AS THE WORLD TURNS: Retrocloning the Regional Events Tables

Oriental Adventures is a TSR publication often noted for two things. The one I want to talk about today is its regional events because the other has been far better handled elsewhere and regional events are relevant to a recent problem I had at the table: when returning to your game world after being gone IRL 4-6 weeks, shouldn't something change in-game? And what good are these events for your table?

I. AS THE WORLD TURNS (YEARLY EVENTS)

Okay, as a general principle, most D&D games do not last years. Those that do last years are a rarity, and I say that as someone currently participating in a multi-year game. So what practical use is a table of yearly events for ~75% of campaigns?

I believe a yearly event table can help to provide a specific overall game-defining world event ("world" here being earth-encompassing or just "regional") which may or may not have a specific mechanical impact. For example, a campaign starting in a year of famine would be very different than one that starts with the arrival of the ambassador from the stolen moon. These events provide a sense of scale of the PCs to consciously or unconsciously judge their place in the world. For OSR games this enhances the idea that your players are starting as nobodies trying to make their place in the world. 

Practical Use In A Campaign: But it also helps the PC calculate the impact of their actions. For instance, if the yearly event is a political plot and they happen to rob a runner of one of the political groups then they immediate understand who might be after them and who might pay handsomely for the information they just gained.

Here is the above table converted into a d20 table for convenience. With yearly events, I'm not concerned with precise weighting in so much as I am concerned with interesting events. After all, I will not be rolling on this table a lot.

YEARLY EVENTS (1d20)

Ambassador

Assassination of a Lord

Birth

Comet

Death of a Lord

Earthquake

Famine

Fire

Flood

Incursion

Marriage

New Religion

Plague

Political Plot

Rebellion

War

Visitation

Volcano

Missing Constellation

Dragon

II. GUIDING LIGHT (MONTHLY EVENTS)

Monthly events are divided into three different types. I don't like the titles so I'm gonna list them as Political, Natural, NPC. Once we have a year-event, we can further define it impact by rolling one of the columns of the monthly events for each month of game time. 

I'd not try to precisely define each Yearly Event long these three categories as a lot of the entries could be interpreted multiple ways. A "comet" result for instance could be a natural event or a political one (as a sign from the gods). The red comet in Game of Thrones has multiple meaning for different groups.

Practical Use In A Campaign: Monthly events help define the impact of the Yearly Event. So what a comet appeared? If its just mentioned once its a throwaway, but if in the same month, a strange birth happened followed by two months of incisions, one physical and one ethereal, well then it feels far more significant. Also monthly events can help an indecisive DM (Hi! Its me! I'm the problem its me!) know when to bring in factions, NPCs, or "things" they've been holding back.

But not only can this table help signal the start of events, but it can help signal the end of events as well. Perhaps a nice rule is that if you roll on the same event twice in a year it can signal the end of a previous event-- a rebellion gets put down or a monster is slayed. 

And even these endings don't have to signal an end to the energy an event creates. A quashed rebellion could mean that all subsequent bandit events are remnants of that rebellion (Firefly's whole plot) or a slain monster could give rise to a new hero, whose been given lordship over the lands the PCs are in (and that "hero" is a diiiick).

Let's also simplify this table into a d20 version. Again, I find d100 tables awkward, space-eating, and a little intimidating when I want a general framework that could be modified for different types of campaigns.

Political

1         Accident

2         Bandit

3–4         Birth/Death

5–6         Incursion, major

7–8         Incursion, minor

9         Injustice

10         Major Battle

11         Monster/Haunting

12–15      No Event

16         Person of Interest

17         Recruiting

18         Taxes

19         Troop Move

20         Uprising

Natural

1 Accident

2-3 Bad Harvest

4-5 Bandit Acivity

6 Birth

7-8 Death

9 Earthquake, Major

10 Taxes, Excessive

11 Fire, Minor

12 Flooding

13 Haunting

14 Monster

15 Injustice

16 Landslide

17 Maneater

18 Plague

19 Uprising

20 VIP Visit

NPC

1     Accident

2     Bandit Acivity

3-4     Birth

5     Death

6     Famous Person

7     Fire Minor

8     Haunting

9-10     Injustice

11     Maiden of Virture

12     Maneater

13-14    Mairrage

15-16    Notorious Criminal

17     Vengful Stranger

18-19    VIP Visit

20     No Event

III. THESE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES (DAILY/WEEKLY EVENTS) 

So a further subdivision depending on where your PC are currently adventuring. I honestly feel that the Wilderness and Ocean subtables are weak because they could easily be replaced by or would already be replaced by an existing random encounter table. Additionally, they could also be replaced by the other three event subtables here.

 

Practical Use In A Campaign: Weekly Events pull double duty depending on how the DM judges the proximity of the PCs to the Yearly or Monthly event. 

If the PCs are "close" either by actual distance or due to their actions, then the Weekly Event result might pertain to the Monthly Event (and by extension the Yearly Event) that has taken place. For example, if the monthly event was a crushed rebellion that occurred in the region, then "bandits" might be those exact rebels taking over surrounding area.

If the PCs are "distant" from the Yearly or Monthly event, then "bandit" might simply be an irritating collection of nar-do-wells or a goblin faction with be ideas moving out of the 1st level of the local dungeon.

Additionally, the results here can be more oracular in nature. For instance, "haunting" could be someone's past misdeeds coming to catch up to them or literally ghosts coming from the 3rd level of the local dungeon.

Unlike the prior two d20 tables, I used a 2d8 table for weekly events to implement a stronger weighting influence towards "nothing" as a DM will be rolling on this table frequently.  We don't want rolling on this table over shadow the PCs' own choices. Also, I use various carousing tables which are also events in themselves and PCs should be the biggest source of local headaches. Since I am writing this for my own Nightwick game, I might just stop at village/rural area and save the rest for later.

WEEKLY EVENTS in a RURAL SETTING

2 Haunting 1.56%

3 Crime 3.13%

4 Shrine 4.69%

5 Shrine 6.25%

6 Monster 7.81%

7 Bandit 9.38%

8 Nothing 10.94%

9 Nothing 12.50%

10 Nothing 10.94%

11 VIP         9.38%

12 VIP         7.81%

13 Stranger 6.25%

14 Stranger 4.69%

15 Crime 3.13%

16 Haunting 1.56%

IV. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 

Alright, so let's say we have a village located next to a hell-haunted megadungeon inside a local forest who's inhabitants' hearts are aligned with the old gods, so what is the major event that has happened this year? (Rolls d20)...15... Rebellion (political). 

You arrive at The Village during a time of unease. The Southern Kingdom has declared independence and separation from Church-held lands. Now each eyes the hamlets, villages, and towns in between these political powder kegs.

This month how has this rebellion manifested in the local environment? (Rolls d20)...8...Incursion, Minor.

Not wanting to be a pawn in the brewing war (Yearly Event), local forces aligned with the old gods have press-ganged local logging camps and sawmills into service and fealty. Building material are in short supply & current prices are doubled.

And has something specific happened this week related to the minor incursion associated with the rebellion? (Rolls 2d8)...3...Crime. Since the PCs are located near a Monthly Event, I'll interpret through this lens.

The Villages only inn is a buzz with rumors that the sheriff's son was captured by the pagan loyalists (Monthly Event) while other rumors say that it was agents of the Church who stole the boy away in the night (Yearly Event).

And there you have it! Regional Events. Now the environment surrounding the players feels more dynamic. And in 4-6 sentences, 3 factions, 2 problems, and a potential local hook as been introduced. That is quite the value generated from three tables and as many die rolls!

OD&D: Opium, Dunsany & Dreamlands Part IV, The Dreamer

This post straddles my prior dreamlands posts and the BX system I use frequently, hence the header. Click here if you'd like to see more of my dreamlands reskins.

THE DREAM MASTER

A while back I was running a home game for my family where I had two clerics PCs recovering relics and bodies in Dyson "mini-megadungeon". The reward for recovering these holy items was attracting more pilgrims to the Abbey who could serve all sorts of functions. One entry is for St. Nemo, who I had dubbed the "St. of Sleep" from the character of Little Nemo in Slumberland (the comic and 90's NES videogame). 

I believe it was Marcia of Traverse Fantasy who postulated that a good way to "humanize" the BX elf was to make them human dreamers who learned both sword and sorcery skills through the time-elastic properties of dreamlands. And while were are on the topic of reskinning the elf, I, of course, love Miranda's take on the MU-Fighter with Nightwick's Changing class.

But here is how I described my inital concept of the dreamer class in the post from session 6 of the "Super Cleric Bros." campaign in 2021: 

I might try to make Dreamers some sort of "thief" class. Improved move silently/hide in shadows. Maybe each adventure they can roll on a rumor-like table about their dreams which could be true or distorted (false). Or maybe they see an area like some sorta "treasure" map. Throw some sorta detect secret door as elf owing to a differential perception. Ooo maybe a dream journal, a spell book-like manual, that had random things the sleeper has recorded--- maybe occasionally Sleep, Darkness, and other illusion spells.

Re-reading, I remember my intent was to make a hireling or class that was focused on exploration and tools to get them out of scrapes. The dream journal was a way to feed hooks to the party via some underutilized methods like treasure maps that I think are little used. 

THE DREAMER

Some children are born during special confluences of the night skies. 

    Or with their souls not quite attached due to distracted Fates. 

        Or of parents that have a supernatural mark clinging to them like a burr.

            Or are an echo of a greater, god-fated child born in the same season.

The gods look at you like an iridescent, jeweled insect with your almost-importance. Your village looked at you like a languid cat who knows to many of their secrets. The court of dreams looks at you for the prism of possibilities you once were, are, and will (maybe) be. And so they whisper secrets to you under the cover of night about the endless fates you can bring-- patient governesses raising midnight royalty.

Restrictions

• HD: As Thief
• Weapons: As MU (dagger, club, staff, crossbow)
• Armor: As a Thief (leather, no shields)
• XP: As Thief (1200 xp to 2nd)

Special Abilities

Somnambulist: Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, & Detect Secret Doors 2-in-6; progress as a thief

Saw This In A Dream: Save as Halfing

Never Lost in the Underworld: Take the best result on any lost-in-dungeon table when required

Sand of Sleep: as Color Spray (3/day; 30' cone)

Dream Journal: In between adventures, the dreamer will produce 1 scroll containing knowledge gained from dreaming that has occurred. Any spells are written in the languages of zoogs, the cats of Ulthar, or servants of the Night Serpent Yg, thus unreadable by other MUs, elves, or clerics; roll 1d12:

1. Darkness
2. Sleep
3. Detect Magic
4. Mirror Image
5. Moonlight Ray (as Chromatic Orb-Pearl; range attack; 1d4 dmg & target glows 2d6 r)
6. Moths of Mog (as Fog)
7. Remove Fear
8. Cause Nightmares (as Fear)
9. Dreams of Wealth (gain a Treasure Map)
10. Dreams of What Could Be (roll on rumor table)
11. Dreams of Who They Want To Be (understand the want/fear/secret of an NPC)
12. Dreams of Your Misfortune (roll 2d20 & save those results to substitute with any d20 roll you make this adventure)

At 4th level, the Dreamer can build a Shrine to Sleep in a place where sunlight will not touch it; the PC now may commune with as many in the court of sleep (see below) as there are idols in the shrine (DM will rule via reaction checks, material quality of idol, and quality of burned offerings given)

• Dreamers may then cast as many spells as a cleric of the same level
• Each spell list will be composed of 6 spells thematically aligned to the idols in the shrine
• Loss of this shrine will result in loss of abilities

Or alternatively, here we could place maybe some more novel mechanisms than just spell casting by:

• Turn Illusions/Phantasms: enemy caster illusions now work for The Dreamer
• Dream Quest✤: those spending downtime can do a special carousing action (or roll on a Lost in Dungeon variant) to go on a dream quest for potential magic items they can bring into the real world as a sorta lucid dreaming

At 8th level, the Dreamer can build a Terraced Garden of Slumber only of plants that grow at night and as the shrine in a place where sunlight will not touch; gaining the title of a courtier of Sleep and inducted into the numinous game✤✤ the true fate of all dreamers

• The Gardens of Slumber will only be discovered under special circumstances as long as the gates of Wake, Nightmare, Sleep, and Dream are have an idol maintained
• The dreamer's garden will attract menagerie made up of dreamland creatures, lost legions, almost-dead sailors, occasional misplaced royal heirs, and one or two forgotten monsters (See OD&D "Stronghold" rules as a model for this list)
• Ghroth cannot be used an a gate idol as Ghroth is passing destruction
• Such gardens attract the attention of dreaming dragons, especially the monks of Graule, fay courts, followers of petty gods, and other dreamer's gardens

Appendix N(ight): The Court of Night/Sleep/Dreams: 

1. Hish- Lord of Silence, Owls, & Bats
2. Nodens- Lord of Depth & Spears
3. St. Nemo- Saint of Sleep, Dreamers, & Sailors
4. Yibb-Tstll- Lord of the Watching Dark & Spreading Black
5. Ghroth- The Nemesis Moon, Lord of Fitful Dreaming & Passing Destruction
6. Hypnos- Lord of Unconsciousness & Staves
7. Hecate- Lord of Terrestrial Night & The Moon-lit Woods
8. Nyx- Lord of the First Night, the Last Night, and the nights in between
9. Yg- The Night Serpent & Saint of Traps
10. Mog- Herald of The Final Sleep, Nightwalkers, & Moths

NOTES

✤ Dream Quest as a carousing option feels like a great post on its own. Especially as a way to make black lotus and other fantasy herbs and spices have a purpose in play. Or for any PC group that's like "Yeah my character rolls that up in a torn page from the wizard's spellbook and smokes it-- what happens?"

✤✤ I love this phrase and believe that I picked it up from Through Ultan's Door THE dreamlands publication by which my posts are a pale imitation.