Perhaps
these woods and hills have more than 2d4 ogres in them? (Photo: stock art)
No referee should be without them- we all know that. But many
might not realize that random tables can also be used for much more than simply
adding an uncertain element of combat to one’s adventures. Not only can they help
to provide encounters for those characters who happen to wander haphazardly
away from your intended plot, but they can also bring an increased level of
detail and realism to your game, for both players and you, the Almighty Referee,
to experience.
In the process of playtesting Wyrd Ways of Walstock, I had
the pleasure of using a number of random tables from Divinities and Cults:
Volumes I & II. These tables are designed to be more than a mere ‘monster
factory’ list of things wandering around for adventurers to stab to death.
Instead, they allow characters to also experience such things as a change in
the weather, wildlife that isn’t trying to kill them (right away), some notable
landform, or other occurrence to make their trip more memorable. These are
things that one might likely experience during a journey through the woods or hiking
along a pleasant meadow, for example. But don’t worry: there are still plenty
of encounters listed for the party to stab to death.
Like all random encounter tables, these not only make the
game more interesting for the players, but also for myself too, as Referee. I always
enjoy being pleasantly surprised with something unsettling and randomly determined
to throw at the party, especially in a module that I was still writing and
hadn’t had the time to detail every square foot of yet. And even better, when
something did arise that was terrible for the party, it wasn’t really my fault,
because it occurred at random.
And not just that, but these unique encounter tables help
with guiding the plot too. Their more
universal range of possible experiences (weather, terrain, sights, etc.), as
well as how they are organized by Divinity, allow mini-adventures to be built on
the fly more easily. Thus, when adventurers are wandering around in a forest, far
away from the place I want them to go, I can at least take solace in the fact
that they are wandering around in a place sacred to Artemis, far away from where I want them to go.
That is the
magic of random tables. And for yet more magic, here is part of a table I’m
working on for Wyrd Ways, which involves a great deal of political intrigue in
the form of everyone knowing everyone else in a small town. To use this table,
roll on all three columns if the NPC is someone from the character’s family;
only roll on the last two if the NPC and character might know each other
another way.
d12
|
Title
|
Descriptor
|
Relationship
|
1
|
Distant Relation
|
Somewhat
|
Distant
|
2
|
Third Cousin
|
Very
|
Close
|
3
|
Second Cousin
|
Sometimes
|
Complicated
|
4
|
First cousin
|
Mildly
|
Belligerent
|
5
|
Aunt or Uncle
|
Strangely
|
Helpful
|
6
|
Brother or Sister
|
Unpleasantly
|
Abusive
|
7
|
Child
|
Pleasantly
|
Competitive
|
8
|
Parent
|
Understandably
|
Strict
|
9
|
Great or grand- (reroll 1d8)
|
Always
|
Laid back
|
The full
table will be released with Wyrd Ways of Walstock, coming this Spring.
