One of the things I've found myself briefly panicked by when refereeing OD&D is the (very frequent) occurrence of classed NPCs appearing as wandering monsters. For some reason I have found this very hard to riff with in a way that adds colour to my campaign, and with the OD&D assumption that there's plenty of other movers and shakers apart from the PC party in the megadungeon, it's not something I wanted to find myself flat-footed with again. Players can tell!
As such, I've bashed together this quick set of tables for use when you suddenly have to decide what that group of Theurgists or Conjurers is doing in the megadungeon.
- Neutral groups should be rolled for once.
- Lawful groups roll twice and pick the most righteous
- Chaotic types roll twice and pick the most crazy.
Next up I will be sharing the random tables I have created for the other hard-to-improv sticking point with these guys, specifically which spells Magic Users are carting around.
1d8 |
Fighters |
Magic Users |
Clerics |
1 |
Training |
Research |
Proselytize (20% fanatics) |
2 |
Territory |
Experimentation |
Plunder |
3 |
Treasure |
Reagent/Item |
Worship/Ritual |
4 |
Slay |
Treasure |
Territory |
5 |
Escaping |
Rivalry |
Crusade (15% schism) |
6 |
Lost (or Befuddled) |
Exploration |
Avatar(s) of deity |
7 |
Messengers |
Lost/Befuddled |
Lost/Befuddled |
8 |
Quest (20% Geas) |
Quest (10% Geas) |
Quest (5% Geas) |