Die-Drop Desert

I finally decided to do another of these things, this time for desert terrain. If you print it out at full size and cut or fold the margins, it'll fit in the bottom of a 12 pack of ramen.

click me for a printable pdf

To summarize the explanation in the older post, the way this table works is you print it out and write a d12 (or whatever) encounter table on it (I didn't want the pdf to be too specific to my campaign). Then, whenever you'd normally make an encounter check, you roll a d6 and a d12 (or whatever) on it.

If the PCs are entering a new sub-hex, the position of the d6 determines the terrain (left column) and a minor feature (top row). This is also the encounter check die. I usually use a 1 or 2 in 6 chance but it's your game.

Regardless of whether the PCs are moving or not, the position of the d12 determines the temperature (bottom row) and wind speed (right column). As I'm sure you've guessed, the d12 determines what the encounter actually is.

The idea is to introduce terrain and minor features that are immediately suggestive of things to do with it, for the most part. Not every time you roll on it, because I wanted to give the desert a more desolate feel than the one I did for jungle terrain. Some of the entries, like the impact crater) are there to give the DM an improvisation prompt, some give the PCs a direct problem to deal with, and a lot of them have the potential to make encounters more interesting, especially with intelligent enemies and ambush predators.

Die-Drop Jungle Terrain

Wilderness exploration can be just as detailed as a dungeon crawl, if you know the terrain well enough to give it a variety of tactically useful features as the DM. Generally speaking, you’ll be interpreting symbols on a map and relating that information to your players. These symbols are general in nature; just knowing that you’re in a forest isn’t as useful or interesting as knowing that you’re on one side of a deep but narrow ravine in a forest. If there happens to be a random encounter, the ravine will probably be tactically important. Even if there isn’t one, this gives players something less abstract to think about than just making wilderness skill rolls.

If you happen to be someone who spends a lot of time out in nature, in a wide variety of climates, and thinking about how to describe what you see, then this kind of improv is easy. You could probably do pretty well faking it if you read enough of the right books, which would probably have to include both fiction and non-fiction. I can’t do it though. I need a prompt.

So I’m making die-drop tables for various terrain types that fold all that into the encounter check roll, starting with jungle because that’s what I’m running at the moment. Pretty basic layout, obviously riffing off the inside cover tables in Vornheim. Whenever the PCs enter a new hex, I roll a d6 and a d12 on this (printable download here).

sized to be cut out and stuffed in the box that a 12 pack of ramen comes in, as all
die-drop tables should be. apologies for the shitty typography. consider this a draft.

The position of the d6 determines the geological terrain (down the left edge) and vegetation (across the top). The position of the d12 determines the temperature (across the bottom) and current precipitation (down the right edge).* So far it seems to still work when I’m drunk but this aspect requires further testing.

An encounter occurs on a 1 in 6 as usual. The d12 is there because I like using d12 encounter tables. If I ever wanted to use a 2d6 or d100 table instead, I would use three different colors of dice and ignore the position of the encounter check die. Or something.

One weakness of this system is somewhat unrealistic weather that doesn’t connect precipitation to temperature shifts, but I really doubt anyone I play with is going to give any shits about that. One strength is that the weather is unrealistic in a way that's kinda crazy and fun. It tends to change, sometimes wildly, every few hours. Most weather results have mechanical effects associated with them, so they’re usually relevant to gameplay and harder to ignore.

Same thing goes for the terrain; some features can be obstacles in and of themselves, some give the players something to explore** or exploit, and others create tactical opportunities. You know that type of tactical thinking where the intrepid dungeon explorers lead the orcs into an ambush that makes use of that pit trap they found? This sort of detail lets the players do the same thing in the great outdoors.

*this layout won’t always apply; when I do one of these for deserts, it’d make more sense to do something for wind speed & direction where precipitation is on this one.

**okay so you’d still have to come up with something to be in the caves they found but that’s something I’m a lot more comfortable making up as I go along.

Roll All The Dice Generators (as opposed to tables)

I made these largely to create more white space in the Kellerlabyrinth room descriptions, hopefully encouraging DMs to add stuff and make the dungeon their own. The goal is to randomize all the necessary (but generic) elements in a way that still produces variety and even occasional surprises for the PCs.

At least a few of the generators are appropriate for general use with OSR systems. I'm assuming ascending armor class because that's what I use. If you prefer descending AC, change the (+10)s to (10-)s & the (+12) to a (7-) and you should be fine.

Most of these are pretty closely based on one of the die-drop tables in Vornheim. I love the immediacy of those things, but they take up too much room on my tiny and already cluttered gaming table. This is my solution for people who think die-drop tables are peachy keen but can't fit them on their D&D tables.

Fighter

d4 1-cutlass 2-war axe 3-morningstar 4-halberd

d6 (+12) armor class. on a 1 or less, has a barbarian-like rage ability

d8 hit points per level. on a 1, has a musket

d10 level

d12 morale*

d20 silver pieces

*For the other two classed NPC generators, I have morale attached to level. Separating it for the fighter sort of implies that fighters are more likely than the other two classes to be crazy bastards who think they're invincible. A low-level fighter with 12 morale is probably a zealot of some sort, but that's up to whoever's running it. Not sure if I'm keeping it that way yet, but I like it in theory.

Magic-User

d4 hit points per level

d6 1-trickster 2-blast mage 3-druid 4-necromancer 5-oracle 6-cleric

d8 (+10) armor class

d10 level. also morale

d12 on a 1, has a blunderbuss

d20 silver pieces

Specialist

d4 1-smoke bomb 2-poison 3-haste potion 4-trap kit (already set up)

d6 hit points per level

d8 (+10) armor class

d10 level. also morale

d12 on a 1, has a pistol

d20 silver pieces

Private Guards

d4 hit dice (+8=hit points, combat bonus)

d6 (+10) armor class

d8 (+4) morale

d10 1-hammer 2-halberd 3-cutlass 4-axe 5-flail 6-cestus 7-morningstar 8-bolas 9-whip 10-mace

d12 number of guards

d20 sp between them

Cathouse, Gambling Hall, Tavern or Opium Den

(roll separately for guards)

d4 (-1) Usual Suspects** present

d6 (-1) employees (other than owner and guards)

d8 door quality (subtract from lockpick and bashing attempts)

d10 drinks for one gp

d12 revelers present

d20 (x4) gp value in
(mostly cp and sp)

**What I've been calling a list of 12 NPCs with (what I hope are) interesting hooks for the players. I'm not gonna post the list right now but if you're reading this, you're probably deep enough into the hobby to come up with your own NPCs (or find some online) if you need to.

Storeroom

d4 lock quality (subtract from lockpicking attempts)

d6 door quality (subtract from bashing attempts)

d8 on a 1, dead drop with a secret message

d10 on a 4 or less, the door is trapped

d12 (x5) sp of low-value household goods 

d20 gp of luxury items

Waste Room

(it takes at least 10 min of searching and a saving throw against plague to find anything)

d4 on a 1, this is a nest of vermin. If the room is bricked up, they’ve dug out some escape routes. If there’s a mold patch, they’ve been eating it and mutating.

d6 on a 1, a dead body

d8 on a 1, larval mold patch

d10 on a 4 or less, the room is full to the waist and the doors are bricked up

d12 on a 1, a living human baby. If there is also a vermin nest, the baby is currently being chewed on and bawling its eyes out (audible outside the room).

d20 cp scattered about

Vermin Nest

d4 1-rats 2-mosquitos 3-spiders 4-bats

d6 (/2) number of mutants (if fungus is present)

d8 hit dice per swarm

d10 morale

d12 (/3) number of swarms

d20 sp worth of shiny trinkets

Refugee Camp

d4 elderly present

d6 adults present

d8 children present

d10 on a 1, a pet bear

d12 on a 1, a crotchety old fart with a blunderbuss

d20 sp worth of valuables between them

Thugs’ Hideout

(all these numbers added up equals how much in sp they charge refugee camps for "protection” per week)

d4 enforcers present (2 HD)

d6 (+3) HD of leader

d8 on an 8, one of the thugs is a mad bomber

d10 on a 10, 1 war dog (2 HD) for every 2 thugs

d12 thugs present (1 HD)

d20 (x5) gp value of hoard