Category: Random Encounters
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Random Encounters: Beneath Naples
Naples is an ancient city built atop layers of volcanic tufa. The stone is easy to dig through and carve, and over the past four thousand years people have dug a lot of tunnels under Naples. There are natural caves, Roman cisterns and sewers, the early Christian catacombs of San Gennaro and San Gaudioso, a…
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Random Encounters: Transylvania!
It's called "Transylvania" ("beyond the forest") because to get there from Hungary you pass through a hilly, forested area to reach the central Transylvanian plateau. On all other sides the region is surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains, making it hard to get to even in the Edwardian era. During that time the area was part…
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Random Encounters: Miskatonic University
In the scenic New England town of Arkham, Miskatonic University sits on the bank of the river of the same name. The school's red-brick buildings and tree-shaded quads seem eternal, immune to time. Only the styles worn by the students ever seem to change. Most people know of Miskatonic (if they know of it at…
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Random Encounters: The Crossroads at Midnight
The place where roads cross has always been the scene of strange encounters, and midnight is the time when the strangest things walk the land. If you're passing through the crossroad between midnight and cockrow, be polite but brief with strangers. And if you're hanging around there on purpose, waiting to see who comes by…
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Random Encounters: Ayaviz
In honor of the forthcoming mass-market paperback edition of Arkad's World, here's a random encounter table for the city of Ayaviz, where the story begins. Ayaviz stands right on the twilight line of the tidally-locked planet Syavusa. To the east the planet's ice-capped night side stretches away to the spaceport; to the west the Sun…
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Random Encounters: Port Royal!
(In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19.) In the late 17th century, the capital city of piracy was Port Royal in Jamaica. It was the biggest city in the Caribbean, and sympathetic governors turned a blind eye to British, Dutch, and French Hugenot pirates preying on the Spanish treasure fleets in exchange…
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Random Encounters: The Undersea City
Three-fourths of Earth's surface is covered by ocean, so it seems almost inevitable that people will someday try to live in the sea. This undersea city is funded by the inevitable eccentric billionaire, but is at least intended to become a self-sustaining, economically viable settlement. It's built in the shallow water atop an undersea plateau…
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Random Encounters: Lawless Martian City
The city stands at the junction of two great artificial canals bringing life-giving water to the dying seabeds of the Red Planet. Though ruled by an absolute monarch, the city is virtually lawless, as the tyrant cares about nothing beyond the walls of his palace and all his underlings are corrupt. Here, thieves from the…
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Random Encounters: Starbase Nineteen
The Starbase is a big space station in a distant system, serving as a command center and support base for the enterprising exploration ships of a federation of planets which are united. This is where velour-shirted or miniskirted starship crew relax before going where no man has yet gone. Aboard the Starbase one can see…
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Random Encounters: On the Wine-Dark Sea
Sailing the Mediterranean in the Bronze Age was always an adventure, even if you didn't have to worry about angry gods. (And you always have to worry about angry gods.) Roll 1d20 each day when sailing, 1d10 when in port or beached. Roll twice and combine Plot-advancing encounter: Someone or something related to the purpose of…
The Cambias Digression 