Sourced from Ginni Di
One thing Dungeons and Dragons does well is filling in downtime and travel time, often with wandering encounters.
Your group penetrates the dim, lightless reaches of the haunted forest on their way to [insert dungeon here] and, quite by chance, discovers [roll dice] a dozen zombies. These zombies are former villagers from [insert village here] and if proof of their deaths is returned to that place, the heroes will be rewarded with [reward].
Or, your group penetrates the dim, lightless reaches of the haunted forest on their way to [insert dungeon here] and, quite by chance, discovers [roll dice] a dolmen, under which rests the remains of sacrificial victims. It’s not immediately clear who sacrificed them or to what end (religion rolls may be helpful here) but among the belongings is a magical sword ... possibly cursed ...
It’s rare that Cthulhu or its iterations has random encounters. Partly this is because the whole random encounter system depends on what can only be described as Ye Ancient Ways. Gygax did it therefore we do it. The only reason Ye Ancient Ways survive is because Dungeons and Dragons survives; had it dropped off the twig, as might have occurred at several points in its career, wandering monsters would vanish like a magician’s assistant in a colorful, coffin-shaped box.
I can’t think of many other systems that use random tables, and this is because the ones that do are about as old as Dungeons and Dragons or are stealing their design philosophy directly from that system. Cyberpunk, for instance, has random tables, but then Mike Pondsmith is as old as dirt. (Sorry, Mike, but you know it’s true.)
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if, in some of the earliest iterations of the game, Call of Cthulhu had them too, since CoC (and BRP for that matter) are also old as dirt. It doesn’t have them now.
Partly this lack of random tables is because random encounters assume travel from A to B and Cthulhu and its variants really don’t do travel. At all.
There are whole scenarios based around travel. Pelgrane has its Mythos Expeditions and CoC has Fearful Expeditions, but those stories aren’t about travel, really. They’re about what might happen to the group if they decide to catch a Tabor aircraft to Constantinople. The encounters aren’t random. They’re preplanned.
Similarly with long campaigns about going from A to B, like Horror on the Orient Express or Masks of Nyarlathotep. There are travel segments, and things might happen. However, almost none of the encounters are random. There are no dice rolls to see if there are orcs, or the equivalent, round the next bend. It’s all Keeper’s Choice.
In most cases, in Cthulhu and horror games generally, the action is broken up, not by journeys, but by scenes. The players want to go to the British Library. Boom. Next scene, at the Library. Have the players finished at the Library? Boom, next scene, at the pub. There’s no question of travel from [wherever] to [wherever next]. If there is any hint of travel, say, from the town to the haunted house, then it takes less than a day. It isn’t a ten-day hike across wooded terrain, in which anything might happen.
That said, going back into the misty recesses of time, space and RPG history, there was a game that used random encounters which also divided action up by scenes.
The James Bond RPG (Victory Games) had two encounter tables, one Hot, one Cold. Director’s choice as to which was used at any given time, point being one was for an active encounter area and the other for a more peaceful zone.
Roll a d6 and then a d6. Did you roll 2 and 2? Is this a Hot zone? Then the agent found a dead body. Is it a Cold zone? Then the agent finds James Bond his own self. On vacation, presumably. A brief description came with each. The dead body might have a clue on it to the villain’s location. James Bond might be willing to help for a scene.
What I like about that idea isn’t so much the table itself. It’s the dividing up of possibilities. Hot, or Cold?
Dracula Dossier does something similar. Whether it’s Whitby or Varna or some forgotten castle in the piney woods, the location can be Cool or Warm. A former bastion of wickedness long gone to seed, or a germinating pustule about to burst. This duality fits horror nicely. Maybe the investigators are somewhere relatively safe, where they might get information. Maybe they’re somewhere dangerous, where they might get killed – or get someone else killed.
Let’s take this a step further. I’m going to presume Gumshoe rules, and for purposes of this example it doesn’t matter whether the game’s Trail, Bookhounds, Tombhounds or something else. Let’s keep this as generic as possible and assume it’s a Horror Game of Some Description.
Let’s further assume two possibilities: Hot, or Cold. Dangerous, or (relatively) safe.
Starting with:
Cold
1. Helpful civilian, who works with an agency or entity that the protagonists want to get closer to. It might be the police, or the local museum, or the state intelligence agency, or something else. Point spends turn this civilian into a Network Contact.
2. Lucky break. The protagonists get a bit of luck, for once, and can either refresh 1 point in an Investigative pool of their choice, or 2 points Stability. Perhaps they find a helpful source of information, or perhaps they just have a quiet, Stability-refreshing moment in a safe location.
3. Minor Threat. This threat (it might be a small cult, or a supernatural threat) has been left over from a time when this area was more important than it was. Though its information is outdated, if defeated the threat does have information on nearby threats that can be traced to more important assets.
4. Minor Location. This was once of importance and now very much is not. However, a thorough search may uncover an item which can be recovered and used against the enemy.
5. Minor Brush with the local law. This may mean a temporary halt to investigations while the protagonists untangle their messy legal situation.
6. A chance meeting with a hunter, or an agent from a supernatural-curious agency. The agency can be anything from a state actor to an academic or religious institution. This agent is willing to exchange ideas and information, if the protagonist offers to do the agent a small favour ...
Hot
1. Unhelpful civilian. This person works with an agency or entity that the protagonists are trying to get close to and is blocking their efforts. Is this because they're being bribed by the enemy? Or are their motives purely personal?
2. Bad Omen. The protagonists encounter a particularly significant supernatural event, a 2-point Stability check. Clearly they're getting close to their prey, but at what cost?
3. A brush with a cult or cult-equivalent. The protagonists discover unmistakable evidence that a cult is operating in their current location. This seems too easy; is it a trap?
4. A significant location. It might be a pawnshop or antique dealer selling items that look remarkably like supernatural items, or it might be a church or similar with a very significant history. Either way, there could be all sorts of things down in the basement ...
5. Significant brush with the state intelligence agency. This agency is keeping a close watch on the protagonists, perhaps because of things they got up to in the past or because they look remarkably like terrorists/bad actors. Either way, until they shake this tail any significant or violent action taken by the protagonists provokes a response. Possibly an armed response, depending on how badly the protagonists have behaved before. Were they careless with matches?
6. A chance meeting with a significant supernatural threat. This entity isn't looking for a fight but will oblige if provoked. However, this entity also isn't on good terms with the major threat of the scenario/campaign and can, if appropriately rewarded, dish all kinds of dirt on the real enemy.
That's it for this week!
Yes, I know there still seems to be problems with Many Mansions. Honestly, that Beta program is far more trouble than it's worth. I'm trying to fix. Watch this space!
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