Tuesday 30 April 2024

d100 What are those wild people up to now?





































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When you live close to the frontier the neighbors can be a little wild and rambunctious. This could be applied to barbarians, humanoids and beast folk tribes also. It is also handy for frontier gossip and might in fact be exaggerated and wrong. It might be a pretext used to persecute them. Maybe they are in fact even worse than the gossip. These could be clues to find treasure if graverobbing is your bag.

Some could be customs not understood by commoners or they could be adventure hooks. Maybe the tribals are doing strange things to drive off some evil force. This assumes a frontier or borderland where cultures clash. Civilised people assume they are righteous and are clumsy when dealing with others.

d10 Quick Shennanigan Types
1 Season rituals
2 Martial rites
3 Revelry
4 Sacred ceremonies
5 Violence
6 Monsters
7 Allies
8 Trade
9 Grusome signs
10 Supernatural

d100 What are those wild people up to now?
01 Chanting by bonfires late at night and leaping over fires naked
02 Beheading bulls and swine on a hill then feasting
03 Having orgies in the forest
04 Erecting stone monolith 
05 Erecting a wicker man to burn in a ceremony
06 Procession chanting on a route around local barrows and standing stones 
07 Making sacrifices on a hill celebrating an ancient ruler buried there
08 Wallowing in water and covering themselves in mud while chanting
09 Procession with a wagon carrying an idol to various local shrines
10 Renacting mythic story of a deity killing a dragon and quartering a convicted criminal
11 Berserks by night screaming like animals by night in rituals with blood-drinking
12 Druids and warriors testing and blessing new blades with sacrifice
13 Practicing manoeuvres in a ritualised training exercise in barbaric finery
14 A contest for warriors in a grand melee where the winner gets chosen for a chest
15 Having a competition in spear throwing and wrestling, winner gets a potion from druids
16 Two tribes warriors fight over a pig stomach stuffed with peas all day while other tribesfolk watch. Druids treat injuries and award winners with wreaths
17 Two famous tribal champions have a fight over a point of honour according to customs
18 Women warriors have a man in a cage they will release and hunt for crimes against women
19 Tribal warriors gather for a ritual animal fight for divination d4 1=horse 2=dog 3=bul 4=bear
20 Village gathers for a trial by combat to prove someones innocence
21 Having a days long feast with magic mushrooms and strong drink
22 Women holding wild rites and drinking will tear apart men who see them, foolish people hear wild stories and are killed yearly spying on them
23 Tribe in a stupor high from mushrooms and herbs, most lay about having visions 
24 Cheif giving gifts and making youths swear allegiance before a feast
25 Several tribes gather for peace celebrations and a wild party
26 Elaborate dances with strange costumes like monsters 
27 Bonfires all over the plains with chanting and feasting
28 Dancing in the path of people dressed as a dragon or tarrasque
29 Marrying two frogs to ensure rain with spectacular wedding feast
30 Dancing competition with competing village bards
31 Druids gather by standing stones in robes sacrificing animals 
32 Druids with a spectacular cauldron making potions for tribe
33 Druidic sacred marriage between two senior priests
34 Druids perform sacred rites in secret, outsiders are forbidden
35 Bardic graduation ceremony held by druids
36 Coronation on a sacred stone of a tribal chieftain who makes various oaths
37 Druids meeting the tree folk, tree spirits and dryads in an exchange of gifts to renew ancient pacts
38 Druids meet the chieftains of the animals and discuss their complaints against humans
39 Druids call land divinities to renew ancient pacts of the spirits
40 Druids call spirit of the green to inhabit a figure made from vegetable matter 
41 Intertribal raiding for months often is sight of civilised commoners 
42 Exited warband has been raiding and stealing livestock and scaring people
43 Berserks waiting by crossings on roads and rivers challenging warriors to duels
44 Fueding with other tribe screaming abuse and throwing spears, when someone hurt both sides flee
45 Kidnapping victims for slaves from local villagers to marry
46 Raiding for metal items to take to tribal smith, snatching farm tools and anything
47 Raiders on arson spree burning farmhouses and barns
48 Raiders taken hostages and insist on payments of food for their safe care
49 Threaten to attack unless supplied with livestock
50 Stirring up violence with another tribe with murders and leaving evidence it was villagers
51 Breeding monsters and releasing them in wild
52 Making normal animals hostile to villagers
53 Stole monster eggs and parents on a rampage in area
54 Have been capturing monsters to train for war which scares people
55 Holy ones of tribe have been making undead as hazards for travellers
56 Tribe has been keeping a troll and cutting bits off to leave near landmarks like bridges 
57 Tribe has awoken an ancient woodland nature spirit and told it slanderous tales about the spread of civilisation
58 Tribal druids planted dangerous monstrous vegetation and thorn hedges to hinder civilisation
59 Tribe has been locating ancient monolith prisons holding demons and setting them on innocent farmers
60 Tribe has been using lycanthrope heroes to menace civilised folk and infect them as thralls
61 Chieftain inviting humanoids to settle to help hinder the colonisation of the frontier
62 Tribes have been meeting to plan an alliance for war on civilisation
63 Tribes have been getting superior weapons from demihuman allies
64 Tribes work with faeries to spread the forest and make it more hazardous, the tribe protect the magically grown trees and chases loggers and woodcutters
65 Tribes who used to fight each other have united against the civilised folk of the borderlands who threaten their traditions 
66 Slavers have made a deal with tribe to pay them for captives for gold
67 The tribe have made a pact with a feral sorcerer from beyond the wasteland and the locals have seen strange signs
68 A coven of witches has made a pact with the tribe and have been cursing livestock and villagers 
69 The wild folk have made contact with a even more frightening tribe of ancient kinfolk, who wear only leaves and are hairy all over. The worship the wild hunt and the supernatural procession has been seen and heard closer to villagers
70 The frontier tribe have made a pact with beastfolk and together they have been kidnapping victims, robbing travellers and ambushing millitary patrols 
71 The wild folk will trade skins and fur for cheese and wine, they can't get enough
72 Tribal folk demand payment for their land the village is on, claiming ancient rights
73 Tribal people demanding prospectors and miners hand over half their finds as a tithe to their chieftain
74 Local tribal chief demands merchants pay them for safe travel
75 Local tribe declare they own all the fish in waterways, lakes and streams
76 Wild folk seem to want to trade but don't speak the common tongue, but they are also intimidating and people are wary of offending them
77 Local wild folk have been wanting to trade some spouses or children to make peace and the villagers are uncomfortable with this offer
78 Tribal folk came one day and burned a pile of trade goods by the village, waited and left in anger and people have no idea what they want 
79 Tribal people keep trying to sell us trinkets and ugly idols but nobody wants them or can understand them. They seem to be very earnest
80 Tribal people healed a sick child and now demand payment that the village cant afford
81 Tribes leaving mutilated corpses on poles near roads to scare away settlers
82 Tribe warriors collecting human heads so priests can place them in stone niches in ancient monoliths for some reason 
83 Tribe have been seen flensing bodies and leaving horrible messes at crossroads and taking the skeletons
84 Tribe seemed to be assembling a meat colossus from corpses in the forest 
85 Tribe keep decorating local roadside trees with human skulls and villagers do not like it
86 Wild folk have been parading about their dead ancestors in processions and its a bit creepy lay commoners
87 Tribals have been robbing the village graves and taking bodies somewhere else and nobody knows why and want them back
88 Tribals have been burying decorated skulls around the village and people are afraid it is some dark magic
89 A local priest went to convert the savages and they nailed his flensed skin to the local church
90 A visiting merchant tried to trick the savages and sold them bad grog and some got sick. When the merchant returned they killed him in some ritual and now his corpse wanders the area moaning and scaring people
91 Tribals are having strange ceremonies and weird creatures are roaming the night
92 The savages have been turning people into trees and local settlers are frightened
93 Wicked priests of the wild folk have been torturing travellers by the roadway and leaving frightening angry spirits making travel by night dangerous
94 Haunted cries from the forest spirits have been getting closer and people say the wild folk have been calling them or know how to calm them
95 The tribal folk where seen making some kind of ceremonial marriage but with only one of the parties at the ceremony. Since then a powerful land spirit has been killing locals crops and made livestock run into the woods and food is short
96 Strange monoliths have been moving around the village and some drunks have disappeared going home by night. The tribal folk used to worship the stones and know what to do but past dealings went poorly and they demand gold just to talk
97 A stranger came to town and caused troubles and it turned out they were some trickster spirit sent by the wild folk. The stranger was killed but people have seen them near the village. The wild folk who sometimes trade wont speak of it and seem scared like they know something 
98 Locals report dreaming of tribal folk rituals and some ancient spirit they draw on for power. Everybody in village is struggling to sleep and wonder what the wild ones are doing to them
99 Spirits of ancient tribal folk have been seen more frequently and sometimes dozens are seen. Commoners fear tribals are amassing an army to repel settlers 
100 Local hostile tribe has started to all become berserkers. Scholars fear some ancient land spirit they have summoned has been turning tribal folk into dangerous berserks, even the elderly and children



4 comments:

  1. This is perfect timing for me! I'm running a lightly re-skinned Keep on the Borderlands, replacing the usual goblins/hobgoblins with degenerate backwood hillfolk. I'll give this table a few rolls to jazz up some of the blander rooms and fill out my local encounter table.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This blog post provides many interesting ideas about the activities of wild people in frontier areas. I particularly like the variety of rituals and events you've listed, providing rich background and adventure possibilities for role-playing games. Have you considered using these ideas in your games or writing projects?

    bmg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thankyou

      It probably could end up a standard wilderness encounter table in a few settings. Might end up in several books.

      Delete
    2. and thankyou for the comment

      Delete

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