Paladras watched his companions tie up their horses, and wander off. Kalahr Ian spoke briefly with a small kalahr and set off after it at a brisk pace. The Mountain twins headed towards the tavern, and the Leaf-Kin disappeared into the crowd of travelers wandering through the market.
Paladras had heard the whispers of Diaphasia as soon as they had entered the Anidir forests. He decided to go read the signs, to see what Diaphasia was warning him about.
Opening his eyes, he touches the third finger of his right hand to his temple and invokes his draconic blood.
The breeze carried the scents of the town. Any concentration of kalar smelled like raw meat, stone, and metal. The breeze shifted to come from the north. That's when he smelled it. Ancient dust and the many-legs. Paladras briefly remembered the stories his brood mother had told he and his siblings. His clan had rooted out and eradicated a nest of many-legs while he was still playing with his own egg shards in his clan home.Scanning the horizon to the northeast he saw an intermittent flickering highlighting a mountain far in the distance. Paladras stretched out with all his hereditary senses. Draconic blood affords those that posses it an affinity to their native environment. Paladras had been blooded in the forests of his homeland. He felt, more than saw that the flickering was the presence of evil finally releasing it's hold on the mountain. The many-legs had been vanquished years before, but the evil they tried to invoke clung to the mountain.
Surely Diaphasia wasn't trying to warn him about a long dead nest. So what was it?
Paladras tucked his wings under his robes, then pulled his hood up. Hissing the incantation for unobtrusive presence, he headed back towards the tavern to talk to the Mountain twins. Misssy was a child of the World spirit, she might see something he could not.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
The Forest kin visibly paled when Paladras appeared next to him. "Alright Fangface, you are going to teach me that one day."
Paladras popped a few pimka fruit in his mouth and hissed out some laughter. "Kasssz, I told you. Ssorsscery is easy for Wyrmkin. Dragons are made of magic."
Paladras turned and started hissing in low tones with one of the Half elf sisters.
"Mizzy, there is an air of unrest in the forest, when you are able to spare a moment, please accompany me so that we might narrow down the cause."
"That can't be a good thing. Should we go get Ian?"
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
January 2020 RPG Blog Carnival: Random Encounter Tables
Greetings and well met once again!
I venture forth from under my rock to bring you more blithering, blathering, and chicken chasing, usually on topic even. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT CHICKEN! Sorry, he was big and shiney.
Random Encounter Tables.
Yep, this is a subject every GM has, or will eventually, use or need and/or scream incoherently at a Random Encounter table. Let's see if this scenario sounds familiar: Gm rolls, consults table, then goes outside and throws dice across the yard in frustration because the RET has just determined that your brand new shiney 1st level adventuring party is now facing a Shadow Dragon!
Oh yes, that actually happened to me. Yep, killed that game with one die roll.
All my personal failings as a GM aside, you might run into a similar problem and I'll try and give you a few ideas on how to avoid the aneurysms this causes. Apologies for not delving into the maths of dice probability, it makes my head hurt.
If you have wandered around my blog before, then you have probably discovered my custom RETs.
Forest
Plains
Hills/Mountains
Swamp/Marsh
I have long since packed up my PF books, I don't have notes available on how they worked out. I usually scribble notes on the tables, so I can make tweaks later.
I designed these with a spread of CRs because I am of the GM school of...
PCs need to learn when to run away. No, I have never had a party decide discretion is the better part of valor. It always takes at least one PC death for them to get the message.
I designed these tables with an eye towards longevity. I was able to use the tables thru when the PCs made 6th level.
Looking at the Forest table. Entries 1, 51-53, and 100 are not just monsters. These are plot hooks. The ancient graveyard was going to reveal a small statuette of a god they could not recognize. The ruined tower was the hook for a secret library and a journal that would have led a brave party up against a Tarrasque. The pyramid ruins are there, because I don't get to use my Heart room trap enough.
If you're like me, when you start a sandbox game you have a selection of of plot hooks for the PCs to choose from. To prevent analysis paralysis, take all your plot hooks and work them into a RET. Let the dice gods decide what the PCs are going after. You don't even have to start them at the trite animal tavern. The first session can have a more organic flow and save you the headaches of trying to get the PCs to pick a direction.
In closing, RETs come in all types and sizes. If you really don't feel like putting together a custom table, there is a mega multitude of tables out there. If you don't mind a little work, try designing your own tables. You don't have to start from scratch. Just cross out any entries that don't make sense and add something that does. You're the GM, do whatever you want.
Now, having bored you enough for the time being. Go check out the other entries in this month's carnival.
Happy Gaming!
I venture forth from under my rock to bring you more blithering, blathering, and chicken chasing, usually on topic even. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT CHICKEN! Sorry, he was big and shiney.
Random Encounter Tables.
Yep, this is a subject every GM has, or will eventually, use or need and/or scream incoherently at a Random Encounter table. Let's see if this scenario sounds familiar: Gm rolls, consults table, then goes outside and throws dice across the yard in frustration because the RET has just determined that your brand new shiney 1st level adventuring party is now facing a Shadow Dragon!
Oh yes, that actually happened to me. Yep, killed that game with one die roll.
All my personal failings as a GM aside, you might run into a similar problem and I'll try and give you a few ideas on how to avoid the aneurysms this causes. Apologies for not delving into the maths of dice probability, it makes my head hurt.
If you have wandered around my blog before, then you have probably discovered my custom RETs.
Forest
Plains
Hills/Mountains
Swamp/Marsh
I have long since packed up my PF books, I don't have notes available on how they worked out. I usually scribble notes on the tables, so I can make tweaks later.
I designed these with a spread of CRs because I am of the GM school of...
I designed these tables with an eye towards longevity. I was able to use the tables thru when the PCs made 6th level.
Looking at the Forest table. Entries 1, 51-53, and 100 are not just monsters. These are plot hooks. The ancient graveyard was going to reveal a small statuette of a god they could not recognize. The ruined tower was the hook for a secret library and a journal that would have led a brave party up against a Tarrasque. The pyramid ruins are there, because I don't get to use my Heart room trap enough.
If you're like me, when you start a sandbox game you have a selection of of plot hooks for the PCs to choose from. To prevent analysis paralysis, take all your plot hooks and work them into a RET. Let the dice gods decide what the PCs are going after. You don't even have to start them at the trite animal tavern. The first session can have a more organic flow and save you the headaches of trying to get the PCs to pick a direction.
In closing, RETs come in all types and sizes. If you really don't feel like putting together a custom table, there is a mega multitude of tables out there. If you don't mind a little work, try designing your own tables. You don't have to start from scratch. Just cross out any entries that don't make sense and add something that does. You're the GM, do whatever you want.
Now, having bored you enough for the time being. Go check out the other entries in this month's carnival.
Happy Gaming!
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