D100 Objects Laying About an Alchemist’s Sanctum

 

One of the more evocative locations a party might venture to is an alchemist’s sanctum or laboratory. Images of Jacobs ladders, and bubbling glass containers fill the mind. To help you with bringing these dangerous and mysterious locations to life I’ve written for you a D100 table of items that are found in an alchemist’s sanctum. These aren’t the high value treasures that PCs are normally looking for when raiding dungeons and laboratories, but the kind of odd and interesting objects that fill a space and help to make it seem more real than it otherwise would. Many of the items below can be leveraged to varying effect by smart players. What will your players think when they find…

D100 Objects Laying About an Alchemist’s Sanctum

1. A pair of elbow length waxed griffon hide work gloves with elk hide lacing.
2. Four small brass spoons with silver cups at the end, each etched with a specific measurement. They are in descending size a bissel, a dram, a corn, and a pinch.
3. A massive, weathered copper alembic the size of a backpack. Something wet still sloshes around inside it. (1. 4 uses of a mild poison- save vs. death or take 1d4 damage. Half a flagon’s worth of foul smelling swill that tastes like sour rotting meat. 3. A bottle’s worth of a greenish acid. (thrown, splash 5/15/35, 1d8) 
4.  A glass’s worth of a citrus smelling, yellowish-orange liquid that tastes like oranges, limes, and guava mixed together. (save vs. magic or skin will become polka dotted with green and yellow polka dots, lasts for 1d6 days).
5. A full set of artist’s pastels. Most are unused except for the red which is almost gone. They come in a small, hinged metal tin.
6. Four small glass vials filled with powdered giant ant exoskeleton and stoppered with a cork and wax.
7. A handheld metal device that looks like a large wire safety pin, but instead of a head there is a small metal cup and a scraper that rubs against it. When the handle is squeezed, the scraper rubs against an odd metal fixed to the inside of the cup and produces plentiful sparks. (This is a more reliable replacement for flint and steel.)
8. A blown glass bottle with a flat bottom that has had regular horizontal lines marked on it in red pastel to indicate how many liquid ounces the bottle contains.
9. A set of copper eyeglass frames with lenses of swirled blue and red glass fitted into them.
10. A clear glass prism the size of a loaf of bread.
11. A dented and stained brass mortar and decorative copper pestle.
12. Three silver signet rings, one with an opal set in it that is carved with the device of an owlbear rampant, one which bears a ruby that has been etched with the device of two crossed wands, and one set with a jade gemstone that has been etched with the device of a dragon segreant. They are worth 55 gp each.
13. A milky sea-green glass flask with a decorative shell-shaped corroded bronze stopper. The flask is labeled with a delicate hand and says, “Sea of Southern Terror.” This flask contains salt water.
14. A set of the Platonic Solids, each made out of clay and painted the corresponding color of the element that they represent. They include the fiery red tetrahedron, the earthy green cube, the breathy yellow octahedron, the aethereal brown dodecahedron, and the watery blue icosahedron.
15. A parchment folio containing a treatise on cloud formation and weather prediction written by a Half-Elven sage named Olothealis.
16.  An intricate metal and waxed linen contraption that appears at first glance to be an upholstered walking cane until it is held upside down and the metal ring around the cane is extended out, transforming the linen into a circular canopy that blocks sunlight and rain with ease.
17.  A tanned leather mask that resembles a bird with an elongated beak-like mouth that has been sewn shut. Inside the mask is gauze soaked with clove and peppermint oil. The eyes of the mask are poor quality glass.
18. A pitted and stained set of leather chaps and a thick leather apron. (armor 12)
19. Seven blown-glass fishing trap floats. Most are made of green, blue, or purple glass. These glass globes are tied together through a lattice of knotted cordage.
20. A thin copper rack with 10 finger-length glass vials nestled into it. Two of the vials hold a reddish powder.
21. A ceramic jug shaped and painted like a stylized chickadee. When a special hole on the handle is covered by a finger, the jug will make an almost perfect chickadee song when tilted to pour.
22. A cylindrical metal lantern that when lit casts a shadow around it that looks like a scene of a playful village harvest festival.
23. A mildewed copy of Golem, The Key To Artificial Life by the sages Ilkaster and Branlouden. Sadly, the middle three-quarters of the book have been ripped out.
24. A beautifully made doll with a wax head. The intricately sewn cloths and sharply painted face resemble in almost perfect detail the princess-heir of the kingdom!
25. A small cask made of carved and oiled mesquite wood with an artistically crafted iron latch, hinges, and other iron hardware. This football-sized cask holds three fistfuls of multicolored powder. When a fistful of powder is thrown into a fire, the flames will flair, writhe, and transform into a rainbow of different colored flames for up to an hour.
26. Three waxed, folded paper envelopes filled with small chunks of sulfur and charcoal.
27. A small, hand-sized object the size of a large goose egg made of carved tiger’s eye quartz. The object is vaguely pear shaped and carved with repeating grooves and notches. When the carved stone is held in the hand, the bearer will instantly become aware of which way is north. (A party that uses this stone while traveling cannot become lost through nonmagical means. This object will not work when taken off the prime material plane.)
28. A hardly used cake of dried oak gall ink. One just needs to crush some of the cake into a powder and add water to it until the desired thickness is achieved. This cake is the size of a brick of soap and is the equivalent of twenty ink bottles.
29.  A small soapstone jar of pungent smelling invisible ink. Messages written with the ink quickly disappears. All the reader of the message must do is pass the note over a source of heat like a candle and the message will reveal itself.
30. A tattered tome of ripped manticore leather and orichalcum embellishments titled “The Drawing of Mercury from Cinnabar.” Random chapters have faded with time, age, and a myriad of unpleasant smelling stains.
31. A bar of a steel gray metal worked and polished to fit comfortably in the hand. When held for ten minutes, the bearer will feel a refreshing rush of cool air. This effect can only be felt by the bearer and doesn’t show any signs when working.
32. A set of keys attached to a copper and brass key ring with a blue topaz set into a charm on the key ring. Once the bearer has been in possession of the keyring for more than ten minutes, all they need to do is snap their fingers and the keyring and whatever is attached to it will appear in the bearers hand anywhere on the material plane.
33. Two fans made of lacquered manticore bone and delicate silk brocade woven with a scene of a desert in shades of yellow, red, pink, and orange.
34. A small ceramic jar glazed a dull red. Inside there are six uses of a mysterious spice blend that is so delicious, anything you cook with it will taste amazing, whether it is food or not.
35. An elaborate brass armillary sphere on a beautifully carved and polished ebony wood stand.
36. A set of 24 different sized tweezers. A few of the tools are clearly not original to this set. They are in relatively good shape except a small blackish green patina at the tips. The tweezers are made of a special alloy of silver, copper, and manganese. Their case is a roll of common leather with an individual pouch for each tweezer on the inside.
37. The cracked and broken wooden body of a telescope, missing its secondary lens, with its slightly scratched main lens still intact inside. The telescope body has a U-shaped brass mount and is painted with a faded pattern of rows of repeating red, blue, and yellow triangles.
38. A slightly water damaged copy of the ”Tome of Transmutational Magics,” a scholarly examination of the abstract concepts behind transmutation. The cover is fashioned out of sheets of mica with cast bronze corner protectors and a bronze lock. The chapter titled “What Lead into Gold Really Means” has been cut out of this copy, and an obscene Orkish rune has been scrawled on the inside cover.  
39. A large pipe with a carved alabaster bowl and a stem made of polished and oiled mesquite wood. The bowl resembles the laughing face of the local god of smoking, inebriation, and poetry.
40. A small set of apothecary’s drawers with small, hooked metal knobs. The set of drawers is roughly 15 inches long and 12 inches wide with a set of 16 drawers 20 inches deep. Inside the drawers can be found the severed feather barbs of several local bird species including brown eagles, ravens, magpies, cardinals, and nuthatches.
41. A delicate and thin 15 inch long glass spoon. The small bowl of the spoon is made of a translucent aqua colored glass.
42. A set of four graduated cylinders of varying diameters, each marked in regular intervals with a different numbering system.
43. A bronze abacus that is strung with beautifully colored glass beads. This is a table abacus, and because of that it is rather heavy.
44. A set of six lacquered black, red, and silver teacups that can be nested in an octagonal wooden carrying box for storage.
45. A palm sized glass jar with a stopper. The jar is labeled “Gas Pills” and contains three berry sized, frosted sugar coated balls of foul tasting herbs and who knows what. (If a pill is eaten, the consumer’s farts will smell heavily like flowery perfume. The effect last for d6 days.)
46. A thin, 2 foot long tin straw with a slightly bent end. The straw is not entirely straight and curves a little down its length.
47. An extremely polished, notably concave silver hand mirror that still has mounting pins on the edges that indicate this was used as a mounted reflector at some point.
48. A folded packet made of waxed paper that contains a slightly dried herb that tastes bitter and peppery. (If the herb is placed between the gums and the lips for at least ten minutes, the consumer will get an energizing feeling coursing through them that helps them feel brave and capable (+2 to saving throws vs. fear). This lasts as long as the character keeps it between their lip and gums, but no longer than an hour. After the effects of the herb ends, the consumer must save vs. paralysis or receive -1 to to-hit and damage rolls until they get a good night’s sleep due to exhaustion.)
49. A crusty and discolored 3 feet diameter flat-bodied salt boiling pan with handles and three stubby legs on the bottom.
50. At least 11 unwashed glass beakers. Most are chipped and cracked.
51. A traveler’s stool constructed out of three equal 2 foot lengths of staves pinioned together side by side so that when they are rotated the staves splay out and function as the chair legs. Over the top of the staves is stretched a leather seat cushion. The tension between the legs splaying and the seat cushion keeps the stool together.
52. A clear crystal roughly a foot long and 3 inches in diameter that glows progressively bluer the more basic the liquid it is dipped in is. When dipped into an acid, the crystal glows redder and redder to indicate how acidic the liquid is instead.
53. A 4 foot long lightweight metal mechanical grasping pincer. A squeeze handle on one end can be squeezed to close the grasping, claw-like pincer at the other end of the device.
54. A set of 4 inch diameter balls, all polished to a shine and all with varying numbers of grooves carved in them. Each ball is made of a different material than the others. There is a ball of yellowing white mammoth ivory, a ball of blood red sandstone with metallic flakes in it, a well oiled ball carved of shedua wood, and a ball made of amber.
55. A heavy chalice over a foot tall, carved from a gigantic block of rose agate. There are four handles on the crystal chalice, and it has been carved to resemble a rose bush.
56. A small ogre skin pouch filled with a mixture of rock salt, powdered chalk, and fine ground rust powder.
57. A bent copper signet ring with a serpentine imbroglio inscribed with the image of a wyvern being ridden by a long-haired woman on it.
58.  A brass and iron balancing scale with an incomplete set of counterweights. The only ones left are the half ounce, five ounces, and one-third pound weights.
59. A flat envelope of thick paper, one foot square. It is open on only one side. Inside the envelope there is a curious flat disk made of wax with a hole in its center. The envelope is faded and cracked, although it was once beautifully painted. The faint image shows the impression of a triangle in white at the center over a black background with a thin bar of colors stacked one on top of the other that appears to travel horizontally through the picture from the left of the image, through the triangle, exit it, and then bend downward before widening at its end. The disk made of hard wax is inscribed with a long thin continuous groove that travels from the outside edge towards the center.
60. A beautifully carved walnut wood box approximately 8 by 2 by 4 inches that contains four ounces of black peppercorns (worth 100 gp.) The box is carved with a hypnotic repeating motif of bounding wolves.
61. A foot long, half inch diameter copper tube decorated with hammered inlays of dots, zigzags, and circle patterns. A transparent glass marble has been fixed at each end of the tube. When looked through while facing a light source, one will see a fractured image of color and reflections that seem to swirl when rotated.
62. Finely ground graphite dust contained in a 6 inch long brown glass bottle, a small, delicate 6 inch long duster with a down feather head, and a small booklet of thin sheets of almost translucent white paper.
63. A bottle of an opaque, metallic blue liquid marked “Blood Beacon.” When the liquid is lightly applied to a surface, any trace amounts of blood on that surface will fluoresce a cool green color. There is enough liquid here to cover 5 square feet of a surface.
64. A wide glass jar approximately 10 inches high and 7 inches in diameter, with a leather stopper. Inside is a fuzzy looking fungus that looks like a small mound of blueish, purplish, greenish fuzz. The interior of the jar smells musty, with a hint of warm spices. This is Murlac, a fungus that grows on meteoroids that crash to the ground. If smoked, one will feel elation, profundity, and a sense of pressing weight that lasts for 1d8 turns. The smoker must save vs. poison. If they fail, they take 1d4 damage and vomit up whatever is in their stomach. If they succeed, they have hallucinatory visions of the near future lasting 1d8 minutes. This prescient vision grants the smoker a +1 bonus to attacks and saving throws for the next 24 hours.
65. A quart-sized stoneware crock of fragrant mineral oil that has been steeped with rose pedals, cloves, and sandalwood bark.
66. A bronze pill mold used to make pills for medicine. The mold is 12 inches long and 6 inches wide and contains individual pill molds for 18 pills.
67. A simple tin filled with broken and ground up glass of various colors and qualities.
68. A bread loaf sized crucible made of carved stone. There are traces of steel still inside.
69. A cuttlefish bone comb with decorative silver wire.
70. A loose-leaf treatise on the use of auroch bezoars in curing poisons and curses. This work was written by an Elven healer named Gwyne of Thelos whose works were thought lost to history.
71. A small vial of an unknown substance that smells so horribly bad that it can wake up any unconscious characters who smell it.
72. A 13 inch diameter marble mortar attached to a rotating frame that can be used to dump out the mortar’s contents. The pestle for this mortar is big and made of heavy granite.
73. A delicate set of two tongs both thin and long. One is crafted from common pewter, and the other is crafted from gold (worth 15 gp.)
74. A delicately carved tube, only an inch in diameter and 2 inches long with a well-polished lens fixed to one end of it. This object magnifies things seen through it as long as they are brought close up to the lens. This is commonly used by jewelers when viewing work close up.
75. A cut crystal decanter with glass stopper. A dried rusty orange residue still clings to the inside surface of this object.
76. A thin, dark blue glass jar filled with a yellowish brown powder that smells of citrus and sulfur. When the jar is thrown into a fire, the fire will immediately start to pour out thick purple smoke that obscures all vision within a 10 foot radius. This powder takes one round to start producing smoke and will only dissipate after ten minutes or when facing a moderate to strong wind.
77. A dented can of opaque waxy grey putty that remains pliable and ductile indefinitely.
78. A handful (1d4) of marble-sized blue and white swirled glass spheres with some kind of blue liquid inside. If thrown (10’/35’/70’), on a successful hit, the sphere will crack and a rapid endothermic reaction will occur within 5 feet of the point of impact, inflicting 1d6 cold damage to any characters struck by the sphere. These spheres get cold enough to freeze water or put out a campfire instantaneously.
79. A pinch pot sized ceramic jar of ointment that smells strongly of a combination of anise, clove, and black pepper. When applied to sore muscles the ointment will cause a sensation of soothing heat and cold, helping relieving tired and aching muscles.  
80. A squat brown bottle of a chemically smelling liquid. When the liquid is poured on copper it will transform into two-thirds of the copper’s weight in silver. This process takes 2d10 hours and produces noxious vapers.  One bottle will transform 500 coin weight of copper into 250 coin weight of silver.
81. A corrosion-speckled copper retort with an archetypical bent neck, used to dry-distill many important alchemical mixtures. An angular rune of unknown provenance has been stamped into the side of the retort.
82. A red stoneware jar with ceramic stopper. Inside the hand-sized jar is an incredibly sticky paste that acts as a stronger than average glue. The glue will dry within 1d10 minutes and can be overcome with either an acidic solvent or a successful open doors/ lift gates check. There is enough of the sticky paste for eight applications of glue.
83. A pair of large work gloves long enough to reach to the wearer’s shoulders. These impressively sized gloves are made of a shinny light green leather and bear dwarven protection runes embroidered into them with gold thread. The gloves are immune to damage caused by even the most corrosive acids.
84. A 100 foot long roll of bright yellow silk ribbon on a spool. The ribbon has been marked in 1 inch long intervals and numbered.
85.  An 8 inch tall mechanical gnomish bard figurine crafted out of gears and an armature covered in beaten plates of copper, iron, and brass. It is powered by winding up the figurine with its winding key. Once fully wound, any tune being sung, hummed, or played within 10 feet of the figurine will be copied by it and whistled back in a beautifully haunting high pitch whistle. It can be asked to play as many times as one likes, but the figure only knows one song at a time that it can whistle back. (The figurine cannot replicate speech, only melodies it hears).
86. A rounded, lozenge-shaped chunk of quartzite big enough to fit in a hand, carved with abstractly shaped patterns of ridges of varying widths and raised knobs of differing sizes spaced a uniform distance apart. When it is held, the stone allows the bearer to radiate an air of strength and trustworthiness. This effect only lasts for five minutes a day, but while it does, any social checks the bearer makes while holding the stone and invoking its power grants them a +2 bonus, such as on reaction rolls and charisma checks.
87. A bar of blue-green soap wrapped in waxed paper. It works just as effectively as normal soap at cleaning. When a person washes themselves with the soap, they become undetectable to scent-based detection methods for 24 hours. There are seven uses left of the soap.
88. Six metal sticks coated with a thin layer of elongated almost bulb-shaped dried chemicals. When a flame is put to the tip of the bulb the sticks will start to burn erratically, casting bright sparks of various colors from the tip. The sticks burn for five minutes and cast as much light as a torch as they burn.
89. A silver hammer (worth 10 gp) engraved with the obscure and complicated script of the higher planes. The hammer is surprisingly light and tough.
90. A set of iron tuning forks, one for each note of the diatonic scale. They are found in a brown, leather covered wooden case with strap.
91. A bronze and copper collar made for an adult humanoid and decorated with arcane ruins and small charms of little metallic silver powder filled glass bottles. When the collar is worn by a person who has the ability to hear, the person is rendered instantly deaf and unable to hear any noise whatsoever for as long as they wear the collar. A spellcaster wearing the collar can’t cast spells with verbal components. The collared person can still make noise audible to those not wearing the collar.
92. A primitive battery consisting of a ceramic vessel the size of a jug with a copper cylinder wrapping around an iron rod. Once the vessel is filled with an acidic solution it becomes a primitive wet-cell battery. When properly filled and maintained, the vessel puts out 4 volts of electricity for about six hours.
93. A wooden stand with a brass extension on top of it holding a series of lenses on a rotary hinge so that they can be stacked in various ways while looking through them. There are five hinged brass arms with hoops at the end, four of which have a different lens made out of colored crystal. The lenses are made of ruby quartz, clear quartz, green emerald, and a reddish golden amber.
94. An amazingly beautiful game board for the game Senet with inlays of mother of pearl, ebony, and cedarwood. The board is gorgeous, but it lacks any pieces.
95. A small tome with a dyed black cover and tin corner pieces. The cover reads “An Index of Potions.” Inside is a mostly intact encyclopedia of various potions and their variants. The book details the history, creation, original purpose of, identification of, and effects of each listed potion.
96. A large silver ring topped with an intricately carved lozenge depicting a scene of drunken debauchery on the top decoration. This ring holds a secret compartment in the decorated lozenge that can be used to store poisons or other powders or liquids. The top of the ring hinges open but will remain basically undetectable to observers when kept closed.
97. A small amphorae-shaped ceramic jar that has a leather lanyard tied to it so that it can be easily worn around the neck. When the jar is uncorked, it will slowly and steadily draw air inside it. It’s unknown where the air sucked into it goes, but the hanging jar is always pulling air into it with a slight vacuum when uncorked.    
98. A set of four wooden sifting hoops, all roughly 10 inches in diameter, with progressively finer mesh screens attached to the base of each hoop.
99. An odd looking tool composed of a 2 foot long metal handle wrapped in a protective wooden sheath and a 10 inch diameter metal hoop bent at a 30 degree angle from the handle. When the hoop is pressed up against a rock surface for ten minutes, the consistency of the rock becomes like thick, sticky clay. After about an hour the rock will return to its natural consistency again.
100. A small glass flask with a green glass stopper. The liquid inside is a metallic emerald green color. Whatever the liquid inside touches will begin to instantaneously sprout a rapidly growing carpet of grasses and flowers. If successfully thrown at an opponent, the flask will break, covering the target in the green liquid. A target that has been covered in the liquid will immediately begin to erupt in a carpet of uncontrolled plant growth that forces them prone, as they receive 1d8 points of damage. 

You Come Upon A Ruined Vehicle

 To paraphrase Gandolf, I return to you now at the changing of the tide. I had to step away from the blog last year due to life events. I'm back now, though my output will have to reduce for my sanity's sake. I hope to continue creating fun stuff for you all in the months ahead!

Today I bring you a little encounter generator for adding some weirdness and mystery to you campaign. this is just one part of a bigger project I've been working on for generating interesting wilderness encounters. in the months to come i intend to share it and more with you. 

You Come Upon A Ruined Vehicle By The Side of the Road

 

There are more than just wandering monsters to encounter when travelling through the wilderness. Below you will find a handful of tables you can use to whip up a quick encounter for your players as they traverse the wilds of your campaign in search of adventure. This encounter showcases odd vehicles or vessels alongside themes of mystery and exploration and is best placed in mountain, desert, or barren hill terrain types.  Enjoy!

To create this encounter you will need to take three actions.

1) Roll on the Vessel table to determine what sort of vehicle or vessel the PCs encounter.

2) Roll to see if the party is alone when they come upon this sight.

3) Consult the table below that details the vehicle stats of those vessels that can be made working again.

D12	The Vessel
1	A longboat made of an entire block of carved granite. This vehicle was once enchanted to fly. It still bears a few rotting feathered oars and a series of mostly intact silk sails in its hold (worth a total of 400 gp). The rudder of the ship is broken in two but the magical runes used to keep the vessel aloft are still carved into it, and it may be able to be re-enchanted.
2	This was once a massive wagon with four axels. The wagon box is huge at nearly 15 feet square. It is made of moss covered timbers reinforced with rusting iron bands. There are a number of arrow slit-like windows around the entire wagon box. A strong looking door lays open as the whole thing has fallen on its side. It has become half covered in earth and moss. A team of oxen must have had to pull this large war wagon. Inside can be found a profoundly rusted tapered metal tube a few feet in length (a small hand canon), and a bunch of wet and molding black powder.
3	This horrific contraption looks like a metal platform built on top of 13 long and gangly metal legs. The whole rusted hulk is covered in brambles, lending it an air of some monstrous metal spider. The control levers and a small bench seat are the only things built on to the platform. The platform itself is big enough for six human-sized individuals to comfortably stand on it at one time.
4	A moss covered, segmented marble snake-like sculpture without a head. In place of a head, a marble seat has been carved, and a large green crystal (200 gp) is embedded in front of that. The marble stone segments of the snake body are fixed together with gold and copper chains an inch thick. (500 gp worth of metal can be salvaged). This vehicle is entirely intact. It can be driven by sitting in the driver’s seat, placing one’s hand on the crystal and imagining the direction you want the vehicle to move in.
5	This wooden vessel that resembles a long sailing boat is approximately 120 feet long and 20 feet wide at its widest. The entire top deck of the vessel has been covered over in a broken lattice of glass similar to that of a greenhouse, though most of the glass is now shattered. Besides the two main masts, there are two smaller masts curiously protruding from the underside of the vessel pointing downward at 45 degree angles. Below deck underneath the steering wheel there is a metal throne with arcane symbols etched on it. From here, a trained mage could levitate the entire vessel and even (legend says) take it to the stars and into other planes. Any character with arcane training who sits on the throne must save versus spells or be flooded with memories of interdimensional battles with other worldly creatures. This will exhaust their mind, preventing them from casting spells for the next 1d8 hours.
6	This vehicle seems to be the cap of a humongous acorn 12 feet in diameter. Inside the acorn cap are two holly branches woven into oars. This is some sort of faery boat. It is impervious to fire, nigh unbreakable, and can be floated across lava, acid, or almost any other mundane but dangerous liquid. A large river stone with a natural hole worn in the middle has been set inside, tied to the acorn cap with a rope of woven grasses for use as an anchor. The entire vessel weighs 500 pounds.
7	This large stone statue is carved out of gray-green basalt and is roughly 15 feet tall and 8 feet wide. It has been fashioned in the likeness of an armored dwarf with a long plaited beard, although the whole thing is now covered in moss and vines. There is a compartment in its back big enough to fit two dwarf-sized individuals. Besides some small benches, this little recess contains rusted control levers for making the great stone statue walk. The dwarven runes that imbued this artifact with power have been partially weathered off, rendering the great machine an inert statue.
8	This odd looking craft is 120 feet long and 20 feet wide at its widest. It is cigar shaped and made out of rusted metal. Affixed to one end are three bent metal fins. Halfway along the metal cylinder is an oval metal door with a wheel that must been turned to open it (Stuck Door Check). There are three compartments in this vessel, though they are laid out one on top of the other. The entire vessel is lying on its side. The compartment towards the fin end of the vessel is filled with odd metal contraptions with circular dials painted in an unrecognizable script. The middle chamber is empty save for a stool bolted to the floor. The chamber on the end opposite the fins has two seats of rotting upholstery bolted to the floor and a large array of dials, buttons, and switches. There is some fuel left in the tanks. If syphoned out, it can be put in a bottle and made into an incendiary much like lamp oil, though it deals 1d10 damage to the target, and half damage to anyone adjacent to the target.
9	This vehicle is a 10 foot diameter sphere of translucent reddish crystal. There is a small, circular hatch that allows entrée though there is no visible means of opening the hatch (it pushes inward). Those inside will find it’s actually quite easy to roll the sphere along by walking. The sphere and those inside it are impervious to normal damage, and float when falling from a great height (like the spell Featherfall), and float on water. The sphere can only hold up to two people before it becomes too cramped to control properly.
10	This strange vehicle resembles a rusted metal millipede, with 25 small metal legs on each side. It is roughly 15 feet long, and its body is 7 feet wide. The front end though is a large corkscrew of metal. Two small windows on the front allow those inside to see, and a 3’ square hatch on the back allows entry to the interior of the largely brass contraption. Inside are three rows of benches and an elaborate collection of knobs, levers, dials, and switches. Though the dials are written with gnomish script, they are not in any known gnomish dialect. 1d6 of the knobs have gems on their ends, each worth 75 gp each.
11	This vessel is long, approximately 150 feet long, consisting of three 28 foot long carriage-like contraptions and a larger 65 foot long control engine, all made of various metals hooked together. This long metal snake is lying on its side with vines and small trees growing out of some windows. The interiors of the three smaller cars have been ripped up and torn out a long time ago. The larger car still has a large, rusted furnace, levers, dials, and a broken stool. Hidden inside the fire box of the furnace is a piece of obsidian polished into a smooth, egglike shape. A glyph of the elven word for fire has been etched into it. If this word is spoken out loud within 10 feet of the stone, it will heat up sufficiently to burn wood and cause a fire to form for one minute before it cools again. This can only be used three times a day.
12	This gliding vessel resembles a large Roc constructed out of delicate carved wood and stretched silk. The wingspan is about 25 feet long, although the body of it from beak to tail is only 10 feet long. Many of the silk panels stretched over the wooden frame are ripped or missing. Within the body of the bird vessel are three seats, one in front of the other. With the foremost seat in front of a corroded copper steering lever. Dwarvish runes are still visible on the interior wood struts.

 

 

 

2D6	Is the party alone?
2-5	There are 1d10 corpses strewn about this location. [Roll on an appropriate Human or Humanoid encounter chart to determine type.] They seem to be 1d6 days old. [The die explodes on 6s.]
6-8	There doesn’t seem to be any signs of any recent activity here.
9-12	Oh no, the party is not alone! [roll on the appropriate combat encounter for your terrain type.] The encountered party is usually covetous of the vehicle that has been encountered.

 

 

Table #	Vehicle type	Miles per Day	Movement Rate	Max Load (Coins)	Notes
1	Re-enchanted Granite Longboat	18/9	90’ (60’)/45’ (15’)	7,000/14,000	This vessel can fly. It requires an arcane magic user of level 3 or more or a group of magic users whose combined levels equal 3 total to be concentrating to keep the vessel flying.
4	The Snake-Like Sculpture	24/12	120’ (40’)/60’ (20’)	4,000/8,000	Those who sleep within 15 feet of the vehicle dream of fondly of snakes.
6	Enchanted Acorn Cap Boat	12	60’ (30’)	3,000	See table description above.
10	The Metal Centipede	12/6 or 6/3 Burrowing	60’ (30’)/30’ (15’) or 30’ (15’)/ 15’ (7’)	4,500/9,000	The vessel and anyone inside are immune to mundane sources of heat.

 

You Come Upon a Lone Farmstead in the Woods

Greetings sleepwalkers! Welcome to this week's blog, a forest farmstead encounter generator! This fun set of tables will help you create a lone farmstead in the woods, replete with fields, farmers, and fun findings to challenge and intrigue your players! This blog article would make a great companion to the D66 table of woodland encounters from June. If you're looking for other interesting tables check out last week's D66 table of religious taboos, or try another location generator, like the wizard's tower generator.

*Medieval plowing with oxen (from a 14th century manuscript)

You Come Upon a Lone Farmstead in the Woods:

A Forest Encounter Generator

Dark and misty woodlands filled with gargantuan primeval trees, briar-choked deer paths meandering underneath the thick canopies of ancient timbers, the waiting silence at the forest’s heart - woodland journeys are replete with the grandeur and oddments of the forest, and it is not just the realm of animals, tree spirits, and elementals. Many peoples live in the forest, be it elf, man, or savage orc. Such folk rarely congregate together in large groups though, as farmable land within forests remains relatively scarce. Thus, a chance encounter with a lone farm deep in the woods is a more likely occurrence than coming upon a large farming community.

Below you will find a series of tables that you can use to create an interesting encounter location populated with all manner of inhabitants, monsters, and a host of other weird and wonderful things. Use the tables to flesh out the lone farm’s layout, its current inhabitants, and what interesting twist might be lurking just behind the PCs first impressions.

 

The Fields

A lone forest farmstead usually occupies a clearing cut into the forest when the farm was first built. Depending on the success of the farmer and their family, they may have an extensive system of fields, orchards, apiaries, barns, and other outbuildings. Use the table below to determine what the fields around the farmstead look like. Take note of any features that PCs or monsters may use to gain a tactical advantage in combat, such as stone field walls, trees, buildings, etc.

D10	The Fields Around The Farmstead
1	A small stone wall surrounds an acre of field and creates a barrier between the farm and the forest proper. Half the field is sown with wheat and the other half has been set aside for garden vegetables. Two scarecrows made of rusted plate mail, straw, wood, and cloth are propped up in the wheat field.
2	Two separate fields, each marked by waist-high stone walls, are occupied by over one and a half acres of wheat and corn. A small granary on stilts, roughly 10 feet in diameter with a 15-foot-tall conical top, has been built near the farmhouse. A small covered well has also been dug near the farmhouse door. Chickens and ducks can be seen ambling through the rows hunting for bugs.
3	Over five acres of apple trees surround this farmhouse. A wooden palisade as tall as a man has been built surround the entire orchard. A tall thin building with a peaked roof used to store apples has been constructed halfway between the palisade and the farmhouse. A small barn is also visible on the property, and an ancient stone well can be seen here too.
4	A knee-high wall of fieldstones surrounds a quarter-acre of farmland and six beehives on wooden platforms sit within. Two additional fields, two acres apiece, occupy the other side of the clearing. Each field is separated by fieldstone walls. One field lies fallow and the other is packed with the twisting vines of gourd plants. A barn the size of the entire farmhouse and a small pig pen with a few happy sows snorting away are the only other visible buildings.
5	A system of five-foot-deep ditches separates these four acres of orchard, wheat fields, and beehives from each other. Two small barns, one made of stone and the other of weathered old wood can be seen on the other side of the farmhouse. A large covered well and two large stone benches are arrayed outside the farmhouse’s front door. A lone donkey drinks from a stone watering trough to the side of the stone barn.
6	Six acres of grazing fields occupy the clearing, with wooden fences surrounding the whole area and dividing the interior into three separate sections. Sheep occupy two of the three fields, and two large slate-roofed barns and a small well with stone-cut animal troughs are the only other constructions here besides the farmhouse.
7	Two little fields, no more than a half-acre apiece, occupy the area in front of the farmstead. Short fieldstone walls surround them. One field has been planted with corn, the other cabbages. A back field over 2 acres large lies behind the farmhouse and contains a myriad of garden vegetables including green beans, peas, carrots, and turnips. There is a small barn and stable fenced in behind the farmhouse.
8	The entirety of this four acre farm has been given over to apiaries and wildflowers. Bees buzz throughout the clearing and the smell of honey wafts on the air. A long one-story barn runs behind the farmstead, and a small covered well sits next to it. On the outskirts of the clearing a massive, weathered stone head the size of a small wagon rests on its side, overgrown with moss.
9	The fields that surround this farmstead are roughly eight acres in size, and most of that has been planted with grapes attached to wooden arbors. The area nearest to the farm has a small wooden fence surrounding it and a host of garden vegetables growing inside. A small well and a two-story barn and stable can be found behind the farmhouse.
10	Three large fields, each roughly two acres in size, occupy this clearing. A series of dilapidated wooden fences surround the fields, and in many places they have completely fallen away. The fields themselves lie fallow and overgrown. A stone barn with a collapsed roof is the only other building besides the farmstead here.

 

*"Anderwood Corner", Picture was drawn by Walter Crane and engraved by W. J. Linton, probably in 1862.

The Farmstead

The centerpiece of any farm is its farmhouse. Many a small dirt-floored hovel has, with dutiful work and prosperous luck, been transformed over the years into a multistory stone villa fit for a dynasty. Whether a doughty adventuring party comes upon a one-room shack or a three-story mansion can inform all sorts of assumptions that a crafty referee can use to bring adventure into their campaigns. Use the table below to generate a farmhouse to put at the center of your fields.

D10	What Kind Of Farmhouse Is It?
1	A small one-story wooden farmhouse, roughly 10’ by 15’ with a fireplace of river stones and a single shuttered window. The outside walls and roof are covered in cedarwood bark.
2	A three-room one-story wooden farmhouse approximately 15’ wide by 25’ long with a roof of green glazed tiles. The roof overhangs the front of the house by seven feet and is supported by four wooden columns carved to look like snakes are coiling around them.
3	A simple turf house dug into the earth, approximately 15’ by 15’ with a roof of green sod. Large river stones have been placed on the edge of the roof where it meets the ground. The door is painted a golden orange color.
4	A robust two-story wooden farmhouse with a wrap-around porch. The building is 50’ wide by 55’ long. The columns that support the second story balcony above the porch are smoothly carved and painted with bright patterns of flowers and grasses, while the rest of the house is painted a brownish red. The roof is shingled in green-gray slates.
5	A modest log cabin with a small second story, roughly 20’ wide by 35’ wide with a thatched roof. A large brick chimney makes up an entire wall of the house.
6	A three-story wooden tower stands about 15’ by 15’ wide and 50’ tall with a peaked roof of red glazed  tiles. A small stove pipe is visible on the eastern side of the building. The sturdy wooden door to the farm tower is banded in iron and has been painted with the face of a medusa glaring back at would-be visitors on it.
7	A sunken farmhouse fashioned out of an ancient rock-cut tomb. The stone it is cut from is approximately 50’ feet in diameter, but the farmhouse itself is comprised of only three rooms. The stones around the doorway are carved in a weathered and unreadable script.
8	A modest one-floor farmhouse made of mortared fieldstones is approximately 15’ wide by 20’ long with a thatched roof and a number of glazed windows. An elaborately styled chimney on the western side of the house is tiled with a mosaic that depicts rose, ivy, and hawthorn branches winding their way up it.
9	A sprawling single-story sandstone farmhouse, roughly 55’ wide by 65’ long with a central courtyard and pillared arcades. The roof is made of glazed red tiles. To either side of the green painted door are two weathered marble statues of lamia standing at attention.
10	An impressive two-story chateau of mortared sandstone and granite roughly 30’ wide by 50’ long with dark gray slate roof shingles. The roof overhangs a second floor balcony, and both are supported by two massive granite pillars carved with elaborate fluting and pediments. There are many windows around the mansion, all of them glazed.

 

Does the Farmhouse Have any Secrets?

Use this handy table below to determine if there are any secrets about the farmhouse that a PC’s search of the interior may uncover.

2D6	Are There Any Secrets In The Farmhouse?
2	Stuffed in a green glazed jar next to the bed is a battered copper ring (ring of protection +1)
3-5	An excellent bottle of wine (20 gp) has been concealed inside a lidded cook pot.
6-8	No, this is just a simple farmstead. What you see is what you get.
9-11	A small horde of coins (3D10 gp) has been hidden in a small hole dug under the bed.
12	The ancient, gnarled walking stick set next to the door is actually an enchanted club that deals an extra +2 damage to Constructs and Undead.

 

Who Dwells Here?

Folk inhabit forests for countless reasons. Whether to flee oppression, avoid suspicion, find solitude, or to be closer to their gods, they seek the seclusion of the trees. Use the table below to generate your farm’s inhabitants. Some may seem like perfectly typical forest dwellers, and others might seem like odd inclusions in this setting. Use your imagination to help fill in the gaps and explain what circumstances may have brought them here.

D12	Farm Inhabitants
1	A modest family of humans including a grandmother, her daughter and daughter’s husband, their teenage daughter and adult son, the son’s wife, and their infant son. The grandmother, her daughter, and granddaughter all have heterochromatic eyes, one green and the other reddish-brown
2	Two young elf couples live here and work the farm together. They sometimes employ a few halfling field hands.
3	An elderly human couple live here after their children all left. They do have an even-tempered guard dog named Pooch.
4	A small collection (2d6+3) of dwarves live together in this farmhouse. They are all from the same clan and are distantly related to each other. It is impossible to tell the men from the women here.
5	A collection of two extended halfling families (2d6+2) occupy the farm and can often be heard singing to each other at night. A great gray wolfhound named Gary guards both families from danger.
6	A small clutch (3d4) of lizardfolk have their farm here. They wear leather pants and carry wicker backpacks around the farm. The matriarch of the lizardfolk has piercing golden eyes.
7	An odd collection of humans, goblins, halflings, and bugbears work the farmstead. They are all children of the same virtuous adoptive mother who raised them here in the woods.
8	A small family consisting of a mother, father, young daughter, infant son, and the father’s three brothers who help out as farm hands live here. The father has a bad limp and keeps to himself mostly.
9	A family of gnomish cottagers occupy this farm. The house is filled with two sets of grandparents, a mother and father and three young gnomish children, and a young boy and his two older sisters. The grandparents brew mead flavored with herbs gathered from the forest.
10	An ancient and weathered old woman and her mute teenage servant are the farm’s only inhabitants. The servant’s face has a pleading, guilty quality to it.
11	A simple family of orcs can be found here. A mother, father, and their eight nearly grown children farm the land. The mother is jovial and inclined to sing.
12	A human man and his orcish mate dwell in the farmhouse with three human servants. The couple eloped and left their families to be together - the human from his minor noble house, and the orc from their warrior tribe.

 

*"The Heronry at Vinney Ridge", Picture was drawn by Walter Crane and engraved by W. J. Linton, probably in 1862.

What Does it Seem Like is Going on Here?

Though many dwell under the forest’s loamy canopy, not all are as they appear to be at first notice. Still, your player’s first impressions are often what entices them into adventure. Through the forest undergrowth, what appears to be happening and what actually is happening are sometimes two different things. Use the table to generate a first impression of what is happening at the farm clearing. This will give you an idea of what is unfolding when the encounter itself starts and is just a jumping-off point for further interaction.

2d6	What Is Going On?
2	The fields and farm buildings are under attack! A small (2d4) band of [1. Orcs 2. Gnolls 3. Bugbears 4. Mudmen] are viciously trying to batter down the door to the farmhouse. The vile monsters are ransacking the farm fields as the farmhouse is being attacked.
3	Half the farm’s able-bodied inhabitants are working the fields, and the others are guarding the perimeter with wooden spears and rusted helmets. This farm’s inhabitants are cautious of raids from monsters and the like. They are devout, however, and are greatly swayed by the presence of lawful priests, clerics, and paladins.
4	Some of the farm dwellers are standing near a half collapsed wall, arguing about the best way to rebuild it. They seem nervous but are still quite friendly and will invite players to join them for their evening meal. The inhabitants speak only in whispers, but they won’t say why.
5	A few gathered farm folks stand near a freshly dug grave in prayer. They are bruised looking and weary. They have just buried a beloved family member. They won’t say how they got their injuries or how the deceased person died. They can be enticed to talk and/or trade but insist on doing everything on a table that they’ll bring out from inside the farmhouse.
6-8	A typical day on the farm. All able hands are at work sowing, reaping, tending, and mending what needs to be. Work songs and the occasional laugh perfume the air. The inhabitants of this farm are friendly if cautious and will offer what meager shelter and food they have for the evening. These folk are helpful and goodhearted, although not the most learned.
9	Two of the farm’s residents are chasing a small herd of deer out of the fields with brooms while they yell and holler. The farmers are happy to talk and trade with the player’s characters, although they do ask for help with the local deer population in return for any trades.
10	The fields are pockmarked with small burnt craters and the roof of the farmhouse has been caved in. Though there is a good deal of blood in the house, there are no bodies to be found at first glance.
11	Tension lies like a wet cloth across the clearing. There are signs of fieldwork being done, but no one is visible in the fields. The farmhouse windows and doors are shut tight and the inhabitants seem cautious and guarded. They will threaten violence if pressed, though this is but a scared bluff. In truth they are fearful of outsiders and will take some persuading if they are to be of  assistance.
12	A dead farmer lays facedown in their field. A smoldering pile of rubble is strewn next to them on the ground. The farmhouse door lies ominously open and smoke is beginning to trickle out of it.

 

What is Actually Going on Here?

Things in the deep woods are not always what they seem. What adventurers first assume to be going on when they come upon a lone farmhouse can sometimes be much more sinister than what appears at first glance. Use the below table to figure out if there is something more going on than meets the eye, and what that is.

1d12	What Is Truly Going On?
1-6	Everything is as it seems here. There is no twist, just humble folk who may need a hand.
7	The some of the farm’s inhabitants are secretly doppelgangers who have taken the identities of some of the farm’s true residents. At least one may try to accompany the PCs after they leave in hopes of taking over one of their lives.
8	The farm’s inhabitance are actually murderers who killed the true owners and have taken over. They will try to drug PCs who accept their hospitality so that they can sacrifice them to their dark gods.
9	The farm’s inhabitance are part of a secret cult to an altruistic god of Law. They will repay any kindness offered to them by way of their god’s blessing.
10	One of the farm’s inhabitants is a Hag in disguise. She has ensorcelled the others who live there and uses the farm as her secret base of operations.
11	The farm’s true inhabitants (roll again on the Farm Inhabitants table) have been away from home. In their absence, the current residents came to squat there and take the farmer’s food. The original inhabitants will return sometime during the PC’s encounter though.
12	The farm’s inhabitants are actually escaped fugitives lying low here in the forest until the heat dies down. They may be known to the PCs if they are infamous enough (2-in-6 chance).