[Provided] Random scenes and encounters

[Gregorius21778]

A wreck in the middle of nowhere

“You stop in the middle of the road as you notice something to your left. Somewhere out there in the wasteland, too far away for the bare eye to see, something is glistening in the sun, the reflected light catching your attention”
(…)
“Kicking up dust while you walk, you have a watchful eye on your surroundings, but there is just not enough cover to prepare an ambush. The few scattered cacti could never hide a man, the rocks are too small to give cover and the next hills and mountains are miles away. While you march on, you hope that this is not just a piece of junk or some shard of broken glass you walk towards.”
(…)
“After about an hour, you start to see a low shape in the distance, and as you come closer you begin to recognize that it is a car. Still, you no signs of a camp or any other trace of people.”
(…)
“Closing in, you grow pretty sure that this vehicle has been here for a long time by now. Thorny bushes grow in its shadow zone, all four tires are flat with the rubber looking porous and both wind and rust seem to have taken their toll on the paint. Just a chromed metal skull, mounted at the front of the cars roof, laughs at the sun and the desert, staying clean and bright. As you are but a dozen yards away, two further alarming details come to your attention: a large cavity that has been dug right under the deserted wreck and an assortment of different bones scattered around it on the sandy ground, picked clean and bleached by the sun. Some flies buzz about, but aside from this all you hear is the wind and a cricket in the distance….”

A tense little scene, isn´t it? Is the beast in the burrow already noting the characters and ready to come out and charge? Should the characters risk an unknown danger for potential loot? Well… in my game, this burrow would be empty, the inhabitant/s out on a hunting trip and the characters thereby free to search the wreck.

The former owners of that car ran out of gas, so they took everything they could and moved on. Thereby, the gas tank is empty as is the glove box and the passenger compartment, but if the trunk is pried open, the characters can score some meager finds: three partially empty spice shakers (rosemary, thyme and nutmeg), a spare timing chain (which can double as an improvised weapon in a pinch), a shortwave radio (broken), a car jack and a half-empty bottle of turpentine.

If the GM insists on giving the characters a fight, the inhabitant/s of the burrow might return while the characters are busy with the trunk. It could be a wildcat or a pair of feral dogs or a very mean, big lizard.

[DavetheLost]

This set up sounds like the way I describe a lot of my radiation hazards. Some interesting object and a few bleaching bones. Leading to the question "is it worth risking the rads?"

An empty lair, especially with dice rolls to suggest that the occupant might return at any moment, would certainly keep the players on their toes.

[Gregorius21778]

5 happenings at the campsite at night (for a lone guard)

1# As the character is about to put a new piece of wood into the fire, he suddenly feels a tingling sensation on his hand. As he looks, he sees a couple of tiny insects crawl out of the dead wood and onto him. With successful save vs. DEX, the character will be able to swipe them off before they can crawl up his arm and into his clothes. While the tiny, flea like creatures are harmless themselves, they will try to “life” in the clothes of the character and their excrement causes a skin rash. Starting with the next dusk, an affected character will suffer [-1] to all CHA and INT checks till he was able to wash his clothes and himself thoroughly.

2# A pair of yellow shining eyes stares at the character standing guard. They belong to something the size of a 10 year old child that crouches in the darkness on all fours, resting on its hind legs. The skin of the humanoid is grey and knobby and a bone crest runs down the forehead. It seems to be naked. When the character make a sudden move or tries to approach, it will turn round and run off into the night and all fours, like a mad ape but without making a sound.

3# An overgrown centipede, about two meters long and as thick as a grown man´s wrist, rushes through the campsite and past the character standing guard. It will be scuttling away into the night before the character has a chance of doing anything.

4# Fog rises up during the characters watch and will stay till dawn. Sounds will be dampened and clothes and equipment might become wet. What is worse is the strange, stinging smell that comes with the mist. Everyone lacking proper bedding, a sealed tent or who spends at least one turn outside will need to pass a saving throw vs. Death or is going to suffer a [-1] penalty on all physical tests for the first half of the day as his joints swell and hurt.

5# During the night, some of the thicker “grass” around the camp site start to split open at the top, revealing a wet-greenish inside. If a blade of this grass is brought close to the nose, characters will recognize a sweet smell. They are filled with a sticky nectar which is sweet and tasty. In the morning, as soon as the sun colors the sky with a red hue, more and more insects will be drawn to the “grass”. They will glue to the sticky, clear substance and the blades of grass will slowly close around them again.

[Gregorius21778]

Encounter background: (1d6):
Morlocks* in the service tunnel network below the ruins of a city of a future past.

*Of course, those can always be changed into a different kind of degenerated underground dwellers


1# The pipes are calling
The characters move through a series of narrow, rectangular tunnels whose walls are lined with old pipes of varying diameter and pass junctions and crossings. Now and then, a clanging noise can be heard that resonates through the metal pipes. The players might already guess that these are a kind of signal or code, but unless their characters pass an ability test vs. Intelligence, they will not note that there are actually two groups exchanging signals and that, after a while, the second group now signals from behind them. There are 1d6+2 Morlocks in total who will try to ambush them into a long corridor so that they can attack them from two sides.

2# Fan service
Passing through the corridors below the city, the characters will hear a loud noise ahead of them: the banging of metal on metal as well as other sounds. In a cylindrical ventilation shaft that lies further down the corridors, 1d3+1 Morlocks are trying to bring a large ventilator back to work by exchanging some rusted, mechanical parts. The broken parts, they let drop down into the darkness below them. While one of them was meant to guard the other/s, he stares fascinated at the dismantled, giant apparatus. Thereby the characters have a chance to suprise the Morlocks. All of them are armed with heavy tools that count as clubs while the guard carries an old fireaxe.

3# A nest to rest
While the walls of the corridor the characters are in is lined with plastic panels, ahead of them 1d6 Morlocks have removed said panels so that each of them could form himself a “sleeping nest” in the wiring and cables beneath. The recess they thereby created is deep enough that they cannot be seen from the corridor at first, the underground dwellers will for sure note any light source the characters might carry. Once awake, the Morlocks will wait till the characters come near before they quickly jump out of their “nests” to attack the intruders with claws, teeth and knives. The PC will need to check for surprise.

4# Dinner bells
The characters will come to a door that was barred from the inside and the odor of an old fire hangs in the air. If the characters force the door open, they stumble into an improvised “smoking chamber” the Morlocks use to cure meat, and the slaughtered remains of 1d6 animals of different size as well as 1d4 mutant humans dangle on crude hooks from the ceiling. But the moment the door is opened, the sharp ringing of an alarm bell is audible from deeper inside the complex. The door was rigged with an improvised electrical alarm, a cable runns visibly from the door through the room and an empty door opening on the other side and further into the darkness.

5# Hunting grounds
A huge jaw trap with a bait in the form of a large bone with scraps of meat on it rests in the center of the floor (or room) the characters enter. More of those traps can be found in the surrounding rooms and corridors, and the chance of an encounter with one or more Morlocks is increased in this area (as the hunters tend to check their traps from time to time).

6# Ape alarm!
Out of the dark, the characters are suddenly attacked by a loudly screaming albino ape. But before he can reach the PC, he is stopped dead in his tracks by a chain and collar attached to his neck. The angry beasts bounces back, its screams and shouts echoing through the dungeon-like underground. If the characters do not turn round and leaf the area, they will soon encounter an alarmed group of 2d6 armed Morlocks that will come looking for their “alarm pet”.

[Gregorius21778]

Six events for campfire nights:

01# Some hairy mutated spider crawls into the sleeping bag (or: under the blanket) of the character that currently guards the camp. An ability check vs. INT determines if the character habitually shakes out his bedding before he lays down for the night (unless this was already established by the player). When the PC lays down to sleep without doing so, he will get bitten by the spider. Should the character shake the spider out of his bedding, roll a d8 for every character in the vicinity. On a result of 1, the character with the highest result gets bitten by the roused spider. Ask for a Saving Throw vs. Poison against a venom class (1d6).

02# Fireflies start to rise at dusk. They are few at first, but their numbers grow each minute till the camp is surrounded by a fog of gleaming lights. The fireflies will only disperse at the hours before dawn. Check for another random encounter, but the chance of a character being surprised is decreased by one, as a monster that closes in will change the pattern of the dance of the fireflies visibly.

03# The fire/light source of the camp attracts moth and other assorted flying insect… lots of them! After about an hour, there is a thick cloud of insects and the air is filled with the reek of those that burned themselves in the flame (or: at the hot light source). The cloud will only disperse in the hours before dawn. Check for another random encounter, but the chance of a character being surprised is increased by one as those on guard are distracted by the flying insects that fill the air.

04# During the night watch, mutated ants the size of a grown man´s pinky start a raid at the supplies. The character of the current watch shift and the one on the next (if any) are entitled to two rolls on a d8. On a result of 1, they note the “ant street” in the dark. If the ants are not dealt with, the characters might lose 1d4 day´s worth of food rations.

05# A fat grub, the length of a grown man´s middle finger and thrice the diameter, crawls out of the earth at the camp site, close to the camp guard. It is pale-green in color with long, wiry dark hairs protruding from its sides. While harmless, it might make for a midnight snack. If the PC go scrounging in the morning they may gather a day´s ration worth of food consisting of those grubs in the surrounding. Bu those are mildly poisonous (class 1) and a Saving Throw needs to be passed as soon as a handful is consumed. The damage of a failed Saving Throw comes in the form of serious stomach cramps and a gripping in the guts. Both effects (and the damage) set in over the course of the day.

06# The camp guard hears a very loud buzz and moments later, a mutated bug the size of a grown man´s fist flies into the camp. It darts about and at some point, it will start to fly into the face of the guard, only to buzz back again. The bug will distract the character and can only be swat with a successful ability check vs. DEX. It is harmless, but annoying as hell. When swatted, a stinking slime is splattered about and the terrible odor will stay with the character 1d4 hours, robbing him of his sense of smell.