Tag: Random things

20 Forest Encounters

Forests have long held a special place in our hearts, represented untamed nature and a glimpse into the past before concrete and asphalt covered much of the civilised world. In D&D the forests are the domain of the Elves and fey creatures who can be whimsical allies or deadly threats.

Below is a D20 table of people, creatures and events that your PCs might encounter whilst exploring the dark reaches of the forest.

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The man in the back said everyone attack and it turned into a barroom hex!

In this Monday’s episode myself and Hannah discuss barroom brawls and try to create a simple mini-game for running them:

The subject of this episode was suggested by:

If you’re interested in knowing more about Hexflowers, check out the following created by Goblin’s Henchman:

You can see the hexflower we created here.

The icons used in the hexflower and as the title image of this post were taken from Game-Icons.net

Barroom Brawl Hex Flower

The subject of this post is to provide a fun little mini-game for running barroom brawls quickly in RPGs, this topic was suggested by Jason Connerley of the Nerds RPG Variety Cast and makes use of the excellent hex-flower creations of Goblin’s Henchman.

If you want to know more about hex flowers click here.

Essentially the mini-game works like this, the player party has a number of check boxes representing how long they can stay in the fight, the NPCs involved also have a number of check boxes.

  • The Player party has one checkbox for every player involved.
  • The number of checkboxes for the NPCs varies depending on the size of the establishment – 1D4 for small establishments, 1D4+2 for medium establishments and 1D4+4 for larger places.

Please note: The boxes do not represent the strict number of people nor HP, they are an abstract measurement of how you are doing in the fight.

If the NPC boxes are all checked before the PCs then the player party has triumphed, if the PC checkboxes are filled first then the PCs are all knocked out or subdued.

Please note: This game does not provide guidelines for what happens when the PCs lose or win the fight, that is down to the individual GM and the needs of their campaign, the purpose of this mini-game is to simulate a chaotic, quick, interesting pub brawl.

How to Play the Game

Once you’ve worked out the number of check boxes for PCs and NPCs, place a counter in the middle of the hex below. Each player then takes a turn to roll 2D6 moving the counter as indicated, each time the counter lands in a new space read the description and follow the action given then move on to the next player. Simple.

Hex Flower Key

But what happens if I go off the edge?

Should you dice roll result indicate that you have gone off the edge of the hex then you re-enter on the opposite side, a couple of examples are shown below:

Please feel free to leave comments and constructive criticism either on these blog or via voicemail on our podcast, the episode where we discuss the creation of this mini-game can be found here.

The icons used in the hexflower and for the header image of this post were taken from Game-Icons.net

Many thanks to Goblin’s Henchmen (the creator of the Hexflower idea) for pointing out I’d forgotten to mention what happens when you go off the edge of the hex.

Random Red Shirt Backgrounds

In this episode Hannah has hi-jacked the mic again, we’re out by a campfire in our back garden creating a random table to add some more interest to random extras and NPCs that the player characters might come across in your game.

Random Background Table

Below is the table that we have come up with so far, rolling on each of the columns will give you a very brief description and background element for each random red shirt or hireling you need to define.

1D12 RollDescriptorFromLove/HatesBecause of
1OldLocalFoodAn incident during childhood.
2YoungDistant LandsDrunkenessThat’s how they were raised.
3TallCityMonsters/AliensTrauma from a previous mission.
4ShortCountryTravelReminds them of a lost love.
5LitheCoastMagic/TechnologyAn incident with a friend or family member.
6PrettyIslandFightingOf a misunderstanding.
7UglyMountainsDiplomacyA natural weakness or allergy.
8ConfidentColoniesQuiet MissionsA supernatural curse.
9NervousHomeworldHeatIt relates to a hidden, dark secret.
10CourageousShip RaisedColdOf an ancient prophecy foretelling their doom.
11IntelligentAlien WorldWaterTrauma from a previous mission.
12CautiousMinesHim/HerselfAn incident during childhood.

Image was taken from https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Red-T-shirt/58719.html.

Midderlands Encounter Generator

I’ve got the second session of our current Midderlands campaign (set in Great Lunden) coming up today and have been working on a random encounter generator for it. I’ve not done all the Wards yet and have prioritised the ones I expect to come up in the session, I’ll be adding to it as and when I get time though.

Clicking on the link below will take you to the generator:

Random Things: Updated Midderlands Name/Occupation Table

I’ve been updating my chart of Midderlands Names/Occupations to incorporate information from other sources, there is a list of inspiration sources at the bottom of this post.

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Random Thing: Perfumes

You can get ideas in the most unlikely of places, in this case it was when listen to the Thought Eater podcast, I misheard the host Froth when he said “Pick your OSR clone of choice” and thought he said “Pick your OSR cologne of choice.” I realised my error pretty quickly but–the more I thought about it–the more the idea of random colognes appealed to me, so I decided to put together a series of linked random tables.

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