Date: 8 June, 2026
Format: As long or short as desired (subtable, d6 points: 6)
Blog: Tenfootpole
SPOILERS for Wolves upon the Coast and The Isle.
Randomness and Current Games
1. The great tool of Creation is the die.
2. I adapted "Titan of the Verdant Maw" to Stay Frosty for a one-(three-)shot for the main group as the down-two-players-still-having-a-session session. Perhaps placing the scenario into a straight science fictional setting subverted the sword-and-planet intent of the original, but it worked well enough as an sf shoot-em-up. The module is heavily dependent on randomness, having tables for traps, mutations, wandering monsters, "pockets," science-weapon mishaps, and environmental events, and the original version also included tables for rumors, anomalies, nighttime events, notable NPCs. and a much longer (36 vs. 10) mutations list. Stay Frosty added its Danger Die to the mix, and reaction rolls played a big role in how the adventure played out, too.
I combined the Tech Cultists ("Fanatical servants of mechanical gods, armed with crude staffs") and Mutants ("Warped humanoids twisted by radiation, alchemical runoff, or biomechanical corruption") into a single type of encounter, mutants who worshipped tech. The random table(s) of mutations allowed/forced me to elaborate the mutants' culture during play, which was an entertaining process. In the heat of play I forgot that I intended to use the long mutation list, and had the player who sampled the mutating fruit roll on the short list. The Danger Die at this point "summoned" some mutants, whose reaction was mildly negative about the trespass. The player (now with webbed hands) shared the slightly-hard-to-acquire fruit, which produced a much more positive secondary reaction result. This now "meant" that the exchange of mutating fruit was the proper social greeting within mutant culture. When consumed, two of the mutants transformed into large slugs (the most dangerous result for PCs on the table), and immediately the leader--with the precious tech of a pistol--shot them both. The concerned player correctly surmised that both things were an honor, the ultimate transmutation and death by advanced weaponry, culture invented on the spot through dice interpretation.
3. "Are you sure you want to keep that order? You can re-arrange the numbers if you like..." My agent's lowest stat at the start of a God's Teeth campaign in a Delta Green game was Power's 6. So, a low willpower, low sanity, and a low breaking point. I refused the GM's offer.
Six sessions in, the character has broken twice, becoming an alcoholic insomniac along the way, and losing two motivations, the first of which the player can no longer remember either. The character, in-game learned a couple of mind-altering spells, but cannot use them without breaking or worse, since the rituals cost willpower and/or sanity to use. The memory-loss spell would've been perfect for a needed coverup for the team, but we had to think of another method due to the low starting stat. A purloined-letter-style bureaucratic obfuscation was designed to solve the problem instead.
4. The RAW for Obligatory Sample Rules has players roll for their class after their 3d6DTL abilities. With a -1 STR and -1 WIS, the die said I had a ranger. I was pretty disappointed, as I hadn't really rolled a ranger since the 1980s, when it had been my favorite class, mainly because of the 2d8 hp start, but a little bit because of Aragorn. I mean, book Aragorn and Baskhi Aragorn and Viggo Aragorn are all still pretty cool, but not models for what I want my current characters to be. Well, whaddayaknow, Obligatory SR rangers have 2(d6) starting HD, and a bonus skill die as well. This OSR is kind of power-gamer friendly. How to explain the shitty stats? Well, in-world he had been a noble's huntsman who was fired for being terrible at tracking and other ranger stuff, so he's now glommed onto an adventuring crew. To fit the existing world, this backstory will need to be massaged a little further as we go on.
5. Blog-link method: check out Bryce's favorites and scroll down until I hit one that is current for me. And, the second one is Stonehell. I can't reread the review (first read years ago) in case of spoilers. The greatest tool of creation for my Stonehell is the map itself: I "need" to know the shapes, the connections, the rationale. The random monster die is a tool of destruction: the too-elaborate, three-pronged ambush of the orcs? One prong ruined by the encounter die. The extraction of a known magic item from a tricky spot? Ruined by the encounter die, which worked perfectly, driving the PCs into two additional encounters while in flight. The act of creation? A phoenixesque self-immolation to defeat harmless-looking (literally fuzzy and soft) extinction-level threats.
6. The rumor die/Joesky task. Wolves upon the Coast comes with no explicit rumor tables, despite "Rumours are generally the best way to seed information about modules, dungeons, whatever, into your game world - but you’ll need to think about what the people of your world will talk about in relation to each specific place." I am starting (unless no one shows up!) a short Wolves campaign this coming weekend. I felt it necessary to compile my own rumor tables (290 entries, total, maybe an overdoing for a summer campaign; probably also too diffuse, scattering the adventuring focus), because those dice will create a compelling adventure motivations beyond what can be seen by the starting characters, creating the shape of the campaign, but also provide setting information that helps clarify that this is not vanilla D&D. To comply with the second part of the quote above, there are regional and subjective tables. Ruislip's is offered below. All contain a least a kernel of truth. Many are a little misleading. A few are from The Isle.
Ruislip d66
11. If you are hungry for mead, the druids have tamed the bees in Stamullen.
12. Boneless deer were found on the north road of Ruislip. Violently boneless.
13. The fishers of Culemwardern fear the sky.
14. Cioran, the head man of Culemwardern is rich.
15. Culemwardern has encroached on the waters of Cloyne. So says their headman, anyhow.
16. The witches of Cloyne protect their fishing boats.
21. You want to hang onto something valuable? You bury it.
22. The blood in the dirt is secret messages.
23. The druids are beloved of the Ruis.
24. The trees are felled violently in the heart of Ruislip, and the druids can do nothing about it.
25. Deer are thick in the ruins.
26. Ever-stilled warriors of old and children of the forest guard the ruins.
31. The fanatics in the stilt-houses paint themselves blue and carry on with orgies in the night.
32. The druids took the bones of the invaders when they came.
33. The one-eyed Brythonic prince regretted his father’s campaigns in Ruislip.
34. Ruislip has not been spared the ravages of the Sea.
35. A druid counsels the headman of Dorbog, and the people grow sick.
36. At Dorborg 1000 silvers are promised on the return of a stolen face.
41. The druids kidnap the unfortunate from Albann and sacrifice them on full moons.
42. The druids eat shit and soil.
43. The Empire’s stone monster still guards the ruins of Donenashoe.
44. The Dyndur have taken the fort on the moor, on the river Mulker. They come out at night.
45. The abbot at St. Olham’s despises the Druids.
46. St. Olham’s skeleton is preserved in the monastery. Touch it for a blessing.
51. Blulach burns any druid-lovers in the market square.
52. There is a bounty for the reaver Niamh, by the Christian headman of Blulach.
53. The barrows near Blulach were dug many years ago.
54. Killucan refuse to eat the river fish and their cattle have grown thick in recent years.
55. The monks stole away the Arch-Druid centuries ago, but his heart still beats; you can hear it beneath the sea.
56. Do not slay your father for a conqueror’s promise, like the Ceannaigh brothers did.
61. The plants on Dunrick reach out for Ruislip, grasping.
62. A man with roots for legs and leaves for hair washed up on northern Ruislip.
63. The dragon Sruthkin incinerated Kindee a century ago. Don’t wake him if you don't want to burn.
64. The birdshit on Flodaigh reaches a man’s chest.
65. The conquerors dropped their treasures in turn as they fell.
66. Wayfarers to the heart of Ruislip will be either crushed or hardened.
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