Some Fellhold Random Encounter Tables

Today we continue with some more Fellhold Reboot content - in this case a couple of random encounter tables. There's reference to some district and faction encounters - those are still under developed. The first here is a list of situations you could find your contacts in when you go to find them or bump into them on the street. It's part of a series of rules I'm putting together to try to enhance the role contacts play for players in the game.

The second is a "generic" encounter table, meaning it's not linked to a particular district or faction - you can encounter these anywhere in the city, ruined or inhabited, friendly or hostile. Hopefully it gives a view of the weird "normal" life of Fellhold. I'm not really doing any new with the formatting or application of these tables, so the main "hard problem" I'm trying to solve here is getting the aesthetics right - I have a very strong but vague idea of what I want Fellhold to "feel" like, but I don't know how to inject that into other people's brains. These tables are a start at trying to figure it out.

I've taken inspiration from Arnold K's post here, where he encourages randomer random tables - the goal is not verismilitude so much as it is creating something interesting and imagination provoking that gives the referee and the players levers to pull and tools to exploit. If I start playtesting these more and find out that a walk down the street is bonkers crazy in a not-fun way, then maybe I'll adjust some.

By the way, let me apologize for the terribly formatted table below - I know InDesign, but web layout is not my strong suit.

Urban Encounters

Type of Encounter Roll

1-2 District Encounter

Roll on the district specific encounter table for the current district. If the district lacks its own encounter table, roll on the generic urban encounters table below. If an encounter is called for and its not clear in which district it would happen, either randomize or use the generic encounter table.

3-4  Faction Encounter

Roll on the encounter table for the faction that controls the current district as turf. If a faction encounter is called for and its not clear which district it would occur in, either select randomly, select the faction that controls the district that a random PC lives in, or pick the one that seems most interesting or relevant in the current situation.

5 Contact Encounter

Randomly determine a contact from a randomly determined PC, or else select one that makes the most sense given where the PCs are and what they’re doing. Use the table below to determine what situation they find their contact in. Some referee discretion, as always, may be called for - if the encounter occurs in an overtly hostile part of Fellhold, some of the situations below may not apply, or may apply in a modified way.

1) Dead

2) Fighting desperately with a district encounter

3) Fleeing from something, they press a small package into the PC’s hands 

4) Running from watchmen

5) Deep in conversation with someone from a faction hostile to the PC

6) Chatting up an attractive young person

7) Buying something

8) Deep in conversation with someone from one of the PC’s factions

9) Stumbling around disoriented and confused- are they drunk? Or something else?

10) On their way to a broker to act on a sweet tip for the soul market

11) Supervising moving a large amount of material relevant to their career

12) Standing in the middle of the road with a shocked look on their face

13) Examining a structure with great interest

14) Moving furtively, trying to hide their appearance

15) Doing something that seems remarkably out of character, opposite their usual character in fact

16) Wild eyes, crazy hair, frantic

17) Whistling happily, largely oblivious to their surroundings

18) Eating or drinking something

19) In a furious shouting match with someone, possibly about to come to blows

20) Passed out in the gutter

6 Generic Encounter

The generic Fellhold encounters table may be used just about anywhere in Fellhold if a more a specific encounter is not available or desired. If a more “mundane” encounter is desired, simply use the contact generation rules and the contact encounter table, but assume that the person so generated is a stranger to the PCs unless otherwise indicated. As always, make use of reaction rolls and interpret in light of the district’s status of friendly, neutral, or hostile. Modify as appropriate to the situation - if the characters are deep in an abandoned dwarven hall, they are unlikely to encounter a wealthy merchant, and if they do, it is likely to be a far different circumstance than bumping into him in the market. The default assumption is that each entry will be encountered alone unless otherwise indicated, but if you like you may generate d3 or d6 of a type if it makes more sense. If needed, consult the random faction table to assign the encounter a faction. As always, use only those columns that make sense and are necessary. Likewise, feel free to ignore any results that don’t fit the situation.

Generic Fellhold Encounters

When no more specific encounter table is applicable, this encounter table may be used. This table may also be used to generate slightly more “exotic” NPCs than the default NPC generation chart for use outside of random encounters.

As usual, this table may be used either by rolling once and reading straight across, or rolling for each column separately. If an entry refers to another encounter, you may roll again or simply use the next line if speed is desired. Note that as with the NPC table, the columns proceed in roughly the order of most obvious to least obvious, so that you may roll only on those columns necessary, if desired. Location may be ignored if the placement of the encounter has already been determined.

Roll	Kind	Looks	Job	(Place)	Doing	Spice
1	Human	Beshitten	Prophet	In a doorway	Being pestered by someone or something	Knows one of the PC’s contacts and has heard of the PC's
2	Human	Terrified	Miner	On a balcony	Skulking	Is looking to hire someone for a job
3	Human	Agitated	Explorer	In the street	Scheming with another encounter	Famous or well known
4	Human	Furious	Burglar	In a side alley	Breaking in to somewhere	A highly placed member of a random faction
5	Human	Confused	Lumberjack	An entrance to a lower level	Having sex with another encounter	Wants a well known NPC dead
6	Human	Beautiful	Witch	On a flight of stairs	Fighting another encounter	Enamored with one of the PC’s contacts
7	Human	Poor	Ratcatcher	Among a ruined building/chamber	Supervising the movement of a large quantity of material related to their occupation	Looking to sell something in a hurry
8	Human	Depressed	Wizard	Near the locus of a demon	Dead	Is secretly not what they seem
9	Human	Paranoid	Thug	In a mundane building	Making a deal, buying and/or selling something	Radical beliefs - overthrow of the undead, worship of the dead gods, something like that
10	Human	Old	Laborer	In the middle of a crowd	Fleeing something	A traitor to their faction, a double agent working for another
11	Crabman	Skinny	Craftsman	Near/in a well or fountain	Loudly holding forth to any passersby	Collects something rare and potentially dangerous
12	Crabman	Ugly	Tattooist	Under a bridge	Intently examining a structure	Bizarre sexual proclivities - and will pay to satisfy them
13	Ratman	Fat	Fence	In a pile of garbage or refuse	Digging through trash	Has somehow managed to achieve high status in two hostile factions and has been found out
14	Ratman	Wealthy	Restaurateur	In the gutter	Eating something (or someone)	Desperately addicted to a rare and potent drug
15	Half Dwarf	Excited	Guide	Blocking traffic	Climbing a structure	Just so happens to know something about whatever the PCs are most interested in investigating currently
16	Undead	Jolly	Scholar	On top of a structure	Walking a bizarre pet	A bookworm - has a randomly generated library somewhere nearby, and d3 random books on their person
17	Demon	Charming	Faction Officer	In the window of a building/chamber	Dragging something (or someone) heavy	Was financially affected by the PC’s last major job/adventure - reaction roll subject to standard modifiers determines how
18	Demon	Sexy	Broker	Riding in a wagon	Deep in conversation with someone	Recently ousted from position by a rival, seeks revenge
19	Beast	Heavily Tattooed	Fighter	On a walkway	Beating someone up	Plotting to oust a rival and take their position
20	Troll	Dour	Merchant	A visible part of a higher level	Herding a group of children on their way	Looking to recruit people for their faction