When the party is off on an adventure, roll to see what’s happened at their local base of operations while they’re away. What happened? 1d6 Event 1 Nothing 2 Military event 3 Religious event 4 Life event 5 Nature event 6 Political event Military Event 1d6 Military Event 1 Muster of the levee for service […]
Allies are hard to come by in the harsh worlds represented by most tabletop-roleplaying games and systems don't always provide mechanisms for tracking the friends player-characters make during their adventures. Here's a relatively painless way to use a persistent reaction rating to monitor their relationships with notable non-player-characters. Start with the standard reaction roll Make […]
Adventurers should always expect the unexpected but, as referees, how often do we deliver on that premise? Often we lean on the strange and unusual to produce moments of shock but, sometimes, the more shocking thing isn't what the players don't know but what they know, or thought they knew, delivered in a completely unexpected […]
Because sometimes (such as having to catch-up on a month-long blogging challenge), one table or topic is not enough! Specialized Medicine Some hurts might require specific reagents for healing. 1d6 What Where Rarity 1 An herb Mountain slopes Very common (4-in-6 chance) 2 A flower Shaded vales Common (3-in-6 chance) 3 A root Secluded meadows […]
In West Marches style games, a mechanic is sometimes used on occasions when a Character is unable to return to the hub town before the end of a session. It involves rolling on a table to determine the Character’s fate. Call me a softie but I don’t like the idea of outright killing a Character […]
How can you tell if someone is lying to you? In popular media, it seems so simple. In real life, it's much more complicated. That said, we're not playing life here, we're playing games! If a player asks whether their character sees any signs that the NPC they're dealing with is lying, we can roll […]
I'm becoming more and more of an adherent of High Trust game styles and I was reminded of this when I stumbled upon a discussion of invisibility in the Draw Steel subreddit. Transcript One of the things that I have discovered of late in my gaming journey is I'm leaning more and more towards high […]
Unraveling mysterious is one of the great pleasures of playing tabletop roleplaying games: figuring out who kidnapped the archpriest and why, unmasking the hidden mastermind behind assassinations across the kingdom, locating the powerful artifact thought lost, or any number of other questions great and small. As a Referee, mysteries are fun too, if you can […]
Since time immemorial, folk have lifted their eyes to behold the star-studded darkness of the firmament at night, saw the movements of planets, stars, and other celestial bodies as they wheeled across the dome of the sky and wondered what significance this cosmic dance had for their lives. Let's roll some dice and find out! […]
Finding the right path can make traveling through the wilderness easier. Of course, the emphasis here is on the right path. A wrong one can lead nowhere... or worse. When the party is looking for a path, let's roll some dice to see what they find. Use the following tables as guides. If the party's […]
