Home sweet home

Recently decided to scroll through some OSR discord prompts and found one that caught my attention

"Hub growth rules and random tables for downtime and between adventures. E.g. carousing, rumor procedures, upgrading the smithy/apothecary/library grants better armor/potions/scrolls, etc"


First thing it made me think about was, of course, darkest dungeon, and its hamlet, slowly expanding between adventures. That's great, locations are character and they deserve to evolve (there will be a post about the mythic underworld someday, I promise). To simulate that, I tried to come up with event tables that will affect the hub, its inhabitants and resources. This exercise was interesting, the following tables need testing and a few more tweaks, but hopefully, they provide an interesting starting point.

The hub must have a few services defined, their price should be above the one listed by approximately 15%, for each service, note the increment in price, as it will fluctuate.

Each downtime, roll on the following tables :

Table 1 : Happenings

Die

Result

2

Attack of the hub, roll wilderness encounter for appropriate terrain.

3-4

Service owner gravely sick, if not healed will die and be replaced

(downgrade service)

5-6

Supply changes, prices are raised/lowered by 1d20 - 10% (min -20%,

max 50%)

7

Nothing of note happened

8-9

Visitor, if convinced, may stay in the hub (cf table 2)

10-11

Rare resource located in a random location (cf table 3)

12

Heirloom discovered/bought, one shop now has a magic item in store


Table 2 : Visitors

Die

Occupation

Reason to visit

1

Smith

Agent, will steal or assassinate after 1d6 weeks

2

Herbalist

Finding work in the hub for 1d6 months

3

Librarian/sage

Hiding from pursuers

4

Hunter

Just passing by

5

Trader

Seeking the PC to retrieve something (cf table 3)

6

Pilgrim

Amnesiac (reroll after memory is regained)


Table 3 : Resources located

Die

Resource

Location

1

Blueprint, allow artisan to craft magic item

A nearby dungeon

2

Rare ore/wood (increase quality of

production or defenses of the hub)

In the vault of shady

merchant in a near city

3

Curiosity, attracts clients and visitors

Deep in a forest

4

Book describing new production methods,

lowers prices 1-10% (min -20%)

Under the sea

5

Embarrassing documents putting pressure

on the hub owner or a nearby lord (will be

retrieved by rivals in 1d6 weeks)

Hiding in plain sight in the

hub

6

Holy relic, will attract 1d3 clerics that may

stay in the hub or try to retrieve it

In possession of a traveler

Whenever an event may affect a business or service, determine randomly which one is concerned.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Tegel Manor in Marquisant

First steps on the dragon belt (playtest report)

Mapping the Crypt of the vampire