Favourite Unusual while Useful Random Tables

languagegeek · January 28, 2016, 11:45:06 AM

The "GM Screen" thread mentioned a Hats and Headgear table, which got me thinking, what are some of your favourite odd or unusual random tables that have actually gotten use in play? If you have a more mundane table that sees a lot of play in your games, feel free to include that also!

I'm going to be compiling a binder with a wide selection of random tables because at the moment they're sitting unused on my hard drive, and there's always room for another table or two.

Ravenswing · January 28, 2016, 01:58:28 PM

Eh, post some of them!

My favorite is my Whimsy List. It's several hundred items deep, and are almost all 20th-21st century items, usually quite mundane. I'd post some sections if the formatting wouldn't blow up, but examples I've given out in the past are rolls of Scotch tape, a modern Alpine backpack, a car antenna, a Bic lighter, a box of plastic army men, a Brillo pad, a tube of Preparation H, a box of tampons, a TV tray, a space blanket, a penlight, a Slinky, an aluminum baseball bat, a set of chess pieces (one side only) made of Bakelite, and a parking meter.

What I mostly use it for is paired with a guy I call the "Something Weird" vendor. He's a ragged pushcart vendor, shows up every year or so, peddling stuff off his cart, everything wrapped up in butcher's paper and coarse twine. He'll sell people one item each, and one item only, for a nominal price, and then move on. (Over the years, my players have uniformly had the mother-wit not to accost him, cheat him, question him, attack him, scam more items out of him, or do anything that might queer the deal.)

The trick is to identify it without any handles that would quickly reveal it: "You've got an odd wooden pole. It's about four feet long and an inch square. It has strange runes on it, unrecognizable to you, painted on the shaft. At one end is a flat paddle, about a foot long, and breaking off at a 45 degree angle. The end of the pole is tipped with an odd black substance that's sticky to the touch and slightly flexible; the paddle is wrapped in the middle with a thin layer of what appears to be the same substance." That's an actual example, and it took the party that had it over a half-hour to figure it out.

It is, of course, up to the players to decide what good the items are for, if any. Some, like a 20th century cowboy hat, are obvious. Some, like a lava lamp or a toaster oven, sure as heck aren't.

RPGPundit · January 31, 2016, 07:18:19 PM

The RPGPundit's Random Drinks Table.

Doughdee222 · January 31, 2016, 07:52:03 PM

There was one table I saw long ago, maybe in a Dragon Magazine article? I can't remember where. It was a "Misdialed phone number" table (for those who critically fail dialing their phone.) One was "How did you get this number? You can't stop me now! You forced me to release Plague X upon the world! Bwa ha ha ha ha ha! (click.)"

Elfdart · January 31, 2016, 10:48:52 PM

Appendix I in the DMG is great, but two tables in particular stand out: the odors table describing scents in the dungeon and the noise table describing strange sounds. A roll of the dice and a description of the smell or sound and the players' imaginations immediately get the better of them -it never fails!

Favourite Unusual while Useful Random Tables

languagegeek

Ravenswing

RPGPundit

Doughdee222

Elfdart