City Encounter
When setting out to collect their bounty you may opt to throw a distraction at your players, via the City Encounter Tables. These can sometimes lead to side quests. If so, you can plan that out or wing it completely. Eventually you may need to remind them of their objective.
City Encounters Table 1 (roll a d20)
Mournful music can be heard from the graveyard. The players can see a group of "people" digging a grave and placing a coffin in it. They will ignore the players.
A man dressed in black is standing on a corner, muttering to himself. If the players approach him, he will ask for help finding his lost love. If the players help him, he will try to stab them in the back.
A group of drunk men are singing a song about the local sheriff and how great he is. They will stop when they notice the players.
A group of children are playing a game of hide-and-seek in an alley. If players join in, they will notice that one child is missing and is hiding in a barrel nearby.
A man is sitting on a bench, frowning. He will tell players that he was mugged last night and robbed of everything he had. Players can give him some money to help him out. The man is an NPC spy for the Mayor's Office and will try to steal players’ possessions while they sleep later on in the evening.
A group of children are playing with a ball and get into a fight. A woman comes out of her house and yells at them to stop fighting or she will beat them all up. She is holding a wooden spoon and looks like she means business!
A lone woman wearing a dark cloak and carrying a staff can be seen walking down the street. She appears to be looking for something or someone. If the players approach her, she will ask them if they have seen ‘him’. She won’t say who ‘him’ is but will offer a reward if they help her find him.
The players can hear an argument coming from a house nearby. If they investigate, they will find two men arguing over some money that was owed to one of them. They will stop arguing if they notice the players and offer them some beer if they stay and listen to their story. They will continue their argument once the players get drunk enough!
A drunk "rich guy" staggers down the street, singing loudly about how much he loves his wife! He will stop and offer players some beer if they buy him one!
A group of children are playing with a ball and get into a fight. A man comes out of his house and shoos them away before heading back inside.
Inside Lucky's there is an attractive female server and a drunk. The drunk is trying to convince the server to sleep with him.
A group of children are playing hide-and-seek.
A group of men are arguing about whether or not a horse is a mammal.
A group of women are gossiping about the city’s latest scandal.
A drunk man is trying to steal a motorcycle from a parking garage.
A woman is trying to sell a basket of flowers.
Two men are arguing about whether or not the sun orbits around the Earth or the Earth orbits around the sun.
Two men are arguing about whether or not the moon landing was real or if it was staged in a film studio.
A mad scientist has summoned 1d20 Phaegus Zombies to attack the PCs. If the PCs kill the zombies, the mad scientist will send 1d20 more.
A group of elderly women is protesting outside of a bank. They want the bank to give them their money because they think that the bank has been stealing from them over the years.
City Encounters Table 2
The PCs see a man who looks like he is about to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge into a river below. The man says that he is tired of living and wants to die. He asks the PCs to join him in jumping off the bridge into the river below.
The PCs see a man who looks like he is about to be robbed by a group of well-dressed men. The well-dressed men are demanding money from the man who looks like he is about to be robbed.
A group of men are holding up a group of women and demanding that they give them all of their money and valuables. The women are crying and begging as the men hold them at gunpoint.
A group of young children are playing in the street. The children are playing a game where they pretend to be adult heroes who are fighting against a mad scientist and his army of Phaegus Zombies.
A group of men are arguing about whether or not they should hire a group of monster hunters to go with them on an adventure. Some of the men want to hire the PCs because they are scared, but others don’t want to hire them because they think that it’s going to cost too much money and that they can handle things themselves without needing any help from any mercenaries.
A man is standing on top of a tall building near the center of the city, threatening to jump off of the building if anyone comes near him. This is not a suicide attempt, but instead this is a protest against the government for not doing anything about all of the monsters in the city and for not providing enough protection for its citizens.
Unexpectedly, the PCs see a local priest being chased by a thug. The thug is not attacking, they are just trying to catch the priest. The priest is running as fast as he can. If they help the priest, he will tell them that he is in trouble because he owes some bad guys money. He will offer to pay the PCs if he can just get away from the thug.
A group of local kids are playing with a ball. The ball accidentally bounces into a nearby building, breaking a window. The kids will run away. The players can either deal with the owner of the building or try to fix the broken window themselves.
A group of men are talking about how terrible their jobs are. One of the men is a blacksmith. If players talk to him, he will tell them about how much he hates his job and how he wants to quit but he has no other skills and no other way to make a living.
You see a group of people gathered around a stage. There is an old man on the stage who is telling stories about his adventures as a younger man. The stories are very long and very detailed. If players listen long enough, they will gain minor knowledge about an interesting building nearby.
Two men are arguing about whether or not a nearby house is haunted. One man says that it is haunted, the other says that it isn’t haunted at all. If players talk to them, they will reveal that they are both right and wrong at the same time.
You see a man who appears to be drunk stumble around town. He passes out at random places, waking up and stumbling around again after a few minutes. He is actually a Russian spy who slipped through a time portal. Unaware that the cold war is over, his mission is to get information on the city's defenses and then get back to his "contact" as quickly as possible.
A group of revelers are celebrating their recent marriage. The party is about to head back to their home, but first, they want to stop at Lucky's for one last drink.
A group of senators visiting from Washington DC are taking a stroll through the city. They will run into the players and invite them to their party that night. If the players accept, they will be treated like kings and queens for the night. If they decline, they will be scowled at and told to go away.
A group of thieves is planning a heist in this district. They are currently scouting out the area and looking for potential threats and traps around the area they plan on robbing.
A man is running down the street yelling about an evil cult that is setting up in the area. He says he has evidence that they are up to no good, but he needs help getting it out of his house before they find it and kill him.
A group of revelers are celebrating their recent marriage. They are so drunk, they will fall down and pass out on the street if the players don’t help them back to their home safely.
A group of soldiers is standing guard outside a building on the corner of a street in the city. The soldiers are protecting something inside that no one else knows about yet.
A beer truck is overturned and blocking the road.
A group of men are standing around on the side of the road, talking about their wives who have all been transformed into Amazon Women (From the Moon).
City Encounters Table 3
A man is standing on the side of the road, talking to a large dog that is standing on its hind legs.
A man is sitting on the side of the road, weeping. If anyone approaches, he will tell them that he has lost his cat.
A group of children are playing in the street. One of them is pretending to be a monster and is threatening to eat anyone who passes by.
A group of 1d20 Phaegus Zombies are attacking a group of security guards. If the players help the security guards they will have made allies who will help them later on.
A group of 1d20 soldiers are walking through downtown on their way to battle an army of Phaegus Zombies.
A group of 1d20 merchants are selling goods in front of their shops. A fight breaks out.
A group of 6 thugs are burgling a house.
A group of 6 men and women dressed in robes approach the players. They say they are members of a religious organization. They want to know if the players want to convert. If the players say yes, the men and women will ask for a donation to help with a local event. If the players say no, the men and women will walk away with a smirk on their faces.
A man approaches the players and offers to sell them an experimental medication that will cure any wounds. The potion is actually water with a drop of red food coloring in it.
A group of 6 security guards approach the players and ask them to accompany them to a local graveyard. The security guards want to make sure no one steals any bodies from the graveyard. The security guards will attack anyone who doesn’t comply with their demands.
A salesman approaches the players and offers them a deal they can’t refuse. He offers to sell them a bag of 1d20 random gems for $5 each. The gems are actually random rocks with polished sides.
A group of 4 security guards approach the players and ask them if they have seen any suspicious people in the area recently. The security guards want to know if any strangers have been in town recently. The security guards will attack anyone who looks suspicious to them, even if they haven’t been in town long enough to be considered a stranger.
A local merchant approaches the players and asks them if they have seen any suspicious people in town recently. He has lost several items from his store and he thinks someone is stealing from him, but he doesn’t know who it is or how they are doing it.
A group of 4 children approach the players and ask them to help them catch some rats in their home. The children are actually cultists who want to capture some players to sacrifice them to their "god" later on.
Eerie lights can be seen at night in the graveyard. If a PC investigates, they will find that the Cult of Satan's Queen has been resurrected. They will have to deal with six cultists.
A group of 4 thieves are trying to rob a local church. If the players do not stop them, the thieves will steal and try to sell holy relics. The thieves will attempt to escape before more security guards arrive.
A man is wandering the streets, babbling about how he is looking for his lost pet cat. If the players ask, he will tell them that he found a magical cat in the forest and it has been acting weird since then. He will offer them a reward if they help him find his pet. If players accept, he will lead them to the Cult of Satan's Queen.
A group of 6 guards are on patrol. They are looking for a man named James Grogan, who has been accused of thievery. They will arrest any male PCs with his description, regardless of their actions.
Gossipers are talking about how a woman was killed by the Cult of Satan's Queen. They say she was a member of the cult.
A group of people are talking about a crazy man named Sigfried. They say he is a member of the Cult of Satan's Queen and he’s trying to start a war between the churches of the city and the Cult of Satan's Queen.