Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Building Bhakashal - Random Encounter Tables


One of the guiding principles of Bhakashal is that the setting allows you to build upon it. So for example, there are random encounter tables that determine what you will encounter as you travel through the marshes surrounding the city. 


The core of Bhakashal’s random encounter tables are the main tables:

Table A - Animals

Table B - Plants

Table C - Humanoids

Table D - Monsters

Table E - Cthuloid Monsters


Each one is weighted to keep the higher HD monsters less common. So for example:


Marshes Random Encounter Table A - Animals (d100)

1-6. Ape, Carnivorous [5HD/2-8NA/MM]

7-9. Bat, Giant [0HD/3-18NA/FF]

10-11. Bee, Giant [4HD/1NA/MM2]

12-15. Crocodile, Giant [7HD/2-12NA/MM]

16-20. Dinosaur (d6)

1. Deinonychus [4HD/1-6NA/MM2]

2. Dimetrodon [3-5HD/1-2NA/MM2]

3. Palaeoscincus [9HD/1-4NA/MM]

4. Pteranodon [3HD/3-18NA/MM]

5. Pterosaur, Giant [6HD/1-8NA/MM2]

6. Teratosaurus [10HD/1-3NA/MM]

21-23. Dragonfly, Giant [7HD/1-6NA/MM2] 

24-30. Frog, Giant [1-3HD/5-40NA/MM]

31-35. Hornet, Giant [5HD/1NA/FF]

36-40. Leopard [3HD/1-2NA/MM]

41-50. Lizard

a. Fire [10HD, 1-4NA/MM]

b. Giant [3HD/2-12NA/MM]

51-55. Lion, Spotted [6HD/2-8NA/MM]

56-58. Mantis, Giant [10HD/1NA/MM2]

59-65. Rat, Giant [0HD/5-50NA/MM]

66-70. Sabre-Toothed Tiger [7HD/1-2NA/MM]

71-80. Snake (d6)

1-2. Constrictor [6HD/1-2NA/MM]

3-4. Poisonous [4HD/1-6NA/MM]

5-6. Spitting [4HD/1-4NA/MM]

81-91. Spider (d6)

1. Giant [4HD/1-8NA/MM]

2. Huge [2HD/1-12NA/MM]

3. Ivory [4HD/2-4NA/BH]

4. Large [1HD/2-20NA/MM]

5. Loam [1HD/20-30NA/BH]

  6. Phase [5HD/1-4NA/MM]

92-95. Turtle, Snapping Giant [10HD/1-4NA/MM]

96-100. Wasp, Giant [4HD/1-20NA/MM]



Each TYPE of hex has a different selection from these options, for example, for a Forest hex:


Forests (d100)

1-30: Animals (table A)

31-60: Plants (table B)

61-65: Humanoids (table C)

66-85-: Monsters (table D)

86-100: Cthuloid Monsters (table E) 


So, for a given forest hex, you know a few things, one, animals (30%) and monstrous plants (30%) are the most common random encounters in a forest. Monsters (20%) are the next most likely encounter, followed by Cthuloid monsters (15%), which are particularly deadly. The least likely encounter in a forested hex is with humanoids (5%). This means that forested hexes are particularly dangerous places to tread and most humanoid creatures steer clear.


However, you are also able to customize your random encounter tables for particular parts of the marshes. So, for example, a few sessions ago the PCs were given a task to go to a particular forest to retrieve a unique monstrous plant for their patron, one that has been attacking local hunters. The hunters went to their patron to ask for protection before the plant bloomed and spread seeds around. 


So rather than roll this up on the spot, I prepared a random encounter table for this particular forest, found near the coast. I made some initial decisions on location on the map, the forest was about 20 miles from the river, and about 30 miles from the coast. The forest is primarily made up of kalup trees, tall, with gigantic dark purple leaves, they are branchless for the first 30 feet or so, then burst out above that for another 30 feet of canopy leaves. As a result the area is low light during the day (visibility 60’) and pitch black at night (visibility 10’). 


I’ll name the forest later.


On to the encounter table


I decided on how many entries I wanted, 8-10 is usually enough, so I went with 8. Next I rolled on the table for forested hexes to determine the spread of encounters, I rolled d100, eight times. This gave me the following results:


1. animal

2. animal

3. animal

4. monster

5. plant

6. humanoid

7. monster

8. monster


You can, of course, alter results as you see fit, but I tend to stick with whatever I roll. Next, I roll on each individual table for the specific entries. Doing this, I got the following:


Coastal Jungle 

Ape, Carnivorous [5HD/2-8NA/MM]

Bee, Giant [4HD/1NA/MM2]

Fire Lizard [10HD, 1-4NA/MM]

Cifal [8-10HD/1-6NA/FF]

Spine Leaf Plants [5HD/1-2NA/BH]

Togmu [VarHD/1-20NA/BH]

Shocker [1HD/6-24NA/FF]

Shadow Mastiff [4HD/4-16NA/MM2]


Note that for humanoids you can roll for their occupation by hex, so in this case:

Forest Hex

d100: 1-25: Hunters, 26-30: Trappers, 31-40: Pilgrims, 41-45: Farmers, 46-55: Merchants, 56-65: Caravan, 66-70: Fishermen, 71-85: House Patrol, 86-100: House Hunting Party


I roll a 20, so the Togmu are hunters.


Next you assign the values for the roll. Now, you can do this one of two ways, first, you can just assign one number to each option, as you have already used the odds of the tables to generate this sub-table, so it has selected appropriately.  However, this time, you rolled 4 monsters, so half the options, and high HD animals as well. So you could assign odds to make any one of those options more likely, say you see the list and think that you really like the idea of giant bees ruling this forest, so you make encountering them far more likely. Alternately, you can use multiple dice like 2d6 and assign your preferred options to the more likely results on the bell curve. 


There is no right or wrong way to use a prompt to develop an element, I most often trust the tables to give me an interesting spread, and just assign 1 number to each option. In this case,  I decided to make carnivorous apes more abundant, as the trees would make them particularly dangerous, so it makes sense they would be numerous there. I also wanted to increase the number of Togmu hunters a bit, as I had an inspiration when I thought of them. So with two “inflated” options on the table, I choose to use a d12 to fit 8 options, as follows:


Coastal Jungle 

1-3. Ape, Carnivorous [5HD/2-8NA/MM]

4. Bee, Giant [4HD/1NA/MM2]

5. Fire Lizard [10HD, 1-4NA/MM]

6. Cifal [8-10HD/1-6NA/FF]

7. Spine Leaf Plants [5HD/1-2NA/BH]

8-10. Togmu Hunters [VarHD/1-20NA/BH]

11. Shocker [1HD/6-24NA/FF]

12. Shadow Mastiff [4HD/4-16NA/MM2]


Since the Togmu are regulars in this forest, it means a few things, they will be knowledgeable about it and its denizens, they will be hunting during regular hunting times, they might have “stashes” in the forest, and they will have runs in the forest. The undergrowth is dense with vines and bushes, if you stick to worn down “runs” you move at normal speed, anywhere else is half speed. Runs take you in predictable paths where predators know to look. So if you take the paths check for wandering monsters with a d8 roll. Off path it’s a d12.


I like to give environmental modifiers like these to give the players choices on how to proceed, the visibility limitations - low light during the day (visibility 60’) and pitch black at night (visibility 10’) also impact how close attackers can be when they surprise.. 


Connect the Dots

The next step is the most fun IMO, you look at the table as a blueprint of the forest ecosystem, e.g. these things live in some sort of harmony, so you can decide on relationships between them. I tend to pair some things off, leave others alone, for example


Ape, Carnivorous - Bee, Giant 

Cifal 

Togmu Hunters - Fire Lizard - Spine Leaf Plants

Shocker 

Shadow Mastiff 


So, the Shockers, Shadow Mastiffs and Cifal’s keep to themselves. Shockers wander around the edges of the forest and seek to ambush travelers, Shadow Mastiffs dwell in the depths and use the shadows to attack by surprise in packs, Cifal show up when things have been slain to consume the bodies.


The carnivorous apes are “at war” with the giant bees, both live in the treetops, and both claim parts of the forest as theirs, the apes outnumber the bees, but the bees are quite deadly. They mainly feud over territory. 


The Togmu know the locations of most of the Spine Leaf Plants and can duplicate the noise necessary to trigger them, which is the roar of a Fire Lizard. The Togmu hunt with Fire Lizards, and get them to roar to trigger the plants. This also means that I will amend the table to represent the relationship between the Togmu hunters and their fire lizards. 


Coastal Jungle 

1-3. Ape, Carnivorous [5HD/2-8NA/MM]

4. Bee, Giant [4HD/1NA/MM2]

5. Fire Lizard [10HD, 1-4NA/MM]*

6. Cifal [8-10HD/1-6NA/FF]

7. Spine Leaf Plants [5HD/1-2NA/BH]

8-10. Togmu Hunters [VarHD/1-20NA/BH]**

11. Shocker [1HD/6-24NA/FF]

12. Shadow Mastiff [4HD/4-16NA/MM2]

*Roll a d6, 1-5: Fire Lizards, 6: Fire lizard + [1-20] Togmu Hunters 

**Roll a d6, 1-2: Hunters only, 3-6: Hunters + [1-4] Fire Lizards


A few more details. The Togmu hunters need to be armed, Bhakashal has rules for this as well:


Roll randomly for weapons, guards/soldiers/hunters/etc, all have an attack bonus of +1, each gets 3 weapons, one in 10 should get +1 to hit bonus with one of those weapons (due to exceptional STR), roll one melee, one missile and then one other weapon of choice, 1 in 5 will take a +1/+1 with an existing weapon instead. I decide to roll on the melee blunt force, missile hurled and melee special tables:


Melee - Blunt Force (d100)

1-3. Bo Stick

4-7. Cesti/Brass Knuckles

8-15. Club

16-18. Flail, Footman's 

19-21. Flail, Horseman's

22-30. Hammer, war

31-32. Jo Stick

33-34. Kau sin ke

35-36. Kiseru

37-50. Mace, Footman’s

51-60. Mace, Horseman’s

61-70. Maul

71-75. Morning Star

76-80. Nunchaku

81-90. Quarterstaff

91-92. Sode Garami

93-94. Tetsubo

95-96. Three-Piece Rod

97-100. Tui-fa

MIssile - Hurled (d100)

1-8. Aklys

9-20. Axe,Hand

21-30. Axe, Battle

31-40. Club

41-60. Dagger

61-70. Dart

71-75. Hammer, war

76-85. Javelin

86-100. Spear

Melee - Special (d100)

1-6. Bola

7-10. Combat Sash

11-15. Chain

16-20. Chigiriki

21-30. Garrot

31-35. Gunsen 

36-40. Kawanga

41-50. Lasso

51-60. Net, Large

61-80. Net, Small 

81-90. Spiked buckler 

91-100. Whip


I get a 5, a 65 and 70, a footman’s mace, darts and a small net. This sounds like the tools of hunters after smaller to medium sized prey, such as wild boars, various larger birds and small to medium sized lizards. 


To take advantage of their ability to jump I will give them no armor, this maximizes speed and jump distance. Any jumping attack gets +2 to hit and double damage, alternately the togmu can jump to a tree, then jump again once or twice to get to the tree canopy. Togmu hunters carry nerve poison for particularly dangerous foes, save versus poison or paralysis for 2-4 rounds. 


Finally, since the Togmu hunters know the forest and hunt there, they have named it Nattregar Forest, “Night Rain” forest, where the “night rain” refers to carnivorous apes dropping from the darkness above at night, when they hunt.


Finally, I should determine check frequency. For special environments like this I like to use a per hour check, these are not “safe” areas, forests conceal monsters, so a check once per 6 hours is too little. At night time when the predators are out I increase the check frequency to once per turn. With that in mind, here is what we have:


Nattregar Forest 

- Encounter Check 1/hour daytime, 1/turn night time, 1 in 12 off path, 1 in 8 on path

1-3. Ape, Carnivorous [5HD/2-8NA/MM]

4. Bee, Giant [4HD/1NA/MM2]

5. Fire Lizard [10HD, 1-4NA/MM]*

6. Cifal [8-10HD/1-6NA/FF]

7. Spine Leaf Plants [5HD/1-2NA/BH]

8-10. Togmu Hunters [VarHD/1-20NA/BH]**

11. Shocker [1HD/6-24NA/FF]

12. Shadow Mastiff [4HD/4-16NA/MM2]

*Roll a d6, 1-5: Fire Lizards, 6: Fire lizard + [1-20] Togmu Hunters 

**Roll a d6, 1-2: Hunters only, 3-6: Hunters + [1-4] Fire Lizards, Togmu are AC:8, Armed with mace, dart and net.


Now, if the party barges into the forest without gathering any information then you roll for encounters once per hour during the day and once per turn at night. If they take the time to talk to the Togmu hunters they will learn about the apes dropping from above, the spine leaf plants and the giant bees and their nests. Better yet, if they get a local guide I would reduce their check frequency or reduce the odds of having an encounter.  


Assembling these tables creates an ecosystem for your encounter area, you just need to massage it a bit to give it a personality and then let loose your PCs!


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