March: Rolling, Rolling, Rolling, Roll Tables!
It’s been one of those months where I don’t feel like I got much done outside of my day job but, when I look back, I’ve actually been pretty busy! It probably just means I spent less time messing about on twitter and TikTok while pretending I am doing ‘productive marketing.’ Yeah, tell yourself that, past me. So enough procrastinating, let’s go!
The Latest Goings On
Crowdfund TikTok Webinar
At the start of March, I gave a talk about using TikTok to market your TTRPGs. It was hosted by Crowdfundr and it also got recorded, so if you want to hear me give away all my tips and tricks, you can watch it here for free!
Random Dungeon Masters
Having finished pretending to be an obnoxious llama (Watch the Drama Llamas series here!) I’m taking part in another actual play.
This time I’m joining D8 Dungeon in a series entitled Randoms DMs. In this actual play, we’re going to run through a prewritten adventure but each session, we roll to find out who will be the DM! Right now we are running Lost Mines of Phandelver. It’s appropriate we are starting with the starter set adventure, because one of our DMs, Fiona, tried DMing for the first time EVER in our previous session!
It’s as silly and chaotic as you would expect. Catch us every other Thursday on twitch!
Mycelium Artwork
I’m getting closer and closer to completing the final version of my mushroom-themed Mausritter adventure, Mycelium. This month I’ve finished applying the edits, and I’ve started on the artwork and layout.
The final layout is going to be a black and white A5 booklet with lots of fun illustrations throughout. I’m considering looking into creating some printed zines so I wanted everything to be laid out in a way that can accommodate that. I’m really excited to see it all coming together, and I appreciate everyone who has already picked up the plain text version and let me know they enjoyed it.
Do you enjoy buying printed adventure zines? Let me know in the comments!
Eco Mofos Jam
I have also started work on a new adventure site for the Eco Mofos Jam!
Eco Mofos by David Blandy is a futuristic, ecopunk, weirdhope game, based off of the Into the Odd system. David has noted that while it is set after a post-apocalyptic disaster, when all the rich people have buggered off to Mars, it is not meant to be grimdark in tone. Instead, it has a hopeful edge, where the characters explore the ruined wastelands in the hope of eventually building a new community to settle down in.
To get the ball rolling, David is running the Eco Mofos game jam so people can join in creating NPCs, bestiaries, ruins, and more.
I had a flick through the game in it’s current form (it’s currently Itchfunding for additional art and editing but the base game is ready to play)and I really enjoyed the entries on androids, robot replicants, and Ai rotting bodies. So, I’m making an abandoned android factory!
I’m still in the first stages of planning and writing up the dungeon (or ruin, or site… what does one call a dungeon when they aren’t in a fantasy world setting?) I’m using Molomoot’s Crossword Dungeon Generator technique to get a rough idea of layout. This involves solving a crossword and using it to inspire possible layout ideas. I found this worked really well when I wrote Tomb of the Slumbering Queen so I figured if it ain’t broke, use it again.
After getting a general idea of the layout, I translated it into a Dungeon Scrawl map, amending the design a little so it flows well and makes sense as an actual space. Now I’ve got that done, I can write up the room descriptions, and draw up my own map.
The jam ends in April, so hopefully by next month I will have completed enough to submit it and share the results with you all!
GM’s Notebook: Roll Tables
The wonderful Taylor of Roll For Felicity has been inflating my ego again. I’ll need a compression pack for my swollen ego soon if she doesn't stop. (Seriously though, go check out her indie TTRPG streams, they are excellent!)
This time she has proclaimed that I am the Queen of rollable tables!
I didn’t actually used to like roll tables. Back when I mostly played DnD and story games, I thought they were a bit prescriptive and pointless . Now I have tried out more OSR adventures, I am a huge roll table convert.
Even if you don’t actually roll on them, making Roll Tables helps you imagine a location in more depth. For example, treasure tables make you think about the types of people and creatures that travel through the location, and what they might reasonably leave behind. Encounter tables make you think about what else might be present in the location, which can include traps and environmental hazards as well as other creatures. By thinking about this, the location is not longer a static point, but rather a living a breathing place the PCs happen to visit.
You also don’t need to actually roll on roll tables to use them. I used to see roll tables as removing agency from me as the story teller, but now I realise I can use them as inspiration for what happens next. If there is a lull roleplay and I want to add in an interesting event, but maybe I don’t want to introduce my big shiny plot point, I can glance at my roll tables and find something appropriate. Also, if you enjoy a more open game, with lots of opportunity for the story to change and evolve, they can be a great way to add some randomness into the game. But, if you make them yourself, you can still control the tone of the game.
For example, as I mentioned in a previous newsletter, I am currently running a campaign set in Eberron, where my players are trying to travel ‘Around Eberron in 80 Days.’ There is plenty of sight-seeing and leisure time in between lightning rail transfers so I want to include lots of fun vignettes that showcase the world of Eberron.
Therefore, I make small encounter and treasure tables which highlight Eberron lore, and provide fun moments for my players to build off of which allows moments of lighthearted fun in between the more tense moments of pre-planned intrigue and combat.
Here are some examples from when the players explored Wroat, the capital city of Breland.
Eberron City Encounters:
Lil old goblin lady offers toffee sweets - DC10 CON save or your teeth stick together for d4 mins.
3 kids sparring with wooden swords playing dangerously close to the bridge edge.
Warforged with roses growing around her limbs named Yorkie offers to sell you a bouquet.
Small jovial crowd gather around a goblin and a kobold getting ready to arm wrestle. A dwarf calls for the crowd to place their bets.
Several Cyran refugees are gathered in a circle singing a haunting song. A crowd has gathered and people occasionally toss a coin in their collection bucket.
A thin human child has been following you, but never gets too close. She keeps coughing, and you can see red marks on her neck that might be an aberrant dragonmark.
Tips on writing roll tables:
Split your roll table up to offer a range of results.
For example, in a D6 encounter table, make [1-2] easy encounters, [3-4] medium encounters, and [5-6] hard or strange encounters. That way you’ll get more interesting variety when you roll.
Think about the themes of your story, and the atmosphere you want to evoke.
Make sure this is present in every roll table entry. For example, rather than a treasure entry being ‘a sword,’ add some description; ‘an obsidian sword lodged in a skeleton.’ This will provide you and your players more information to role-play with.
Link entries to the lore of the location.
As well as using the description to add atmosphere to the location, add in elements that incorporate ideas you have for the plot. For example, perhaps the skeleton is a previous adventurer who went up against the volcanic death knight, now without a sword, who the PCs will encounter in the next room!
Add something silly.
Would you rather have an encounter with d6 goblins, or against a gelatinous ooze gummy snake. Yeah, that’s what I thought. Add in interesting, amusing, and bizarre entries to your roll table. If you roll them, you’ll end up taking your game in new and fun directions which you might not have considered if you hadn’t taken a chance with the dice in the first place.
Until next time!
That’s all for now folks. Until next month, I hope all your games go well, and you have enough free time to play them!
If you want to keep up to date with various my goings on, you can follow me on the internet here: twitter, tiktok, tumblr, instagram, youtube
Great read! As a fairly recent convert to roll tables myself, I agree that they can be super fun and useful 😁
Great video about TikTok