What is it about a city that truly defines it? It's not the landmarks or the shops or history of the town. It isn't court intrigue or some epic quest. It's what happens when you walk around aimlessly and get shitfaced with complete strangers.
I usually roll on this table a few times in a game day whenever the PCs are just sort of wandering around. If they're actually trying to stay focused and get something done, I treat it like a wandering monster check (1/6 chance of an encounter).
URBAN ENCOUNTERS
I usually roll on this table a few times in a game day whenever the PCs are just sort of wandering around. If they're actually trying to stay focused and get something done, I treat it like a wandering monster check (1/6 chance of an encounter).
URBAN ENCOUNTERS
1 A pair of angry guards with tiny penises harassing some foreigner.
2 A group of five rats, each carrying a different item of jewelry, runs into the sewer.
2 A group of five rats, each carrying a different item of jewelry, runs into the sewer.
3 Pregnant cultist fleeing priests of the Eternal Child asks you to help her hide.
4 A drunken veteran wants to tell you a story. It has a 50% chance of being true.
5 Simeon the singer. Wants someone to write epic songs about, will leave if he gets bored.
6 The raven familiar of Zographa, the lady of Sunrise Tower, has taken an interest in you.
7 A bald, bespectacled, dwarf arguing with his young human friend who thinks these pills he's been taking are making him smarter. They want you to settle their argument for some reason.
8 A masked woman, wearing a flowing grey cloak, running across the rooftops.
9 Oh shit there’s a dragon! Why isn’t it attacking? Look, it’s landing in Central Square. Someone should probably go see what it wants.
10 A mime that refuses to leave you alone. More mimes start following you every few turns. They're starting to compete for attention.
11 Street hustler selling tobacco without a license. A couple of guards appear to be taking an interest.
12 A knight in red armor casually kills a peasant for making a rude gesture. No one blinks.
13 Random PC’s hat is stolen by a flying monkey. Save with disadvantage to avoid.
14 Save or get your coin purse stolen by a 1.street urchin 2.handsome/beautiful redhead and accomplice 3.sextagenarian 4.dandy.
15 You notice a fat man with a mustache and an apron beating a dog with a stick in a side alley.
16 You notice a fat man with a mustache and an apron beating a woman with a stick in the street.
17 A well-dressed man hands you a fancy invitation, winks, and disappears down a side street.
18 A flying monkey goes for one of your equipped weapons. Save or watch it fly away.
19 A wide trail of fresh blood leads into a nearby alley.
20 A group of six well-armed guards mistakes one of you for a wanted murderer.
21 Man gives you a blood-stained coded message addressed to Lady Annecke Bartolomeus and says “please” as he dies.
22 Prostitutes; gain 3xp for every 1sp spent, but save or catch a fucked up disease.
23 A flying monkey steals a passing lady's powdered wig, and she starts swearing creatively at it.
24 Freak storm out of nowhere. Lightning keeps striking the statues in Ambassador’s Square.
25 Man getting away from pursuing guards runs right past you, 45% chance he’s innocent.
26 Children with slingshots are trying and failing to get their ball back from a flying monkey.
27 Young man tries to feel out your politics, gives you a pamphlet if you’re on his side.
28 Town crier yelling about something the PCs did recently (if at all applicable).
29 Lost child needs to find his way to one of the inns but doesn’t know the name of the place.
30 Street hustler selling potions from a many pocketed cloak.
You know what a carousing table is right? The fastest way to level up is to find a shitload of cash and then blow it all partying. You get 2xp for every silver piece you spend frivolously, but you also need to save vs. becoming blackout drunk. If you fail the save, you have to roll on the carousing table.
CAROUSING
1 You wake up in bed with someone of a gender you don’t usually have any interest in. +500xp.
2 Save or vomit with volume and force once every hour today. There’s blood in it.
3 You wake up naked on the roof of the stables. Your friends might remember the stranger you were chatting up, hopefully you can find them before you’re arrested.
4 You wake up in the richly furnished room of a noble, who is snoring loudly beside you.
5 Save or suffer from PTSD hallucinations once every hour today.
6 You lost a finger. Permanent -1 penalty to tinkering checks.
7 You find a contract, which you have signed in blood, with a being who’s signature is an unintelligible glyph. You now have an at-will touch ability that heals you while draining your opponent’s HP. In exchange, you agreed to complete an unspecified task at a later date.
8 People you don’t recognize keep yelling “Hey! Pigfucker!” and cheering when they see you.
9 You befriend a well-informed local, who can usually be found at the Mended Lantern.
10 You wake up in an alley surrounded by the mangled corpses of flying monkeys. +10xp.
11 You’ve gambled away all your cash. 1xp for each 5sp lost (instead of the usual 2xp to 1sp ratio for partying).
12 You went along with some cultist’s ritual thinking it was a weird sex thing. Now there’s some fucked up egg sack in your stomach. Save once per day; after four failures, they hatch into 3d4 cannibal brain stems, bursting out of your stomach and doing 1d12 damage each.
13 You wake up with a hook in place of your hand and 1d20x100gp more than you had.
14 You wake up in jail. Bail is set at 1d20x10sp.
15 You wake handcuffed to a fat sweaty man in what appears to be an abandoned warehouse.
16 Someone was offended by a joke you made and smashed a bottle over your head, knocking you out. You begin the day with only 75% of your normal max hp.
17 One of your magic items is missing. It was probably that local you thought you were making friends with last night. You may not have his real name, but he has a distinctive neck tattoo.
18 Gambling binge actually went well. Regain all the money you just spent and gain 50xp.
19 The last thing you remember was everyone buying you shots after you saved a little boy from choking. It seems half the neighborhood was related to him.
20 You wake up with a demon tattoo on your back. It whispers things to you in your sleep.
21 You have been sold as cattle to a coven of vampires.
22 There’s a parrot in the room. It keeps saying things like “hide the loot” and “dead man’s hill”.
23 You wake up in the middle of being buried alive.
24 You have been challenged to and accepted a duel with an arrogant nobleman (who is also an experienced fighter), set to go down at noon in Founder’s Square.
25 There’s a dead hooker in your bed. She was definitely alive when you passed out.
26 Guess what? You’re a werewolf now. No, you can’t control it. The moon will be full for the next two nights (unless the dm already keeps track of that).
27 You pass out smoking a pipe and wake up with the room on fire.
28 You tried to start a brawl but kept swinging and missing. No one else got involved but you caused a lot of property damage on your own. You owe 1d12x20sp.
29 Congratulations, you are now married. To a donkey.
30 You wake up in a trash heap. It was warm and cozy but the smell will not come off. Disadvantage to pretty much any interactions all day and check for wandering monsters twice as often.
If you don't have a d30 there's plenty of javascript dice rollers and free phone apps that do. You probably know that though, right?
If you don't have a d30 there's plenty of javascript dice rollers and free phone apps that do. You probably know that though, right?
