D66 Badlands Hex Features, and Randomness Thoughts

So, in respect of Prismatic's Blogwagon topic, I suppose I should actually write a bit more on process and methods, rather than just spamming them with random tables. Not that there isn't another random table residing directly below... 

I'm a middling GM and writer, at best. Most of my scenarios and creativity are pretty bog-standard as far as RPG content goes. I crib from better creators wherever possible, and chink up the cracks in material content with my ideas where necessary.

So, I'm not going to come up with any groundbreaking theory or mechanics, just what works for me, and maybe help a dear reader or two.

First of all, for any session or scenario, there is little need to build out bespoke random table contents. With fifty years of publications and web content, there's likely a random table that fits your needs. 

Even the infamous ones...

Plenty of TTRPG books include monsters encountered by terrain type. Sort by HD or whatever criteria, and accost your players' PCs at your leisure.

And, the tables don't have to be fancy. Even for a campaign-level setting, there will be the things encountered more regularly, and a few rarities that may only hit the die rolls a few times. Call them the residents vs the exotics, perhaps. The tribes of orcs vs the one dragon. Grade on a curve - 2d6, 3d6, etc. Again, smarter people than me have expounded on this.

"But what if I want to random some stuff up, Mr. Leicester?" I hear you say. Well then, go for it... with the only real caveat of, "make them make sense."

Looking at my last blog entry, there is The Randomness of the die rolls, with the list of qualities or attributes for each creature. Then, the "heavy lifting" of creating some logic for making that particular arrangement fit into your setting. Particularly for a sandbox-type scenario, where the exploration and encounters themselves inform the larger play (we'll also be delving into this based on our last campaign session...)

And it might not work. Sometimes the dice aren't always right. Regardless, making something out of a bunch of random rolls, be it filling a dungeon, or creating a critter, is still good practice, and an opportunity to keep the brain flexible. 

And I'm sure that I have at least one failed experiment that showed up elsewhere...

D66 Lost Cities

First of all, Prismatic Wasteland's current Blogwagon topic is "Randomness" - which means I'm posting sumthin' random...

According to the randomly assigned posting window, I have until the 12th, so there will be a couple more posts to follow this...

Secondly of all, during our Sunday night game, I posited the question of,  "Why do you seek the lost city of X" to my players. Drom, the dwarf desert rider (currently MIA) has his personal quest, so I wanted to poll the rest of the party on what they may hope to find. I'll post their answers in my game report, later.

Anyway, the question came up of "How do we know if we found the correct Lost City?" After all, the lands of the Cold Desert could just be lousy with them.

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"Damnit, Bjorr! This is the THIRD lost city we've found, and STILL not the one we're looking for!"

Anyway, have four d66 columns of fun, with names, reasons for abandonment, current occupants, and reasons to visit!

Download to Discover What Was Lost

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D66 Items Found in the Sewers

So, I'm working on a funnel adventure for Shadowdark. Might as well post up part of the work in progress. The most important part of said adventure - the D66 random items to find while slogging through the slop...

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I mean, these are 0-level rat-stickers and clog-clearers. There have to be some perks of the job...

No. No, there are really no perks to these jobs... 

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Anyhow, without further ado, a lovely list of valuable and useful items floating among the other floaters...

D66 MORE Side-Effects of Reincarnation

Nope, couldn't let a dead dog lie...

Came up with more ideas at supper, and one list became two. This one has fewer positive side effects, more on the negative or 'color' side of the tally. Because there are prices to be paid for coming back from the Other Side. It shouldn't be a blessing.

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So have D66 More Side-Effects of Reincarnation. Beware of lightning.

(If both tables are used, for each effect: 50/50 for Table 1 or 2, then roll effect.)

D66 Side Effects of Reincarnation...

So, your colleague got themselves dead. Not a problem, you've got the coin to donate for a resurrection. Problem is, there's no local temple with a priest powerful enough to raise the dead.

But what about that necromancer? You know, the odd lady with the unsettling stare and jars of preserved body parts? I'm sure she can do the job.

Oh, certainly! She says, eyes scanning your deceased comrade. Just like those god-fearing clerics do it, just without the pesky religious bits. She accepts the payment. Oh, yes, just like the clerics! She shoos you off and retreats with your friend's body into a chamber filled with stinking reagents, clinking glassware, and half-formed summoning circles.

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Well, a week later, ol' Jimbo is back on his feet. Over a drink he recounts, with shaking hands, what he saw in the afterlife... 

***

Hey Sven, you notice anything different about Jimbo? 

Well, he's completely bald now. 

No, I meant the circling buzzards.

OH...

***

I originally started with the idea of a revenant-type reincarnated PC, with a touch of undeath about them. Then, of course it expanded into a D66 table for side effects of necromancy.

But nah. Anyone who's been pulled back across the veil is going to be Changed By The Experience...

D66 Side Effects of Reincarnation

D66 Magical Armors

Well, radio silence. The writing is being sluggish, as Transcription Project '25 rapidly becomes Transcription Project '26. I think that, with the end of the campaign, I've had less urgency to write. Not to mention those Real Life(tm) elements that dominate one's attention and energies. 

Anyhoo... Thought that I'd ginned up a dozen D66 tables for the third compilation, but found that I'd only come up with eleven. So - here's Number Twelve. 

Armor!

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Like a few other entries, a magic item with simply a bonus is boring. So all of our armors have a little (or lot) something extra. Plus a few are cursed, because that's fun.

Download the Defense!

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Now I can get to that 13th bonus table for the third collection. Any suggestions?

Ok, now that The Plague has passed, we can get back to brewery games this Sunday... More to come.

D66 Beers on the Wall ....

Well, been offline for a bit. Out visiting the relatives on the Plains, you know...

I always have the intention to get some writing done while I'm back at the homestead, but the time gets filled with sorting things to dispose of, and family history to keep (like records of those no-nonsense fellows, above).  

As well as hanging at the local watering holes. Like your PCs may do between bouts of killing monsters and taking their stuff. And, in our campaign, the halfling Fulvus was on a quest to find interesting ale formulations, and made a habit of talking with local taverns and alewives, with the hope of taking back a "secret recipe" to his own alehouse.

So, what might he have found in his travels? And - perhaps one or more of those "Secret recipes" may have included a bit of a side effect, whether intentional or not. So what's on tap at the tavern, and did your PC get a bit more than they bargained for? ...

Have a Drink

Speaking of which, setting up a game at a new brewery location tonight as part of their Sunday game night.  (Cancelled due to the appearance of plague at Leicester HQ)

D66 Double Feature: Magic Weapons and Shields

Hiedy ho, neighbor!

Time to post up something not play report-affiliated. Not that everyone doesn't find my reports of hapless gamerunning as totally gripping reads.

Posted up 10-ish magic weapons a bit ago, so of course we need to expand that list to d66. And while we're at it, why not d66 magic shields to go along with them. 

Each has a standard bonus, plus one additional quality. Some may be one-time use, some daily, some permanent. All in the name of not just another boring +1 sword in the loot pile. Hopefully they can liven up a treasure find and the resulting play. I know that Slick's level-draining scimitar has made several monsters very sad. 

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So have a pair of lists to mix and match into your adventures:

Magic Weapons Here

Magic Shields Here

Anyway, on to finalize, perhaps, some details for this weekend's final !?! session of our little campaign that began around three years ago... 

Expect shenanigans, and hopefully a few surprises...

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D66 Goods That Caravan is Hauling (x2!)

So, as things go in a campaign, the players occasionally encounter a caravan.

Not that Caravan...

...that caravan.

And, of course, we have the running gag of "something that fell off the wagon" recovered by either the PCs or the local Halfling Mafia. So what did they find?

So here are two D66 lists of potential cargo to pick and choose from, with items both mundane and exotic. 

List the First

List the Second

OK, maybe that Caravan...

D66 Reasons Why The Party Had to Leave Town Quickly

A common question I ask at the beginning of one-shots to get people into role-playing their characters is, "How did you get into trouble in the last town?" Because adventurers are always on their best behavior within city limits...

Or sometimes not

Anyhow, sometimes there is a need to rapidly vacate the premises, due to shenanigans, a misunderstanding, or elements easily pinned onto itinerant adventurers. Here are a few:

DOWNLOAD me here

And per my prior entry on creating - yes, I am on task, as it were, transcribing notes from scribbled-upon maps to editable and expandable form. The pile was thicker than I thought, but progress is being made, and little adventures will begin to trickle out soon...

D10 Magic Weapons Found On That Corpse

Months ago during the campaign, the party came upon the remains of a squad of soldiers who had perished in combat with a Chaos raiding party. The combat was fresh, and it appeared that the foes had all perished in a hard-fought, desperate struggle. And I knew that the deceased commander of the troops should have a magic weapon, but something more than just another +1 sword. 

So I whipped up a quick list with a little help from Chaotic Shiny:

1. +2 short sword (1d6+2), casts a glamour 1/day (2d6 rounds)
2. +2 short sword (1d6+2), wind blast 1/day (raises dust to blind opponents, extinguish torches, etc.)
3. +1 trident (1d6+1), lighting bolt 1/day (2d6 dmg, 150', save for half)
4. +1 battle axe (1d8+1), flame 3/day (+1d6 fire damage)
5. +2 hand axe (1d6+2), bearer may recover as full night's rest on four hours of sleep.
6. +1 longsword (1d8+1), petrify 1/day (save to avoid)
7. +1 trident (1d6+1), shoot 60' jet of water 3/day (knock opponent prone, extinguish light, etc.)
8. +1 spear (1d6+1), +1d6 acid damage, degrades armor by 1 point (save to avoid damage)
9. +1 rapier (1d6+1), fly 1/day (1d6 turns)
10. +1 scimitar (1d8+1), drains level on 1st attack

Slick rolled the d10 to see what he found, and got his nasty black scimitar.

Plus a bonus item they didn't find: 

    +1 javelin (1d4+1), raises 10'x100' earthen wall where it lands (1 use)

Only 25 more for the inevitable D66 list....

D66 Overly-Specific Very Minor Demons, and an Incantation Bowl!

Some time ago, I was searching Wikimedia Commons for demon imagery for filler art for a blog post or adventure writeup, and I came across this charming fellow:

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Alleborith, a minor demon, whose sole power is to cause people to choke on fish bones. Never say that you have no talents.

So behold! From the abyssal plains and muttered curses of adventurers arise D66 aggravating demons to torment in the most specific of ways!

DOWNLOAD US HERE!!!

AND! Behold more! My own personal incantation bowl, useful for protection of the home from demons and other malevolent forces... 

Lilith is having a bad hair day...

D66 Times Three... A Collection of Hexcrawl Curiosities

Got on a writing bender on Sunday. Bit of a heat wave here, plus trying to get some house stuff taken care of, so made some focused writing time between other tasks. Started with one table, but knew that I'd eventually drag a couple more out of the brain. So why not now? It's something I need to do. Just sit, focus, and drag some creativity out of myself. 

So have three... count 'em, THREE D66 lists of random, perhaps interesting things, to find during one's hexcrawling of the edge of the map.

Meteorite, or frozen fireball? Your call.

Download me here

Download me here 2

Download me here 3

That's 108 random things to stumble upon, for those keeping track at home.

D66 False Crystal Balls

No, I couldn't leave well enough, or half-assed alone. I needed to expand yesterday's list to D66. 

Jareth, again...

So, expanded, bigger, better, and with more balls! 

D66 FALSE Crystal Balls

11: Flashes as Chromatic Orb equivalent, random level effect.
12: Viewer goes into catatonic trance.
13: Becomes permanently stuck to hand.
14: Just shows embarrassing childhood moments.
15: Projects false prophesies.
16: SPIDERS (Causes hallucinations).
21: Causes nightmares.
22: Shiny, mundane.
23: Makes a nice kaleidoscope, casts pretty patterns on walls.
24: Creates a black void to peer into.
25: Causes manic episodes.
26: Causes obsession with the ball.
31: Projects image of viewer to another, real magic ball.
32: It's a mimic, because why not?
33: Becomes very hot. Temperature rises to approx. 1,400° C. Burns through anything it can melt through.
34: Ball begins to replicate, doubling in number every minute until room filled (or 2¹⁶ balls, whichever comes first).
35: Attracts swarms of rats.
36: Explodes, treat as fireball.
41: Big flash! Causes permanent blindness to anyone in room.
42: It's haunted.
43: Begins to emit noxious smoke, continues until the draperies and carpets are ruined.
44: Spontaneously extrudes 18-inch long spikes.
45: Becomes exceedingly dense until it weighs approximately 256 tons.
46: Expands into a Rover, user born off to an undisclosed location.
51: Loudly proclaims, “I can't believe you thought this was a crystal ball!” in a mocking voice for an hour.
52: Transforms into a Magic 8-Ball.
53: Transforms user into a crystalline statue.
54: Rickrolls.
55: Floats to ceiling, bumps around annoyingly, avoids attempts to capture.
56: Floats to ceiling, transforms into disco ball.
61: Teleports viewer to random location within 200 mile radius.
62: Teleports viewer to pocket dimension for safekeeping.
63: Transforms into a lime green D30.
64: Leaps from viewer's hand, giggling, rolls under furniture, avoids attempts to capture.
65: Becomes a luminous, yellow-green cat's eye. Viewer can't shake the feeling that it is surrounded by a near-invisible, spectral cat.
66: Transforms into small black hole. Consumes approximately one cubic mile of matter before imploding.

(May require appropriate saving throw or remove curse/similar to negate effect)

Download here, if you must.

I'm ponderin' my orbs!

D12 False Crystal Balls

So... last session the PCs were tasked with swiping a scrying device from a member of the Merchant's Guild. And of course, it didn't go well, because, duh, scrying device. But said member of the Guild was more amused by the party's incursion, plus was interested in their more global activities. And of course additional details of the goings-on and agenda of the individual who had retained them. Because the device, a crystal ball, provided glimpses, but not in-depth information.

At the end of the conversation, the party asked about how to perhaps continue the ruse against their employer. At least long enough to get out of town with their payment. But of course our target merchant had a “spare” ball. It would emit a magic aura and appear to be a normal crystal ball in other ways. Just say you found this activation word with it. Good luck.

Ya know, because a crystal ball sometimes isn't really a crystal ball.

...because of course I had to use the Goblin King

D12 False Crystal Balls

1. Chromatic Orb equivalent, treat as 4^th level caster

2. Causes catatonic trance

3. Becomes stuck to hand

4. Just shows embarrassing childhood moments

5. Projects false prophesies

6. SPIDERS (hallucinations)

7. Causes nightmares

8. Shiny, mundane

9. A pretty kaleidoscope

10. A nice black void to peer into

11. Causes manic episodes

12. Causes obsession with ball

(several of the effects will require a remove curse or equivalent to counteract)

I should get off my butt and do d66...

Update: I did.

ANOTHER Baker's Dozen of D66 Random Tables...

A second (!) collection of random D66 lists originally posted here on the blog (plus an extra, for my deserving readers!) for use, abuse, or inspiration at your table. Contents include: wands, ships, dogs, and multiple random dungeon content generators! The generators have been stress tested in the real world(tm), so have at 'em....

DriveThruRPG Link

Previous batch here

D66 Magic Staves

Time for the good ol' basic stick. Or staff, if you so desire. 

A walking stick, peasant's weapon, or signature accessory of any self-respecting mage:

Enchanted, of course.

Download me here

As always, use with caution:

Diving into list no. 24, which means I need to create another secret list for the next D66 compilation. Any suggestions?

Edit: Doh! Forgot to note. Yes, at least a few staves are based on the Plagues of Egypt, because if a couple of Moses's staff tricks can get into the DMG, why not more?

D66 Magic Axes

Behold, more D66 goodness! This time, the doughty battle axe! Favored by dwarves, barbarians, seafaring raiders, and those folks who just like to chop stuff!

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Download Me Here

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Closing in on another dozen lists, so will compile another baker's dozen soon...

D66 Dungeons Trois - Paul's Mission, Completed!

In honor of Paul slogging his way through drafting 30 dungeons in 30 days, and in appreciation of his using a couple of my tables for random inspiration, here we go again. D66 more things for yer dungeon.

Paul will be drafting his final random dungeon live, tonight at 7pm CST. Join us to marvel at his fortitude!

This time: things to get, things stopping you from getting them, and what's decorating those rooms and passageways.

download me!

Again, here are tables Number One and Number Deux. The three can be used together, mix-and-match, to spark a bit of inspiration or vision for your latest dangerous spaces for the hapless PCs. Roll each column as many times as necessary to fill atmosphere, features, and monsters. Although there are similar lists and crossover on the tables, each has enough uniqueness, especially on the 'enemies lists,' to hopefully make something that's not quite run of the mill. Have fun!

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D66 Dungeons Deux

Not content to make up one random list, I came up with a second last night and this morning. That's right folks, two lists, two days! That's the type of grind that my dozen readers are eagerly awaiting. 

Anyway...

Another three-column list, with 'theme/setting," "goal/objective," and "occupants/big bad." "Settings" on this one are more of the "everything is a dungeon" concept for adventure-building. And the "occupants" list includes a few of my favorites to foist upon players, for anyone who's read my actual-play reports...

The two lists may be used separately, in concert, or as mix-and match to one's heart's content (prior one here). There is some overlap between column contents in both yesterday's list and today's, as certain elements cross boundaries (Who noted "giant" in all three columns yesterday?). 

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Ok Paul, here's more to confound you.

Download me here

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