Random Encounters: Aboard the Mauretania

In 1925 the famous RMS Mauretania is the fastest and most luxurious liner on the Atlantic run, crossing from Liverpool to New York in just six days. That still leaves passengers plenty of time to get into mischief. With two thousand passengers, eight hundred crew, and vast interior spaces for stowaways to hide in, there's never a shortage of people to meet.

ENCOUNTERS ABOARD THE MAURETANIA

(Roll d20 when moving, d10 when stationary.)

1. Roll Twice and Combine.
2. Plot Advancing Encounter: An encounter with someone or something connected to the reason you're traveling aboard the Mauretania right now.
3. Con Man: Prince Ivan Rudolf Habsburg-Romanoff is third in line to the throne of Estonia, and knows the location of the hidden gold of the Tsars near Tallinn. He just needs a few thousand dollars to cover expenses and will repay the loan tenfold — and make his benefactors Dukes! "Prince Ivan" is really Yves Bergier, formerly a waiter at the Ritz in Paris.
4. Gangsters: 2d6 tough guys in flashy clothes, heading back to New York from a visit to Sicily. They're touchy about insults, suspicious about nosy strangers, and tend to use threats and violence as the solutions to all problems.
5. Lifeboat Drill: Drop whatever you're doing and hurry on up to the boat deck! Find your assigned lifeboat! Everyone on board is milling about; you can get lost in the crowd or maybe get into someplace you wouldn't be allowed normally.
6. Monster: There's a vampire on board, or an alien carnivore in human form, or a demon jumping from host to host. Or maybe just a serial murderer taking advantage of a target-rich environment. Whatever sort of monster it is, you're all in peril.
7. Rat Swarm: A moving carpet of rats covering 1d6 square yards. They're maddened and hungry and attack anyone in their path.
8. Storm! A brutal North Atlantic storm lasting 1d4 days. During the storm the ship tosses violently and the decks are lashed by wind and rain. Most of the passengers stay in their cabins, leaving only a few hardy souls in the public spaces.
9. Tipsy Meddlers: Charles and Tillie Sinclair are very rich, drink champagne with breakfast before switching to martinis at noon, and love to solve other people's problems. If they take a liking to you, they can help in a variety of ways — Tillie went to school with the daughters of the President of the Cunard Line, Charles spent World War I doing espionage in Turkey and Central Asia, and both of them are considerably smarter than they look.
10. Wolf: It's a standard gray wolf, but how did it get aboard? If there's a full moon out, this might be one of the passengers . . .
11. Bomb! A handmade dynamite bomb inside a valise. Maybe it's intended for the characters, or maybe a disgruntled crewman or deranged passenger set it to sow chaos. The heroes may have to disarm it, or get it overboard, or deal with the after-effects of a blast.
12. Bore: Colonel Grouse-Potherby spent The War in darkest Manchester, but he firmly believes his epic anecdotes about his service are absolutely fascinating to everyone. The Colonel will attach himself to anyone who looks willing to listen, and will ignore any of their attempts to break free.
13. Drug Peddler: Kindly old Dr. Collins makes monthly trips across the Atlantic aboard the Mauretania, and his pal Freddy the steward sees that he is never disturbed. But if you're looking to buy cocaine or morphine, Freddy can steer you to Dr. Collins's stateroom. Neither of them take kindly to nosy interlopers.
14. Fumes: A careless workman spilled a bucket of paint thinner in one of the staterooms, and now the whole room reeks of toluene. If you breathe it too long it'll make you drunk or knock you out, and one lit match can turn the room into a firestorm.
15. Laundry Chute or Ventilator: It's a shaft leading from the upper decks of the ship down into the working sections where passengers never go. A quick way to escape pursuers, or dispose of something illicit.
16. Mysterious Inscriptions: Someone has scrawled Egyptian hieroglyphs on the wall in red paint — or is it blood? What do they say, and what does it mean?
17. Mysterious Lights: During the night you can make out lights in the dark water outside — and lights in the sky! A skeptic would say it's some sort of atmospheric effect, but it sure looks like some kind of strange vehicle keeping pace with the ship.
18. Shadow: Wherever you look, that odd little man with the obviously false mustache seems to be watching you. He's keeping track of where you go on board and who you talk to.
19. Ship's Infirmary: The Mauretania carries two doctors, and has separate hospital cabins for passengers and crew. You can get medical help here, at least as good as anything outside of a major hospital.
20. Tracks: Roll again to see what you find traces of.

SITUATIONS ABOARD THE MAURETANIA

(Roll 1d6 to generate a situation, and roll on the table above to see who is involved.)

1. A desires B
2. A wants to capture B
3. A wants B dead
4. A wants to go somewhere
5. A wants to solve a mystery
6. A wants X