Monday, March 20, 2017

Necropolis - Quick Random Generation

I love the idea of not just a single ancient tomb, but an entire necropolis of dangerous adventures.  I also would like to have quite a few of them in my new campaign setting.  So I came up with some quick random generation tables.  These are easily customized for other settings and are good for hex crawl type adventures.

The Imperial homeland has many resting places for the dead.  Most common is the official Imperial Necropolis but the New Faiths have their pyramids as well.  Each necropolis is a sprawling complex of tombs, statuary, archives, temples, funerary vaults, workshops, shrines, and pilgrimage hosting.  Each one has a famous dominant spirit who gives the place its character.  Some spirits are hostile, insane, or malicious, others are more mellow and even helpful on occasion.

A necropolis is a big place and will have quite a few important features.  The mix of features varies from place to place and so here is a method to help do a quick build:

Step 1: Presence (two 1d6 rolls)

Notoriety (roll 1d6)
1 = Lost & Forgotten (-4 to find)
2-3 = Obscure (-2 to find)
4 = Minor (no find modifier)
5 = Well Known (+1 to find)
6 = Famous (+2 to find)

Size (roll 1d6)
1 = Small (-1 to all Feature die rolls below)
2-4 = Medium (no modifier)
5-6 = Big (+1 to all Feature die rolls below)

Step 2: Features (1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, and 1d12)

Character (1d4)
1    Deeply Spiritual
2    Creepily Spooky
3    Relentlessly Insidious
4    Viciously Malicious

Temples (1d6; once for how many, again for what type is each)
1-4    Imperial Ancestor Cult
5-6    New Faiths deity, typically Anubis but sometimes Bastet, Mayet, or Thoth

Gardens/Plazas (1d8; once for how many, again for each one to determine the prominent feature around which it is centered)
1 - statue of a deceased emperor
2 - statue of a New Faith god
3 - cenote/moon pool
4 - fountain
5 - ancient obelisk or primitive menhir
6 - Yin-Yang tablet array
7 - eternal "flame"/illusionary display
8 - mysterious divine or arcane gate thing

Archives & Workshops (1d10)
1 - Mummification
2 - Incense refining
3 - Alchemy lab
4 - Scriptorium
5 - Library
6 - Archive
7 - Woodworking (coffins)
8 - Weaving (shrouds, banners, curtains, biographical tapestries)
9 - Metalworking (iron and bronze fixtures and furnishings)
10 - Distillery (ceremonial wines and alcoholic spirits)

Graveyards, Catacombs & Crypts
(1d12 for how many; d6 for type of each)
1-2    Catacombs (underground passages)
3-4    Graveyard (surface graves)
5-6    Crypts (aboveground structures; 1-in-6 chance of New Gods pyramid)

No comments:

Post a Comment