When a wandering creature appears, it often doesn’t come with any sort of context. It falls to the Referee to decide what it’s doing and why. Here are a handful of tables to help flesh out ordinary encounters in which a creature appears and we want to know something about what they're doing and why they're doing it.
Animals (Including Sentient Monsters)
In this regard, animal encounters are often easier to adjudicate. The what is survival, one of: protecting young, seeking mates, or searching for food; and the why is instinct.
If you want to add a bit of strangeness to the mix, roll 1d6:
What is the animal doing?
| 1d6 | The What |
|---|---|
| 1-5 | Survival (Why? Instinct.) |
| 6 | Errand (Roll on The Why table.) |
Why is the animal doing it?
| 1d6 | The Why |
|---|---|
| 1-3 | Trained |
| 4-5 | Enchanted |
| 6 | Enlightened (has sapient intelligence) |
Trained: the animal has a master who has trained it to undertake non-instinctual tasks.
Enchanted: the animal has been ensorcelled in some way that forces it to perform a task.
Enlightened: the animal has somehow been given a sapient level of intelligence; it is performing its task of its own accord, following a plan of its own design.
Folk
Folk encounters can be more challenging because the potential variety of actions is much larger. Like with animals, we can break them down into generic, but more refined, categories.
What are the folk doing?
| 1d6 | The What |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Survival (Why? To live.) |
| 3-4 | Commerce (Why? To earn.) |
| 5-6 | Rite & Ritual (Why? Salvation.) |
Survival: food and resource gathering for personal use. The why is
Commerce: occupational tasks.
Rite & Ritual: religious tasks.
Why are the folk doing it?
The reason for folk actions is usually fairly clear-cut: to live, to earn, or to secure salvation. If we want to inject a bit of weirdness into the mix, roll 1d6. If the result is 6, the why is not so mundane.
| 1d6 | The Why |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Enchanted |
| 3-4 | Ensnared |
| 5-6 | Controlled |
Enchanted: they’ve been magically or mystically compelled to perform the task; it might be a “zombie-like” complete loss of free-will or something more insidious.
Ensnared: they’re compelled by physical force or threat of that force to perform the task.
Controlled: some other creature or force directly controls their mind and dictates their action; it could be a virus, a fungal infection, a creature-ability or by some other means.
It's okay not to have all the answers
Keep in mind that we only need to know what is, in that moment, knowable by the players. This means we can focus in that moment-- anything and everything else can be determined when play reveals them. For example, if we roll up an enchanted animal, unless the party has some method for discovering who enchanted it, we can leave that as an open question to be filled later, either in a prep session, or during play when the party uncovers more about that animal's circumstances.
Lean on your existing world
Another trick is to leverage your existing roster of characters before inventing new ones. If there already is a sorcerer in the region who could be responsible for enchanting the animal, think about using that character before creating a new one.
Enjoy discovery!
The more you can become comfortable with not knowing everything, the more flexible your world becomes. While acting as the referee isn't the same as playing, by leaving blank spaces to fill during play, we get to enjoy the same sense of discovery that our players get. Embrace it!
