Here’s a little something I am working on as part of the RQ Campaign that I thought people might be interested in!
RANDOM EVENTS
At the start of each season, the gamemaster should generate a random event which may have significant events on the individual clan, tribe, or indeed all of Dragon Pass. First, you should roll D10 on the Event Occurrence Chart below. No Event indicates nothing unpredictable and unexpected occurred in the area that season, yet. Clan events affect small groups or individuals within the clan and are the clan’s duty or responsibility to resolve. Tribe/National events affect the local Tribe or even the Kingdom of Sartar. Dragon Pass Events affect the entire region and might even take place outside of Dragon Pass. These events are more general in nature than the clan events. Each of these events can become the basis of an adventure. The gamemaster has considerable latitude in determining what these events mean and how to fit them into the campaign.
EVENT OCCURRENCE CHART
D10 Event Chart
- 1-4 No Event
- 5-7 Clan Event
- 8-9 Tribal/Sartar Event
- 10 Dragon Pass Event
CLAN EVENT
D100 Event
- 01-11 Signs of troll activity discovered in clan territory
- 12-17 Herds troubled greatly by predators
- 18-21 Herds suffer little from predators; good hunting
- 22-30 Bandits in clan territory
- 31-33 Unknown strangers found passing through clan territory
- 34-38 Nonhuman strangers found passing through clan territory
- 39-41 Neighboring clan or tribe members discovered in clan territory
- 39-41 Caravan in clan territory, opportunity for unusual trade goods.
- 42-45 Neighboring clan or tribe members discovered in clan territory
- 46-52 Neighboring tribe raids clan’s livestock
- 53-57 Clan involved in legal action against another clan
- 58 Clan territory invaded by large herbivores – threat to crops
- 59 Mythical animal discovered while hunting
- 60-63 Opportunity to join livestock-raid against neighboring clan or tribe 64-68 Tribal leader visits
- 69-71 Famous Sartarite leader visits
- 72-73 Famous priest visits
- 74 Famous visitor from another Homeland
- 75 Famous visitor from afar
- 76-77 Gods angered – difficulty for priests at seasonal sacrifice
- 78-81 Gods pleased – easy time for priests at seasonal sacrifice
- 82-86 Proposal of marriage from another clan seeking an alliance with family/clan
- 87-90 Adventurers offered to become bodyguard to important leader
- 91-96 Clan musters to defend territory
- 97-99 Clan mustered to invade enemy clan
- 00 Involuntarily drawn into a heroquest
TRIBAL/SARTAR EVENTS CHART
D100 Event
- 01-02 Outpost of major troll tribe discovered in area
- 03 Leaders muster against troll invasion
- 04-05 Extraordinarily rapid forest expansion reported (elf)
- 06-09 Exceptional forest death reported
- 10-12 Stone hills forming (dwarf activity)
- 13 Leaders muster against forest expansion
- 14 Leaders muster against dwarfs
- 15-20 Herds thrive
- 21-23 Disease or broo among livestock
- 24-25 Major brigand or bandit camp found
- 26-27 Settlers/squatters from neighboring tribe found
- 28-29 Decrease in caravan activity, diminished opportunities for trade and crafts
- 30-35 Increase in caravan activity, opportunity for unusual trade goods
- 36-37 Mines run dry
- 36-40 New mine found. D10: 1-2 bronze; 3 gems; 4 gold; 5 lead; 6 aluminum, 7 silver, 8 tin, 9-10 copper
- 41 Something from a prior Age or even from before Time is discovered.
- 42-43 Chaos remission
- 44-47 Chaos resurgence
- 48-57 Tribe initiates legal action against neighboring tribe/neighbor initiates legal action against tribe
- 58-61 Dragonewts active in area
- 62-66 Dinosaur migration into area
- 67 Dead dinosaur corpses discovered
- 68-72 Famous entourage from neighboring nation arrives
- 73-76 Priests report good omens – bonus to Rune
- 77-79 Priests report bad omens – penalty to Rune
- 80-82 Temple attacked
- 83-90 Tribe mustered to invade enemy territory
- 91-98 Tribe mustered to defend territory
- 99-00 Major outbreak of disease spirits
DRAGON PASS EVENTS
D100 Event
- 01-15 Fertile Earth. Harvest and Children rolls get +15% bonus next Sacred Time.
- 16-23 Troll nation on the move
- 24-26 Major invasion from another Homeland
- 27-37 Glowline fails for 1D10 days
- 38-40 River changes course
- 41-42 Tsunami or sea-quake affects lands next to Homeward Ocean
- 43-44 Ice falls
- 45-48 Coldwave. Temperate drops 2D20 degrees.
- 49-51 Heatwave. Temperature increases 1D10+5 degrees.
- 52-57 Winds become calm throughout region
- 58-61 Winds becomes strong or greater throughout region
- 62-67 Violent storms
- 68-72 Tremors. Magnitude 4.0 to 5.9. Felt by all, little damage.
- 73-75 Earthquake. Magnitude 6.0+. Much damage to buildings.
- 76-78 Drought for 1D8 weeks
- 79-80 Gods angry. All Worship rolls are at -40%.
- 81-86 Major rise of Chaos reported
- 87-90 New Chaos crack found
- 91-94 Old Chaos crack reported eliminated
- 95 Volcano formed
- 96 Mountain or hill disappears
- 97-98 Technological advance discovered
- 99-00 God/Major spirit crosses region
I for one have always liked random tables as a source of ideas. Roll or pick, makes no difference to. The advantage of rolling is that the event is likely outside of what you would normally have thought of – like drawing a Tarot card or using I Ching.
The other idea is that these tables illustrate the type of stuff going on!
So if I am trying to coming up with a strange twist in an ongoing campaign, just grab something from this list.
This is intended to be out of the ordinary events. So stuff like a caravan shows up is an ordinary activity. Or the stuff that normally happens at assemblies, militia musters, or seasonal holy days. That stuff happens according to the calendar – or often enough that it is pretty darn predictable.This is the unpredictable stuff that happens, and screws with player plans!
Sometimes having no event is important for pacing and teaching the setting.