Just The Caffeine Talking

Random Encounters: Beneath Naples

Naples is an ancient city built atop layers of volcanic tufa. The stone is easy to dig through and carve, and over the past four thousand years people have dug a lot of tunnels under Naples. There are natural caves, Roman cisterns and sewers, the early Christian catacombs of San Gennaro and San Gaudioso, a system of World War II bomb shelters, wine cellars, the modern water and subway systems — and countless vaults and tunnels kept secret or long forgotten. And beneath it all, a vast pool of magma churns.

RANDOM ENCOUNTERS BENEATH NAPLES

(Roll 1d10 if you're in an underground space; 1d20 if you're exploring the vast network of passages.)

1. Roll twice and combine
2. Plot advancing encounter: Someone or something related to why the heroes are crawling around under Naples in the first place.
3. Crooks: 1d8 Neapolitan gangsters who use the tunnels to stash loot and move around secretly. They're armed and don't want anybody snooping around, but they also don't want to attract attention if they can avoid it.
4. Eurynomos: Corpse-eating demon with purple-gray skin the color of rotted flesh. It is accompanied by 1d4 Ghouls (see below) and seeks dead humans. It's perfectly capable of making dead humans if it meets live ones.
5. Ghouls: Are they living dead or strange tunnel-dwelling humans? They eat carrion and know all the secrets of the underground. 1d6 Ghouls armed with their own teeth and claws.
6. Giant Snake: There aren't any snakes this big in Italy . . . but here it is, a python at least thirty feet long capable of crushing a full-grown steer in its coils.
7. Rats! A vast swarm of rats, driven up from deeper levels by something. They're maddened by fear and hunger and attack anything in their path.
8. Secret Passage: A hidden door leading into another part of the underground. Figuring out how to open it may take some doing.
9. Servizio Infrastrutture: 1d4 city workers who know this part of the underground pretty well. They know what to avoid, how to get out — and things it's best not to talk about.
10. Tremor: The ground shakes for 1d10 seconds. Use an "exploding die" — if the result is 10, roll again, and the additional seconds of shaking are stronger.
11. Collapsed Section: The tunnel has partly collapsed. You may be able to squeeze through the rubble, but there's a 1 in 4 chance that will cause more stones to fall.
12. Gas! This section is filled with poisonous hydrogen sulfide bubbling up from the volcanic areas below. Anyone who breathes here may pass out, which would be fatal.
13. Lair: A chamber used as a hideout. The occupants will not be happy to see you. Roll 1d6 to see whose lair it is and how many there are. 1: Crooks (1d4); 2: Ghouls (2d4); 3: Homeless Kids (1d4); 4: Lava-Men (1d4); 5: Living Skeletons (1d6); 6: Rats (1d4 swarms).
14. New Diggings: A recent tunnel, only a meter tall, looks like a shortcut to where you're going.
15. Octopus! It's been lurking down here for decades, hiding in a dark half-flooded chamber. On a diet of rats, cats, and unwary explorers it has grown to immense size, with arms three meters long and a beak like a vulture.
16. Pursuers: Someone's after you, either trying to drive you out or catch you for no good purpose. Roll 1d6 to see who's chasing you. 1-2: 1d4 Crooks armed with knives and pistols; 3-4: 2d4 Ghouls; 5-6: 1d4 Vampires.
17. Spatial Anomaly: The tunnel network is so complex that parts of it actually defy normal topology. This section connects to a place 1d10 times 100 meters away.
18. Trap: Someone wants to discourage visitors to this section. Roll 1d6 to see what kind of trap it is. 1-2: Concealed crossbows launch 1d4 bolts down the passage; 3-4: Hidden pit drops you into a flooded section below; 5-6: Spring-loaded scythe slashes across the passage
19. Underground Church: One of many dug by the early Christians to avoid persecution. It's dry, safe, and supernatural monsters avoid it. There is a 10 percent chance this church has been desecrated by infernal powers and actually attracts and strengthens unnatural horrors.
20. Tracks: Roll again to see what you find traces of.

SITUATIONS BENEATH NAPLES

(Roll 1d6, then consult the table above to determine who A and B are.)

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

REACTION TABLE

2-3: Immediate attack!

4-5: Unfriendly

6-8: Neutral

9-10: Friendly

11-12: Very Friendly

Important Notice

Today's Sylvia Plath Memorial Bake Sale has been postponed. 

Evidently we scheduled it too soon.

Random Encounters: Transylvania!

It's called "Transylvania" ("beyond the forest") because to get there from Hungary you pass through a hilly, forested area to reach the central Transylvanian plateau. On all other sides the region is surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains, making it hard to get to even in the Edwardian era. During that time the area was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, which meant it was run by foreigners who spent as little time there as they could manage. The result: a semi-medieval backwater well into the 20th Century. This table is for Transylvania any time from the 1840s to the 1930s.

RANDOM ENCOUNTERS IN TRANSYLVANIA

Roll 1d10 if you're staying in one location, 1d20 if you're moving about exploring or tracking something.

1. Roll twice and combine
2. Plot advancing encounter: Something or someone connected with your purpose in Transylvania.
3. Swarm of Bats: They don't behave like normal bats. They swarm about you, nipping and scratching, trying to drive you in a particular direction.
4. Foreign Visitor: Roll 1d6 to see who you encounter. 1: British lawyer here on business; 2: British lawyer fleeing a horrifying encounter; 3: British lawyer bent on destroying a monster; 4: Dutch occultist doing research; 5: Young American with unsavory connections; 6: Russian military man sightseeing.
5. Grave-Robbers: A trio of surly, suspicious fellows with shovels. Roll 1d6 to see what they're looking for. 1-2: Digging up bodies with jewelry to sell; 3-4: Looking for fresh material recently buried; 5-6: Seeking a particular old grave.
6. Monster: A lumbering, freakish, inarticulate brute, suspicious and probably hostile toward everyone. Roll 1d6 for specifics. 1: Alchemy-spawned being flawed in creation (naive and amoral); 2: Hybrid sired by inhuman being (cunning and vicious); 3: Meddler transformed by curse (reclusive and enraged); 4: Patchwork of reanimated dead flesh (confused and angry); 5: Soulless Machine (implacable); 6: Victim of insane experiment (maddened by pain).
7. Mysterious Warning: Either directed specifically at the heroes, or a general "to whom it may concern." Creepy phrasing and vague wording convey a sense of dread but no useful information.
8. Vampire: A walking corpse that feeds on the blood or life-force of the living. Roll 1d6 to see what kind. 1-2: Madman suffering delusions; 3-5: New-risen dead, mindless and thirsty; 6: Powerful ancient vampire.
9. Weather: A sudden and unseasonable storm, with high winds and lightning. You certainly can't travel, and must seek the nearest shelter at once.
10. Werewolf: A human who can take wolf form, or perhaps the other way around. Roll 1d6 for details. 1: Cursed wanderer seeking cure; 2: Gleeful predator; 3: Honor-bound shirtless hunk; 4: Vampire in wolf form; 5: Vengeful outcast; 6: Weird man-wolf hybrid.
11. Abandoned Waif: Frail, pale girl in white, unable to speak. As soon as you're alone the fangs come out.
12. Black Stone: An incomprehensibly ancient stone marked with runes in no known language. Sleeping nearby brings visions of prehistoric rituals — which may continue in secret to this very day.
13. Bridge Out! The road stops at a deep gorge with a rushing stream at the bottom. You'll have to go back, or risk climbing the steep walls. Hope you're not being chased by anything . . .
14. Ghost Lights: Blue lights, visible only at night, which hover over the burial sites of lost treasures and the graves of suicides. During they day they manifest as a chilly spot.
15. Half-Ruined Castle: It shouldn't be inhabited, but there's a light in one window. Roll 1d6 to see who's home. 1: Aged crone who may be a witch; 2: Gang of 1d10 bandits; 3: Ghost; 4: Mad scientist with a brutish assistant and a monster; 5: Monster living alone who tries to remain hidden; 6: Vampire with 1d6 underlings.
16. The Master of the Scholomance: An imposing bearded chap with piercing eyes, recruiting students for the famous occult school in the mountains above Sibiu. Each year ten aspiring wizards enter the underground complex, and a year later nine leave.
17. Pack of Wolves! 2d6 unusually large and aggressive wolves. If they catch you outside they try to chase you down; if you're indoors they're howling about the doors making escape impossible.
18. Remote Chapel: Abandoned and run-down, but still sacred ground. Evil things cannot enter (but their human and animal minions can).
19. Trap! Roll 1d6 to see what kind. 1: Ambush by 1d6 armed goons, 2: Bomb! 3: Concealed pit to catch the unwary; 4: Falling stones; 5: Sabotaged bridge; 6: Suspended wire to decapitate unwary riders.
20. Tracks: Roll again to see what just passed.

SITUATIONS IN TRANSYLVANIA

(Roll 1d6, then consult the table above to determine who A and B are.)

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

REACTION TABLE

2-3: Immediate attack!

4-5: Unfriendly

6-8: Neutral

9-10: Friendly

11-12: Very Friendly

Alexei Leonov, R.I.P.

The title says it all, really. Alexei Leonov, one of the three greatest Russian space explorers, died last week after a long and amazing career.

It's hard to avoid the feeling that we're living in a diminished age. We have great plans, great dreams . . . but too often they seem to stay that way. In an ideal world, Leonov could have at least visited the Moon in the 1990s as an honored guest (or even a founding partner of some business venture). But nobody's been back since 1972. There are people born after the last man left the moon who are grandparents today.

Farewell to another one of the greats.

Random Encounters: Miskatonic University

In the scenic New England town of Arkham, Miskatonic University sits on the bank of the river of the same name. The school's red-brick buildings and tree-shaded quads seem eternal, immune to time. Only the styles worn by the students ever seem to change.

Most people know of Miskatonic (if they know of it at all) as a good small university, not as famous as the Ivy League but certainly on a par with Amherst, Bowdoin, or Williams College.

But in certain rarefied circles which do not seek the public eye, Miskatonic is known as a center for the study of unusual things. The school's library holds a collection of occult works unrivaled anywhere. Its science departments poke into odd meteorites and impossible archaeological finds in Anarctica. Its math department investigates hyper-dimensional spaces. Its history and comparative religion departments have some of the world's experts on magic and forbidden lore.

The paradox about Miskatonic is that it simultaneously serves those who want to understand and use forbidden knowledge, and those who want to protect humanity from it. It's kind of an intellectual neutral zone, where conflicts are suspended because neither side wants to risk damaging the library's priceless copy of the Necronomicon.

ENCOUNTERS AT MISKATONIC UNIVERSTIY

(Roll 1d20 when moving about the campus at night. During the day, replace any non-named individuals with random undergraduates.)

1. Roll Twice and Combine
2. Plot Advancing Encounter: Someone or something related to your current topic of inquiry at Miskatonic.
3. Campus Police: one Miskatonic University Police officer equipped with revolver and billy club. Unlike the town cops, the school police are rather protective of the students and ignore minor misdeeds as long as they don't involve harm to people or the campus.
4. Cultists: 2d6 furtive strangers unfamiliar with the campus, looking for a particular item or person. They're armed with knives and pistols.
5. Drunk Students: 2d6 intoxicated undergraduate men and 2d6-6 intoxicated undergraduate women. They're mostly interested in pranks and finding more beer, but there's a 10 percent chance they'll mistake your group for members of a rival fraternity or (worse yet) townies trying to crash a campus party. Then it's fistfight time.
6. Escaped Specimen: One of the Antarctic Old Ones, a specimen from the Dyer expedition which has thawed out and escaped from the Geology Department basement. It is incredibly tough, very smart, and has been asleep since the Cretaceous Era.
7. Ghouls: 1d6 skulking, hunched, carrion-eaters.
8. Walter Gilman: Mathematics prodigy pursuing an interdisciplinary study combining higher-dimensional topology and ancient witchcraft. Kind of a grind, really.
9. Man-Faced Rat: It's about the size of a gopher, has oddly human-like hands and a human face, and titters horribly.
10. Misky: The beloved campus watchdog, a powerful English Mastiff. Misky's normally very gentle and good-natured, a pet to all the students and especially the young children of the faculty. But when confronted with any unnatural beings Misky becomes an unstoppable 250-pound bundle of muscle, teeth, and righteous fury.
11. Dr. Francis Morgan: A young, athletic Archaeology professor whose ongoing rivalry with Dr. Jones of Marshal University is legendary. Fearless and a crack shot, Dr. Morgan has seen more than his share of strange things.
12. Prof. Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee: A Professor of Political Economy, whose mind is currently that of a superintelligent time-jumping alien being. Knows everything — including things that haven't happened yet — but is always preoccupied with his own mysterious projects.
13. Dr. Laban Shrewsbury: Philosophy professor who always wears dark glasses, even at night. Tends to draft people into helping fight world-threatening menaces, even if they've got homework.
14. Storm: An unseasonable thunderstorm passes across Arkham. For an hour the city is beset by high winds, lightning, and heavy rain. Streets by the river are partially flooded for the next 1d4 hours, and there's a 50 percent chance of a power failure lasting 2d6 hours.
15. Swarm of Rats! Something has driven all the rats on campus out of the storm drains and steam tunnels. Roll 1d6. 1-3: The rats are fleeing something, and head away from campus in all directions as fast as they can go; 4-6: The rats are drawn to one particular location and attack anyone there.
16. Asenath Waite: Incredibly smart undergraduate with a shocking degree of ancient occult knowledge. She has strange off-campus acquaintances.
17. Herbert West: A medical student who has discovered a preparation of tropical lizard tissue capable of reviving the dead. He'll happily join in any activity which promises to get him some really fresh specimens to experiment on.
18. Wilbur Whateley: A visiting self-taught scholar from Dunwich, he's nine feet tall, smells funny, and carries a pistol. Wilbur's determined to get the school's copy of the Necronomicon.
19. Dr. Albert N. Wilmarth: English professor and folklorist, expert on old New England legends.
20. Tracks: Roll again to see what left traces.

SITUATIONS

(Roll 1d6, then use the table above to fill in the elements.)

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

REACTION TABLE

(Roll 2d6.)

2-3: Immediate attack!

4-5: Unfriendly

6-8: Neutral

9-10: Friendly

11-12: Very Friendly

Random Encounters: The Crossroads at Midnight

The place where roads cross has always been the scene of strange encounters, and midnight is the time when the strangest things walk the land. If you're passing through the crossroad between midnight and cockrow, be polite but brief with strangers. And if you're hanging around there on purpose, waiting to see who comes by . . . you'd better have your wits about you.

ENCOUNTERS AT THE CROSSROADS AT MIDNIGHT

Roll 1d20 when you get to the crossroads.

1. Roll twice and combine
2. Brave Youth: a naive youngster who isn't afraid of anything, even things one should be afraid of. He (or she) is here in search of a particular contest — a test of wrestling, riddling, music, throwing, or quarterstaff fighting.
3. Dead Man: he doesn't rest quietly in the grave, but walks at night. Roll 1d6 to see what he wants. 1: a guide to the afterlife, 2: a missing item, 3: a proper burial, 4: one last drink, 5: someone to perform a task, 6: your blood!
4. The Devil: a well-dressed stranger with one misshapen foot. He's ready to make a deal. You get what you want (knowledge, love, matchless skill with your instrument), and he gets to take you when you die. Sign right here . . .
5. Extra Road: from the time the clocks strike midnight to the first crow of the cock, five roads meet here instead of just four. To find out where the extra road leads, you'll have to follow it. If you don't get back by cockrow, you may be gone a long, long time.
6. Fortune Teller: a wise old woman, or possibly a wise young one, she can read your future in the cards, or the lines of your hand, or perhaps just by looking at you. Give her silver and you'll hear your fate.
7. Ghost: she haunts the crossroads where she died. Though terrifying, she will do you no physical harm, and her sad wails may hold useful clues.
8. Lights in the Sky: roll 1d4 to see what's up above. 1: angels bidding you be not afraid, 2. black helicopter piloted by Men In Black, 3. flying ship crewed by fairies, 4. saucer piloted by Greys. Use the Reaction Table to see if they're hostile or friendly.
9. Lost Traveler: this traveler is really lost — he's wandered into the wrong world, or the wrong time, or perhaps the wrong game system. Use the Reaction Table to determine how dangerous the Lost Traveler is.
10. Magician: a wizard or a witch, possibly old and wizened, possibly young and attractive. Use the Reaction Table to see if the Magician is looking for help, looking to make a deal, or looking for someone to sacrifice in some hideous rite.
11. Mysterious Stranger: He's either old and bearded with one eye, or young and preternaturally handsome, but either way he wears a wide-brimmed hat and a concealing cloak. Roll 1d6 to see what the Mysterious Stranger wants. 1: a task performed, 2: to give you some cryptic advice, 3: to give you a gift, 4: to lead you to the afterlife, 5: to punish you, 6: to warn you of some approaching peril.
12. Peddler: a jolly old fellow with a cart full of strange things for sale. He doesn't take cash, but will trade for wonders, or service, or a year of your life, or maybe your soul.
13. Riderless Horse: it's a noble-looking beast with a fine saddle and a silver bit. If you choose to mount up, roll 1d6. 1: accursed man in horse form will be your steed for a year and a day, 2: bewitched horse gallops to the cemetery where the dead are dancing to the Devil's fiddle, 3: enchanted steed takes you to where a fairy princess needs a champion, 4: ghost horse carries you to a tomb, 5: ordinary horse belongs to a traveler murdered on the road, 6: Puck in the form of a horse takes you on a wild ride that ends in a dungheap.
14. Ruin Appears: the light of the moon strikes a building that isn't there during the day. What's inside?
15. Someone In Need of Help: a young woman whose lover was taken by the fairies, or a man who sold his soul and knows the Devil is coming to collect, or a luckless fellow who spied on the witches at their Sabbat. Whoever it is needs some heroic help.
16. Trooping Fairies: The Queen of the Fairies and her court are riding at night. Roll on the Reaction Table to see if they're hostile or friendly. Either way you're in peril of your life and your soul.
17. Vampire: he's out hunting, accompanied by 1d6 wolves and a flock of bats. Roll 1d6 — on a 1-4 you're his prey, on a 5-6 he's already caught someone and is carrying him or her off.
18. Weird Weather: a sudden tempest with oddly-colored lightning lasts 1d6 times 10 minutes. At the height of the storm roll again to see who turns up.
19. Will-o'-the-Wisp: strange blue lights bobbing about. Roll 1d6 to see what they are. 1-2: corpse lights burning over the location of buried treasure, 3-4: mischievous spirits trying to lure you into a quagmire, 5-6: St. Elmo's Fire (followed by a thunderstorm).
20. Tracks: roll again to see what just passed by before you arrived.

 

REACTION TABLE

Roll 2d6 to see how your encounter responds. Modify as appropriate for the party's condition and personal qualities.

2-3: Immediate attack!

4-5: Unfriendly

6-8: Neutral

9-10: Friendly

11-12: Very Friendly