1D4: 1-aliens 2-faeries 3- demons 4-mirror universe versions of yourselves.
18 teleports party to mirror universe where alignments are opposite (and the shaved have beards).
19 mends armor and weapons, then eats them all and melts them down into ingots.
20 best cook on this side of planet.

Make your request here.

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Posted in: content, legacy D&D, magic items / Tagged: bring it, table

NPC Motivations Table

December 27, 2011 7:15 pm / 5 Comments / Chris

Jeremy says:

A table (however many you feel up to) of 1,001 Nights-esque NPC names and their possible motivations.

I answered the first part here, and I hope that works for names, at least halfway decently.

Here is a Vorheim-inspired NPC motivations  table that hopefully works for you.

And here it is as a pdf.

Roll 2d6 using differently colored dice. One color indicates the result against the red pie chart, which shows six negative and six positive dispositions. The other color die lands in one or more boxes, which indicate the main object of one’s thoughts. Each die also indicates the intensity of the result. I like to do this twice per character to get their major and minor motivations. Here are some examples, the first with photos. I thought of the character name and position first, then rolled twice.

Queen Priscilla of the Seelie

Queen of Seelie Dice Rolls

First Roll for the Queen of the Seelie

Red die: 6 on line of generous and addicted. Green die: 4 on power.

Her Majesty is addicted to power but sometimes very generous as a way to show off how important she is. She is not concerned with petty power, she wants to expand her kingdom by invading the small neighboring gnome republic (power 4 would be regional on a scale of 1=household and 6 = planetary).

 

 

 

Queen of Seelie Roll 2

Queen of Seelie Roll 2

Roll 2. Red die: 5 on obsessed. Green die 2 on honor.

Her Majesty is obsessed with etiquette and small honors. She desires titles, and wants festivals, children, bridges and trees named for her. She can easily be flattered by a small tribute.

Had the Queen’s dice indicated a 6 for power, she would have wanted to rule the world. Had her honor die been high, perhaps she would be obsessed with honor and refused to deceive the gnomes but instead honorably invaded.

 

Yunus ibn Efraim Al-Jabhah the Silk Merchant is addicted (6) to wine and sex (1). Because the die is more in the wine box, let’s say that the wine addiction means he can’t perform so well, but has slaves or hirelings who put on a show. And because his red die is also on the edge of angry and spiteful, he gets very angry the next day when he is hung over and unsatisfied.

Yunus is also secretly sympathetic (2) to and provides some material support to a secret (2) plot to overthrow the local prince and establish free trade (1).

If his sex/wine die had been higher, and perhaps more in sex than wine, he would have had a harem and many children. Had his driven die been higher than 2, perhaps he would have been a leader in the movement. Had the freedom die been higher, he might have been devoted to freeing all his people instead of just the merchant class.

Let’s try a commoner now:

Bill the Shepherd is very angry (5) at a priest at his church (divinity 2). If he could, he would kill him. Why? He is obsessed and scheming (6) because this priest has been telling the local folk that cheese (food 2) made from sheep’s milk is forbidden by the dietary laws of Odin.  I suppose Bill preferred the previous priest, who in fact told the sick that sheep’s milk helps take away stomach pains.

A dragon:

Mortueste is a red wyrm who has been mentioned in some religious texts. He takes pity on (loving 1) those who have made the long trek to reach him who are stupid enough to believe he is a divine creature (struggle/divinity 2). He offers to let them take home as much treasure as they can carry (loving/angry 6) if they can regale him with an epic adventure tale (adventure 5). Otherwise, he roasts them (remember, angry 6).

This is designed to leave lots of room for interpretation. You have to fill in the details because it’s your campaign. I suggest taking no more than ten or fifteen seconds to do both rolls and interpretations. I hope it is useful.

Credit where credit is due dept.: I took the six wedges of the wheel from the Buddhist wheel of samsara. The outside-the-wedge opposites and any misinterpretations are my own. Thanks to Jeremy for the request. Many thanks to Zack for blazing some trails with this sort of table in his excellent Vornheim.

 

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Posted in: campaign window dressing, legacy D&D / Tagged: bring it, npcs, table, vornheim

d20 Table of Wizard Obsessions

December 13, 2011 5:09 am / 8 Comments / Chris

Doyle Wayne Ramos-Tavener writes:

I would very much like a table of 20 weird obsessions engaged in by sorcerers.

Here you go.

d20 Table of Wizard Obsessions
Roll d20 for behavior (a) , roll again: odds roll again use column (b); evens roll again use column (c)
roll d20 Behavior (a) Obsession (b) Obsession (c)
1 collects halflings sphinxes
2 builds faerie manticores
3 summons chess pieces minotaurs
4 disguises self as troubadour sings centaurs
5 tries to transmute (roll column 2) into (roll column 2) coins pennangalen
6 knows literally everything about but will not approach miniature bottles of spirits pixies
7 seeks and destroys pigs warriors
8 seeks and then hides statues frogs
9 wants to create the perfect operas bats
10 has a sexual fetish for plays (roll dAny: odds tragedy, evens: comedy) mummies
11 wants to become a wounds werewolves
12 invented and is obsessed with the decline in quality of numbers zombies
13 believes there is a dark secret locked inside/about stars shoggoths
14 desperately seeks one special, specific elves poems
15 plays war games using miniaturized dwarves forms of government
16 wants to be the emperor of/seeks adoration of crab people sports teams
17 keeps as a pet/races dragons torture instruments
18 writes operas about cats shameful memories
19 believes self to be the friendly magical protector of puzzles dice games or card games
20 leads parties on suicide missions in hopes of obtaining diseases speculative essays

You want to make a request?

 

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Posted in: campaign window dressing, legacy D&D / Tagged: bring it, magic-users, table

Weird City Encounters

December 4, 2011 11:50 pm / 2 Comments / Chris

John writes:

I’m always eager to exploit other people and steal their ideas. I request a table of weird city encounters, as many as you feel like doing.

Weird City Encounters

Choose or roll 1d… uh.. 14?

1 In Harley Square is fountain where some believe commune with dead relatives on special nights. In the fountain is Narys, shape-changing water nymph with ESP.
2 Messr. Pontius Meerlanker likes to take Fidelis, his dog (his touch has the same effects as a rust monster) for a stroll through crowded streets.
3 At the gate to the cemetery, a dozen brightly-colored parrots have learned to repeat a charm-person spell. Hundreds stare at them all day until dragged home by family. Others die staring up at their ledge.
4 Four bearded and shabby Masters of the Far-Reaching Conspiracy stand on a soapbox in the market and scream their secret plans to the world. Everything they say is well-known by many and is considered completely preposterous.
5 Esmerelda is a tall warrior woman will fight all comers in a back alley fight club. The warrior who defeats her gets to marry her. (She is a pennangalan).
6 This nameless shade is rarely seen but always heard playing a dulcimer and singing at market. He plays the dulcimer and sings the darkest secrets of a random passerby or party member. If spotted, he disappears.
7 Marco the Simpleton stabs the tree with his scissors, all day, every day. If he does not, the tree will burrow down and tunnel 100 yards toward the palace, then resurface. Eventually, it will kill the young prince.
8 Shad the Farrier will buy your old or injured horse. Under his stable is a secret room where he tries, unsuccessfully, to sew centaurs using the horses and those who pass out drunk in the alleys.
9 The travelling zoo has an albino ape that has been trained to sit and eat at the table, dress herself and paint. Paintings are often auctioned off. She hides cries for help in her paintings. Maybe you should help her. (She is a polymorphed little girl from an island of vicious spellcasting cannibals.)
10 Aphrodite the harlot beckons customers to follow her. She leads them to ever darker corners until they are…
11 Stump the Small is a human somewhere between the height of a dwarf and a halfling. He spies on dwarfs, gnomes, halflings and faeries. He is the best and he is expensive. He is wanted dead by many.
12 Elzeer, Orkney and Blount are the clothmeisters, powerful merchant patricians who must approve all textiles before they are brought to market or exported. They are giant weevils in disguise and will attempt to confiscate or steal any magical cloth or clothing the smell in the city. They eat it and gain powers.
13 Marzetz the Sommelier will offer to tell you, for a small fee, how appetizing your blood is to vampyres. (Roll 1d6. He is unerringly correct, but not a vampyre.)
14 The Eastgate Bat sometimes flies during the day. If he hangs from a streetlamp, archway or gate, none of the locals will pass it, less their souls be forfeit to the bat. Some approach him and leave offerings, hoping to buy back their loved one’s souls.

Need something for an upcoming game? You can get in on this by posting here. For every request, I’ll donate $1 to a charity to be named soon (up to $150).

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Posted in: content, encounters, legacy D&D, NPC / Tagged: bring it, table, urban, weird

Reverse Clerics 5: Roll 1d6 for Today’s Patron Deity

September 7, 2010 1:07 am / 1 Comment / Chris

Some clerics do not have the luxury of a single deity to please. While most polytheistic clerics might specialize, the clerics from the Island of Slorrs must pay even homage to their six deities. Each deity has a fairly unreasonable test for the cleric, but each also offers a reward (in addition to spells).

On a given day, 1d6 determines which of the gods below appears in the cleric’s dreams or meditations, which determines what ends must be worked toward and what rituals must be performed. A missed prayer or a wrong turn keeps the cleric at the mercy of that god until appropriate penance has been made.

1-  Sherockk The Gambler

Sherrock is impressed with foolish risks. The Cleric cannot refuse a dare on this day, provided the challenging party is willing to match him. Note that he is not impressed with bravery so much as sheer reckless chances taken. Sherrock’s morning ritual involves throwing a knife in the air and catching the blade end with one’s teeth. Dexterity or agility save/skill check or take thrown dagger damage to face. Success means +1 casting level for all spells that day.

2-  Blayless the Shimmering

Blayless lives on lies. Clerics must contribute to a lie, obfuscation or inveiglement whenever possible. Add a +20% chance a reasonable deceit will be believed. Obvious lies will not satisfy her and if the GM rules one as too blatant, the jig is up. If there are no enemies to lie to, a long-running deceit against a fellow is expected. If someone who knows of the six asks who today’s god is, the cleric must answer another god (and in fact must have been pretending so already).

3-  The Medicant

The cleric is expected to pack up his or her belongings and set them aside for the day. On Mendicant days, the custom is to ask all other parties what they believe is the right course of action. Money may not be spent on these days, but may be given with no compensation expected or later given. Clerics must remain celibate and abstain from alcohol, rich foods and comfort. Breaking these rules means a week of being unable to keep track of any object for more than 1 round. Following these rules allows two spells to be cast twice that day.

4-  Gransha the Hungry

The Mendicant’s brother, Gransha expects the cleric to act as greedily as possible. On Gransha’s days, clerics have been known to act like thieves. Her morning ritual is a large meal or other display of gluttony. If the cleric’s greed and desire please Gransha, at the end of the day she will heal or remove a disease or curse from the cleric or a designated beneficiary nearby (which must be specified in end of day prayers). Displeasing Gransha leads to severe stomach problems the next day (-1 penalties to AC and Saves).

5-  Shadow Brother

Shadow Brother has left a small token: a coin, shell, ring or other bauble somewhere that the cleric will be that day. The cleric must look in every corner and shadow for it. Finding it is a base 10 percent chance, increasing by 5 percent with every careful search made that day. Careful searches TBD by GM. Not finding it leads to losing a small item from one’s inventory or, if destitute, a large rash on the arm. Finding it means some clue will be understood or some cog will turn leading her closer to a goal (short or long term) or important piece of information.

6- Laughing Man

When the Laughing Man is your master, he wants be entertained. The five other gods of Slorrs should be ridiculed loudly, as should the cleric’s friends, neighbors and party. It is crucial to stay away from royalty, except the royalty and clergy of Slorrs, who quite understand. Players are not expected to get up and do their best Patton Oswalt–no one said the cleric is actually funny on these days. Cleric takes a charisma/reaction penalty of -2 to all NPC interactions. In return, Laughing Man will allow the cleric to choose the next day’s deity (except himself).

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Posted in: content / Tagged: clerics, content, gods, table

What’s in the Bag? 2: Electric Boogaloo

August 27, 2010 3:27 am / 1 Comment / Chris

A mule wanders down a mountain trail alone, walking away from a known adventure location and toward town. What’s in its saddlebag?

1- The severed heads of a dwarf, elf and halfling. Each wears an earring, shaped like an owl.

2- A bag of 1,000 gold pieces. Three hours after they are spent or given to someone, they will vanish.

3- A bag of orange moss that cures disease when eaten. It also turns the eater bright orange for two weeks.

4- The chicken can talk, but it has only a chicken’s experience from which to draw. It can grant a minor wish, but the wish must be related in terms a chicken can understand, and will be granted in light of how a chicken sees the world.

5- A map leading to a library of inaccurate maps. Also, enough golden rings for all but one of the party members.

6- A large and ridiculous hat, folded and carefully tucked into the bag. When worn into any town or city, the residents will immediately make their own hats after the same fashion. This hat trend will last for one week after which the townspeople will angrily reject the hat trend and resent the original wearer (even if he or she has abandoned the hat as well).

7- Two small nuggets of adamantine (or mithril) ore. There are no adamantine deposits within a thousand miles, however.

8 – A brass horn, which can be played expertly by anyone who attempts to use it.

9- Seven ancient scrolls which contradict and in fact disprove the area’s prevailing faith. They cannot be destroyed by less than magical means by a 9th level or higher spellcaster.

10 – The battle flag of an ancient, long-gone empire. Within 2d12 days, 100 skeletal warriors will come to claim it.

11 – A Wandering Monster. That is, a monster from the random encounter table of the last adventure. It will climb out of the bag and if not attacked, will wander off.

12- Snakes… Why did it have to be snakes? (3d20)

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Posted in: content, legacy D&D / Tagged: bag, table

What’s in the Wizard’s Mug?

August 19, 2010 4:30 pm / 1 Comment / Chris

He is nowhere to be found, but the cup on his table still steams. Mmmm smells good! Just a sip…

1d8

1- A potent shrinking potion. You are now swimming in the cup alongside a drenched wizard.

2- Hot Green Slime. That’s what you get for mooching.

3- Vampire Blood. Just kidding! Tomato juice!

4- Potion of Charm. Fall in charm with a random companion. No save.

5- Dragon’s Urine. You may spit fire ten feet for 1d4 damage once per round in addition to your normal attack. Lasts two hours. Don’t ask what happens later.

6- Tomato Juice. Fooled you! Vampire blood!

7- Tiny Water Elemental. You will feel dizzy and out of sorts until it passes in 5 hours. -1 to hit.

8- Damn Good Coffee! Add 1 to all initiative rolls for the next 3 hours. Subtract 1 from all initiative rolls after that until sleep or more Damn Good Coffee!

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Posted in: content, humor, legacy D&D / Tagged: humor, table

What’s in the Bag?

August 15, 2010 1:44 am / Leave a Comment / Chris

A young woman’s corpse lies just off the side of the road and the party spots it. On closer examination, the party sees that her arms still clutch a bag to her chest.

What’s inside?

1- An infant’s skeleton with the skull of a pig. At night it crawls toward the nearest priest.

2- The queen piece of a chess set. This one will permanently change the gender of any male monarch who touches it during play. It appears to be worth 10,000 gp.

3- Ear bats, 2d8 in number. They resemble winged monkfish and eat the ends off pointed ears (especially elf). Stats as large bats with the ability to cast sleep spell once/ day as a level 2 mage.

4- A breeze blows from the bag when it is opened. There is no magic aura on the bag.

5- A large tangle of yarn. If the yarn is knit or woven, it will form minor noble from a faraway land.

6- A steel helmet fashioned in the shape of a bull. Anyone wearing it cannot get lost, always knows where north is and, after a week of daily use, will not willingly take it off ever again. That person will not eat and eventually grow emaciated. From then on, that person can only eat humanoids.

7- A sentient number 7, appearing as seven small tin ingots. The number seven should then appear in strange places for the rest of the adventure. (any random number of monsters, jewels, etc. will be 7)

8- A bundle of blankets carrying a disease that kills by causing uncontrollable laughter. It is also spread by the sound of laughter. Victims make one save every turn. 3 consecutive blown saves kills. Lasts 2d6 hours or until cured.

9- A small chimera. 50% chance infant, 50% chance to grow into full size in 1 round if released.

10- A poorly written account of a girl who falls in love with a merman living in a nearby body of fresh water. He loves her as well, although his kin want to kill her and use her upper half to make a mermaid. The corpse is the girl and the account is true, but leaves out the other contender for her affection, a reverse merman.

11- The corpse and bag are a single living creature. The bag is the mouth. It will negotiate with more powerful opponents if it cannot eat them.

12- A 30 lb. owl bear hairball. Considered an aphrodisiac. Worth 100,000 gp if players can find someone to fence it (treat this as a burden by making it illegal, or have many npcs try to steal it, have the local apothecary guild come after them; it was en route to it’s owner, a powerful man with no heir…)

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Posted in: content / Tagged: bag, table
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