My opinion is that if it doesn’t happen at the table during play, I didn’t occur in the game or the story. Lore only becomes “real” when it comes up in play
That’s totally my approach. Stories are there to be uncovered (created) by play. Factions and individuals should have motivations, but everyone will have their own idea about a region’s history.
This is great. One idea I just had: what if we also tied faction moves to this table? „A faction advanced a goal” would be a list item, and you would then roll for faction and goal and think how them having reached it could manifest as an encounter.
Faction agendas are one of those things that usually happen in the background, and can therefore be wasted effort for the GM. I wonder where else we could put the design principle of your post (put stuff in the foreground, where players care).
Reflecting about my past tables I see it clearly. If you don't transform lore dump into actually interactable npc, items or encounter, this piece of lore doesn't exist. Ok, there is this king in the past pipipipopopo, if the players don't interact with this piece of information, this king doesn't exist and you could even rewrite all his lore or delete it completely
What’s your strategy for unused elements of the table? Specifically the NPCs, it seems like the details you use are just a starting place, but how often do you use your NPC table for multiple situations/sessions?
With NPCs I do like the serendipity of repeated rolls of the same one- relationships (good and bad) can start to form organically. But if there’s a town or situation where a certain NPC from the table would fit, I’m happy to have them turn up there, as they’ll be richer than a character I make up on the spot. However, I do try to let the randomness do its work as much as possible- given time, it often feels like a sort of magic.
Tying encounters to the session story and the location's background is always a wonderful, surefire way to share worldbuilding and breadcrumbs with the players. Good stuff!
Rookie DM question, would you typically roll these yourself for a more seamless experience for the PCs? Or does it serve anything to give PCs agency over the rolls?
Generally (as in it's common practice) for the GM/DM to roll encounters etc as it may require some interpretation to make it work in the context. Players love when GMs start rolling anyway (tension etc) haha
Coincidentally I've found myself doing exactly this when I prep. I limit myself to a one or two sentence "stage setter" just for myself in order to get my headspace in the theme, then go to town writing tables.
I've taken quite a bit of inspiration from ktrey from d4caltrops and start my tables with questions such as "What stalks the Woods of Ilendoor?" which is a fancy way of saying "Woodland area encoutner table". It lends to the flavor and keeps me in the game's fiction.
Another thing I've done, to reduce dice rolling and keep the game moving is finding areas that I can overload a roll. In the example encounter table above since you're using 2d6, and floatsam has the highest combination of numbers I make a side look up table with something like
My opinion is that if it doesn’t happen at the table during play, I didn’t occur in the game or the story. Lore only becomes “real” when it comes up in play
That’s totally my approach. Stories are there to be uncovered (created) by play. Factions and individuals should have motivations, but everyone will have their own idea about a region’s history.
This is great. One idea I just had: what if we also tied faction moves to this table? „A faction advanced a goal” would be a list item, and you would then roll for faction and goal and think how them having reached it could manifest as an encounter.
That’s a great idea! It could replace the 2 I think, and have shark and squid share a slot
Faction agendas are one of those things that usually happen in the background, and can therefore be wasted effort for the GM. I wonder where else we could put the design principle of your post (put stuff in the foreground, where players care).
Reflecting about my past tables I see it clearly. If you don't transform lore dump into actually interactable npc, items or encounter, this piece of lore doesn't exist. Ok, there is this king in the past pipipipopopo, if the players don't interact with this piece of information, this king doesn't exist and you could even rewrite all his lore or delete it completely
Are Mermon a polygamous cult? I hope they are.
What’s your strategy for unused elements of the table? Specifically the NPCs, it seems like the details you use are just a starting place, but how often do you use your NPC table for multiple situations/sessions?
With NPCs I do like the serendipity of repeated rolls of the same one- relationships (good and bad) can start to form organically. But if there’s a town or situation where a certain NPC from the table would fit, I’m happy to have them turn up there, as they’ll be richer than a character I make up on the spot. However, I do try to let the randomness do its work as much as possible- given time, it often feels like a sort of magic.
or write lore and tables? hmmm
Tying encounters to the session story and the location's background is always a wonderful, surefire way to share worldbuilding and breadcrumbs with the players. Good stuff!
Rookie DM question, would you typically roll these yourself for a more seamless experience for the PCs? Or does it serve anything to give PCs agency over the rolls?
Generally (as in it's common practice) for the GM/DM to roll encounters etc as it may require some interpretation to make it work in the context. Players love when GMs start rolling anyway (tension etc) haha
Coincidentally I've found myself doing exactly this when I prep. I limit myself to a one or two sentence "stage setter" just for myself in order to get my headspace in the theme, then go to town writing tables.
I've taken quite a bit of inspiration from ktrey from d4caltrops and start my tables with questions such as "What stalks the Woods of Ilendoor?" which is a fancy way of saying "Woodland area encoutner table". It lends to the flavor and keeps me in the game's fiction.
Another thing I've done, to reduce dice rolling and keep the game moving is finding areas that I can overload a roll. In the example encounter table above since you're using 2d6, and floatsam has the highest combination of numbers I make a side look up table with something like
1 1 A wooden pallet
1 2 plastic soda holder rings
...
2 1 a blown out tire
etc.
Oh I love that idea from ktrey. That’s such a useful way of staying in the world.
Yo I think I’m gonna adapt this NPC table for my Black Crag games!! I like the depth of these watery wanderers so much!!