It’s been quiet on the blog recently. The reason is that I’m busy beavering away on Vaults of Vaarn: Second Edition, which I’m hoping to bring to crowdfunding this year. To give you a preview of some of the expanded content I’m creating for the new edition, here’s an unfinished draft of the settlement creation procedure from 2E.
My hope is that I can stay true to the original content while expanding the depth and variety the dice generators can produce. I will follow up next month with a post showing these procedures in action, and will use some dice and paper to create a new settlement.
If you want to read the current draft of all the 2E content, you can find it on Patreon.
Settlement Size
Roll 1d6 to determine the size of the settlement.
| d6 | Size |
| 1 | Hamlet |
| 2 | Boomtown (Very new, doubles in size each month for d6 months.) |
| 3 | Village |
| 4 | Small Town |
| 5 | Large Town |
| 6 | City State (All smaller settlements on map pay tribute) |
Population Type
Roll 2d6 twice to determine the majority and minority population makeup. If repeat results are rolled, the settlement is populated solely by that ancestry.
| 2d6 | Majority Population | Minority Population |
| 2 | Lithlings | Lithlings |
| 3 | Cacklemaw Exiles | Cacklemaw Exiles |
| 4 | True-Kin | True-Kin |
| 5 | Synths | Synths |
| 6 | Newbeasts | Newbeasts |
| 7 | Cacogen | Cacogen |
| 8 | Faa Nomads | Faa Nomads |
| 9 | Mycomorphs | Mycomorphs |
| 10 | Neoblooms | Neoblooms |
| 11 | Planeyfolk | Planeyfolk |
| 12 | Sentient Tame Monsters | Extradimensional Outsiders |
Freshwater Source
Roll 1d8 to determine the source of the settlement’s freshwater, and a related complication.
| d8 | Source | Potential Complication |
| 1 | Oasis (p.xx) | Poisonous algae or spilled chemicals |
| 2 | Atmospheric Condensation Machines | Slow, require repairs |
| 3 | Deep Wells | Subterranean creature breaks into well |
| 4 | Underground Aqueduct | Blockage or diversion |
| 5 | Secret Reservoir | Beginning to run dry |
| 6 | Water Recycling Machines | Require repairs |
| 7 | Holy Relic Weeps Water | Target of relic thieves |
| 8 | Flows From Hypergeometric Gateway | Gateway capricious; sometimes closes up |
Basic Physical Features
| d20 | Location of Settlement | The Houses | Local Landmark |
| 1 | Base of Huge Statue | Hide Yurts | Ancient Forge |
| 2 | Amongst Broken War Machines | Clay Brick Huts | Enormous Skull |
| 3 | Dried-up Lake Bed | Sunken Warren | Arcology Dome (p.xx) |
| 4 | On Salt Plains | Made from Trash | Slender Silver Tower |
| 5 | Amongst Rolling Dunes | Plastic Cubes | Radar Dish |
| 6 | Surrounded by Graves | Grimy Towers | Abandoned Theatre |
| 7 | Surrounded by Monoliths | Vine-covered Villas | Sacred Catacombs |
| 8 | Surrounded by Fungal Groves | Golden Domes | Birthplace of Famed Musician |
| 9 | Surrounded by Dead Trees | Chrome Spindles | Birthplace of Famed Warrior |
| 10 | Shores of a Toxic Lake | Repurposed Vehicles | Birthplace of Famed Tyrant |
| 11 | Banks of a Toxic River | Repurposed Weapon Arrays | Petrified Tree |
| 12 | Amongst Huge Floating Crystals | Moulded From Glass | Wrecked Vehicle (p.xx) |
| 13 | On a Windswept Hill | Hang From Wires | Forbidden Grave |
| 14 | Nestled in a Valley | Atop Colossal Stilts | Large Carnivorous Plant |
| 15 | Amongst the Ruins of a Larger Settlement | Made from Bone | Broken Statue |
| 16 | Amongst Cactus Groves | Living Biotech Structures | Shunned Shrine |
| 17 | Amongst Garbage-Strewn Sands | Inside a Cave | Enigmatic Obelisk |
| 18 | Foot of a Lone Mountain | Inside a Huge Skeleton | Automated Clock Tower |
| 19 | Amongst Desert Canyons | Atop a Huge Tree | Looming Ruin (p.xx) |
| 20 | Ancient Bomb Crater | Large Communal Blocks | Memory Crystal Array |
Basic Cultural Features
| d20 | Government Type A | Government Type B (see p.xx) | Dominant Faith |
| 1 | Secretive | Tyranny | Church of the Promised Sun |
| 2 | Bloodthirsty | Synarchism | Church of the Everbleeding Wound |
| 3 | Decrepit | Noocracy | Vaa, Blue Goddess of Empty Spaces |
| 4 | Paranoid | Theocracy | Seekers of Eyeless Wisdom |
| 5 | Decadent | Aristocracy | The Binary Devotion |
| 6 | Unstable | Gerontocracy | Titan Cults |
| 7 | Psychic | Oligarchy | Autarch Cult (to generate an Autarch see p.xx) |
| 8 | Diseased | Commune | Church of Sevenscore Moons |
| 9 | Nostalgic | Kleptocracy | Hidden Ghoul Cult |
| 10 | Eccentric | Technocracy | Worship Local Monster (p.xx) |
| 11 | Feud-riven | Monarchy | Worship a Void Saint |
| 12 | Peaceful | Kritarchy | Worship a Fungal Saint |
| 13 | Collapsing | Matriarchy | Worship a local Petty God (p.xx) |
| 14 | Incompetent | Patriarchy | Worship Azathoth, the Daemon Sultan |
| 15 | Drunken | Democracy | Worship a Quantum Daemon (p.xx) |
| 16 | Militaristic | Kratocracy | Brotherhood of the Black Sun |
| 17 | Gloomy | Ochlocracy | Worship a Bomb |
| 18 | Ruthless | Sortition | Worship a Planeyman |
| 19 | Cheerful | Kakistocracy | Worship a giant animal |
| 20 | Manic | Hive-Mind | Militant Atheists |
Mapping the Settlement
- Take a sheet of paper of A4 size or equivalent.
- Take two d6s, one black and one white (or two otherwise contrasting colours). Drop them onto the page. The location of the black dice is the seat of power for the settlement’s government. The location of the white dice is the settlement’s water source.
- Connect the seat of power and water source with a pencil line. This is a major road.
- Take 1d20 and 4d6 and drop them onto the page. The d20 represents the settlement’s major asset (see p.xx). The d6s represent buildings or structures. 1 = Disreputable or Abandoned building, 2 = Large Residential Building, 3 = Industrial Building or Workshop, 4 = Commercial Building such as shop or tavern, 5 = Religious Site, 6 = Minor Government Building.
- Generate a local landmark by dropping 1d20 onto the page and consulting the table on p.xx. Optional: for larger settlements, create up to two more assets using d20s. Create up to six more buildings using d6s.
- Connect all buildings and assets with at least one other building or asset, using straight or curved lines. These lines are minor roads. Any location where two or more roads cross is a gathering place such as a market or forum.
- Surround the whole settlement map with a dotted line. This is the outer wall or perimeter.
- Fill in the details. This may include smaller dwellings, tents, greenhouses, ruined buildings, farmland, hydroponic arrays, trees, or anything else suggested by the details of the settlement as established.
- Finally, use the NPC generation tables (p.xx) to attach an NPC to each notable location. Results that clash with what you already know about the settlement can be ignored.
Government Types
Tyranny
The settlement is firmly under the boot of a sole tyrant. All decisions are made by this individual, who allows no dissent. All military, legal, economic, cultural, and religious institutions serve the will of the tyrant.
Synarchism
The settlement is ruled by a secret society. The mechanisms by which this is carried out may vary. There may be a public ‘mayor’ or ‘monarch’ who is merely a puppet for the true rulers. Alternately, the existence of the ruling group is public knowledge, but the identity of the members is not. For an extra twist, the members of this secret ruling society may not know one another’s identities.
Noocracy
The settlement is ruled by a council of the wisest residents. It is up to you exactly how the population quantifies ‘wisdom’ and who is judged to possess it.
Theocracy
The settlement is ruled according to strict religious tenets. The dominant faith is also the controlling political entity. Religious prohibitions and taboos are enforced by the state, and residents who do not profess the faith are persecuted.
Aristocracy
The settlement is ruled by a class of landed hereditary aristocrats. While the nominal political structure might be democratic, in practise only those from an aristocratic family have any hope of governing.
Gerontocracy
The settlement is ruled by its oldest residents. Authority and social standing are directly correlated with old age. The political culture is likely to be calcified and resistant to change.
Oligarchy
The settlement is ruled by its wealthiest residents. Authority and social standing are directly correlated with material possessions. The politics and social life of the settlement are obsessed with accumulating the resource that makes one appear wealthy (this is probably not money, roll on the Trade Goods table (p.xx) for inspiration).
Commune
The settlement is governed by a non-hierarchal council of equals, who meet regularly to vote on matters of community concern. Possessions and labour are divided (at least in theory) totally equally. While there are likely some voices who are much louder in the council than others, there is no single authority figure.
Kleptocracy
The settlement is ruled by thieves. This not metaphorical: you have to be an accomplished thief to be part of the ruling apparatus. Authority is gained by demonstrating your thieving prowess, either through organised trials or just by stealing from other communities.
Technocracy
The settlement is ruled by the technologically adept. They may be a small caste of science-mystics who cow the populace with their knowledge, programmers of an ancient AI which makes all the actual decisions, or simply a group who know how an ancient machine works and leverage that knowledge into political power.
Monarchy
The settlement is ruled by a single hereditary king or queen, who claims unbroken descent from a line of royalty stretching into antiquity. The truth of this claim is probably false, but it keeps everyone happy to pretend the monarch is descended from the ancient Autarchs. The monarch may be very strong politically (in which case see Tyranny) or very weak and controlled by others (in which case see Oligarchy or Synarchism).
Kritarchy
The settlement is ruled by judges and the legal apparatus, who both make the law and pass judgement upon those who violate it. The text of the law may have been written long in the past, or it may be an ever-evolving document. In either case the penalties for breaking the law are serious.
Matriarchy
The settlement is ruled by women, with particular authority given to the eldest and most experienced. If the population is made up of ancestries that do not have a gender binary, then they assign authority based on some other set of perceived traits.
Patriarchy
The settlement is ruled by men, with particular authority given to the eldest and most experienced. If the population is made up of ancestries that do not have a gender binary, then they assign authority based on some other set of perceived traits.
Democracy
The settlement is ruled by elected officials, who are elected by the wider population. The elections may not be fair, the franchise may not be extended to all residents, and the elected officials may be incompetent and corrupt, but the candle of democracy still burns amongst the blue desolation.
Sortition
The settlement is ruled by selected officials, who are chosen by random chance or lottery. To really spice up the system, they are also deselected at random times, meaning the leadership class is constantly in flux. The settlement’s political culture is likely to be chaotic, contradictory, and short-termist.
Kratocracy
The settlement is ruled by the strongest. At any time one may challenge the current leader to a trial of strength, and the winner will be placed in charge. Ambitious citizens rise at dawn to begin training, lifting huge weights and grunting loud enough to wake the dead.
Ocholocracy
The settlement is ruled by mobs. Although there may be another form of nominal authority, they are cowed by the riotous population and go along with whatever the mob demands on that day. Mass brawls, vandalism, and arson are accepted ways of settling political disputes.
Kakistocracy
The settlement is ruled by the most foolish and least qualified citizens. How exactly this unusual state of affairs came to pass is not recorded, as the reign of these Fool Autarchs has been turbulent indeed, but the arrangement has held for several generations. Looking foolish and acting recklessly have become prized traits, and social gatherings inevitably devolve into competitive displays of lunacy.
Hive-Mind
The settlement is ruled by a psychic gestalt mind. Most if not all of the residents are but appendages of a Hive-Mind. The Hive-Mind may be rational and benign or irrational and malignant, actively seeking new hosts to inhabit. In either case, no other source of authority can co-exist with such an entity.
Settlement Assets
Roll 1d20 to generate an asset. For large towns roll twice, and city states roll three times.
1. Matter Fabricator
A wonder of the ancient world. Matter fabricators generate mass from thin air, working thousands of times faster than a mortal craftsman could. Most fabricators have but a single object in their repertoire of forms, although some exist that can create more than one thing. The settlement is overrun with the object the fabricator creates: the residents cannot even give them away.
2. Pack Beast Breeding Stables
The settlement is known for breeding pack beasts, whether they be burden birds, zorses, weeping lizards, or something even stranger. Healthy and well-trained examples of the animals are available for purchase in all markets and serrais. Races are held weekly, with much betting upon the outcome.
3. War Beast Breeding Stables
The settlement is known for breeding fighting beasts, whether they be destriers, war camels, glue worms, or something even stranger. The creatures are status symbols, and every notable household is guarded by healthy and aggressive specimens. Regular displays of speed and ferocity are held by the stable masters.
4. Notable Monastery
The settlement is home to a large monastery or temple, which exercises considerable influence over the politics and economy of the settlement. Assume that the monks worship the dominant faith of the settlement.
5. Pilgrimage Site
The settlement is built around a notable Vaarnish holy site. It may be the grave of an Autarch, the final resting place of Solar Saint’s bones, or simply home to a fabled fountain or other holy object. Pilgrims descend on the settlement from all across Vaarn, travelling on foot or bearing their sick in litters.
6. Famous Tavern
The settlement is home to a tavern that is famous throughout Vaarn, either for the quality of its beverages, the skill of its musicians and acrobats, or else the rudeness and slovenliness of its barkeep.
7. Verdant Orchards
The settlement boasts proudly maintained orchards, a prize beyond measure in the arid climate of Vaarn. The water consumption per day is astronomical, but the trees and the fruit they bear is considered worth any price.
8. Fighting Pit
The settlement contains a gladiatorial arena, in which professional fighters compete in bloody games of domination. Famed gladiators live luxuriously, while the losers lie ignominiously in sick beds or else are tossed into open graves.
9. Hypergeometric Building
The settlement is famed for a hypergeometric building, the magnum opus of a long-perished hypergeometrician. Paradoxical architecture can take many forms, from innocuous looking-houses which are cavernously large on the inside, to aqueducts where water runs uphill or inverted ziggurats where gravity has no purchase. The building may be in active use, or it may be considered dangerous or cursed, shunned by all right-thinking citizens.
10. Ancient Spacecraft
The settlement is built around an ancient spacecraft, which either forms part of the infrastructure or is merely a whimsical decorative feature, a reminder of an age when humanity’s ambitions ranged much further than a day’s ride on zorseback. The craft can no longer fly, although the citizens may wish that it could.
11. Entrance to Vault
Adventurers do not have to travel beyond the settlement’s walls to find an ingress into the fabled vaults of Vaarn: the chrome caverns that honeycomb the Urth lie close to the surface here. The vault entrance may be almost forgotten, accessed by a set of cellar stairs that descend much further than one would expect, or else it may be a vast and imposing structure, equipped with enormous blast doors that open only at the command of the settlement’s rulers. The citizens know the vault lies beneath them, but none venture there. You seem like bolder types.
12. Great Waste Pit
The settlement is home to a refuse pit of imperious depth and pungency, large enough to sustain its own ecosystem, a waste pit far exceeding the current day needs of the citizens. The olfactory onslaught is notable from a day’s travel away, and those not inured to the stench walk the streets with masks wrapped around their faces. A despised but vital social undercaste maintains the waste pit and beats back the fungal insurgencies that periodically emerge from it.
13. Synth Repair Facility
The synths of Vaarn could once find repair facilities in innumerable places, and were never far from a library of spare parts. This is no longer the case in this last red age, and spare parts are more commonly wrenched from the husks of recently dead synths. This settlement is one of few that still boasts a functional Synth Repair Facility, with fully operational ReadMe consoles and supercooled storage facilities filled with factory fresh parts. As such the settlement is overrun with damage synths, all clamouring for parts. The settlement’s rulers do not allow access for free.
14. Mystic College
The settlement is home to a college for esoteric study. Those seeking to enlarge their minds flock here to study under fabled masters. The streets are filled with blindfolded acolytes trying to navigate using their third eye, and demonstrations of psionic power light up the night sky with unurthly colours. The mystics claim to be divorced from mundane concerns, yet many suspect they have some supernatural influence over the settlement’s government.
15. House of Healing
The settlement is home to a great House of Healing, situated at an auspicious confluence of astral pathways or else built above a restorative hot spring. An ancient and venerable order of surgeon-priests practise the accumulated medical knowledge of a thousand generations. The sick travel here from across Varna and beyond, seeking cures for the rarest and most virulent diseases. They are treated, for a price.
16. Master Alchemist’s Workshop
The settlement is home to a Master Alchemist, who plies their trade from a large and well-defended workshop. Wondrous Elixirs (p.xx) of all kinds are brewed here, although the Master Alchemist is well-known for being eccentric and capricious in their dealings. Those who come bearing rare alchemical components (p.xx) are more likely to be received as guests.
17. Grand Theatre
The settlement plays host to a great and imposing theatre, and all citizens are avid thespians or audience members. Every night a play is staged: the tragic dramas of the Fallen Autarchy, experimental Neo-Neo-Relativist monologues, the delicate choral satires once beloved of the Lunan artisocracy. The settlement’s government is intertwined with the theatre in some way, perhaps drawing legitimacy from the themes of the plays.
18. Pleasure Gardens
The settlement’s pride and joy is an expansive and verdant pleasure garden, planted with ornamental foliage from across Vaarn and beyond it. The settlement’s cultural life revolves around this pleasure garden, and the upkeep is of absolute importance. A vast quantify of water is invested in keeping the garden from withering.
19. Stylite’s Pillar
One of the settlement’s residents is a stylite: a religious hermit who dwells atop a colossal pillar. The stylite is considered a tourist attraction, and is given rations via a system of pulleys. The stylite, almost certainly mad and traditionally naked, periodically emerges from their sky-scraping hovel to harangue the crowd below, cursing the settlement’s government and preaching of the end times. It is all good fun.
20. Orbital Defence Cannon
The Autarchs in their wisdom erected a vast system of orbital defence cannons that once girdled the entire Urth, sentinels which guarded against incursions by the Lunan empire that lurked in the black gulf overhead. The Autarchs are long dead but a handful of their celestial sentries remain active, ceaselessly scanning the bejewelled firmament for invaders. The settlement is built around one of these cannons, which resembles a vast crowned Autarch head cast from tarnished gold. The cannon’s eyes track the movement of the stars overhead, and it occasionally belches forth clouds of micro-missiles which streak up into the sky in search of perceived invaders. This settlement is generally not approached by air.
Settlement Problems
Roll 1d20 to generate a problem.
1. Power Struggle
The settlement’s political system is undergoing an upheaval. Roll again on the government types table (p.xx): the result is the insurgent political system that is trying to replace the dominant one. For every NPC generated in the settlement, roll a die: even numbers indicate that they are loyal to the old system of government, while odd numbers indicate they are openly or covertly supporters of the nascent system.
2. Bigotry
The settlement is riven by deep-seated bigotry, expressed by the majority population type towards the minority. If the population is homogeneous, then the bigotry revolves around some even more petty and obscure difference.
3. Virulent Disease
A disease (select one from p.xx) runs rampant through the settlement, thwarting all attempts to cure it. Those believed to be infected are shunned from fear, the dead buried in mass graves without normal rituals.
4. Nanomachine Infection
A nanomachine infection (select one from p.xx) runs rampant through the settlement, thwarting all attempts to cure it. Those believed to be infected are shunned from fear.
5. Unquiet Dead
Those who die within the bounds of the settlement do not stay dead, and come back different. The cause of this phenomenon is unknown, but it is a well-documented fact of life. All graveyards are located outside the bounds of the perimeter, and likewise animals must be slaughtered at a more distant location.
6. Rapacious Local Monsters
The settlement is harried by a nearby lair of monsters. Generate using the table on p.xx, creating the maximum population for the lair type.
7. Banditry
The settlement is harried by a group of bandits, who make their camp (p.xx) somewhere nearby. The bandits are cutting off trade to the settlement, and may even make raids inside the walls to take what they please.
8. Blood Feud
The settlement is riven by an internal feud between two family groups (for ancestries who do not have families, substitute with voluntary clubs or associations). All social and political life is concentrated on furthering this feud, to the detriment of all other goals.
9. Looming Famine
The settlement’s food source is under threat or has already failed, and the stores of food are running perilously low. This may be public knowledge, or it may be concealed by the settlement’s rulers.
10. Looming Drought
The settlement’s water source is under threat or has already dried up, and reserves of fresh water are running perilously low. This may be public knowledge, or it may be concealed by the settlement’s rulers.
11. No Children
The settlement’s native population is ageing and cannot renew itself, with the normal reproductive processes of the ancestries in question having proven fruitless. The settlement has no children or immature examples of the ancestry. The only population growth comes from travellers or outsiders, who then also find they cannot produce offspring. The cause is unknown, although everyone has theories.
12. Quantum Daemon Curse
The settlement is subject to a curse by an angry Quantum Daemon (p.xx), who has levied some improbable and poetic curse upon the citizens.
13. Unicorn Infestation
The settlement is infested with Vaarnish Unicorns (p.xx). They breed quickly, eat everything that they can find, and leave piles of glittering dung everywhere. As fast as they can be exterminated they reappear. Everyone is thoroughly sick of them.
14. Shared Nightmares
The inhabitants are troubled at night by a shared dream, which has been worsening as the days go by. They believe there is some psychic malevolence at work, but have been unable to discover the source. PCs who sleep in the settlement also begin to experience this nightmare. (The cause is a local cabal of psychics who worship the Black Sun, see p.xx)
15. Cacklemaw Extortion
The settlement pays tribute to a Cacklemaw Clan, whose War Mama counts the inhabitants as her under creatures. Cacklemaw Clans are generally nomadic, but they show up to collect tribute at least once a year. A visit is looming, and the demands of the War Mama have ballooned beyond what the settlement can give.
16. Witch Hunt
The inhabitants are consumed with obsessive searches for hidden internal enemies, violent social purges that seem to have little basis in reality. Those accused of subversion are given mock trials and ostracised or executed.
17. Infiltrators
The settlement has been infiltrated by an outside group or power, and the interlopers are up to no good. Sabotage, impersonation, and paranoid are running rampant. There is suspicion that the seat of government itself has already been infiltrated.
18. Religious Reformation
The dominant religion of the settlement is challenged by a newer upstart faith. Roll again on the dominant religion table (p.xx) to discover the nature of the new religion. For every NPC generated in the settlement, roll a die: even numbers indicate that they are believers in the dominant faith, while odd numbers indicate they are openly or covertly supporters of the new religion.
19. Faa Vendetta
The settlement is subject to a vendetta by a local Faa Nomad Tribe (p.xx). The Faa nomads refuse to aid anyone connected with the settlement, and may be strangling trade or sabotaging water sources.
20. Looming War
The settlement is preparing for open warfare with a neighbouring settlement (either choose one already existing on the map, or generate a more distant rival).
Settlement Changes
When the PCs leave a settlement and return, something will have changed in the interim. If you need inspiration, roll d20 and consult this table.
| d20 | Change |
| 1 | Devastation – the settlement has been razed to the ground by some catastrophic event. Everything is in ruins, and the survivors hide in basements or attics. |
| 2 | Death of a Leader – a pivotal NPC within the government has died. Whether murder or natural causes, nothing will be the same. |
| 3 | New Government – the pre-existing government has been overthrown, and a new system of governance has taken its place. |
| 4 | New Religion – the previously dominant religion has been overthrown, and a new belief system is now the dominant force in this settlement. |
| 5 | Worsening Crisis – the settlement’s pre-existing problem has grown radically worse in some way. |
| 6 | Visiting Trade Caravan – a trade caravan from the distant market city of Gnomon has arrived, bearing rare goods. |
| 7 | Sickly NPC – a minor NPC has been taken sick, and no longer performs their previous duties. |
| 8 | Bandit Raid – some bandits raided the settlement, seizing goods and fleeing into the wilderness. |
| 9 | New Fad – some new fad or pastime has grown in popularity. |
| 10 | Rival Adventurers – a different party of NPC vault-raiders has arrived in town. What’s more, everyone seems to like them a little bit more than you. They’re just cool? |
| 11 | New Resident – a new NPC has moved into the settlement and taken up residence. |
| 12 | New Romance – a new romantic relationship has blossomed, covertly or openly, between two NPCs who live in the settlement. |
| 13 | New Hangout Spot – a new tavern or cafe has opened, and everyone goes there during their downtime. |
| 14 | Mysterious Stranger – the residents found a mysterious stranger, wandering delirious from heat in the desert near their walls. They are currently recovering from heat stroke, closely guarded by the settlement’s leaders. Rumours abound. |
| 15 | Fire – a building burned down in your absence. Nobody’s sure if it was arson or an accident. |
| 16 | Prophet – an NPC has begun receiving religious visions, and preaching night and day in the settlement’s public places. People are starting to worry about them. |
| 17 | Argument – two NPCs who were previously firm friends have argued about something trivial and are no longer speaking to one another. |
| 18 | Robbery – one of the settlement’s houses was broken into and items of sentimental worth were taken. Everyone is sure it was one of the residents, but nobody knows who. |
| 19 | Murder – a much-liked resident has turned up dead in their house. Nobody knows who killed them or why, but everyone is sure it must be someone who lives in the settlement. |
| 20 | Quantum Daemon – a Daemon has manifested in the settlement, and a local NPC has fallen under its influence. They have gone ‘mad’ under the daemon’s direction, and begun to pursue bizarre tasks that only make sense to quantum beings. |
Carousing
When PCs return to a settlement to trade their Exotica in for XP, they can choose to carouse, automatically awarding a single extra XP point. When carousing, roll d20 + EGO bonus per PC and consult the table below.
| D20 + EGO | Result |
| 1 | Firestarter – you burned down the tavern while drinking. Everyone knows it was you. |
| 2 | Beaten and Robbed – you were ambushed while drunk and robbed. Lose d10 HP and all the items you were carrying. Make an INT save with DIS to remember who did it. |
| 3 | Friend to Foe – you behaved appallingly rudely to a previously friendly local NPC. They now hate you and want nothing to do with you. |
| 4 | Contracted a Disease – should you have been drinking from that puddle? Make a CON save vs a random disease (p.xx) |
| 5 | Desecrated a Shrine – you publicly desecrated a local shrine or temple. Everyone who worships there is out for your blood. Depending on the religion’s size you may be chased out of the town altogether. |
| 6 | Woke up Naked – you wake up in the middle of the settlement without any clothes. Make an INT save with DIS to remember where they are. |
| 7 | Hangover from Hell – the local rotgut is much stronger than you thought. Take d6 CON damage and DIS on all Saves for the next day. |
| 8 | Lost an Item – roll d20. Whatever item slot is indicated, you lost it while drunk. |
| 9 | Challenged to a Duel – you wake up to find you challenged the strongest local warrior to a duel. They will be waiting at the agreed spot at sunrise tomorrow. |
| 10 | Started a Cult – your intoxicated ramblings have struck a chord with the local misfits, d4 of whom now consider you a prophet of sorts. They follow you around town, poised to record your every word. |
| 11 | Wounded – roll d10 on the Wounds table (p.xx). You are unable to remember how it happened. |
| 12 | Notorious – everywhere you go, people stare at you and whisper behind their hands. Reaction rolls are made with DIS in this settlement. |
| 13 | Lost a Bet – you made a big bet while drunk and lost. You owe 3d6 rations of fresh water to a local NPC. |
| 14 | The Shakes – you can’t stop shaking. DIS on all DEX saves for the next day. |
| 15 | Just Married – you awaken to find you married a local NPC during your bender. Their family and previous spouse are very upset. |
| 16 | New Tattoo – you wake up with a new tattoo or other permanent body modification. |
| 17 | Psychic Revelation – your intoxicated state opened your third eye. Roll on the Psychic Gleam table (p.xx) even if you don’t have Mystic Gifts. |
| 18 | Stylite – you climbed to the highest point in the settlement and are stuck there. |
| 19 | Owe a Favour – you made big promises to a local NPC, who now wholeheartedly believes you will follow through. |
| 20 | Mysterious Egg – you wake up in possession of a strange egg. It will hatch in d6 days. You do not remember what sort of egg it is or where you got it from. |
| 21 | Well Liked – you had a generally good time and are now well-regarded by the population of the settlement. |
| 22 | Well Rested – by some miracle, the exact cocktail of alcohol, stimulants, depressants, and psychedelics you consumed has made you feel better than you did when you started drinking. Gain an additional +d8 temporary HP. You cannot remember how to reproduce this effect. |
| 23 | Animal Friend – you are now firm friends with a local stray animal. While in the settlement it follows you everywhere. |
| 24 | Bibliophile – you awaken in possession of a rare book (p.xx), the provenance of which you do not recall although it is likely that you stole it. |
| 25 | Foe to Friend – somehow in the course of your bender, a local NPC who previously hated you has come to consider you a great friend. You cannot remember why. |
| 26 | Won a Bet – you made a big bet while drunk and won. You are owed 3d6 rations of fresh water or equivalent by a local NPC. |
| 27 | Artist – you were seized by a sudden creative fervour. Roll on the Fine Art table (p.xx) to discover what you made during your frenzy. |
| 28 | Singer – you composed a new catchy drinking song, which will be sung in the settlement long after you are forgotten. |
| 29 | Revelation – while intoxicated you discovered some fundamental Truth about the universe. While you can’t exactly put it into words, your mind has forever been altered. Roll a new Mystic Gift (p.xx). |
| 30 | Exotica – you wake up in possession of a brand-new item of Exotica (roll on the d100 table,p.xx). You cannot remember where you got it. |
VAULTS OF VAARN 