Day 10, origin:
The origins of things, including folk of different sorts, can say a lot about your world. It can feel daunting to build out origins but they are rewarding, once they’re done. They can also be short. I like 1d6 tables. Six is a good number of options that isn’t enough to wrack the brain to come up with.
11.08.
Flavour: What elements describe the flavour of the world/setting.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Points of light: There are a few (mostly) safe and civilized places of normality, but outside of those there is little guarantee for anything else. |
| 2 | City states, isolated villages and castles: Civilization is very compact, with great centers of powers, but there are also small hamlets dotting the landscape. A mixture of mythic greece and fairytale style situations. |
| 3 | Past cataclysms: Several events in the past ruined once great and rising civilizations, leaving ruins and wondrous artifacts to explore and find. |
| 4 | Danger around the corner: Some horrible thing could walk around the corner at any time, even if there aren’t any corners around. Judicious use of ones brain and legs is required! |
| 5 | High activity: There are always plots and other things going on, from the divine to the mundane. |
| 6 | Strangeness and egotism: People are strange and monsters are stranger, in personality and temperament. The more powerful, the more ego-driven one must become. Tropes need not apply. |
12.08.
Path: The paths a PC can follow during their adventuring time.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Domain: Carve out ones own part of the land. Better be prepared to put in the effort to hold onto it. |
| 2 | Faction: Become part of a faction. Lots of politicking required to get ahead. |
| 3 | Wanderer: Journey the land. Either to follow a quest, help out the common people or satisfy ones whims. |
| 4 | Explorer: Visit places unknown to the world at large. Wondrous things are rarely without danger though. |
| 5 | Change: Transform into something different. Classic lich situation. |
| 6 | Ascetic Egoism: Become great or die trying. |
Day 11, flavor:
I haven’t had the stomach yet to watch Delicious in the Dungeon (aka Dungeon Meshi) but I’ve heard enough about it to know that eating monsters is a major element of the anime (and manga). Knowing nothing about it works in that universe, I thought it might be fun to throw together some tables to be used the first time a brave adventurer decides to take a culinary tour of the mythic underworld.
Day 12, Path:
Finding the right path can make traveling through the wilderness easier. Of course, the emphasis here is on the right path. A wrong one can lead nowhere… or worse. When the party is looking for a path, let’s roll some dice to see what they find.
13.08.
Darkness: Different kinds of darkness.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Dimness/Gloom: Hard to make out color and shapes unless up close. |
| 2 | Nighttime Darkness: Various levels of visibility depending on moon and stars. |
| 3 | Total Darkness: Underground, normal humans can not see anything. |
| 4 | Magical Darkness: Blinds even those that can normally see in the dark, equivalent to oil in water. |
| 5 | Primordial Darkness: Only found deep underground, in space or in other rare spots, certain monsters spawn from it. |
| 6 | Fatal Darkness: Those who step into it disappear forever. Possibly sentient. |
Day 13, darkness:
Since time immemorial, folk have lifted their eyes to behold the star-studded darkness of the firmament at night, saw the movements of planets, stars, and other celestial bodies as they wheeled across the dome of the sky and wondered what significance this cosmic dance had for their lives. Let’s roll some dice and find out!
Day 14, Mystery:
Unraveling mysterious is one of the great pleasures of playing tabletop roleplaying games: figuring out who kidnapped the archpriest and why, unmasking the hidden mastermind behind assassinations across the kingdom, locating the powerful artifact thought lost, or any number of other questions great and small. As a Referee, mysteries are fun too, if you can embrace not knowing.
14.08.
Mystery: Common mysteries the PCs might stumble upon.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | What does the ancient artifact do? |
| 2 | What happened to the inhabitants of the empty village? |
| 3 | How can the monster be hurt/vanquished? |
| 4 | Where is the dungeon located and how can it be entered? |
| 5 | How can the deadly trap by circumvented? |
| 6 | How to navigate across the dangerous landscape? |
| 7 | Where is the treasure hidden? |
| 8 | What does the strange thing in the room do? |
15.08.
Deceive: The methods of deception commonly employed by creatures.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Camouflage: Deceiving by blending in with the surrounding |
| 2 | Invisibility: Deceiving by obscuring from sight |
| 3 | Illusion: Deceiving by creation of the unreal |
| 4 | Transmutation: Deceiving by altering material |
| 5 | Transformation: Deceiving by altering form |
| 6 | Charm: Deceiving by influencing someone’s mind |
| 7 | Lie: Deceiving by stating false messages |
| 8 | Trickery: Deceiving by obscuring one’s intent |
Day 15, deceive:
How can you tell if someone is lying to you? In popular media, it seems so simple. In real life, it’s much more complicated. That said, we’re not playing life here, we’re playing games! If a player asks whether their character sees any signs that the NPC they’re dealing with is lying, we can roll some dice to deliver some clues (or red herrings)!
16.08.
Overcome: What PCs must overcome, besides the usual fare.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Temptation, false or freely offered. Great riches commonly. |
| 2 | Overwhelming opposition. Encroaching armies, deadly beasts, the humble petty gods. |
| 3 | Designs, small and grand. If you don’t control your fate, someone else will. |
| 4 | The unknown. Take at face value or investigate before making a decision. |
| 5 | Great ego. Arrogant sorcerers, mad creatures and diabolic characters. |
| 6 | Nature. Especially the unnatural kind. Raging storms, twisting waves. |
Day 16, Overcome:
In West Marches style games, a mechanic is sometimes used on occasions when a Character is unable to return to the hub town before the end of a session. It involves rolling on a table to determine the Character’s fate. Call me a softie but I don’t like the idea of outright killing a Character via the table, whether it is deserved or not. I’d rather use the opportunity to generate further avenues for adventure.
17.08.
Renew: What allows recovery.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rest: A full days rest at a safe location speeds up recovery. |
| 2 | Surgery: For broken bones and other maladies. |
| 3 | Herbs: Applied after combat to cure minor wounds. Useful when no clerics are available. |
| 4 | Healing potions: Rare and expensive, to be used wisely. |
| 5 | Curative spells: Employed by clerics and temples. Up to regenerating lost limbs. |
| 6 | Magical pools and wells: Some might restore the body, others grant wishes to that effect. Have to be entered to find out. |
18.08.
Sign: Signifiers that trouble is afoot.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | A burning sky. Scheming divinity. |
| 2 | Depopulated villages. Highly dangerous monster or strange cult. |
| 3 | A tower where there was none before. Sorcerer up to shenanigans. |
| 4 | Dark clouds around the mountains. Unnatural weather phenomenon inbound. |
| 5 | A comet crashing nearby. Evacuate immediately. |
| 6 | Strange signs etched into boulders. A trap is being laid. |
19.08.
Destiny: Things that abruptly change a PC’s destiny.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Curse: Magic items, altars, dying sages. Depending on the curse’s severity, a way to remove it should be sought out. |
| 2 | Death by Undead: Ghouls, wights, wraiths. Rising as one of them. |
| 3 | Transformation: Angry witches, werewolf bite, mutations. Can be body only or include mental changes as well. |
| 4 | Possession: Artifacts, ghosts, soul jars. Complete loss of control. |
| 5 | Charm: Vampires, nymphs, demons. Loss of autonomy, temporary or permanent. |
| 6 | Geas/Quest: Magic users, high priests, gods. Do something for them or pay with pain. |
Days 17, 18, 19, and 20:
Because sometimes (such as having to catch-up on a month-long blogging challenge), one table or topic is not enough!
20.08.
Enter: Ways of entering rooms in a dungeon.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Use the door. Open it normally, break it down, burn it, etc. |
| 2 | Break down a wall or tunnel in from above/below. |
| 3 | Teleportation. |
| 4 | Phase through walls. |
| 5 | Gaseous form under the door. |
| 6 | Not at all. Use clairvoyance to look inside the room, then send hirelings in. |
Day 21, Unexpected:
Adventurers should always expect the unexpected but, as referees, how often do we deliver on that premise? Often we lean on the strange and unusual to produce moments of shock but, sometimes, the more shocking thing isn’t what the players don’t know but what they know, or thought they knew, delivered in a completely unexpected context.
21.08.
Unexpected: Things outside expectation.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | The stone golem contains an iron golem, powered by a fire elemental. |
| 2 | The medusa surrounded by creatures turned to stone is an illusion, the one actually turning people to stone is the invisible illusionist casting Flesh to Stone. |
| 3 | There’s a secret door in a pit, behind which is a meager treasure hoard (containing a wand of detect secrets), below which is another secret door, leading to a bigger treasure hoard. |
| 4 | The room is a secret teleporter to a similar dungeon on the moon. Beware gravity changes. |
| 5 | The owlbear is a bear with an owl on top of it. Both are druids. |
| 6 | The ochre jelly is a black pudding painted golden. |
Day 22, Ally:
Allies are hard to come by in the harsh worlds represented by most tabletop-roleplaying games and systems don’t always provide mechanisms for tracking the friends player-characters make during their adventures. Here’s a relatively painless way to use a persistent reaction rating to monitor their relationships with notable non-player-characters.