1 in 3 chance per day of a new arrival in town:
01-25 - Farmers from the local area (1-4 carts; 1-6 individuals per cart)
26-60 - Merchants (a)
61-75 - Patrol (b)
76-85 - Pilgrims (c)
86-90 - Rhennee/Attloi (d)
91-95 - Supplies & replacement workers for castle construction (1-3 wagons; 3-9 new workers)
96-00 - Other (e)
(a) Merchants:
Size of caravan:
1-2 - individual peddler (1 cart)
3-6 - small caravan (1-3 wagons)
7-9 - medium caravan (4-6 wagons)
0 - large caravan (7-10 wagons)
Origin and destination:
1-5 - arriving from north (Verbobonc); headed: east (1-5), south (6-9), or west (0)
6-7 - arriving from east (Dyvers); headed north (1-7), west (8-9), or south (0)
8-9 - arriving from south (Wild Coast); headed north (1-7); west (8-9), or east (0)
0 - arriving from west (Kron Hills)*; headed north (1-4); east (5-7), or south (8-0)
*30% of merchants arriving from the west are gnomes
(b) Patrols:
1-3 - light patrol (representing the Viscount of Verbobonc)
4-7 - levied patrol (representing the Waldgraf of Ostverk)
8 - woodsmen (from the Gnarley Forest)
9-0 - mercenary company (determine number and type per DMG)
(c) Pilgrims:
1-2 - followers of Obad-hai (druidical)
3-6 - followers of St. Cuthbert
7-8 - followers of Fharlanghn
9 - followers of Olidammara
0 - followers of Ulaa (30% chance clerics are gnomes (1-3) or dwarfs (4-6))
Each group consists of 1 cleric/druid of level 3-6, 0-2 clerics/druids of level 1-3, 1-6 guards (men-at-arms led by a fighter level 2-4) and 5-30 pilgrims
(d) Rhennee (Attloi):
1 chief (Fighter (20%), Thief (30%) or Mountebank (50%) of level 4-7)
1 wisewoman (Thief (20%), Mountebank (50%), or Mystic (30%) of level 2-5)
1-6 wagons, each containing 1-2 guards, 2-8 folk, and 0-3 children
(e) Other travelers:
1-2 - Adventurers
3 - Traveling noble & retinue
4 - Elves
5-7 - Outlaws
8-10 - Beggars (3-18)
11-12 - Refugees (5-30)
This table determines "legitimate" traffic - at the DM's option almost any of the above may actually be disguised agents or cultists of the Temple of Elemental Evil
In addition to new arrivals there might be other events or activities going on in town, which can be determined via a second table:
Roll (d%) daily:
01-80 - No event of note
81-83 - Good news: Someone is announcing a birth (1-2), wedding (3-5), or other similarly fortuitous event (6). Free round of drinks for everyone at the Inn!
84-86 - Celebration time: There's a party going on in honor of a birth, wedding, birthday, barn-raising, religious event, or just about anything else
87-89 - Unexpected arrival: either rolled on the Traffic Table (which may result in two arrivals on the same day) or some other miscellaneous visitor (e.g. relatives visiting someone in town, a messenger with news, a mysterious loner, etc.)
90-91 - Accident: A fire (1-2) or other significant injury (3-6) is suffered by someone in town (1-2) or on an outlying farm (3-6)
92-93 - Outbreak: contagious illness has affected 1-3 households in town (1-4) or among the outlying farms (5-6)
94 - Brawl at the Inn: self-explanatory
95-97 - Sudden change in the weather: sudden increase (1-2) or decrease (3-4) in temperature, or sudden heavy precipitation (5-6)
98 - Creature on the loose: a pack of feral dogs (1-6), an escaped horse (7-9), something from the marshes (snake, lizard, etc.) (10-11), or a monster rolled from the Wilderness Encounters table (12) is loose in town
99 - Attack: an outlying farm (1-2) or group of travelers (3-6) has been attacked by bandits (1-3), humanoids (4-5), or a monster (6)
00 - Strange, portentous occurrence: meteor shower, blood moon, solar eclipse, birth of two-headed calf, swarm of locusts, earthquake, etc. (each such event should only occur a single time)
These are the probabilities as of the start of the adventure. If the PCs make slow progress and the Temple of Elemental Evil gains power, some events (95-00) will become more likely, and others (81-86) less likely, and the table will need to be modified to reflect the changed circumstances.
Between these two tables, this classic locale starts to feel more like an active, "living" place where things happen whether or not the players instigate them, and everybody isn't a Quantum Ogre sitting around waiting for some PC to come along to talk to (or rob, or attack) them.
It looks good.
ReplyDeleteI would emphasize that the "Rhennee" are "Attloi" because Gord made the association when he was an official Rhennee already and thought they were almost indistinguishable except for the land basis versus lake/river basis. However, in another story a Rhennee and an Attloi fight to the death over who are the true folk Attloi or Rhennee. So while its easy for record keeping in-game I was kind of confused whether or not "true" Rhennee would be in the vicinity almost forgetting they're related to the Attloi.
The "Rhennee" entry on the table is definitely supposed to be the Attloi/wagon-folk. I'd forgotten Gary gave them a separate name in Saga of Old City as was going off the write-up from the WOG set that doesn't differentiate between the two types (except to note that the land-based ones are rarer). Presumably "true" (barge-dwelling) Rhennee can be encountered in Nulb, since it's on a navigable stream.
DeleteThese look great and capture the flavor of Hommlet really well. Besides the extra depth just a few verbal sentences of description can provide, the DM could use various events to bring in candidates for party NPCs and help without it being heavy or obvious. Makes it easier to put together temple activities in town, too.
DeleteI can guess Nulb's tables would look very different...
As a huge aficionado of Hommlet (and to a lesser degree, the ToEE), I love this idea.
ReplyDeleteI am always amazed at the Interwebs... they find a blog, you dig through it, it tickles you to go deeper but also go to other linked blogs, and so on. And here, after all these years, I have another piece of a thing which is both obviously useful and something most folks just never twigged upon... the activity table.
ReplyDeleteI long ago went away from Greyhawk (and FR), but I have lots of love for N1, T1, U1-3, and other starter locations, but my favourite is probably B2.
Mine takes place in the context of the Keep (Blackstangate Keep at the edge of the Blackstangate Mountains) being the remnants of a long-gone kingdom in the area. The nation to the West are rebuilding it and fortifying as part of a push to make a safer (larger, more prosperous) trade route to another nation via about 60-90 miles of hills and mountains to the East. There are more farms (villages that live in small palisades and at night, their patrols and their border hounds help keep most threats from harming the crops (that is West off the map, one village just on the map). There includes some expansions to the Keep (to allow more traffic and to support 20-30 cavalry that help in sweeping this end of the pass through the mountains. There are also is a Scout group that runs South along the mountain range and North along the mountain range (and into some significant hilled forest where the hidden crypts and old fortifications of the long-gone kingdom and 'The Old Faith' - more druidic). The nation at the other side of the mountains is assisting, but 60-90 miles of rough terrain is a big challenge. One thing helping at the half way point roughly is a dwarven (Fjallvordr) mountain city and there is an area closer to the far side that was also a small valley polity (or is trying to be) of small freeholds that need the help, but will also try to help.
Against those are: Goblinoids, Bugbears, Ogres, Dragonics (Kobolds, Draconians), Giants, Drow, Duegar, and Dragons (and maybe even a True Dragon - one of the ancient beings that remain from another time where humans were never seen). The humans involved are cultists, slavers, and so on. (You can see I wanted paths to some of the A/slaver parts, the Caves (though stretched and relocated further from the Keep itself), D1-3 (maybe no Q1), G/Giants series, and the larger view of building and stabilizing a key continental trade way. (It also works well for early missions to have parties learn the pass and the allies and enemies doing caravan protection or scouting for the military governor at the Keep.)
And I never thought of a table of activity as seen in this article. I did knock up my own encounters, but mostly wild, not really considering the more mundane stuff happening.
So I learn another useful way to characterize a locale. That's pretty great. Not bad for a random effort.