Friday, April 26, 2013

Something Useful: Random Adventure Generator

Okay, I'm outright lifting this idea from the late 80's West End Games Ghostbusters RPG. One of the fun and useful things their GM's manual had (along with a load of fun adventure hooks in the back) was a random adventure generator. I added an extra table for the time period and changed the people and places, but it's pretty much the same idea as Ghostbusters used.

Just roll two dice for each table, read the numbers one at a time, and voilĂ ! Or just cherry pick some ideas into useful story if that works for you.

TABLE ONE: CHARACTERS  (WHO?)

1-1  Reality TV/ Documentary Film Crew
1-2  Crew of Smugglers
1-3  Tourists
1-4  Minor Government Official
1-5  Amateur Paranormal Researcher
1-6  University Professor
2-1  A Professional Musician/ Singer
2-2  Priest/Cleric
2-3  Disguised Alien
2-4  Artificial Intelligence/ Robot
2-5  A Famous Celebrity/ Historical Figure
2-6  Homeless People
3-1  Wealthy Family
3-2  Private Investigator
3-3  Scientists
3-4  Work Crew
3-5  Farmers
3-6  Diplomats
4-1  Friends on a Road Trip
4-2  A Rock Band
4-3  Spies
4-4  Bar/ Pub patrons
4-5  Police/Military Squad
4-6  Teenagers
5-1  Medical Staff
5-2  Campaigning Politician
5-3  Archaeologist
5-4  Prince/ Princess
5-5  Mobster/ Organized Crime
5-6  Refugees
6-1  Resistance Fighters
6-2  Fugitives
6-3  Journalist/ Writer
6-4  Circus Performers
6-5  Businessman 
6-6  Roll Two Times

TABLE TWO: TIME PERIOD/GENERAL LOCATION (WHEN?)

1-1  Imperial Rome
1-2  American Civil War
1-3  Old West
1-4  Revolutionary France
1-5  Victorian England/Late 19th Century America
1-6  World War II
2-1  The Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire
2-2  1950's
2-3  Medieval Times
2-4  Tudor England
2-5  Pre-Columbian America
2-6  Modern Day
3-1  Post Human Abandoned Earth
3-2  The Cyberwars
3-3  Edwardian Britain/Prohibition Era America
3-4  1960's
3-5  The 51st Century
3-6  Future Earth Colony
4-1  Draconian Empire
4-2  Dalek War Era
4-3  1980's
4-4  Late 21st Century Space Age
4-5  The Ice Age
4-6  The Galactic Alliance Era
5-1  Regency England/ Revolutionary America
5-2  1970's
5-3  A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away
5-4  Colonized Mars
5-5  1990's
5-6  Dalek Conquered Future
6-1  Ancient Egypt
6-2  Nondescript Alien world
6-3  Parallel Time Line
6-4  World War I
6-5  The 25th Century
6-6  Outside of Time and Space as we understand it


PART THREE: SPECIFIC LOCATION (WHERE?)

1-1  Mansion/ Large House
1-2  Research Facility
1-3  Space Station
1-4  Lighthouse
1-5  Office Building
1-6  Market/ Bazaar
2-1  Desert
2-2  Ship/ Sea Vessel
2-3  Sewers
2-4  Arctic Tundra
2-5  Hotel
2-6  Spaceship
3-1  Mine
3-2  Warehouse/ Industrial
3-3  Mountains
3-4  Apartment Complex
3-5  Jet Airliner/ Airship
3-6  Forest
4-1  Church
4-2  Museum
4-3  Restaurant/ Bar
4-4  Castle
4-5  Cemetery/ Crypt
4-6  Gated Community
5-1  Nightclub/ Lounge
5-2  Beach
5-3  Embassy
5-4  Swampland
5-5  Subway
5-6  Stadium/ Colosseum
6-1  Government Building
6-2  Military Base
6-3  Lakes/ Rivers
6-4  Moorland
6-5  Department Store
6-6  Historical Landmark

PART THREE: STRANGE PROBLEM (WHAT?)

1-1  Ancient Prophecy Being Fulfilled
1-2  Something Grows Mysteriously
1-3  Strange Weather
1-4  Lost Contact with Someone
1-5  Animated Vegetation
1-6  UFO Sightings
2-1  Unexplained Artifact
2-2  People Disappearing
2-3  Spontaneous Rioting
2-4  Out of Control Experiment
2-5  Unexplained Power Loss
2-6  Supposed Cryptids (Big Foot/Loch Ness Monster)
3-1  Ghosts
3-2  Something Shrinks Mysteriously
3-3  Things Appearing from Nowhere
3-4  Spontaneous Combustion
3-5  Animated Objects
3-6  Body Swapping
4-1  Things Vanishing
4-2  Apparent Invasion Panic
4-3  Temporal Displacement
4-4  Clones/ Duplicates
4-5  Mysterious Activities by Government/ Corporation
4-6  Walking Dead
5-1  Technology that Shouldn't Exist Yet
5-2  Unexplained Deaths
5-3  Nations at Brink of War
5-4  History has Gone Wrong
5-5  Village Full of Peculiarity
5-6  Presumed Hoax
6-1  Doorway to Another World
6-2  Dinosaurs
6-3  Things Changing into Something Else
6-4  Amnesia
6-5  Doomsday Device
6-6  Illusions




PART FOUR: SOURCE OF PROBLEM (WHO?)

1-1  Silurians (Three Eyed)
1-2  Ice Warriors
1-3  Raxacoricofallapatorians
1-4  Mad Scientists
1-5  Rutan
1-6  Catkind
2-1  Blowfish
2-2  Ogrons
2-3  Daleks (Post Time War)
2-4  Graske
2-5  Silurians (Lizard)
2-6  Judoon
3-1  Dominators
3-2  Cybermen (Cybus)
3-3  Spies
3-4  Autons
3-5  Abzorbaloff
3-6  Sontaran
4-1  Daleks (Pre- Time War)
4-2  Bane
4-3  Cryons
4-4  Wirrn
4-5  All Powerful Disembodied aliens
4-6  Osiran
5-1  Quarks
5-2  Dhravins
5-3  Kastrians
5-4  Cybermen (Invasion-Revenge Era)
5-5  Foamasi
5-6  Saturnyians
6-1  Zygons
6-2  Kraals
6-3  Cybermen (Earthshock)
6-4  Weeping Angels
6-5  Sea Devils
6-6  Daleks (New Paradigim)

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