Random Sword and Sorcery Adventure Generator

[blackadder23]

Sometimes you have a gaming session coming up and you need some inspiration to get your imagination working. Or you're in a real hurry and you need a quick adventure outline. Here are some tables I made a while back to quickly create a D&D adventure with a "sword and sorcery" flavor (i.e., heavy on human foes and treachery). I think they would work pretty well for AS&SH. I kept them very general so a DM can adapt them to the details of his particular campaign. They are meant more to jumpstart the imagination than create a rigid "plot".

To use these tables, roll once each on Goal, Hook, Antagonist, Ally, Complication 1, Complication 2, Obstacle 1, Obstacle 2, Twist, and Reward tables. Reroll undesirable or unworkable results and modify all results to suit the campaign.

GOAL (d6)
1 – FIND a person, place, or object
2 – GUARD a person, place, or object
3 – TRANSPORT a person or object
4 – EXPLORE or scout or spy upon a person or place
5 – ESCAPE from a person or organization
6 – ATTACK a person, place, or organization

HOOK (d6)
1 – HIRED for a reward
2 – CAPTURED and pressed into service
3 – STUMBLED onto situation
4 – FOUND an old book or map
5 – FAVOR requested by a friend
6 – DREAMED or had a vision

ANTAGONIST (d6)
1 – Evil SORCERER or high priest
2 – Corrupt government OFFICIAL
3 – BANDIT chieftain or king of thieves
4 – GENERAL or war leader
5 – Supernatural ENTITY
6 – Force of NATURE (storm, plague, etc.)

ALLY (d6)
1 – RIVAL of antagonist
2 – ROGUE adventurer seeking the same goal
3 – Unworldly SCHOLAR with vital information
4 – Disgruntled SERVANT of antagonist
5 – PRIEST or shaman who speaks for the gods
6 – VICTIM of antagonist seeking revenge

COMPLICATION 1 (d6)
1 – Old RIVAL of player also involved
2 – Spurned LOVER of player looks for revenge
3 – Money LENDER comes to collect from player
4 – Phobia or TABOO of player violated
5 – Aspiring STUDENT or apprentice pesters player
6 – Roll on Complication 2 Table instead

COMPLICATION 2 (d6)
1 – PLOT to topple the local government
2 – PLAGUE is spreading in the vicinity
3 – Escaped SLAVE boy or wench begs refuge
4 – Local noble falls in LOVE with player
5 – INVASION or place under occupation
6 – Roll on Complication 1 Table instead

OBSTACLE 1 (d6)
1 – Armed GUARDS or soldiers
2 – ASSASSINS or sneak thieves
3 – RAIDERS or bandits
4 – CONCEALMENT, deception, or secrecy
5 – DISTANCE or limited time
6 – Roll on Obstacle 2 Table instead

OBSTACLE 2 (d6)
1 – Magical WARDS or guards
2 – MONSTER
3 – CURSE (real or pure superstition)
4 – RIDDLE that must be solved
5 – Onrushing natural or unnatural DISASTER
6 – Roll on Obstacle 1 Table instead

TWIST (d6)
1 – Apparently mundane is actually SUPERNATURAL
2 – Apparently supernatural is actually MUNDANE
3 – BETRAYAL by ally
4 – Forced to ALLY with enemy or rival
5 – Apparent goal is a WILD GOOSE CHASE (reroll on Goal table for actual secret goal)
6 – Goal is made MOOT by events and new goal becomes survival or escape

REWARD (d6)
1 – LESS wealth than anticipated
2 – WEALTH as anticipated
3 – MORE wealth than anticipated
4 – GRATITUDE of powerful or influential people
5 – SUPERNATURAL boon
6 – Nothing but their miserable HIDES

[owlorbs]

Cool.

[Ghul]

This is excellent. You know, with just this barebones structure of hooks and events -- throw in a little imagination and seat-of-the-pants game mastering -- and you could run weeks of memorable game play. I like it.

[Sean Michael Kelly]

Jan 17, 2013 7:03:05 GMT -6 Ghul said:

This is excellent. You know, with just this barebones structure of hooks and events -- throw in a little imagination and seat-of-the-pants game mastering -- and you could run weeks of memorable game play. I like it.

I totally agree, this is good stuff. More!

[Cthulhu Colin]

Nice work. I love adventure generators, such as this baby, The Demonweb Random Adventure Generator, Age of Fable's Adventure Idea Generator, and Age of Fable's Plot Generator - just click the fantasy tag and unclick the others. Interestingly, the former is based on TSR's Dungeon Master's Design Kit apparently. WotC even offer a plot generator online for free (click D&D Classic or Bare Bones to taste) HERE.

[blackadder23]

Thanks gents! I'm working on a version with a little more specifically "Hyperborean" flavor.

[Ghul]

Perhaps a more Hyperborea specific generator would be a great idea for inclusion at our resources page:

www.swordsmen-and-sorcerers.com/resources

[Cthulhu Colin]

Jan 17, 2013 16:50:21 GMT -6 Ghul said:

Perhaps a more Hyperborea specific generator would be a great idea for inclusion at our resources page:

www.swordsmen-and-sorcerers.com/resources

That's a great idea, and I'd love to see such a thing.

Colin

[Ghul]

Jan 18, 2013 3:17:37 GMT -6 Cthulhu Colin said:

Jan 17, 2013 16:50:21 GMT -6 Ghul said:

Perhaps a more Hyperborea specific generator would be a great idea for inclusion at our resources page:

www.swordsmen-and-sorcerers.com/resources

That's a great idea, and I'd love to see such a thing.

Colin

I spent some time preparing your Drunken Debauchery article, Colin. It's next up for the resources page.

[Cthulhu Colin]

Cool, look forward to seeing it up.

[blackadder23]

I've downloaded all the resources so far and I'm looking forward to the Drunken Debauchery one. Nice work on these.

[blackadder23]

I reworked this to be a little more specific and to have a little more 'Hyperborean' flavor. It now uses all d12 rolls (because that die is underused ;D ).

RANDOM SWORD AND SORCERY ADVENTURE GENERATOR (HYPERBOREAN EDITION)

Instructions: Either roll or choose from each list, or substitute something else entirely if desired. All results should always be tailored to fit the specific campaign. Roll twice to determine the title of the adventure (for example, a roll of 7 followed by a roll of 9 would yield the title “Servants of the Boreas”). Roll to determine the basic mission for the players; roll if necessary to determine whether the object of the adventure is a person, place, or thing; and then roll to determine the specific type of person, place, or thing that is the object of the adventure. Roll on each table to determine the Hook that will involve the players in the mission, the main Antagonist, and a Potential Ally. Roll to determine Divine Involvement in the adventure: first roll to determine which table to use and then roll on the appropriate table to find which Hyperborean divinity, if any, takes an interest in the adventure. (Note that “takes an interest” doesn’t necessarily mean the deity will appear, and in the vast majority of cases and campaigns it will not appear. Rather it means that a cult or relic of that deity will be involved somehow, or that the deity will send a sign or prophecy related to the adventure.) Roll twice each on the Complications and Obstacles tables, rerolling any duplicate result on either table. Optionally roll on the Twist table if you feel your players have the stomach for that sort of thing. Finally roll on the Rewards table to get an idea of the profit if the players succeed in their mission.

Example: Rolls are 2, 12, 9, 10, 10, 6, 7, 10, 11, 4, 10, 7, 4, 11, 5. The adventure title is “Blood of the Wastes”. The players read a passage in an old book that describes the magical virtue of a certain ancient skull, so they decide to recover it and sell it to the highest bidder. Unbeknownst to them, a deranged alchemist is seeking the skull for his own purposes. A rogue adventurer also seeking the skull could become an (unreliable) ally. The skull is that of an ancient priest of Yug and is sacred to the cult of that deity, so dagger-armed cultists will likely dispute its ownership as well. Recovering the skull from its tomb will be complicated by the fact that foreign troops are occupying the city, and a starborne plague is spreading among the dispirited populace. The tomb is well hidden and the players must find it before the new moon or the skull is useless to them. The alchemist will attempt to warn the players away by blowing hallucinatory lotus dust into their rooms, causing the players to battle imaginary (but horribly realistic) demons. If the players can recover the skull before the new moon, a powerful sorcerer will buy it from them; the price will not be as high as they wish, but the sorcerer will owe them a favor. Of course, they will also have incurred the enmity of the cult of Yug…

Title Part 1 (d12)
1 - Beast
2 - Blood
3 - Fate
4 - Jewels
5 - Prophecy
6 - Queen
7 - Servants
8 - Shadow
9 - Swords
10 - Vengeance
11 - Wind
12 – Whisper

Title Part 2 (d12)
1 – of Chaos
2 – of Darkness
3 – of Death
4 – of Doom
5 – of Night
6 – of Silence
7 – of Sorcery
8 – of Sorrow
9 – of the Boreas
10 – of the Lost
11 – of the Mountain
12 – of the Wastes

Mission (d12)
1 - Attack (roll place to be attacked)
2 – Destroy (roll object to be destroyed)
3 - Escape (roll d12: 1-6 roll person, 7-12 roll place to be escaped)
4 - Explore (roll place to be explored)
5 - Find (roll d12: 1-4 roll person, 5-8 roll place, 9-12 roll thing to be found)
6 - Guard (roll d12: 1-4 roll person, 5-8 roll place, 9-12 roll thing to be guarded)
7 - Kidnap (roll person to be kidnapped)
8 - Kill (roll person to be killed)
9 - Recover (roll thing to be recovered)
10 - Rescue (roll person to be rescued)
11 - Steal (roll thing to be stolen)
12 - Transport (roll d12: 1-6 roll person, 7-12 roll thing to be transported)

Person (d12)
1 - Artist
2 - Beggar
3 - Foreigner
4 - Merchant
5 - Noble
6 - Peasant
7 - Priest
8 - Scholar
9 - Slave
10 - Sorcerer
11 - Thief
12 – Warrior

Place (d12)
1 - Catacombs
2 - Cavern
3 - Dwelling
4 - Fortress
5 - Island
6 - Mountain
7 - Palace
8 - Prison
9 - Sanctuary
10 - Shrine
11 - Storehouse
12 – Tomb

Thing (d12)
1 - Book
2 - Bottle
3 - Cloak
4 - Crown
5 - Crystal
6 - Jewel
7 - Ring
8 - Scroll
9 - Seal
10 - Skull
11 - Sword
12 – Tablet

Hook (d12)
1 - Arrested and pressed into service
2 - Asked as a favor
3 - Blackmailed
4 - Found a map
5 - Geased by a sorcerer
6 - Had a dream or vision
7 - Hired
8 - Ordered by superior
9 - Overheard conversation
10 - Read something in an old book
11 - Stumbled into situation
12 - Wronged and seeking revenge

Antagonist (d12)
1 - Bandit chieftain
2 - Brutal warlord
3 - Corrupt official
4 - Cult leader
5 - Debauched noble
6 - Deranged alchemist
7 - Evil sorcerer
8 - Fanatical priest
9 - Greedy merchant
10 - King of thieves
11 - Obsessed scholar
12 - Supernatural entity

Potential Ally (d12)
1 - Aged warrior seeking one last battle
2 - Disgruntled servant of antagonist
3 - Escaped prisoner
4 - Friendly witch
5 - Priest who speaks for the gods
6 - Rival of antagonist
7 - Rogue adventurer seeking the same goal
8 - Streetwise urchin
9 - Unworldly scholar with vital information
10 - Vengeful spirit
11 - Victim of antagonist seeking revenge
12 - Villain who wants to be redeemed

Divine Involvement (roll d12: 1-6 use Table 1, 7-12 use Table 2)

Divine Involvement Table 1 (d12)
1 - Apollo
2 – Artemis
3 – Aurorus
4 – Azathoth
5 – Boreas
6 – Helios
7 – Kraken
8 – Krimmr
9 – Kthulhu
10 – Lunaqqua
11 – Mordezzan
12 – None

Divine Involvement Table 2 (d12)
1 – Rel
2 – Thaumagorga
3 – Tlakk-Nakka
4 – Ullr
5 - Xathoqqua
6 - Yig
7 - Yikkorth
8 - Ymir
9 - Yoon’Deh
10 - Ythaqqa
11 - Yug
12 - None

Complications (d12, roll twice and reroll any duplicate)
1 - Aspiring student or apprentice pesters a PC
2 - Escaped slave boy or wench begs refuge
3 - Forgotten crime comes back to haunt a PC
4 - Invasion or occupation by foreigners
5 - Local laws are bizarre and restrictive
6 - Money lender comes to collect from a PC
7 - Old rival of a PC becomes involved
8 - Phobia or taboo of a PC is violated
9 - Plague is spreading in the vicinity
10 - Rebels are plotting to overthrow the government
11 - Spurned lover of a PC looks for revenge
12 - Unwanted suitor falls in love with a PC

Obstacles (d12, roll twice and reroll any duplicate)
1 - Armed guards
2 - Assassins
3 - Bandits
4 - Concealment, deception, or secrecy
5 - Curse (real or imaginary)
6 - Great distance
7 - Limited time
8 - Looming natural or unnatural disaster
9 - Magical wards or guards
10 - Monster
11 - Riddle that must be solved
12 – Thieves

Twist (d12)
1 - Adventure locale is a Potemkin village and supposed mission is an experiment by alien entities
2 - Antagonist is a PC from another time or reality
3 - Antagonist is a supposed ally or friend in disguise
4 - Apparently mundane is actually supernatural
5 - Apparently supernatural is actually mundane
6 - Betrayal by supposed ally or friend
7 - Entire adventure is actually a delusion or dream (use at your own risk!)
8 - Forced to ally with enemy or rival
9 - Original mission is a trap and actual mission is to survive and escape
10 - Original mission is a wild goose chase (reroll on Mission table to determine actual mission)
11 - Portion of adventure is actually a delusion or dream
12 - Success in mission leads to unexpected and dire consequences

Rewards (d12)
1 - Expected wealth
2 - Expected wealth, gratitude of the powerful
3 - Expected wealth, supernatural boon
4 - Less wealth than expected
5 - Less wealth than expected, gratitude of the powerful
6 - Less wealth than expected, supernatural boon
7 - More wealth than expected
8 - More wealth than expected, gratitude of the powerful
9 - More wealth than expected, supernatural boon
10 - No wealth, gratitude of the powerful
11 - No wealth, supernatural boon
12 - Nothing but their miserable hides

[kesher]

This is really great stuff!

Jeff, I don't know if you've talked with Calithena about this at all, but it'd be cool if people could publish some of this growing corpus of AS&SH stuff in the pages of Fight On!...

[Cthulhu Colin]

Nice work.

One thing I'd change is making the actual involvement of the Divine less common (at the moment, only 1-in-12 of each Divine table has the result, "None"). Certainly, it should be common, but I think Hyperboreans also have a wonderful tendency of messing things up and around themselves even with the gods or cults being involved. So, instead of a d12 for those two tables, maybe a d20 for each, with results 12-20 being None instead. Changing to a d20 would also give you the option of making some divine results more common than others (representing things like the ubiquity of Xathoqqua worship) and to add "Minor God Cult", "Spirit Worship" and "Ancestor Veneration"as a Divine results too.

Colin

[blackadder23]

Jan 22, 2013 14:02:20 GMT -6 Cthulhu Colin said:

Nice work.

Thank you.

Jan 22, 2013 14:02:20 GMT -6 Cthulhu Colin said:

One thing I'd change is making the actual involvement of the Divine less common (at the moment, only 1-in-12 of each Divine table has the result, "None").

I'll give you my perspective on why I added that, and why I don't think it's excessive. As part of preparation for my campaign I recently reread all the Conan and Kull stories, the Dreamlands stories, and especially the Zothique and Hyperborean stories. It struck me in rereading them that some deity was involved at least indirectly in pretty much all of them - whether in the form of a priest, a cult, a temple, a statue, a relic, a vision, a curse, or even showing up in person to express its displeasure. I know some people claim divinities in sword and sorcery are "remote" and "uncaring" (or even "nonexistent"), but I believe the actual literature suggests quite the opposite: they constantly meddle and inspire their minions to smite the heathen. To me - and everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this - obnoxious deities who might do something unpleasant at any time are part and parcel of the sword and sorcery "flavor". Take "Beyond the Black River" as an example. Basically this is an American frontier "settlers and Indians" story without the guns. What gives it the sword and sorcery flavor, at least in my opinion, is the whole business about the prehistoric cult of Jhebbal Sag, and the idea that humans who still remember the language of the god can command animals who do likewise. It adds a lot to an otherwise pretty derivative story. That's what I mean by "divine involvement" - not that the god will appear in person (which would seldom if ever happen, and is physically impossible in some cases), but that its worship or worshippers or relics will figure into the adventure in at least a tangential way. Looked at in that light, one adventure in twelve with no connection to any divinity whatsoever seems pretty faithful to the literature - at least to me. I intended it as a kind of spur to creativity - "how can I work in some allusion to Krimmr with all the rest of this?" - and not really to suggest that crazy cults need to figure into every adventure. Although to be honest, there's usually no shortage of cultists that need killing in sword and sorcery literature either!

I think it goes without saying that including divine involvement at all is optional (like everything else), that any roll can be changed or ignored, and that anyone is free to decide on the overall level of divine involvement in their own campaigns, including none at all (although I would argue the existence of the clerical classes belies this). But pretty common collisions with deities and the worshippers thereof is part and parcel of the source material as I understand it, so I do stand behind my approach as reasonable.

[Cthulhu Colin]

Fair enough. What of the expansion to d20 to allow for the three types I mentioned (Minor Gods, Spirits, Ancestor Worship), and for some cults/deities to be more common than others (such as Xathoqqua)? You could keep the presence of the divine just as common as you want, but allow for more results.

Colin

[blackadder23]

Jan 22, 2013 16:03:00 GMT -6 Cthulhu Colin said:

Fair enough. What of the expansion to d20 to allow for the three types I mentioned (Minor Gods, Spirits, Ancestor Worship), and for some cults/deities to be more common than others (such as Xathoqqua)?

It's a good idea. Having minor local gods would be especially appropriate for sword and sorcery.

[Ghul]

Jan 22, 2013 13:17:33 GMT -6 kesher said:

This is really great stuff!

Jeff, I don't know if you've talked with Calithena about this at all, but it'd be cool if people could publish some of this growing corpus of AS&SH stuff in the pages of Fight On!...

Hi Aaron,

I can see the attraction to getting some of this stuff out there in other publications, which is exactly what we did with the CRYOMANCER article in AFS magazine #2.

But to be clear, I have not opened up AS&SH as OGC, and I have my reasons for that. Mostly because this game, as I envision it, is as much about its setting as it is about its mechanics. In a nutshell, anything AS&SH related that is intended for publication has to go through me. I want to maintain continuity.

That being said, fan contributions here or otherwise are most welcome!

I also like the idea that some of this stuff is available only at the AS&SH web site, which would hopefully drive a few people in that direction and maybe buy something if they like what they see out of the free resources.

Cheers,
Jeff T.

[Ghul]

I love what you've done, blackadder23, and I think my only criticism actually corresponds with Colin's: Divine Involvement. Now, your explanation I think is fine, but without the explanation, my first thought was that "Divine Involvement" implies direct deity involvement. But if you are talking about religious relics, cults activities, visions, and so forth, then perhaps "Divine Involvement" is not the best term.

For example, the deity of Krimmr is notorious for not answering the prayers of his followers, but Xathoqqua is very active, doling out blessings and curses at his whim. But if the result of "Krimmr" on the table might simply suggest a holy relic of the deity, or the presence of a shrine, that does not necessarily imply the deity's active involvement.

I see now what you mean in the broad sense, but this wasn't obvious to me until I read your above post.

This is great work! Thanks again.

[Cthulhu Colin]

"Divine Element" perhaps? With a little "- could be actual deific involvement, or something related to a religion or cult such as an icon, artefact, curse, cult plot, or vision" subheader.

[blackadder23]

I may jettison that part entirely, since it's controversial and confusing. Anyway, it's the only portion that requires a double roll to resolve, which isn't very handy. Instead I may expand all the other tables to d20 and add a few more "divine" elements like visions and curses. That will cut down on the overall level of "divine involvement" while still allowing for at some level of meddling by those crazy deities (if appropriate for a particular campaign). Also, if an entry simply says "deity bestows curse" the GM can choose an activist deity like Xathoqqua and not an indifferent one like Krimmr or imprisoned one like Kthulhu. Or he could even invent a minor/local deity or spirit or whatever.

I'll see what I can do given those parameters.

[Ghul]

That sounds great. So, when all is said and done, what do you think of making it one of the free resources on the ASSH web site? Or we can just keep it here. Your choice!

[blackadder23]

If the final version is acceptable, I would be glad for you to make it available on the ASSH website. I know a lot of people enjoy this type of thing and I haven't really found a random adventure generator with a "sword and sorcery" flavor. But it has to be worthy of inclusion with the other fine resources there.

[Ghul]

Jan 24, 2013 19:05:37 GMT -6 blackadder23 said:

If the final version is acceptable, I would be glad for you to make it available on the ASSH website. I know a lot of people enjoy this type of thing and I haven't really found a random adventure generator with a "sword and sorcery" flavor. But it has to be worthy of inclusion with the other fine resources there.

Based on what you've shown us thus far, I'm sure it will be worthy of inclusion -- a fun and exciting resource!

[blackknight]

Nice to have, Better I think than even the Random Dungeon creation matricies in the back of the Original 1ed AD&D that I used to use for seat of the pants generation..

[blackadder23]

I love the Random Dungeon tables in the original DMG, especially the marginal artwork where the party is fighting different groups of monsters. Although considering that the other opponents are trolls, salamanders, and stone giants, I have to feel sorry for the poor outmatched kobolds... ;D

[Mushgnome]

Feb 25, 2013 10:44:57 GMT -6 blackadder23 said:

I love the Random Dungeon tables in the original DMG, especially the marginal artwork where the party is fighting different groups of monsters. Although considering that the other opponents are trolls, salamanders, and stone giants, I have to feel sorry for the poor outmatched kobolds... ;D

I've always loved that artwork, too! If I had to pick just 1 piece of art to show a non-player "this is how D&D works," I just might choose that one.

[blackbarn]

I love generators like this. Thanks for sharing.

[Cthulhu Colin]

What's the word on this, by the way? I'm eager to see the finished piece.

[blackadder23]

Feb 26, 2013 4:52:45 GMT -6 Cthulhu Colin said:

What's the word on this, by the way? I'm eager to see the finished piece.

Thanks! I sent Jeff the "final" version and it should be available as a download sooner or later, pending his approval.