Monday 30 January 2023

d100 Petty Urban Hazzards





































More stuff for your zero or 1st level newbs to meddle in or street-level sidequests to get something you need in a city. Maybe when you are in that tavern you hear some local problems. Maybe your teen adventurers meet up and need some low-risk local problems they can fix.

I guess the current licensing hysteria is stalled and people moving forwards but I think we just had the biggest shift in FRPG gaming in a long time. Seeing people trying new games, selling their official stuff off, or making their own systems. One interesting outcome is I saw lots of good new youtube channels reporting on the issue and some ppl I gained some respect for and others I lost a bit. Apologies to ppl concerned early on I dismissed as irrelevant to me and the greater hobby. I couldn't believe how badly wizards were acting or a company would make such a vague and threatening grab on the work of a creator culture hobby. It seemed too greedy and dumb to be real.

d10 Petty Urban Hazzards
1 Vermin
2 Health 
3 Poverty
4 Crime
5 Boredom
6 State
7 Church
8 Witchcraft
9 Magic
10 Monstrosity

d100 Petty Urban Problems
01 Rats in the cellar need exterminating - swarm nest or perhaps giant ones
02 Giant spider in the attack of someone's house, possibly eating some missing persons 
03 Giant fleas or ticks in the street coming from somewhere that needs exterminating
04 Stray vicious rabid dog on the loose
05 Stray goat has been butting people, especially those bending over or balancing. Lives on rooftops and can climb around easily
06 Locals convinced a stray cat is a witch familiar spying on them
07 Gremlins in sewer pipes surprising people on the toilet and causing bad luck and wrecking stuff
08 Giant bugs have been coming from the sewers at night looking for food
09 Some kobolds escaped from servitude and have gone wild in trash heaps and midden heaps
10 Swarms of flies sometimes form horrendously choking street in clouds as moves around
11 Stinking cloud from a sewer causing people to wretch and flee
12 Outbreaks of slime or giant toxic mould in an abandoned house
13 Area cursed with a stinking miasma causing disease or plague and nobody can find the source
14 Fire hazard areas prone to fire, poor water access and rubbish. Locals usually contain house fires but the risk of it growing or perhaps a magical arsonist or cultist is at work 
15 Several houses collapsing and poor old people need help mending their roofing since their children ran away to become adventurers years ago
16 River of backflowing sewerage fills a street. The gongfarmers who clean the sewers and gather waste claim some creature is keeping them from removing a fatberg of congealed grease as big as a house
17 SInkhole collapses into the deep exposing sewers and old tunnels
18 Someone exposed an ancient burial and an undead has been walking the streets at night moaning about its resting place being destroyed
19 Giant dangerous fungus or plant has grown in some secluded gaps between buildings and spreading. Possibly some types of ambulant or carnivorous or toxic
20 Someone is a cursed plague carrier and has a form they spread by air, they hide their open bleeding sores and know they are sick but fear being killed by the mob
21 Numerous homeless child gangs are often exploited by gangs and awful people with money
22 Many locals are sick but also large amounts of lead, mercury, 
23 Local house making matches and older workers are deformed and have glowing bones, and children sell matches on the street sp each. Phosphorescence spreading
24 Local alchemist dumps colourful chemicals in street and many locals like to recycle the colourful toxic waste. Mutated drain critters have local children exited
25 Hungry squatters have occupied buildings and locals and owners need them out or rent money
26 People camping on the streets blocking foot traffic
27 People dumping garbage, manure and dead animals on the street
28 Rich people like to race carriages and horses and like the thrill of nearly running down a poor person
29 Large gatherings of people gather at noticeboards and corners where criers announce jobs, occasionally there is a job riot where people swarm to a work site or try to snatch a new poster first
30 Criminal guild feeding hungry poor on the street with soup and tea and bread and locals troubled. Keeps people friendly to guild and against the militia who don't want to give away soup
31 Pickpocketing children and youths rampant with spotters and other children who create diversions or throw rocks if a friend is caught. Local guild has been training and feeding them
32 Mad stabber walking the streets at night practising occult ritual vivisections for some cult and writhing enigmatic graffiti
33 All women gang beating up drunks for money
34 Child snatchers who sell children and "skinners" who steal posh children's clothes have teamed up and increased productivity. Often pretend to give away sweets or to be an official child catcher. Local folk and crime guilds would possibly kill these operators
35 Local vigilantes possibly a crime guild agent is murdering corrupt petty officials and militia are after this troublemaker unpopular with local leaders
36 Violent youth gangs with colourful names and clothes beat people up for pocket money
37 Violent gangs charging protection money off local shops
38 Area has become renowned as the place where people seek criminals for dirty jobs. Strangers try to offer gold to locals assuming they are scum for hire. Locals are getting annoyed as the money is good but jobs all turn out to be terrible schemes for rich idiots
39 Local gang forcing youths who qualify to join
40 Gangs of well-off young rakes who believe they are untouchable by law seize a block and hold drunken parties and perform blasphemous rites to shock people. These last for days and the law just sit back and watch. The wild youths are well-armed and have servants and hired thugs. They take what they want and act like pirates
41 Area desperate for bards but bards find audiences here cringy, demanding and lowbrow. Occasionally they have to trick or force some bard to perform or find a newly arrived one
42 Popular ballgame between streets since when they were separate villages. Weekly they have a violent brawl over a pig bladder stuffed with peas to see who can keep it till the next game. The streets run riot with violence and property damage. Many locals have visible injuries
43 New drug dealer has set up a den and has kids peddling halfling weed on the streets, locals unhappy 
44 Animal cruelty is very popular and on any corner someone is betting over animal fighting or performing some sadistic act with an audience. Most locals don't know how it started and would prefer it stopped or move away
45 Several locals are careless and mean with animals like billygoats, bulls or cart horses resulting in animal rampages 
46 Someone has brought in some exotic pet and people are breeding them and dumping the excess unwanted ones. Monkeys, snakes, lizards that grow huge, giant rats, stirges or scorpions are common
47 Locals have taken up illegal pit fighting and attracting good crowds in several venues. Has attracted a lot of people who want fame for punching people
48 Drunkeness is very rampant and every block has at least one small brewery. Even children are drunks and lay about the streets
49 Gambling is popular here with many legal and illegal clubs. Many broke families and people are increasingly unhappy about the crime and gangs and rich idiots coming here now
50 Locals practice some strange local festivals that often result in drunken rioting
51 Aggressive taxman who has agents among people 
52 Incompetent and corrupt judges who sides with the richest families, frequently angers locals but get dinner invitations to noble households
53 Corrupt militia often charge strangers for fake "licences" and "permits"
54 Merchants are sleazy creeps who like vulgar innuendos and make remarks about their customer's appearances and clothing. Some get touchy and offer discounts for favours. Locals outraged
55 Guards are infiltrated by crime guilds and crime is rampant as thieves get through gates easier than legitimate citizens or watch of a different jurisdiction
56 Local bailiff and his beadles are corrupt and the judge they serve is convinced they are legitimate and slandered by criminals unless he can see evidence
57 For some reason press gangs come here often pretending to be drunken ship crews who shout drinks to strangers they can kidnap for a ship crew or military
58 Local prisons overcrowded and very cruel. Many locals have family inside and the goalkeepers blackmail families and steal food and blankets supplied for prisoners. There are frequent schemes to break out and the governor of the prison believes cruelty will win in the long run. He encourages militia to lock up anyone they can for a profit
59 Noble wants whole blocks demolished for a new VIP gated courtyard apartment complex. Has been encouraging locals to move with money or hired thugs. Will resort to arson and murder as time goes on
60 Local slumlord has been increasing rents and evicting people. Has had his rent collector gang thugs beat troublemakers organising resistance
61 Prostletising cult gives food to those who join up
62 Missionaries come to see poor degenerate losers close up and offer to control their lives and give them food. Patronising moralists who judge people who accept their gifts. Locals getting tired of them
63 Small chapel has a damaged roof and an incompetent drunken priest and locals trying to clean up both
64 Church rounding up urchins and orphans to school them in an orphanage and most kids know it means workhouses and prayerbooks and disappearances
65 Drunken holy flagellants performing for money by flailing themselves and attracting spectators and groupies. Locals want them gone
66 Local priest on anti-drinking, smoking and vice crusade has followers protesting at taverns and alehouses. He especially warns congregations about murder hobos who are from hell
67 Church folk choir singing holy sombre songs to inspire scum to aim for the life of heaven. Locals are less thrilled and plotting to get rid of them once and for all
68 Lecherous priest always trying to help fallen prostitutes and invites them back to his house offering them spiced rum. Actually, anyone young and even of average attractiveness they assume is a sex worker they want to save with rum and by rubbing holy unguents on their naked bodies. Possibly some spanking. Locals just ignore him as an embarrassment and hide their children from him
69 Priests visiting the area to proselytise by offering healing for converts 
70 Priest of a strict sect preaching about how horrible and hellbound locals are. Has already been thrown into the river and stabbed. Critical bitter old loon once an adventurer 
71 Someone has been charming locals while their gang rob them
72 Someone has been casting petty curses on locals or livestock
73 Someone secretly has a half-monster child they keep locked up but as they get older they make more mistakes and the thing eats some people or worse
74 Locals are sure any pets are familiar pacts from hell and regularly burn small animals
75 Witch hunter and his thugs visit are looking for anyone with enough money to blackmail or rob by causing them of witchcraft. Hears various grievances about locals but only cares about ones with money or good looks
76 Someone is finding witch signs and charms all over the area and many afraid to speak about local witches
77 Witch has been flying about at night cackling, pooping in chimneys and shoes. Locals very angry but many children think the witch is awesome and have games and songs about her
78 Child snatching witch in area has children and parents in terror. They say she has a hideous bugbear bodyguard and a black giant rat familiar
79 Locals keep claiming that elderly people without family but have property being targeted by witch-hunting vigilante mobs led by a few local pundits turning people to hatred
80 After a spate of aggressive fake witch hunters in area people now prefer witches to witch hunters. Several witch hunters just vanished here and more new colourful residents are moving in. People more publicly using petty magic and everyone has pets they talk too 
81 An apprentice wizard has been using sleep spells to knock out and rob drinking buddies. Most of the victims were too drunk to remember much about them
82 Apprentice magicians come here after school to get drunk and flex their spells. Drunk with the power of a 1st lv spell each of these privileged youths show off and try to intimidate all with their wizard hats. There have been a few fights but no magicians were killed so the teachers don't care
83 Some young apprentices have been trying to get locals to make pacts with hell to help sponsor their tuition fees. They promise to come back when powerful and use magic to help your families and businesses. It is said hell has a black library where imps and devils teach wizardry without the usual fees and exams or fancy schools, only one soul pact instead
84 Local wizard has a pet monster that keeps getting loose but he pays well for its safe return and damages
85 Magicians always require someone to collect rare herbs or minerals from specialist traders, nonhumans and unusual locations. A few locals got some money trying others vanished 
86 Locals have frequent mutations from alchemical waste and fumes from several industrial-scale laboratories making addictive healing potions, hair growth formulas and cheap love potions that don't work or they would be illegal. Most live slightly poorer lives, some cases dwell in the sewers and have become chimaeras or protoplasmic horrors
87 Local mentalist intrudes on people's dreams at night and enjoys the power. Has been using knowledge gained to blackmail people. Many live in silent fear and don't know who the dream thief is
88 Students are always stealing bodies for their anatomical necroscopy studies and almost every day a grave is robbed. People hope to stop them and some fear undead will arise if too many disturbed
89 Petty planar creatures are loose in the area and could only have been summoned and abandoned. Some local spellcaster is calling and releasing them by night
90 A gang of apprentices have been robbing houses with their spells, they wear masks and the crime guilds want them dead or exposed so they are kicked out of school and shamed then killed
91 People keep finding underground passages, not on an official record. Monsters lurk inside and people are afraid and just brick them up. Some people in a pub raised cash to find some brave suckers to see what the creatures are 
92 Several murders recently and clues point to some type of lycanthrope in the area
93 A sinister street killer with a fancy nickname has area mesmerised and writers of pamphlets swarming to record stories of the killer. The killer has some non-human abilities and performs some unnatural feats. The militia and criminals are leaving the area alone. There is a reward for the apprehension or information put up by a famous theatre owner
94 A music hall has a naughty spirit and it makes shows difficult and scares away superstitious star cast members. If only some brave exorcists or meddling adventurers would investigate the phantom so the hall could stay open
95 Famous local ghosts seeking something and bothering people at night. Can appear human briefly and always looking for some lost treasure
96 Some sex cult has been summoning succubi and reducing strong heroes to pitiful peons
97 Someone has been leaving statues of running people in the street at night somehow. The district ward keeper has been sending them to a quarry for gravel and keeping the mystery secret for a while but more and more gossip has been spreading
98 Old professor claims recent disappearances are signs of a vampire! People are not very convinced and joke about vampires daily for fun
99 A shapeshifting carnivorous beast from the deep can turn into objects like barrels, crates, chests or chairs. Several people will pay to have their houses searched for the beast
100 People have encountered a shapeshifter copying people's identities and kidnapping victims. All are worried the doppelganger will come for them


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