Daily Events (Large Post)

[kato13]

ReHerakhte 04-25-2004, 10:00 PM There was a thread a some time ago about daily events in settlements etc. and a few people put forward the sort of events they had in their games.

So, a little background first... I have a major interest in the post-apocalypse genre and have been slowly compiling my own gameworld that is has a bit of Dark Conspiracy & Syndicate (particularly Syndicate Wars) influence with a lot of influence from The Morrow Project. I began compiling a list of daily events after reading the thread mentioned above and have finally finished the damned thing.


It has taken heavily from a Pyramid e-zine article entitled "Appendix Z, What Happened Today?" by Matt Riggsby published in Pyramid, July 11th, 2003 and has a few bits and pieces from the free online town generator for the deadEarth game - the website of which I can't remember because I wasn't that interested in another Super Mutant post-apoc game


Anyway, as for the list, it assumes people are still using D10s in their game and is made up of two tables. It was created with Word 2003 and pasted into WordPad from WinXP. If anyone has problems with copying it from here I can email a copy.

clone65@bigpond.com

I'm running Nortons AntiVirus 2004 so there shouldn't be anything nasty passed on in an attachment.


Cheers,

Kevin



What Happened Today?

Many of these events may be "under the radar" in a modern metropolis, but are appropriate to a small town. PCs may just be witnesses, or they may be drawn into events (the runaway slave happens to barrel into them, the itinerant preacher points them out as examples of immorality...). The significance of any event in the greater scheme of things is, of course, up to the GM.


Initial Rolls. Roll D6. On a result of 1, GM's discretion, for a result of 6, roll once on each table. Otherwise, results of 2 & 4, roll on the first table, results of 3 & 5, roll on the second table.

Second Roll. Once the appropriate table has been selected, roll D100 to locate the event.


Table 1



Roll Event

01 - 04 Significant Construction: Characters witness major construction on a nearby street or building site. The type of work that traffic & pedestrians have to detour around. It may even be blocking off the building/shop etc. the PC's want to visit.

05 - 08 Game/sport: Many societies lack dedicated sporting arenas and those that do exist are often only for the wealthy to indulge in. This settlement has no such restrictions and games are for everyone to enjoy. This might be a horse race through the streets, a ball game, or some other game.

09 - 12 Fight: Duelling rakes, family feuds, brawling thugs, relationship ending badly, or religious or political argument taken to the next level. Most often it's just verbal sparring, sometimes minor weapons are involved but first blood usually sees an end to proceedings. Every so often, it results in warfare in the streets and might turn into a gun battle.

13 - 16 Fruit Cart. A travelling vendor has a cart with fresh fruit (sometimes semi-fresh) that isn't found locally. The inhabitants always come out to check what the vendor has and sometimes the women gossip about local events...

17 - 20 Fire: Fires are a major threat in wood-heavy towns. A small fire is a distraction and a moderate threat. A large fire is a danger to everybody.

21 - 24 Dog Pack: Packs of dogs roam the side streets looking for food, they're typically savage with hunger and now the PC's look interesting...

25 - 28 Public punishment: Many criminal punishments involve public display or humiliation: public flogging, exposure in stocks, or being paraded through the streets in an embarrassing fashion (naked, wearing a silly hat, backwards on a donkey, etc.).

29 - 32 Fugitive: Someone running away from authority, such as an escaped criminal, heretic on the lam, or escaped slave.

33 - 36 Runaway animal: For example, a mad dog, spooked horse, greased pig, herd of sheep, angry geese or angry bulls.

37 - 40 Religious procession: A march through the town to celebrate some special day or display an idol or relics or a party of pilgrims is setting out or arriving. Or it might be for something like changing of the seasons etc. but traffic is at a standstill until the gatherers finish their march.

41 - 44 Child Followers: A small group of children have decided the PC's are too interesting to ignore, the longer the PC's hang on the street, the more children become interested in them until the 'little ones' are quite a crowd and getting under their feet.

45 - 48 Funeral: A dead body (possibly on display) and a party of mourners. If the deceased was particularly notable, this could turn into a major public event.

49 - 52 Official procession: Someone of wealth or an official on his/her way somewhere with a party of retainers (and/or guards).

53 - 56 Unseasonable weather: Heat in winter, a downpour in the dry season, etc.

57 - 60 Political demonstration: A group of people agitating for or against something (a politician or official, taxes, certain laws, etc.)

61 - 64 Controversial speaker: A street corner speaker advocates dangerous or unpopular views, possibly provoking the authorities.

65 - 68 Crime: Pickpocketing, mugging, or smash-and-grab theft from a shop. Characters may, of course, be either witnesses or victims.

69 - 72 Persistent salesman: Someone tries to sell the characters something they don't want and won't take no for an answer

73 - 76 Friendly stranger: Characters encounter someone who is interested in them. It may be casual curiosity, or he may have an agenda.

77 - 80 Tournament of Firearms. You've discovered a tournament of firearms. Some of the best shooters within 500km are at this tournament. Top prize is D6x $300 worth of gear (typically food, fuel, ammo or weapons or a mix of these).

81 - 84 Unusual meal: At their next meal, the characters are presented with unfamiliar dishes.

85 - 88 Patrol: The local law enforcement or the militia is setting off for a patrol and the PC's are the first out-of-place thing they see.

89 - 92 Nosy Official: An official (constable, goods inspector, religious orthodoxy enforcer) takes an interest in the characters. He may be near-hostile, or simply friendly and curious.

93 - 96 Investigation: Police or other officials make a thorough search of the area and question bystanders.

97 - 99 Stalker: A local becomes obsessed with one or more of the PC's and follows their every move, trying to get their approval or imitating them. Most often this is a passing infatuation and ultimately harmless. Other times it is entirely more sinister.

00 Roll twice, ignoring further results of 00.


Table 2



Roll Event

01 - 04 Troop column: These may be soldiers on their way to or from battle or simply a show of force by the city guard.

05 - 08 Beating: A fight, but very one-sided.

09 - 12 Festival. The locals are having a festival. It looks like a good source of entertainment and food to a weary traveller such as yourself.

13 - 16 Vehicular accident: A vehicle or animal runs over a slow pedestrian, two vehicles collide, a wheel breaks and falls off a cart, goods roll from the back of a wagon, a traffic jam occurs etc.

17 - 20 Shady Dealer. Many people appear shady at times. Some days it seems everyone is too shady to trust. To make it worse, there are Shady Dealers. These merchants specialize in the sale of items and equipment that are considered illegal in the region (such as gear to aid thieves). They never hang around too long, to avoid 'complications', so you'd better get what you can, while you can. And sometimes it's best not to be seen actually buying from one of these merchants.

21 - 24 Public entertainment: An individual entertainer starts performing, such as a juggler, solo musician, or man with a trained animal, or a troupe of performers (theatre group, impromptu circus, etc.) sets up.

25 - 28 Gang: A local gang, mostly just bored teenagers looking for some entertainment, typically they are too well known around town to harass the locals, but the PC's are new in town...

29 - 32 Routine announcement: Public notice is made of something of little immediate interest. For example, a wedding amongst the rich, a trivial new tax, the arrival of a merchant vessel or the death of a minor official.

33 - 36 Tournament of Swords. You've discovered a tournament of swords. Some of the best sword fighters within 500km are at this tournament. Top prize is D6x $500 worth of gear (typically food, fuel, ammo or weapons or a mix of these).

37 - 40 Travelling Vendor. You may find a travelling vendor anytime, anywhere. They deal in basically everything, however they won't have a very large stock of anything. If they have ammunition, it will only be a handful of rounds. If they have rations, there will only be a couple. Because they have little bits of everything and not enough of anything, they aren't much of a target for brigands. But every now-and-then, they have something special and even the brigands are smart enough to know that leaving the vendor unmolested means he may come back with something really good next time.

41 - 44 Bored Soldiers: Off-duty soldiers/militia/police looking for a good time/fight, they may already be drunk in which case they may view the PC's as too interesting to let pass by.

45 - 48 Tournament of the Fist. You've discovered a tournament of the fist. Some of the best hand to hand combatants within 500km are at this tournament. Top prize is D6x $250 worth of gear (typically food, fuel, ammo or weapons or a mix of these) but in a region where there's no Arena or Fighting Pit, the prize might be as high as D6x $500 worth of gear.

49 - 52 Interesting stranger: Someone out of the ordinary and interesting. For example, an obvious foreigner, someone wearing unusual clothes, a person distributing small gifts to everyone he sees.

53 - 56 Omen: Lights in the sky, a dozen birds roosting in the shape of a character's first initial, goat allegedly speaks with human voice, or some other event of superstitious or ominous importance.

57 - 60 Mysterious visitor: Characters see someone loudly mysterious: cloaked, hooded, or wearing a mask, clearly trying to conceal his identity.

61 - 64 Other accident or disaster: A building collapses, a water line breaks and floods a street, an earthquake strikes.

65 - 68 Unusual merchandise: Characters notice peculiar merchandise for sale. This might include arms or expensive jewellery in a poor neighbourhood, out-of-season produce or spices/fruit (e.g. coconuts) from a distant land.

69 - 72 Notable announcement: A public notice stirs up comment: a war starts or ends, a major public figure dies, a major new tax is being imposed.

73 - 76 Celebration: Public celebration of a wedding or holiday. This may involve dancing in the streets or free food and drink.

77 - 80 Unpleasant weather: Strong wind, heat, or precipitation. Most people will get out of it while it lasts; characters remaining outside will be uncomfortable and conspicuous.

81 - 84 Arrival: A large body of new people comes to town, such as a caravan or band of refugees. Characters will start seeing a lot of new people in town.

85 - 88 Public ceremony: Public prayer or sacrifice, creation of a nobleman or holy man, christening or naming ceremony, etc. Sometimes the locals believe that strangers in town at this time portent good things, sometimes quite the opposite.

89 - 92 Personal accident: Something bad happens to an individual. For example, someone falls out of a window or off of a roof, a porter drops his burden, which breaks and scatters all over.

93 - 96 Love Interest: Applicable to a town the PC's have previously visited. A local is enamoured with one of the PC's and tries to be in their company as often as possible. Sometimes the interest is just some passing infatuation and the local follows them around at every opportunity, offering to do little things for them and so on. Other times, the local is looking for a fling to spice up their dull life

97 - 99 Secret Cache: You overhear some locals whispering about a cache the village has compiled (or a local has compiled)... if you look hard enough, and don't ask the wrong questions, you might be able to find out where it is...

00 Roll twice, ignoring further results of 00.

********************

shrike6 04-25-2004, 10:44 PM Cool, Thanks Kevin

********************

[kato13]

Another post that deserves a promotion out of the archive.