Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Don't Look Under the Bed...A Random Table for Wermspittle

We are never so vulnerable as when we fall asleep. What dreams may come, nightmares that prowl and stalk through the frenzied brains of the fearful, un-pretty things that go bump in the night; many are the terrors and wicked delights to be warded or warned-off if one has the money or the means. But not all such hazards seep in through the hastily-secured walls or wriggle past a lapsed shutter-ward. Some things prefer to lurk quietly in places most tend to overlook...

What Could Be Under the Bed?
  1. A well-gorged Brain-Snail, sluggishly digesting its most recent meal.
    [(1) Brain Snail, AL N, MV 30', AC 7, HD 3+1, #AT 1, DG 1d4 or Poison (Save or paralyzed for 2d4 turns), SV F2, ML 8. Special: Suffers a -2 on Initiative due to being bloated with last meal.]
  2. Dull brown toadstools have sprouted from what appears to be a recent blood-stain. They exude a pleasant-smelling musk that will promote very sound sleep in anyone spending more than an hour exposed to them.
    [Save or experience effect equal to a Sleep spell. Incur a cumulative -1 penalty for each consecutive hour exposed. If disturbed the toadstools will wilt into a nasty, worthless black sludge that reeks of rancid meat.]
  3. Three slightly-moldy dried-out Ourang fingers wrapped loosely in blue thread. It's probably not a back-scratcher. For some reason Ourangs suffer a -4 penalty on all Reaction Rolls in regards to whomever holds this item.
  4. A small Weak Point has lodged down there. (2d4) Giant Ants attempt to push their way through every couple of hours. That'd be the scratching noises you've been hearing.
    [(2d4) Venomous Giant Green Ants, AL N, MV 180' (60'), AC 3, HD 4, #AT 1, DG 2d6+poison (Save or paralyzed for 1d4 turns), SV F2, ML 7.]
  5. That's quite a pile of broken shells from some sort of Exotic Bivalves. They're all picked clean. Wonder what has been sneaking in here in order to eat the things?
  6. The gnawed and splintered bones of at least six different victims of some clandestine carnivore, perhaps the former tenant? They're not all animal bones, either.
  7. Lots of dust. Save or sneeze fitfully for 1d4 turns.
  8. The mummified remains of a dead Harpy Tormenter. She made her nest under your bed a long, long time ago. Something must have killed her in her sleep.
  9. Something glints ever so slightly back in the far corner. It's some sort of amulet or medallion stamped from a curious gray-purple alloy, heavy as lead but very hard. There is some sort of winged hound depicted on one side, a skull-faced king (or is it an ugly queen?) in a crown of bones on the other side. There's a base 40% chance anyone seeing this thing will recognize it as a cult-object associated with ghouls. Even the Jaladari trinket-peddlers won't touch the thing.
  10. A reanimated skeleton, missing the skull, wrapped in black chains.
    [Headless Skeleton (1), AL C, MV 60', AC 7, HD 1, #AT 1, DG 1d6, SV F1, ML12. Special: Lacking a skull, this skeleton must make all attacks at random and all attackers gain a +2 bonus to hit it. The Keepers of one of the Sanctuaries, Shrines or Chapels might be interested in seeing this...]
  11. Someone's well-worn and slightly blood-stained pocket journal. Each page is crammed with the same word repeated endlessly: Ligeia.
  12. There is a Sallow Stain left-over from someone's Vile Transformation into a Loathsome Mass...most people will tell you to forget about it, try not to let it get to you. This sort of thing happens all the time. Especially in Winter.
  13. Sixteen bottles, all but one empty. That last one holds a rolled-up manuscript written in Vrilyinese detailing a cipher used by the underground resistance movement during the Second Franzik Occupation. Possession of such a thing is currently proscribed and punishable by death. But it is probably worth a good deal to the right collector.
  14. Three dud Black Smoke cylinders. The kind meant to be launched from a crossbow. Careful examination will reveal that they are not just duds--they were deliberately emptied. Handling the things with bare hands requires a Save, fail and suffer 2d6 damage, succeed for half. Those who've spent time around the Baffles, served in the Trenches or fought against the Tripodal Hussars at Avernalle, know to douse the things with water or steam before doing anything else. Hard won knowledge. Best heeded.
  15. A sealed jar of green-tinted glass. Inside is a small Gray Ooze. It has been left here for years, ever since the Jelly-Hunter who captured it left to buy some more jars, never to be seen again.
    [Gray Ooze (1), AL N, MV 10' (3'), AC 8, HD 1,#AT 1, DG 1d6, SV F1, ML 6. Special: This particular oozelet has suffered from its isolation and on a positive Reaction Roll it will attempt to bond with whomever releases it, effectively becoming a sort of pet.]
  16. A slightly-damaged taxidermied sea snake.
  17. Bulging and writhing, it's a very large spider's egg-sac with only minutes to go before it hatches forth a lot of spiders.
  18. (3d6) dead striped-back bats. Someone closed-off the hole in the wall after repairing the chimney, trapping them in here.
  19. The armless, headless body of an Almas Glandculler has been stuffed under this bed. It's starting to smell.
  20. The spleen of a vampire, pinned with excruciating care into the correct position inside some sort of anatomical mannequin, very much like a smaller version of those used in teaching anatomy at the Medical School. The spleen is wet, and seems to pulse every now and then. The whole thing is part of an elaborate ward-mechanism meant to repel Sanguinovores. Perhaps it might even work. Care to try it out?
  21. The half-eaten carcass of a Blue Eel was wrapped in yellowing newspaper and stuffed down there quite a while ago. Unwrapping it would allow you to determine just how long, by finding the date on the newspaper. But...did the thing move just then?
  22. Yellow Mold (LL. p. 103). Leave it alone, it'll probably leave you alone. Probably.
  23. That strange shaped mass of burlap and canvas? It's a whaling gun. A bit rusty and in dire need of polishing, but it ought to still work. There are three heavy harpoons wrapped-up alongside it. The gun itself weighs over two hundred pounds, comes mounted on a pivoting truss and still has a working reel assembly for handling the specially-treated rope that usually gets used with these things...too bad there's no rope in the pile.
  24. A crudely-scratched treasure map, courtesy of a Grobbly-Bonk demon, awaits the curious. Is it a legitimate map, or is it more of a trap? Only one good way to find out...
  25. The severed head of a gargoyle, mounted on a malachite and black oak pedestal. Those who feed the thing blood can ask it three questions in the light of a full moon.
  26. One of the boards beneath the bed is quite atrociously warped and distorted, not from moisture or any sort of spell, but somehow there is a person's leg protruding from it. The leg itself is more like wood than any sort of flesh, but it is not carved. It appears to have grown from the wood.
  27. Eight pieces of Dead-Lead Shot in a small paper box.
  28. Corpse. There's a 30% chance that it is an Indwelling Predatory Projection. Otherwise it isn't much of a conversationalist. You might want to get rid of it. Just saying.
  29. A cracked and slightly blackened lens still holds a tenuous link to a Lens Flayer. The lens was stolen from a local artist by a trained monkey working for a small-time burglar who has since met a messy end falling into a cellar illegally converted into a cess-pit by an unscrupulous land lord. The monkey ran off and is lurking in the rafters of some Abandoned Property, unless something else ate it already.
  30. A Gloomswallow is squeezing through the floorboards by way of its innate Passwall ability. It is attempting to flee a small group of Contrarials or Simulacra that are intending to harvest the thing's hide to make leather armor. Unfortunately it has slipped their bonds and is desperately making its escape, right under your bed.

We offer several other Random Tables that could be appended to this one. For example there is a table for Swarms, another for Strange Ovum, and of course one of our favorites; Those Aren't Rats in the Walls, as well as the You've Got Demons in the Closet (or something) Table that will be coming along shortly.

You may also find the Low End Loot, Good Things/Small Packages, or Found Objects tables of use as well.

6 comments:

  1. One of the things that makes the setting so interesting is the way it openly expands the action into aspects of everyday life often glossed over in gaming, and taps deep unease and lurking fears from the real world. This is a great table.

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    1. The splatterpunk approach, with loads of gore, wears thin quickly. It also tends to leave me cold, personally. I grew up very differently than most. I have very vivid memories of being ripped out of my bed while someone was screaming, coughing up blood, and burning up with intense fever. My lungs filling with fluid. Drowning while looking up at stars and clouds as they drove the car much faster than ever before. Pneumonia and I fought an ongoing battle for most of my childhood. It stopped my heart more than once. It won on technicalities a few times, but in the end I beat it. And doing so gave me a very different outlook on what constitutes horror. To me, real horror isn't about the pain, the suffering, the shame or guilt, the hatred or anger, nor even the fear...it's about things completely outside your sphere of knowledge, things you can never really know, never control, not even defend yourself from...not until you undergo a drastic transformation, pay a steep price...can never be who/what you were before. The horror lies in what has happened to you that you accept, that you allow, in order to 'deal' with something else that you may not have correctly gauged or interpreted...horror is a drastic over-reaction you cannot take back, being committed to a path you would not choose willingly, but that you're stuck on nonetheless. Ghosts, things making noises, darkness, stinky-puddles, blood all over the walls--those things aren't horror, they're just window dressing and signals. Real horror is inside. right there in the very pith and meat of your spine. Inescapable and relentless and all your own. Each one's experience unique unto themselves, only afterwards do we start to realize how alike so many of us are, shattering the naieve narcissism of childhood...yeah, I've been giving this matter some thought for a while now. Probably should have written some sort of essay or whatever, but I prefer to keep busy with the serials, the shorts, and Bujilli instead. Showing, not just telling...after a fashion...

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    2. That's a useful understanding, and I can agree with it. I can also see the argument for channelling it into the work, but those experiences and thoughts really would make a fine post or series in themselves, to bring them to a wider audience, not just for the insight into your creativity and the inspiration for material like this and Wermspittle in general, but also for your experience as a valuable light on the nature of life.

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    3. I'm still getting back up to speed on the blogging, and there's a ton of PDF-itization to get done...we're three months behind on all that..maybe I'll salvage some of this stuff for a post down the road. I just don't know if anyone would really be all that interested in such stuff.

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  2. These little dressing tables are wonderful and inspirational, just the kind of fullness I want in my games.

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    1. Cool. We like to build things that aren't just more of the same.

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