Showing posts with label New Random Tables/Charts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Random Tables/Charts. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Instaregion

Die drop Instaregion:

So as you may or may not know, I made this Die Drop Instadungeon. (Which I remember now about how someone made an easier-to-read version of the map-part here).

The nice thing about it is, it not only stocks monsters and room types (which all random generators do) but it does it fast and gives you the spatial relationships between them immediately--which is otherwise hard to do without automating the whole process which is not always optimal.

Anyway, the idea is you make a grid of interesting dungeon features, drop lots of dice on them--everywhere a die lands: that feature is both present and located there. (Maybe read it if you're confused.)

Also, you read the dropped dice according to a chart which is separated out by die type, so like a 4 on a D8 means a wizard is there wherever the d4 landed.

AAAAAnyway it occurred to me that this approach is equally (actually better) suited to making hexmaps.

So this is my die-drop Instaregion....

Above is a hex-version I drew on top of the board for an old TSR game Mandy bought me called Chase", below is a more portable gridmap version I drew for my D&D notebook.


So you take the map, drop some dice:
Then you have those places with those things in them. If you make copies of the Instaregion map you can circle them (superfast, you can build the region as its explored if you are a megaslacker) or just make a new map where you white out the other stuff, like so:
My Instaregion does not include basic terrain type (like: are we on permafrost, water, grassland, desert, etc or what) since in my game that level of granularity is already known. (Though you could totally make one of those). This is more for just "hex dressing" and setting what random encounters or other features are in the hexes.

Also, I know a really sexy convincing proof-of-concept would involve using way more dice but those 2 were the only Gifs of dice I could find on short notice and I got things to do.

I'm sure you can figure it out from there, right?

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Random Inter-NPC Relationship Table

1-2....is toying with...or using it/she/he for entertainment
3-4...is obsessed with...
5-6...has an uneasy alliance with...
7-8...seeks to control...
9-10...reluctantly trades with...
11-12...sexually involved with...
13-14...seeks the destruction of...
15-16...seeks the return of...
17-18...is inside...
19-20...secretly serves...
21-22..is at war with...
23-24...loves...
25-26...wants to eat/consume/absorb...
27-28...cannot sense____ & this is dangerous
29-30...is inoperative/immobile/comatose without....
31-32...does not want to harm____but feels s/he must
33-34...worships...
35-36...requires___as a raw material for some magical/psychic alchemical scheme
37-38....desires___'s dwelling/home
39-40...wants to attack___ but is bound by some thing not to do so directly
41-42....uneasily shares power with...
43-44...pressured to be allied with...
45-46...wants to frame______ or otherwise have his/her/its actions mistaken for his/her/its own
47-48...must distract...in order to enact plan
49-50...is mystically joined to...
51-52...will be unstoppable once allied with...
53-54...will be more vulnerable once allied with...
55-56...wants to be rescued from...
57-58...requires ___ to reproduce
59-60...seeks information possessed by...
61-62...seeks the love of...
63-64...seeks information about...
65-66...just killed/is about to kill...
67-68...came from..
69-70...seeks the capture of..
71-72...seeks to secretly undermine...
73-75...hates...
76-77...is allied with...
78-79...serves...
80-81...is or wants to perform experiments on...
82-83...requires_____to complete a work of art
84-85...secretly is...
86-87...is only vulnerable to...
88-89...has key info about...
90-91...is impersonating...
92-93...is struggling with ____ for control of an organization
94-95...is unaware of but vulnerable to s/he/it
96-97 ...is betrothed to...
98-99...is married to...
00 ...roll twice

Automated version on Abulafia here.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

What's In The Flippin' Castle?

What's in this room? (somewhat crowdsourced from G+)

1-king
2-queen
3-prince
4-princess
5-advisor/vizier
6-castellan
7-wizard
8-prisoners
9-guards
10-moat monster
11-majordomo (domestic boss)
12-captain (military boss)
13-servants
14-kitchen servants
15-cook
16-stable guy
17-tutor
18-cleric
19-sycophant
20-little kid
21-diplomatic guest
22-minstrel
23-jester
24-doctor
25-messenger
26-herald
27-torturer
28-nurse
29-astronomer
30-astrologer
31-actor
32-courtesan
32-page
33-squire
34-knight
35-merchant
36-falconer
37-sheriff/reeve/johnny law
38-spy (roll again for cover)
39-midwife
40-old relative of queen or king
41-smith
42-ostler
43-porter
44-gaoler
45-chamberlain
46-keeper of the keys (awwww yeah)
47-tailor
48-embroiderer
49-food taster
50-clerk, accountant, or other math-related jamoke
51-painter
52-noble child of vassal kingdom
53-idiot son
54-librarian
55-poet
56-sculptor
57-architect
58-engineer
59-carpenter
60-tapestry-making type people
61-castle brewer
62-70 Roll twice
71-80-Useless fancy junk
81-90-Not much but you can hear some conversation because these morons are all "I, Claudius" and forget to close doors
91-Armory
92-Treasure room
93-Winch room or other device room
94-00 Oooh, something special and weird and unguarded

Assume nearest guards are d4 rounds away.

Assume locks are omnipresent.

Assume room layouts are boring.

Exterior profile of fortress can match this.

Additional castle shenanigans.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Just Add Pie

So Nine-And-Thirty Kingdoms (always worth a look) posted this method for procedurally generating landscape instantly using what he calls over there "dice-maps" and what I call over here "die-drop tables" for reasons lost to time.

Basically his idea is, you drop a handful of d6s on the piece of paper and it gives you a map of nearby stuff plus distances to it.

This first thing I thought is, for any given landscape, you could go to Google Docs, quickly make a pie chart, and stick it in the center so that you could make custom "collapsed" maps for any given continent or area. So you not only know the distance to places but their character as well. Jsut extend the pie lines out and features in that sector is that kind of thing. This took 3 minutes:Then I figured you could do this for buildings, too--though in a slightly different way. Basically you write a "destination" (i.e. interesting-stuff-having location--the kinds of things where you start drawing and think "I know I want a lich riding a wereworg in here and a pile of old tapestries but that's about it...") in each part of the pie, then the dropped dice indicate how many rooms away in each direction said feature is. The numbers that actually come up on the dice can then be your wandering monster rolls for each direction. A little ball-and-stick flowchart connecting-the dots and bam--instant dungeon. Good for when the PCs reach levels you haven't finished yet...

In other news, the second one came out as an inverted peace sign for some reason.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Split-Column Assignment Generator

Dear Exploring Infinity,
I have no idea how I found your blog, or this nifty situation generator that you made for Firefly. I also don't know anything about Firefly other than that it happens in space and has something to do with that Buffy guy people like.

Anyway, since it seemed pretty much useful for any game, I reformatted your table in split-column format. That way, if you have to roll a new situation fast (as you often do in sandbox D&D) you can roll once and read across, or, if you have a few more seconds, re-roll again for any result you don't like. I don't know if this kind of speedy flexible table is useful in the kind of games you play (we have no followed blogs in common and your categories are all games I don't run) but it is for me, so thanks! Your table is appreciated and has been added to the archive.

Rock.

Monday, December 26, 2011

And A 103 Pages Of Stuff In A Pear Treeeeeeee

The Secret Santicore pdf is finished.

42 things, over 100 pages.

On the design and organization front, Jez Gordon knocked it out of the park on this one. (Or, for Eastern Hemisphere readers: 'He scrummed it off the barbie in the ocker' or whatever you say.) Point is he went vastly above and magnificently beyond what any sane person would have done with a bunch of house rules and random things whipped up by various bloghappy DMs in response to the whims of various other bloghappy DMs.

I, for one, am more than pleased by the table of mechanical traps Andy Wise devised for me, and am eager to finish this entry such that I might peruse the rest of this vast feast.

Creatures, adventures, equipment, traps, tables, encounters, locations, even some Shadowrun, Modern, and Mutant Future stuff.

COMPLETELY FREE natch.

Courtesy of everybody who participated in Secret Santicore.

Be jolly about it.

Now, who wants to do some infinitely repeatable adventures for Groundhog, Giant Day?


Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Barbaric Tribe Generator

(My Secret Santicore gift...)

• The cruel and barbarous ways that they adorn themselves

1-With dogs. Each is chained to a dog. Roll a dog.

2-With a strange bluish paint that grants them +2 to hit and -2 to int for ten minutes'

3-With the skins of their forebears. Each tribesman must grow all fat in his dotage so that his son may wear a suit made from his skin and hide inside it. Nobody knows what they look like.

4-With barbarous tattoooings. Actually they're pretty bright--each tribey keeps all his or all her important info tattooed somewhere. Notes on habits of local fauna, phases of the moon, maps, last time the dog was walked, all that

5-With the garish and mismatching patterns of many animals. So they look like the Misfits not the Danzig When I Turn In To A Martian ones but instead the Jemm and the Holograms ones.

6-No, wait, they do look like the Danzig ones. With the devil-lock. Except it is way longer and at the tip of it is a morning star and they whip it with frenzy in furious battle.

7-With bugs. they a-smear themselves and do bathe in the honeys and spices of their fragrant land and are thus wise in eternity are then surrounded by a halo of stinging and crawling things.

8-With the bones and teeth of their fallen (human) foes which I know sounds like who cares but they HAVE to. So: new and untested tribesmen and tribesgirls have like no clothes upon them because they never killed anyone and the old warmaster crusties have like bonetooth armor so many Harkonnen layers thick they can barely move. Sometimes veterans will not kill you because adding your bones and teeth and the boiling and the drilling and the sewing isn't worth it like cops not shooting you on account of paperwork.

9-With a color code. It's like the Federation but with body paint.

10-With fucking poison. Save or die Mr Touch Attack.



• Their savage and ignorant beliefs

1-Like Marilyn Monroe in that movie The Misfits they don't believe in killing animals because they're innocent. Got no problem killing people though. Any animals involved in their Barbarous Adornments (above) are considered to all be bastards.

2-They believe the soul is contained in the right foot and will evince an unhealthy obsession with severing a foe's right foot, to the exclusion of all other hit locations. They wear a big shoe.

3-They hate food and the eating of food. Publicly. In secret they all eat food (of course) and like it but in company they pretend they don't. It's weird.

4-They don't believe in global warming, evolution, racial equality, birth control or social justice. They do believe in the survival of the luckiest and that the judgments of fate are true and righteous altogether.

5-They believe that emissaries of alien gods are an abomination and will concentrate all their energy on destroying your party cleric.

6-They believe it is blasphemous to use anything that is not stolen. Their equipment, homes, mounts and mates are all stolen.

7-They believe that if they are seen by anyone older than them they'll be owned by them in the afterlife.

8-They believe the first attack must always be a bite. They sharpen their teeth.

9-They believe animals are wiser than men and swarm around any foe their warbeasts attack.

10-They believe that heaven is contained inside an anonymous rock hidden somewhere on the planet.


• Details on the tribe's leader

1-S/he is hideous and clothed in shadow.

2-S/he has worms in his/her head.

3-S/he has a hump like a camel, filled with jewels.

4-S/he owes a PC a single favor.

5-His/her fingernails are nine feet long.

6-S/he is a a ogre or hag.

7-S/he hopes to wage war agains the moon.

8-S/he is supple as sin. I have no idea what that means but George RR Martin made millions writing like that so let's assume it means something. Like: s/he is a contortionist and able to twist his/her body into the shapes of the 32 symbols of The Divine.

9-S/he is drunk and silly but has a voice like an avalanche.

10-S/he is, secretly, at the center of all events in the campaign.


• Their vicious bestial totems

1-Their totem is the locust. They gibber and swarm
2-Their totem is the maggot. They revel in ignorance.
3-Their totem is the jackal. They belong to treachery.
4-Their totem is the crocodile. They are patient, they are swift.
5-Their totem is the crow. They seek the poison tree.
6-Their totem is the stag. They drink from rivers.
7. Their totem is the hog. They wallow and they wail.
8. Their totem is the serpent. They are old.
9. Their totem is a nine-pound hammer. They bash and bruise and boast.
10. Their totem is the scorpion. They live in solitude.
11. Their totem is the toad. Their lives are moist and dull.
12. Their totem is the centipede. They form a long lean line.
13. Their totem is a basking lizard. They dine on dogs and wine.
14. Their totem is a pterodactyl. They come from out of time.
15. Their totem is a broken shackle. They were once a lower caste.
16. Their totem is the whiteblack leopard. They move in darkness.
17. Their totem is the wolf. They harry and howl.
18. Their totem is the mutant rat. They speak in whispers.
19. Their totem is the salamander, They will burn you.
20. Their totem is the fivefold tiger. There are no children among them.

• The tribe's most sacred and vile object of reverence

1. A powder with unusual properties.
2. Yak butter. A mound of it.
3. Your tears and those of many foes. In a great urn.
4. A sacred bastard named Choard.
5. The clothes once worn by earless elves.
6. A pitchfork.
7. The spines on the back of a red reptile, dreaming of war for a thousand moons.
8. The night, silence, quiet, stillness and stone.
9. A fat, four-footed weasel carved of lard, smothered in beets.
10. Severed fingers, kept in cloths.

• The twisted shamans that guide them.

1. Atavistic, armed with acid, aided by asps.
2. Belligerent, bony, bedecked with baubles. Breathes bats.
3. A crazed and crooked crone. Covered in clusters of candles.
4. A devious dervish. Dominates demons with a dazzling dance.
5. An eight-eyed exotic. An eater of eldritch energies. Engages in echolocation.
6. A fat faction of fleshy flagellants.
7. A glossy gadfly. Guarded by ghosts.
8. A hebephrenic harlot. Housed in a hexagon.
9. An idiot and an incunabulist.
10. A jovial juvenile in a jewelled jerkin.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Friday, November 18, 2011

Since Nobody Asked Me...Here's My Type V

Before I give you these totally useless design specs, here's something actually helpful: autogenerator for NPCs with stats done as 3d6 in order.


Now, on with the main event...

How I'd do Type V D&D if I was WOTC. It combines, flexibility, customizability and simplicity in one completely untested, probably fatally flawed package.

Design principles:

1. I tried to alter the systems involved as little as possible across all editions while keeping the other principles in mind.

2. Just having every class slowly getter better at to-hit and saves--regardless of class--over time doesn't really make them better since the monsters also have to get better to keep up. This leads to a situation where a big slow, dumb monster like a giant has to have a +6 or whatever reflex save just to keep up with its alleged difficulty level, which makes building new monsters a little harder than it should be and adds unnecessary book-keeping and number-crunching all around. Plus it means like a little 0-level old lady couldn't throw a bucket of water at a giant and probably splash it, which is bullshit. So nobody gets better at anything unless it's part of their class. Thieves (for example) who want to get better at punching people can just take a level in fighter. (James Raggi's LOTFP:WFRP made me realize this.)

3. On the other hand, it is nice to have all PCs genuinely way more confident at fighting at high levels than low levels so the game changes scale over time, and so you can have a basic "one day you'll be badass enough to kill Demogorgon" idea in everybody's head. So everybody does get more hit points as they level up no matter what.

4. PC options should be available for customization, but you shouldn't be at a disadvantage if you're the kind of player who doesn't want to sit around and fiddle with them all day. In other words: they should make your PC more customized, not more powerful. It also means WOTC can still sell splatbooks if they really have to.

5. Likewise, if you're inventing a monster off the top of your head, there should be a straightforward way to make it equivalent to a fighter of a given level without sifting through an OED of powers or feats. If a bear is a ninth level monster (i.e. equal to a ninth level fighter) you can assume it has 9 hit dice +con modifiers and +9 to hit +9 to damage +strength modifiers and needs no feats or powers to make it a competitive monster.

6. This is just a sketch. Considering the way +1 to hit is, in the long run, better than +1 to damage, there's probably some unevenness here if you have players who are hardcore optimizers but the problem can probably be fiddled away by moving some numbers around or putting maximums on things so I haven't bothered.

7. Making new classes, monsters and even powers under this system should be as easy as, if not easier than, pie.

______

System: everything's pretty much resolved on the D20 system. D20 + modifier to get a target DC.

Bonuses are as d20. i.e. 12-13 =+1, 14-15=+2 etc.

Classes gain hp as d20.

No matter what class you are...

Strength modifier applies to:
melee to hit
melee/thrown damage

Dex modifies:
ac
reflex save
finesse/missile to hit
finesse weapon damage

Con modifies:
fort save
hp per level

Wis modifies:
will save
averaging wisdom and int bonus gives you your Notice (passive) and Search (active) check

Int modifies:
know stuff (lore, basic knowledge, etc.)
averaging wisdom and int bonus gives you your Notice (passive) and Search (active) check

Cha modifies:
persuade
dupe save (this is a new save, kinda like "sense motive" which is whether you have enough
social intelligence to tell whether someone's full of shit)

_________________
You can use your xp to take a level in anything.

Levelling up is on a "pick your prize" basis, with each "prize" usually only takeable once per level unless otherwise noted. Bonuses are cumulative.

Ranger
Pick two to start, two per level:

+1 melee to hit
+1 melee/thrown damage
+1 missile to hit (may be chosen twice in one level)
+1 missile/finesse damage (may be chosen twice in one level)
+1 to know stuff about foe (ac, hp, damage/attack, etc.)
+1 to combat non-direct damage maneuvers (trip, disarm, etc,)
-you spent some time outside this level: add +1 to both climb, jump, other athletics and acrobatics, etc. and to woodland lore/outdoor survival and to find/notice checks outside
-At seventh level they can start choosing off the fighter list

Cleric
Pick two to start and two per level:

-new spells of current available spell level according to whatever progression
-an extra healing spell
-an extra spell related to their particular god's domain
+1 melee to hit
+1 melee/thrown damage
+1 persuade, +2 to those of the same faith

Thief/Rogue
Pick 3 of these to start plus 3 per level thereafter (thief abilities are pretty situation-dependent):

+1 backstab--points count toward damage and 'to hit'. The initial bonus for a backstab is the same as for a finesse attack.
+1 to climb, jump, and all other athletics and acrobatics, etc.
+1 lockpicking and other delicate tasks (disarming traps, etc.)
+1 find/notice (passive and active)
+1 stealth
+1 persuade
+1 dupe save
+1 reflex save
+1 to combat non-direct damage maneuvers (trip, disarm, etc,)

Wizard
Pick 3 (or whatever, really, depending on how powerful spells are in the new system) spells to start, plus pick two of the following per level thereafter:

A number of new spells (according to whatever spell-progression table)
+1 find/notice
+1 know stuff
+1 new spell of spell level 1 above currently castable level that only works on a successful int check. If this is a high level spell and the check fails, there'll probably be an entertaining disaster.

Fighters
Pick two of the following to start plus two more per level thereafter:

+1 missile to hit
+1 melee to hit (may be chosen twice at same level)
+1 melee/thrown damage
+1 to know stuff about foe (ac, hp, damage/attack, etc.)
-pick from a list of "If/Then powers" that are situational but, when they occur, very effective, like "Wrestle: + 4 to immobilize a same size opponent that is already knocked over or quadrupedal"
-at tenth level, can start choosing off the Warlord list below

This is where you start in with your splatbook stuff. (However, a DM just trying to build a high level fighter can ignore it and put all the level up points into to hit or damage or whatever)

Paladin
Pick two to start, two per level:

+1 melee to hit
+1 melee/thrown damage
+1 know stuff about foe (ac, hp, damage/attack, etc.)
+1 heal points of damage equal to the number banked here. once/day.
+1 holy smite: this number plus charisma modifier
+1 to deal with horses and hit and damage in mounted combat
-at seventh level they start being able to choose off the fighter list or the cleric list

Barbarian
Pick two to start and two per level:

+1 melee to hit
+1 melee/thrown damage (may be chosen twice at single level)
+2 more hit points
+1 to know stuff about foe (ac, hp, damage/attack, etc.)
+1 to hit and damage for your once a day rage freak out.
-you spent some time outside this level: add +1 to both climb, jump, other athletics and acrobatics, etc. and to woodland lore/outdoor survival
-at seventh level they can start choosing off the fighter list

Assassin
Pick three to start and two per level:

+1 backstab--points count toward damage and 'to hit'. (starts as a finesse attack)
+1 climb, jump, other athletics and acrobatics, etc.
+1 delicate tasks and stealth
+1 dupe save
+1 missile/finesse to hit
+1 missile/finesse damage
+1 know stuff about foe (ac, hp, damage/attack, etc.)
+1 handle poison

Druid
Pick two to start, two per level:

-new spells of current available spell level (may be chosen twice)
-you spent some time outside this level: add +1 to both climb, jump, other athletics and acrobatics, etc. and to woodland lore/outdoor survival and to find/notice checks outside
+1 charisma roll to persuade animals to do things
-annoying animal companion (maximum 1). If your old one dies you can use this option to get a new one.

Warlord
Pick two to start, two per level:

+1 melee to hit
+1 melee/thrown damage
+1 know stuff about foe (ac, hp, damage/attack, etc.) (may be chosen twice per level)
+1 to combat non-direct damage maneuvers (trip, disarm, etc,)
+1 to persuade
-pick from a list of "If/Then powers" that are situational but, when they occur, very effective, like "Wrestle: + 4 to immobilize a same size opponent that is already knocked over or quadrupedal"

Warlock
Really?

Bard
Bards suck.

__________

Multi-classing: you can take a level in whatever as long as it isn't in the subgroup you're already in, these subgroups are:

Fighter, Ranger, Paladin, Barbarian, Warlord
Wizard, Warlock
Thief/Rogue, Assassin
Cleric/Druid

__________

Possible other hacks:

Instead of invisibility, improved invisibility, mass invisibility the spells will be named inivisibility-mass, invisibility--improved (etc.) so that when they're in the book and you look up one and it says "this spell functions just like some other spell (qv)" you don't have to turn the damn page.

Monsters have static xp values. Why not murder thousands of random henchmen at high levels just to level up? Because you're not that boring. Or, if you are and there's really no one else to play with, DMs can institute no-xp-for-challenges-more-than-x-levels-beneath-you rules.

XP can follow three patterns, the PCs choose which:

Old School: XP is given for monsters and treasure. Treasure usually nets about 4 times as much xp as monsters required to get to said treasure.

Newie:
XP is given for monsters plus each PC picks what kind of thing they want to get xp for based on their PCs' individual motives. Like: "My wizard wants knowledge,""My paladin wants to help the weak" etc. The GM can award these as s/he sees fit but the total can still be divided equally if the PCs roll that way--so if everybody helps one PC achieve a goal, they all benefit

Tactical: XP for monsters at x5 normal.

Note:

I put some more thought into this once 5e was announced--these became "classic""heroic" and "tournament" more detail on how I'd do it here and here.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Battle Oracle Mechanic + Easy NPC Wizard Spells

Battle Oracle Mechanic

PC wants to know how s/he'll do in the upcoming fight. Consults wizened and raisin-like oracle. Wizened oracle says something cryptic while fondling armor and PC's primary weapon. Then the PC openly rolls ten D20s and whatever die s/he uses for damage with his/her primary weapon of choice. DM does the same. The results are noted, in order.

The DM looks at these rolls, treated as the actual rolls that will come up, and says some goofy thing summing it all up like "The tide of battle will rush toward you, but break upon you like waves upon the shell of Inevitable Tortioise--but your sword's first strike will be a mere glancing blow..."

In the next battle, the PC's strikes--and those of his/her foe--will be treated as if s/he had just rolled exactly those numbers. In the order already written down for each side.

Naturally:

-the PC is told this

-this "number-matching" doesn't apply to the PC's allies

-nothing prevents the PC or his/her foe from using tactics that do not require an ordinary "to hit" roll or which cause a different kind of damage than the "primary weapon" die rolled

-the more the PC studies his/her foe, the more useful this oracle is

-DMs sensitive to non-immersive mechanics won't like this spell

-
the PC doesn't necessarily already know his/her target number (the target's AC) in the fight

-the nice utility-but-vagueness of this oracle is based on that ignorance-of-the-target-number, so using the same mechanic for tasks that require no input from the other side is less interesting. If you want to adapt it for persuading, climbing, or other noncombat tasks make sure the tasks use a GM-designed target-number system rather than a roll-under or otherwise static-target system.


Which Spells Does The Randomly Encountered Evil Wizard Have Left Today?


The wizard has one spell left for each letter in his slash her evil name, conveniently enough.

Consult the table below for Ye Olde Specifics. Same letter twice? They have it memorized twice. If the spell is over-level for the wizard, just make it a wimpy version with a save or something Hey--you're the god-damned DM, right?

A -Animate object
B -Blink
C -Command
D -Disintegrate
E -Evard's Black Tentacles
F -Fireball
G-Globe of Invulnerability
H-Hold Person
I-Illusion
J-Joke causing Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter
K-Kiss of Dismemberment
L - Lightning Bolt
M-Monster Summoning
N-New And Disturbing Limb
O-Otto's Irresistible Dance
P-Polymorph
Q-Quest
R-Reduce
S -Sleep
T-Transmute Rock to Mud
U-Undo Last Round
V-Volley
W-Web
X-X-Ray Vision (good for seeing your magic items)
Y-Yoink! (one object transferred from target to caster)
Z-Zone of Silence

Thus "Vorgon the Cruel" has...Volley, Otto's Irresistible Dance (twice), Reduce. Globe of Invulnerability, and New and Disturbing Limb.

If I wanted to be a real bastard I could also give him Transmute Rock To Mud, Hold Person, Evard's Black Tentacles (twice), Command, Reduce, Undo Last Round, and Lightning Bolt.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Quick Dungeon NPCs

What's The NPC Want?

1. To get out of this fucking dungeon.

2. Revenge on a major monster in the dungeon. Random location. Roll a d12--whichever is furthest away near that o'clock

3. A fantastic treasure hoard they believe to be located...If your rooms aren't numbered so as to be rollable on a dsomething, roll a d100 and a d100 --it's somewhere around that location, treating the map as a cartesian grid.

4. The PC with the highest Cha.

5. A magic item they believe to be in the dungeon. This can either be one you already put in there or--if there aren't any--a regular item that you have in the dungeon that this loser thinks is magical.

6, To desecrate one of the altars in the dungeon.

7. To stir up dissent within one of the occupying factions (the goblins, the cultists, whatever) in the dungeon

8. To locate the rest of his her party.

9. To invent preposterous but plausible objectives to keep the PCs busy while s/he bumps them off one by one.

10. To slay and replace one of the heads of one of the factions in the dungeon.


Why Should The PCs Care?

1. NPC's an (average PC level + d4) wizard and if they don't help s/he'll kill them all.

2. NPC secretly or overtly controls a powerful faction in the dungeon.

3. NPC demonstrates extensive knowledge of much that is hidden--and will reveal more in exchange for aid.

4. NPC has a posse, a bad temper, and a map of the dungeon.

5. NPC is really hot.

6. NPC is on good terms with powerful creature in the dungeon and can get the PCs past it.

7. NPC has oracular powers or is a cleric with a few cure moderate woundses up his/her embroidered sleeves.

8. NPC is Sacred Fool of cleric's religion and cannot be harmed. Actual aiding is optional, but is recommended for ambitious holymen.

9. NPC is in a position to offer the PCs a sizable monetary reward once they are safely out of the dungeon.

10. NPC is like part faerie or leprechaun or something else enchanting and annoying so if the PCs don't help things may get a bit "whimsical".

Sunday, November 13, 2011

100 Random Weird Historical Events

The Marquis De Carabas, one of the winners of the Hack Vornheim contest asked for a d100 table: The topic I would like to see is: weird historical events. A table where I could roll a number of times on to construct the history of a kingdom, empire or city.

Well "to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward" and who am I to argue with Proverbs 11:18?

Weird Historical Events

(I have included some less weird options in case you're rolling multiple times and want some sanity in your kingdom)

1. Linguistic chaos due to incursion of foreigners or Babel Plague
2. Influx of immigrants from (roll or pick) nearby land, distant land, beneath the surface of the planet, another planet, an alternate plane
3. Servitor or pet species (cats, donkeys, etc.) suddenly develops sentience or--less weird--a sudden and successful slave revolt or civil war resulting in emancipation
4. Nation becomes known far and wide for gastronomic delicacy dependent on ingredients ungrowable in other latitudes and longitudes
5. Children revolt, establish neocracy
6. Partial incursion of new religion (roll or pick) monotheistic, polytheistic, maltheistic/misotheistic, satanic/evil, baffling & seemingly arbitrary, hilariously primitive
7. Gears + steam = technological revolution. 50% chance of resulting disaster and reversion to local tech norms
8. Permanent flood turns buildings into islands
9. Ruler revealed to be demon. As a result all laws established during his reign (most fairly innocuous) are reversed by subsequent generations.
10. Entire population slaughtered.. (roll or pick) ...with no exceptions, ...except men, ...except women, ...except children, ...except members of an obscure profession (cobblers, etc.), ...except members of a common D&D class (roll or pick)... attackers uninterested in territory (or it was done by a disease) and leave them to build a new civilization.
11. Cities built in corpses of massive creatures
12. Complete change in religion--otherwise as (6) above
13. Roll on Jeff's table here--only results apply to entire area
14. War results in Great Wall of China-esque fortification. (Or is it a Great Trench?)
15. Anti-architectural phase. Citizens wear all-weather gear.
16. Size...(roll or pick) small, medium, large...monster species successfully domesticated and bred into various shapes and sizes, like dogs
17. Philosopher-kings
18. Land is cursed by witch-queen. Citizens born there may never leave (simple version) ...and that's that (complicated version)...women travel to the frontier to give birth so the baby comes out just on the other side of the border and is free to do as s/he likes. This only works about 1/4 of the time.
19. Obscure dietary restriction requires eating something fucked up once per day. (eyeballs, a pebble, manticore blood, etc.)
20. Belief in "supported consensus reality" becomes widespread. Nonbelievers in local religion held responsible for anything strange happening--that is: their unbelief creates distortion in reality-curves.
21. Carving and papermaking are tabooed/unknown. All important records & communiques from this era are tattooed on people or animals
22. Religious schism occurs when local god of important thing sells domain (seas, skies, justice, whatever) to rival god and moves on to other portfolio. Split between those who worship the deity by name and those (known as pathfinders) who worship what the god stands for.
23. Vindictive wizard: Populations' minds transferred into bodies of local livestock and vice versa. All animals are equal but the pigs are a little more equal than the others.
24. Nation oppressed by hyperintelligent rivals, universally adopt philosophy of unreason.
25. Obnoxious series of I,Claudius-esque assassinations and machinations results in constant confusion as to identity and policies of current monarch
26. Population wanders 40 years in desert
27. Dessert chefs rule population for 40 years
28. Nation enslaves neighboring nation. Suffers plagues from slave-nations god(s) as retribution. These are: frogs, lice, flies, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, rivers turned to blood, slaying of the firstborn. These plagues continue for hundreds of years. Population becomes sad.
29. Genetic defect results in population having no right hands. Rely a lot on foreign labor.
30. Soil fantastically naturally productive for 200 yrs. All become massively fat. Almost immobile. Wheeled about in chairs or carried in palanquins by idiots.
31. A period of regrettable fascination with an obscure tome containing wisdom from beyond the stars.
32. Wars. Nearby land absorbed then lost again. Frequent border conflicts and nationalistic chaos.
33. Nation descended from- and has inferiority complex concerning- nearby other nation. Looks to them for learning, culture, etc.
34. Prophecy: there will come a Destroyer. An Axe Shall He Wield. A Throne Shall Be His.
35. Aristocratic caste so inbred it looks all freaky. In fact, it's gotten to the point where being deformed is seen as a sign of royal lineage. The weirdest-looking baby around is instantly coronated.
36. Queen obsessed with being fairest of them all incites pogroms resulting in extremely ugly population
37. Moistened bint lobs scimitar at young squire. Golden age ensues. You know the rest.
38. Population alarmed to discover 80% of sculptures in Hall of Statues are actually gorgolith. Begin wondering what the fuck is going on here. Though it does rather explain why recent sculptors seem somewhat crap.
39. Teratocracy (roll or pick) vampire, lich, alien, golem, dragon, doppleganger, naga, other
40. Curse, plague, or magical warfare results in landscape wholly unlike that of neighboring nations
41. Period of unrelenting brutality lasting 2d100 yrs. All is ash, ruin, and rot.
42. Period of rule by winner of "Cute Puppy" contest. Charm/Will save to avoid petting local pups
44. Land built on largely unassimilated ruin of previous culture. 10% chance it was a land of giants. 10% it was nonhumanoid
45. Massive battle leaves corpses of tower golems strewn across the landscape
46. Due to alignment of planets or magical disaster, nation spends a period of its history in the Realm of Faerie, Dreamlands of Unknown Kadath, Carcosa, or some other alternate plane.
47. Entire realm used solely as a necropolis for a period of time.
48. Period of crazy wizardocracy
49. Population dominated by ruling caste's control of mind-altering drugs/organisms/architecture/music
50. Thoroughbred slaves of the pleasure pits revolt: establish pornocracy
51. Custom demands rule by the (roll or pick) shortest, funniest, red-eyed, fattest
52. Infiltrations from the lands of madness and chaos have caused the population to engage in pogroms against all abnormals.
53. Capital of orthodox faith moved to this nation. Pope/patriarch/Sister Superior adopts diet of worms to prevent heretical infection.
54. Monarch involved in torrid love affair with (roll or pick) neighboring monarch, monster, distant ruler, inanimate object
55. Rulers hold a secret grudge against ostensibly allied nation for a perceived slight or betrayal in the distant past.
56. Nation and rival nation engage in Cold Warrish intrigues in hopes of acquiring powerful magical mcguffin.
57. Everyone in nation sold souls to extradimensional entity in exchange for protection from rapacious nearby empire. Are now an island of extremely boring people in a sea of otherwise ordinary kingdoms.
58. Due to geography or presence of vicious species nearby, the nation is--for some period at least--a strategic and commercial chokepoint.
59. Nation is entirely fortified due to centuries of unusually intense warfare.
60. Period of total pacificism and neutrality. Weapons and armor prohibited. How they lasted this long is up to you. Magic is the easy answer.
61. A legacy of moon worship, ongoing warfare, or an economy based on night-blooming plants (or all three) makes the populace primarily nocturnal for a few hundred years. Most crimes occur in daylight,
62. A comet known as The Initiator comes every 5 years and disaster predictably follows.
63. Democracy invented. Kept around for a bit.
64. New rulers must eat previous ones
65. Nation experienced warfare against intelligent mice, rats or insects. Obsessively clean for 100 + d12x100 years after
66. Nation entirely buried, by accident or--a la Petal Throne--by design.
67. Curse on throne: monarchs all die after 5 years. Rulers tend to be very live-fast-die-young.
68. Intoxicants outlawed. Travel to- and trade with- neighboring nations flourishes.
69. Cult of apathy ascendant
70. 700-year war to slay god of rival nation
71. Period where all citizens live in one enormous building
72. Nation overrun by hostile (roll or pick) demons, werewolves, zombies, dwarves, foodies, vampires, goblins, horsemen, elves, dinosaurs, mutants, other
73. Mathematics banned. Practiced in secret by anybody trying to get anything done.
74. King claims he's a pheasant (isn't)
75. Magic banned. Armored warrior cults defend nation
76. Brutal spartanistic throw-them-to-the-wolves-and-see-how-that-works-out culture fluorishes
77. Realm becomes client-state of larger empire. Many sons and daughters of local nobility sent off to be educated at foreign courts. They return (roll or pick) totally assimilated, full of hatred for the foreigners, feigning one the former while secretly being the latter, vice versa
78. Lottery-in-Babylon-style social order inculcated
79. Adventure diary/notebook of one of your players has been inadvertently sent thousands of years back in time and has been discovered and taken for a holy text by the locals
80. Age of (accurate) prophets followed by invasion. Records and transcripts of important prophecies lost and scattered. Much blood and treasure will be expended in ages thereafter to find them.
81. Monarch revealed to be (unknowingly) 1/4 changeling, sparking off confused and bloody succession war as the families of the various grandparents vie for power
82. Common vowel and associated sound declared heretical
83. Slaying of distant medusa turns much of the stone from which local buildings were made into flesh. Or if that's too weird, there was just an earthquake.
84. Inhabitants discover they are not human (or elf or whatever they thought)
85. Inhabitants discover sister nation with precisely identical history, culture, inhabitants, etc. on other side of world
86. Inhabitants discover hypercubic architecture--nation appears to consist of scattered settlements of unusually fine stone buildings on the outside, is in fact a bustling network of Escherian mazes on the inside. At least for a while.
87. Nation was shrunk, placed in a bottle, then an unshrinking ritual was discovered. However, by that time the area it had once occupied had been taken over. So the nation was moved to a new and more remote location, then unshrunk. Or so they say.
88. Religion causes dancing to be outlawed or mandatory
89. Periodic floods cause nation to be coastal for 50 years, then landlocked for 50 years--alternating forever
90. Nation invents medieval minimalist art style--cubic stone plinths with nothing on them and paintings of unbroken umber abound. Nearby cultures sickened. Many die of boredom.
91. Basically this part here in yellow.
92. Nation ruled by sentient paintings of dead rulers. The inhabitants were unaware that all their efforts were secretly directed toward creating vessels through which these souls might once again walk the earth.
93. Extreme neoplatonic phase. Everything that can be made spherical is: homes, weapons, the structures of poems, etc.
94. Extreme historian phase. Populaces divided into two parts: those who act and those who record their every action. Those who act are forbidden to do anything while their historian is asleep or otherwise unavoidably indisposed.
95. Inhabitants create simulatory "games of role-playing" to investigate possible outcomes of all courses of action before committing to them
96. Taxidermy takes the place of burial. Dead citizens, pets, and livestock in dramatic poses decorate the public squares.
97. Nation fears dispersion and disunity--all citizens are attached together by chains--each person is 900 links from the next. It is said some still hold to this practice.
98. Suffering-based legal system: the more wounded you are, the more rights you possess. King is leech-covered invalid.
99. Entire nation is The Prisoner/Truman Show-esque punishment/testing ground/combat arena during this era
100. 50% of population is acutely narcoleptic owing to aftermath of alchemical warfare.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Occupy Abulafia

So here's an adventure:

The Forsaken Keep

The dungeon was originally a vast city of snake-people but has been forgotten by most civilized races for eons. It was rediscovered due to the recent death of the medusa responsible for the statues from which the surrounding stone was quarried. Near the North entrance, a werejaguar of unusual intelligence suspects it may contain a female druid (-Lvl 5-) named Nixie Gott, possessor of an important book & rumored to possess a whetstone of unusual properties--one of particular interest--and so has dispatched hyena-like humanoids into the complex. They communicate via burning things.

Meanwhile, a group of tiny hyena-like humanoids who entered through a secret door to the North suspects it may contain a jade that they value. Their leader is said to be strangely cloned and is also a hulking bruiser with dangerous pets--a swarm of bats that appear to obey his/her every whim. They roams the halls looking for sustenance. They're also far faster than the typical members of their species. This group uses a powerful but barely-mobile psionic medium to spy on the other group of intruders.

(In recent weeks, the two factions have begun to notice each other in the halls.)

Unbeknownst to either side, a giant mantis--a superevolved, hyperintelligent, one--lives deep within, inside a network of tunnels leading eventually to a crown which it prizes beyond all things.

It has constructed traps around its lair--for example, magical sensors connected up to rotary saw blades --but also four stranger traps, informed by its bizarre alien intelligence, which cause intruders to be destroyed by their own depravity. It can avoid the traps easily because of its unique abilities.

The other factions have made about four traps each as well, but they are cruder, since they've been recently and hastily thrown together.

In addition, there are many hazards that are the legacy of the dungeon's original inhabitants. No-one has yet discovered the secret passage within the garbage pile on the fourth level.

Due to the subtle influence of a magic egg (below the fireplace on level two) with a powerful curse on it, nearly all of the inhabitants have become increasingly delusional and some have gained additional bizarre physical and mental deformities. Some have become obsessed with earthquakes for reasons unknown.

Perhaps the most disturbing room in the dungeon is the so-called "panic chamber" which the intelligent creatures in the dungeon fear above all else. However, beyond it there is a male author who hails from the homeland of one of your PCs and may aid him/her, though s/he covets the PCs' (whatever they have that's unusual) and is repulsed by the sight of every stairway s/he sees in the dungeon (sheesh, artists are so sensitive).

The dungeon's architecture resembles an overgrown prison, however every mirror in it is made of electrum and obsidian.

In addition to these things, it is said by some that, hidden deep within the complex, where no mortal has been in eons is the Crown of The Long Cold and a last enclave of Ancient Men, sleeping in suspended animation for thousands of years, ready to be awakened.
__________

Sick of dungeons? Here's another adventure...

The Emerald Canyon

The PCs have heard that if they safely transport--A female warrior (-Lvl 7-) (named Galiana)--soon to be wed to a powerful saboteur & rumored to be the lover of a powerful jester--they will become rich. The bride-to-be must be moved from an inn: The Mug and King, (famous for its bacon-wrapped halibut) to a brutal temple of a primordial faith based on the worship of a god associated with daggers.

The perilous road will take our heroes through the site of an ancient battle where a group of chain-wielding jackal-headed warriors headquartered in a monastery rule. They are slaves of a bioengineered upper caste lead by one called The Lord of Despair.

The vast battleground also includes a treant fed on the blood of the ancient dead and a man-headed centipede.
_____________________

Anyway as you maybe figured out I've been fucking around with Abulafia some more.

This post's purpose is threefold:

1-to tell you it's neat

2-to recommend you make some generators or add some depth or content to existing ones,

3-to be like 'I smear liquid plastic on paper and put my dick in people for money and even I figured out how to do this so it can't be that hard'

Here are the generators I've made so far and some things you could do to/with them:

Dungeon Overview: This is probably the slickest and most complete. And, for me at least, it produces stuff pretty useful right outta the box. If I was you and I liked dungeons, I'd clone it and modify it into a version that fit the kind of stuff in your world.

Fantasy Assignment:
This is like rumors and jobs basically. It's very uneven. It basically goes Verb Objective Location. The objectives are fairly decent since Abulafia already had a huge library of objects and monsters and NPCs to draw on and the verbs are ok but hardly cover every possible assignment or kind of assignment yet. The locations are the most uneven part--they come from...

...this Fantasy Adventure Location generator: there are like 50 kinds of locations, some with lots of detail for the DM (like the fortresses), some with a little--like the cities--"a cosmopolitan city, known for its ancient ruling caste as well as its monstrous buildings", some have none "a mountain". This is a place where I feel like people could really help out--What are some things you'd put in a swamp? A temple? A desert?

Today At Sea
As described before, it's a slightly modified version of the wavecrawl kit from this blog. It's pretty good, thinks me. But more options would never go amiss--particularly for the sea creatures subtable.

Random Humanoid Horde
Pretty decent version of the one from this blog. Includes options for the basic races (goblin, gnoll etc.) plus a less likely option for (random animal)man.

Fortress Generator
From this blog: does its job, I think.

Hex Map Key
Generates 100 hexes at once. Most are dull on purpose. It's perfectly functional for a lot of things (cut it, paste it, give it numbers matching your hexgrid) but you could easily add more detail at every level if you were so inclined. Also: there are no climate-specific versions of it and the monsters are as yet totally random rather than segregated to make sense (Encounter: a pack of hyenas (two, actually) killing a swarm of bats). In addition, many of the possible locations from the other tables (mansion, etc.) are not integrated into this table.

Dungeon Room
Ok as a springboard but could use some work: generates 2-5 exits, a room type (mess hall, stable, etc.), an encounter (possibilities: trap, monster, trap+monster, 2 monsters interacting) and the possibility of one other random object ("a grape""a sword").

Every room has an encounter of some kind--unlike the hex generator this is just meant to generate a room that's interesting, not a whole map full of exciting and boring rooms.

This could be improved in a lotta ways if one was so inclined. The monsters, again, are spectacularly random (" a mold (actually several) chasing a quaggoth").

Creepy Fantasy Villain
Generates 10 results which sound like the kind of "spooky occult phrases" the FBI's COINTELPRO used to include in anonymous letters to Alan Ginsberg and Bob Dylan-- of which about 8 are generally dumb ("The Huntsman of The Wolves " "The Knight of The Infinite Night ") and 2 are awesome ("The Merchant of Failure" "The Oracle of One Thousand Lunacies "). Not terribly complex at this point but probably not a priority.

Arabian Nights-Ish Scenario Generator
A less complicated prototype of the Fantasy Assignment one I made for Mandy's Al Qadim game. If you're inclined to tinker with this, its main virtue is it draws on abulafia's pretty decent middle-eastern-setting occupation generator.

These are more like utility generators, mostly just providing sub-libraries for other generators to draw on:

Exotic Landscape:
Cut and pasted straight from this blog ('Cobalt Reach'). Very simple. Could use more options.

Fantasy Mansion Domestic Security Generator Cut and pasted straight from this blog. Very simple. Could use more options.

Fantasy NPC (Basic) Race, job, gender. This one's pretty thorough, though it'd also be a good place to start if you wanted to make a new version of the generator weighted toward fighting or adventurign NPCs. Right now there as likely to be a barkeep as an archer.

Fantasy Person Of Interest
A simple, described NPC (race, job, gender) with one or two random things about them. If you want to fuck with this one you could add a few more options for the kinds of details. Like there's no option for, say "Wants to be ruler of ____" or "Despises ____" etc.

Fantasy Town (Simpler)
this is just a stripped-down version of one that was already on Abulafia. It provided a little too many unconnected details for my taste.

Weird Fantasy Monster
this includes every monster I personally would wanna use (including, now, all the monsters in the Folio, since I did all those posts dedicated to making those monsters usable to me). There are several other bestiaries on abulafia you could use instead if you want a more general list. Or make your own by cutting and pasting from mine and theirs and any other list you have.

Also there are no monster-by-environment tables yet. Could be very useful.

I also added a ".Weirdsymbol" directory to the "animal" generator which includes all the real-life animals I could think of that were creepy or vicious or symbolic. i.e. no squirrels, but it's got maggots and squids and lions and tigers.

Also of interest:

The Traps generator is ok, but could use a lot more options if you were so inclined and there's no way to generate a specific kind of trap only (magic, rustic, etc.) . Since it can be used to feed so many other generators it'd be neat to add more options, like "touching (randomobject) opens bars freeing (randommonster)" etc.

_________

Tips to make new thingies:

I don't know how you're supposed to make a new table, but I just do a search like "Mermaid Tail Types" then it tells me there aren't any tables named that but I can make one if I want and there's a link and I hit it. then I hit "Edit"...

A bunch of crap goes at the top which I can't type here because blogger automatically turns it into format code but you can swipe the stuff you need from an existing generator--just set "iterations" to "1" if you're new at this.

Then type...

;main
1,[Thenyouwritethenameofatablehere]
_____________
Then you write a word in those brackets that describes your table--Tailtypes or whatever.

then you go below and go:

;Tailtypes
1,Big
1,Scary
1,Funny
1,Hilarious
1,Gigantic
_______

Then write a bunch of crap at the bottom of the table after a break you can swipe from another table...

...and then you're done. You can make it more complicated in lots of ways but if you take a look at some pre-existing tables you can probably figure out how it's done. If you want your table to draw on an existing one you put [Fantasy NPC (Basic).Main] for example in there. If you want to draw on a subtable of one of the existing tables you'd do like [ Fantasy NPC (Basic).Classes] and it should work. Be aware that hitting "enter" to make a new paragraph int he output doesn't work and just ends the thingy--you have to put in line break code--"
".

Here's what a finished one looks like:

(some code)

;main
1,[Gender] [Race] [Job]

;Gender
1,male
1,female

;Race
60, there's nothing here because this result is just "implied human"
10,elven
5,dwarven
5,halfling
5,half-orc
5,half-elf
1,possibly doppelganger
1,possibly not-entirely human
the numbers aren't all 1's because I've weighted this table

;Job
1,metalsmith
1,milliner
1,silversmith
1,tanner
1,tinsmith
1,trapsmith
1,weaponsmith
1,architect
1,artisan
1,bricklayer
1,carpenter
1,cartwright
(etc.)
(some more code)

That'd produce a thing saying "Male cartwright" or "Female elven cartwright". If you want it to spit out lots of results you make the "iterations" number higher.

______

If you make anything, let us know here in the comments....

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Automatic Hex Stocker By Me

Stock 100 hexes at once--complete with landscape details, encounters (some simple, some weird), fortresses, inns, towns and underground complexes. Took a bit. A few of the widgets involved piggyback off what's already in Abulafia.

Hope you like it.

Hit refresh for new hexes.

Make The Robot Do It

So I went ahead and automated some of my more complicated and generators on Abulafia (the ones where it was like "roll here then roll here then roll here then roll here").

Anyway, here you go:

Seacrawl Kit
(It includes failed control roll results generate using your comments so if for some insane reason you don't want your content in there, lemme know and I'll remove it)

Random Fortress Generator


Intercepted Inter-NPC Communique


Humanoid Horde Composition

Saturday, October 22, 2011

The Chain and Porcupine, famous for its Spicy Beef

Some of you know about Abulafia, which is a page of automated random generators. Some of you don't. Except now all of you do.

Though slower than dice tables, some of these are pretty good. Unfortunately a lot of them return pointless results ("Winddale""Sun Port") or randomly generate things it's hard to imagine needing in the kind of volume that'd justify going to a webpage just to make ("A doublet made of worsted wool emblazoned with an image of a red Orc").

For your edification and convenience I have gone though and picked out the better ones (locally defined as: 'ones which have produced at least one useful result for me on the first go'). They work fairly well to get the bones of a decent adventure, or (more likely) to flesh out something you've already put together which needs background details or secondary hooks.

The ones marked "oracle" are technically for use with "In A Wicked Age" but serve just as well as random D&D situation generators. Some have a tab marked "view source" which lets you see all the options and might actually be more useful than hitting "refresh" over and over. The ones not marked 'oracle' generally give you a few dozen results, a handful of which are usually decent:

A Nest of Vipers Oracle
"A precocious child disputing with philosophers and declaimers."

ArcaneBooks
"Concise Theory of Chaomancy"

Arcane Books
"Experiments with Ether of Fate, by Rewan the Wizard"

Art, Grace, and Guts Oracle
"A corrupt guard, turning a blind eye to the illegal businesses that have paid him off."

Conan Oracle
"A mysterious cargo, arriving on a caravan from the far South, watched by many covetous eyes."

Elder Scrolls:
"The dark moon rises, the goddess of murder gathers more power."

Experimental Fantasy Generator
"Fountain of the Hundred Corpses"

Fantasy Place Name
"Brixstead Mire"

Fantasy Scenario Generator
"The story takes place in the Jagged territories. The scenario begins with a circus. The trouble is a direct attack against the adventurers caused by snake people pirates. To solve the problem, the adventurers must destroy/kill an object or individual. If a big fight happens, it'll be at Heavysky Bridge."

Fantasy Town
"The Sign of the Laughing Juggernaut, famous for its Herbed Oxtail"

Fantasy Town Event
"A city watchman was stabbed in the back near the St. Florus's Church but is expected to recover from his wounds."

Fantasy Town Feature
"Bedthorpley Crossing"

Fantasy Town Feature Description
"Crocodile Tabernacle is near The Sign of the Roaring Cook, which is frequented primarily by scribes."

Fantasy oracle compilation
"A hermit priestess, practicing obscure deprivations."

God Kings of War Oracle
"A prodigy-mage, still a maid, drunk with occult power."

Heavy Metal Fantasy Oracle
"A mighty six-legged feline, wicked and feral, acid saliva drooling from it's fangs."

Pirate Oracle - Black Sails on the Horizon
"A pet monkey, trained to do tricks."

Pirate Oracle - Cutlass and Dagger
"A smuggler's ship, with lights showing low on the water, signaling her contacts."

Pirate Oracle - Letters of Marque and Reprisal
"A fast ship, sloop-rigged and lightly armed, running before the wind, trying hard to escape pursuit."

Pirate Oracle
"A rapacious kraken, devourer of the mistress of a burly roustabout."

Traps
"Scorpions inside cleverly hidden pits - clouds of steam are produced, lightly obscuring vision"

The Treacherous Seas
"The aunt of a mighty priest, on the trail of a lustful nobleman."

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Their World At War

-Jeremy Friesen whipped up this neat Wartime Village generator. Since I'll probably use this for the Dracula/Bathory War thing I made a split-column version of a few of the tables in the Vornheim format for faster village-making (read once and read straight across or roll 5 times). The "interesting events" part isn't on here, but that's the best part, so definitely check out the original post.


I do think the indie gamer only-using-d6s thing is hilariouscute.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Demonic Attribute Table


So Adam was one of the prize winners of my Hack Vornheim contest. The prize he requested was an attribute table for summoned demons.

Here you go...

Summoned Demon Attribute Table...

All demons have infravision and the following immunities/resistances--

Attack/Maximum damage will be:

acid/full
cold/half
electricity (lightning)/half
fire (dragon, magical)/half
gas (poisonous,etc.)/half
iron weapon/full
magic missile/full
poison/full

Order of Demon: (d6)

1 The Unholy (Devils)(antithetical to local Christian-church equivalent)
Human is basic shape
50% chance of skinny tail (1-spines 2-forked 3-arrow 4-whips)
50% chance of goat legs
50% chance of claws
15% chance of wings
75% chance of horns
25% chance of animal head (DM picks or: 1-pig 2-wolf 3-stag 4-crow 5-goat 6-jackal)
d4 minus one Attributes
d4 Other Powers
1 Job

2 The Incomprehensible (pseudo-Cthulhian/extra-planar)(Antithetical to local god of earth/nature/weather, etc.)

wormlike skin

Basic shape:
1 Spherical
2 Blob or pool
3 Human
4 Quadruped
5 Serpent/worm
6 Centipede
7 Spider/hand
8 DM picks or, player if DM is out of ideas

80% chance of having d12 tentacles
(75% chance of tentacles embedded in "face")
1-2 Causes Fear 3-4 Causes Insanity 5-6 Causes both (save allowed)
50% chance of having a job
d6-2 Attributes
d4-1 Other Powers
10% chance of having one extra Other Power which is 9-99 times more powerful than "standard" version of power

3 The Implacable (Classic D&D demons)(antithetical to local god of healing/mercy/etc.)

Use standard D&D demon/devil as base creature:
1 Type I (Vrock)
2 Type II (Hezrou)
3 Type III (Glabrezu)
4 Type IV (Nalfneshee)
5 Type V (Marilith)
6 Type VI (Balor)
7 Bar-Igura
8 Chasme
9 Dretch
10 Succubus
11 Bone devil/Babau
12 Horned devil
13 Ice devil
14 Lemure
15 Manes
16 Quasit
17 Chain Devil
18 Retriever
19 Imp
20 Gargoyle

d4 minus 2 (additional) Attributes
d4 minus 2 (additional) Other Powers
1-2 Jobs

4 The Unwelome (Fairy Tale/Eastern)(antithetical to local god of civilization, cities, etc.)

Use ordinary local animal or human/demi-human as base creature:

1 Attribute if animal
d4-2 attributes if human
d6 Other Powers
25% chance of tiny horns
25% chance of Job
50% chance of being able to polymorph self
10% chance of being an unusual Color

5 The Uncreated (Boschian/Apocalyptic)(antithetical to local god of justice, wisdom, moderation, balance, etc.)

Use any organism, monster, or body part as base creature.
d8 Attributes
d6-2 Powers
10% chance of Job
25% chance of causing insanity

6 Summoner picks

_______

All demons (except the Unwelcome--see above) are a random color: (d20)

1 Red
2 Orange
3 Yellow
4 Green
5 Blue
6 Pink
7 Purple
8 Black
9 White
10 Grey
11 Brown
12 Clear
13 Bronze
14-17 Color appropriate to base creature
18 Nonlocal human skin color
19 Pattern (Dm picks or: 1-Zebra 2-Leopard 3-Tiger 4-DM's choice 5-marble 6-stars)
20 Disturbing swirling shifting pattern


Jobs (d12)(demon will have additional powers enabling it to perform the duties of its office--as determined by the DM--if necessary)

1 Tempt (random profession) into sin
2 Retrieve specific object from Prime Material Plane
3 Slay individual who has broken a pact with demonic forces
4 Cause war
5 Cause disease
6 Cause famine
7 Advise powerful evil members of (random profession)
8 Advise powerful good or evil members of (random profession) while disguised as an ordinary human, elf, etc. and secretly turn their efforts toward wickedness and ruin (CAN POLYMORPH SELF d4 times per day)
9 Gather intelligence on the sins of men
10 Destroy or discredit powerful good creature/person
11 Destroy powerful antidemonic object
12 Use some nominally good thing--love, friendship, compassion, enlightenment--to sow strife (CAN CAUSE SAID THING TO OCCUR ON A SCALE DETERMINED BY DM)

Attributes ( (these affect how the demon looks) d100

(whether additional tongues/heads/mouths mean creature may cast one extra spell per round per tongue is up to DM)

1 Mechanical parts
2 Mechanical weaponry
3 Hairless (or skinless if base creature has skin or if you're bored with that)
4 Eyes are solid color
5 Eyes are (1-flame 2-jewel 3-ice 4-stone 5-babies' heads 6-missing)
6 Aflame
7 Covered in ice
8 Made of stone
9 Made of volcanic stone (lava through cracks)
10 Acidic drool
11 Made of rotting plant matter
12 Made of rotting meat
13 Is only half-visible
14 Extra eye
15 Extra eyes (2d4)
16 Covered in eyes
17 Extra arm (or 2 arms if base creature has none)
18 Extra arms (2d4)
19 Covered in arms
20 d4 Extra tongues
21 Extra mouth
22 extra mouths (2d4)
23 Covered in mouths
24 Extra head/face (50% whole head, like Ettin or Demogorgon, 50% just face, like Hindu god)
25 2d4 Extra heads (50% Ettin, 50% like Hindu god)
26 Covered in faces
27 Covered in heads
28 Vertical symmetry (built like a king queen or jack playing card, with extra, inverted head and arms where legs should be
29 Wiry (extra agile)
30 Withered (extra slow)
31 Megafat (extra slow)
32 Huge: d20+7' tall
33 Elongated: d12+7' tall but skinny and fragile looking
34 Barely mobile: fat, d20' tall, d20'+4 feet in diameter, moves 1 foot per round, 2 extra powers
35 Rolling: is spherical or ring-shaped
36 Amphibious; a sea demon--gills and scales and what-all
37 Weapons for arms: 1-Hooks 2-Swords 3-Serrated blades 4-Whips
38 Claw feet
39 Extra pair of legs
40 2d6 extra legs (as spider)
41 2d6 extra legs (as centipede)
42 Halo of flies
43 Is pair of twin demons, half stats each, powers belong to one or the other
44 Extra joints
45 Eyestalks
46 Covered in ice
47 Faceless--if already faceless, then limbless
48 Headless--if already headless, then has random head
49 Hydrocephalic
50 Always levitates
51 Divided: left half and right half have separate attributes--roll full complement separately
52 Quartered: 4 quarters of body have separate attributes--roll full complement separately
53 Reptilian scales--bonus to AC
54 Missing d4 limbs typical of base creature
55 Missing mouth--if already mouthless, has mouth
56 Missing d2 eyes-if already eyeless, has 1 eye
57 d4 limbs in wr0ng places--if this is not applicable, has d4 arms/legs
58 Elongated body part--2d4' longer or 3x normal 1-neck 2-head 3-arms 4-legs 5-1 arm 6-1 leg
59 Spines
60 Mane like a lion or frilled lizard
61 Conjoined twin
62 Head that's just an eye
63 Head that's just a mouth
64 Tiny: d4 feet tall
65 Crawls if base creature doesn't, upright if base creature does
66 Facial features rearranged. If featureless, has a face now.
67 d6 tentacles
68 Bat wings
69 Butterfly wings
70 Bird wings
71 Insect wings
72 4 wings--roll d4+67 on this table for each set
73 Walks as if gravity pointed toward whatever wall demon stands on
75 Feet don't quite touch ground
76 Shadow moves independently but stays attached, has same stats as demon
77 Opposite gender to what you thought (if female, 1 disturbingly nice breasts 2 disturbingly withered breasts 3 hooklike protrusions for nipples 4 eyes for nipples 5 mouths for nipples 6 roll for each breast)
78 Covered in acidic slime, leaves trail
79 Antlers or horns
80 Body is elongated but has holes in it, like swiss cheese or torn dough
81 Object visibly embedded in-/worn on- body (egg, candle, crown, etc.) is power source--regenerates d6 per round unless this thing is removed, inwhich case it probably dies
82 Snake tongue
83 Barbed skin
84 Centaur (1-quadruped 2-spider/mass of tentacles 3-slug/worm/giant tongue 4-no lower body/mass of entrails)
85 Metallic skin
86 Appears with neck broken, spears through it, daggers in its face, crucified or otherwise physically mortified
87 Carries magic weapon (1-axe 2-morningstar 3-spear 4-sword 5-hammer 6-sickle 7-whip 8-scythe 9-pair of wavy daggers 10-circular shield with spikes/serrations)
88 Visible brain
89 Tree branch limbs (1-arms 2-legs 3-growing from head 4-one arm)
90 1-Mandibles 2-Tusks 3-Fangs 4-All teeth are fangs
91 body covered in teeth
92 Mandalaform: Creature has 4 torsos joined in the center
93 Demon can assume two forms: the one rolled so far and another one which is an ordinary human, demihuman or domestic animal with one minor irregularity (missing finger, heterochromatic eyes, etc.)
94 Body part "attached" backwards 1-head 2-arms 3-legs 4-hands
95 Crouches like a toad, maybe legs to match
96 Sheathed in ornate/ominous plate mail that hides its form
97 Tail (1-spines 2-forked 3-arrow 4-whips 5-scorpion 6-morningstar 7-hand on tip 8-second head on tip)
98 Elongated proboscis-face like the Spy Vs. Spy guys or an anteater. with long tongue
99 Animal face if humanoid body, humanoid face if otherwise
00 Features on palms (1-eyes 2-mouths 3-whole face 4-leechlike mouths

_____
Powers (d100) (abilities unrelated to the demon's appearance) (effects with durations last until demon is slain, leaves radius, or DM rolls a duration, unless otherwise noted)

1 All within 20' radius must save or be overcome with desire to kill other random nearby character (50% chance of wanting to eat them, too)
2 Breathes fire
3 Constant screaming causes sonic damage and may disrupt spells
4 Invisible except in total darkness
5 Automatic gaze weapon (1-combustion 2-cold 3-fear 4-beg for forgiveness 5-paralysis 6-vomiting 7-flesh rots 8-blind)
6 As above but touch weapon
7 Can remove own body parts and throw them
8 Constriction attack (ability to stretch if necessary)
9 All within 20' radius must save or fall in love with demon. Good clerics or paladins may choose either to automatically succeed or to give everyone in the area a +2 bonus to this save (not both, though).
10 3-word command spell (save optional)
11 Charm
12 Powerful wind constantly blows toward demon
13 Vegetation dies and stone crumbles wherever it walks
14 Speaks only in whispers. All sound nearby is deadened.
15 Everyone within a 30ft radius must make a will save or start weeping.
16 The air in its wake is filled with deadly vapors. All within 10ft must make a fortitude save or be poisoned.
17 It is always raining in the area around this demon.
18 All nonintelligent animals in a 100' radius die instantly when demon appears
19 All nonintelligent animals in a 50' radius become corrupted and obey demon's commands
20 Dozens of small verminous animals appear out of ground when creature is summoned (DM picks or: 1-frogs 2-rats 3-flies 5-skeletons of all animals that have died here 6-six inch maggots)
21 Acid for blood
22 Maggots for blood (tend to spray when cut)
23 No-one may tell the truth within 20' of the demon
24 No-one may lie within 20' of the demon
25 All 0-levels or commoners within 50' become suicidal
26 Any dead characters in the area automatically rise as zombies or skeletons according to their level of decomposition and obey demon.
27 Confusion 20' radius for d4 rounds.
28 Breathes hideous cone of vomit and gore
29 Rusting aura--5'
30 Corrodes faith--demon's attacks do permanent damage to target's willpower-based saves.
31 Grants 1 wish per week. Twists wishes if possible within the wording and, if not, takes a terrible price in return
32 Demon's attacks appear to do no damage, but in fact inflict equivalent damage on target's loved ones. This is revealed in dreams if it is not immediately obvious.
33 Demon knows all of PCs sins and those of their closest confidants and will relate them, psychically or verbally, to anyone in earshot
34 Demon's voice issues from mouth of nearby intelligent creature nearby--the weakest, preferably a child. Creature's voice issues from mouth of demon.
35 Damage to demon hurts nearby target instead and vice versa
36 Can cause targets' mouth to fill with worms
37 Automatic spell reflection on any caster whose level is less than demon's HD (arcane spells only--cleric spells work fine)
38 Full of other, smaller demons. Killing the creature or scoring a critical hit on it causes it to burst open and they run out. They are 18" tall and identical, of the same order as the parent and possessing d4 attributes. There are 3d6 of them.
39 100' aura of putrefaction
40 Vulnerable only to magic and blessed weapons. Weapons blessed by antithetical priest gain +2
41 Unholy touch causes clerics to lose d4 spells and paladins to lose special abilities for d10 rounds
42 Blood spilled from a paladin or good cleric heals d8 damage, killing a paladin or an antithetical cleric heals all damage
43 Spits out own teeth like darts. 2d6 damage. If a toothless creature, it shoots acidic spores.
44 Swallows victims whole
45 Cast web of thorns (as "web" but moving out of it causes damage))
46 Touch ages or de-ages target (1 minus 10 years 2 +10 years 3 +20 yrs 4 +30 yrs). Level stays the same, but stats are affected.
47 Can "teleport" by walking into a shadow on solid surface and re-emerging from any shadow within 100 yards 2 rounds later.
48 All works of human craft or art within 100 yard become worse. Paintings become brushy and ham-fisted, the lines of poems chime awkwardly and, more to the point, armor doesn't fit right (armor becomes 2 steps worse) and weaponwork fails (weapons break on any fumble). Effect is permanent.
49 Anything blessed, specially holy to a given faith (like a church), or possessed by a cleric bursts into flame within 20'
50 Can cast "false seeing"--targets save or see everything as the opposite of the way it actually is for 24 hours starting after the demon leaves or is killed.
51 Touch causes target to vomit up everything s/he has eaten in last 4 days along with any constituent nutrients metabolized in the ensuing time. Target is now at -2 con and ravenously hungry.
52 Demon hears confession: asks PCs to recount the past week's sins. If they refuse, lie, or have no sins, they take 2d6 cold damage.
53 Demon spends one round delivering prophecies on all PCs as per "fortune" rules in Vornheim. Demon is immune (and takes no other action) to harm during prophetic round.
54 Inverted howl: demon's screech causes 1 hp damage per foot away from demon target is, up to 100 yards. Targets touching demon are immune. Save negates the first time only.
55 Slow aura 20' radius
56 People lose their balance in 20' radius, need a dex check to stay upright each round
57 Grapples target, reaches into target's mouth, pulls soul out in the form of a small animal of a type appropriate to the character made of a metal appropriate to that person's deeds. The soul is indestructible but the PC will fail all saves and cannot be beneficially affected by any spell until it is retrieved and re-swallowed.
58 Will offer to heal fallen foes (cure light wounds) in exchange for their soullllll. (Effect to be decided by DM.)
59 Lava for blood
60 Food in 1100 yards becomes poisonous (only detectable by magic)
61 Touch causes hideous uncontrollable laughter
62 Poisonous bite, claw, or weapon
63 Wounding demon causes tentacle to grow out of wound and attack on same round
64 Wounding demon causes demon to gain additional attribute
65 Minor baleful polymorph (subtractive): can cause target to save or lose a finger, an eye, a tongue, etc.
66 Minor baleful polymorph (additive): can cause target to save or grow clamping fingers over mouth, skin over eyes, etc.
67 Minor baleful polymorph (tranformative): can cause target's finger to turn into rat, arm into snake, etc.
68 Dessicating touch
69 Touch causes target to forget an important thing.
70 Can transfer knowledge of the awful realities of the universe into target's mind--target is immobilized for # of rounds = intelligence score minus 7, gains 1 point of wisdom, but must save vs spell or go insane for a week
71 Touch causes target to take 1 point of damage per creature target has slain in last week. 2 points for each intelligent target.
72 Wounds inflicted by demon cannot be healed until demon is slain
73 Anyone in 10' weeps blood: -2 to hit and lose 1 hp per round.
74 Vegetation within 20' grows wild and bloodthirsty
75 Null field 10'--arrows drop to the ground, normal melee attack are at -2 and do -2 damage until the demon is grappled
76 Shrieks of pain heal demon--if it can cause a target to howl in pain, it regains d6 hp
77 Area in a 100 yard radius is afflicted by temporal flux, causing everything except the demon and its foes to become as it was/will be: (standard option) in the age of dinosaurs or equivalent (you-did-a-lot-of-world-building-and-want-to-show-off-option) back to the age of whenever you think would be an interesting time for the PCs to visit (gonzo option) 2000 years into the future (steampunk fetishist option) in the Victorian era (make-this-fight-a-big-deal-option) if the foe fails to defeat the demon
78 Demon healed when another creature within 30' inflicts a wound on an innocent. However, demon is bound to serve the inflicter for a number of rounds equal to the hp inflicted + (d6 minus 3 rounds rolled secretly by DM.) (Damage cannot be self-inflicted--one creature must wound another.)
79 Demon's touch causes all missiles fired within in 100 yards to hit target until demon is slain.
80 Demon can curse one word per round by saying it in a mocking voice. Any creature saying that word or writing it takes d8 points of damage until demon is destroyed. (Demon is immune.)
81 Demon can curse one action per round by performing that action while swaying lewdly (swinging a sword, casting a spell, walking, etc). Any creature performing that action takes d8 damage until demon is destroyed. (Demon is immune.)
82 Demon can curse a patch of ground by wounding someone on it--anyone in a 10' radius of where the foe fell is wracked with pain and takes d8 damage/round. Effect remains until demon is slain. (Demon is immune.)
83 Demon can cause target to fall madly in love with next being s/he sees other than those present at moment of casting. Effect is permanent and can only be lifted via remove curse, etc.
84 Maze spell (as AD&D) 2/day. A creature may elect to spend extra time in the maze (maximum time for his/her intelligence level + 1 round) and, if so, and if s/he either succeeds in an intelligence check at -10 or goes to the right place in a maze the DM has prepared in advance for this purpose, may find the demon's soul, in the form of a bizarre relic or talisman and, once s/he returns to the material plane, may use it to bind the demon to his/her will.
85 Organic matter (including leather armor, straps, cotton) decays, rots, and is eaten by moths in a 10' radius around demon.
86 Demon can cause one enemy attack or spell per round to strike a target of its choosing, including the attacker. May use this as an "interrupt" action but this is the demon's "attack" action for the turn.
87 Demon can spit a viscous goo which solidifies with the strength of a web spell in a small area the size of a fist. This can be used to pin a foot to the ground, stick a sword to its sheath, etc. 20' range.
88 Demon can imitate any action performed by an opponent, unless that opponent is a paladin or cleric. Attack rolls, spell dice results, etc. will be the same.
89 Demon can steal a melee weapon from a foe on a successful to-hit roll. Once it has succeeded, the demon may attack with that weapon (starting on its next turn) until it succeeds. A successful hit indicates the weapon does normal damage but is also stuck fast inside the opponent and cannot be removed without a remove curse or similar spell. The stuck weapon does d4 hp of damage each time the target moves.
90 Demon asks all present, in turn, "Will you slay me?". All are compelled to answer yes or no ("I don't know" is not an option, however, secretly, saying the name of another creature is)--any foe saying "No" will take d10 damage from demoralization and is -2 to all saves, though they will gain double experience if they actually do slay the demon (that is, deliver the killing blow), any foe saying "Yes" will take d20 damage after the battle ends if they were wrong, and anyone saying someone else's name will take d10 if they were wrong and will gain +25% xp if they were right.
91 Demon causes all who do not save vs. spell within 100 yards to see demon's foes as demons and attack them on sight. Immunity to the effect is conferred by having crossed a river in company of the target--so in most cases PCs cannot be turned against each other.
92 Time becomes terrible. Traversing each grisly new second is like crawling over a new desert. Anyone aware of the demon's presence on the plane begins to lose one point of constitution per round until it is destroyed.
93 The air around the demon is a cloud of microscopic, razor-sharp particles, causing 1 hp damage per 6 feet or tabletop inch moved. 15' radius. (Demon is immune.)
94 Touch causes particularly unseemly version of irresistible dance spell.
95 All children within 10 miles scream at the top of their lungs continuously. May or may not have mechanical effects, depending on the proximity of the children.
96 The demon's shadow burns whatever it touches for 2d6 hp of damage.
97 Demon spits cloud of small knives, caltrops, shuriken, etc. Does d12 + (10-number of feet targets are away) damage to all within a cone who do not save.
98 Demon causes deluge of blood. Fills the area at 1' per round, or if area is not on a flood plain, it begins to rain blood. Either way it's pretty distracting.
99 Touch causes target's bones to decay--they lose 10% of their dex and con per round until they're a blob of skin-covered organs.
00 Demon announces it will annihilate a given target and devour their soul. It will attack only that target (at +2) until it succeeds. Each round it is prevented from attacking that target by another creature it will lose 1hp. It is at -2 v. any other target. If target is slain, demon gains d4 hd and anyone who tried and failed to stop it will lose 50% of their hit points from morale damage and shame.