Monday, February 21, 2011

DIY D&D's Most Valuable Product Yet Is...

(...according to my completely unscientific poll...)

...Jeff Rient's Carousing Mishaps Table. Three people said they used it, one said they'd be all over it if they had a regular campaign going, and 2 reported using my standing-on-the-shoulders-of-the-giant-that-is-Jeff adventure-seed-generating version of it (3 if you count me. It basically sparked the entire I Hit It With My Axe campaign--whether that's good for bonus points is a matter of philosophical debate.)

I will do the community the favor of not speculating on what the fact that the most popular game material it has yet generated is essentially a table for explaining your PC's hangover says about it.

Part of me can't help but wonder if we might've gotten a different result if James Mal had asked.

14 comments:

Brandon said...

Hey, you know your audience and your audience knows you. Nothing wrong with that.

Jarrah said...

I also use the rules, along with my fellow GM in our round-robin weekly game. We had to put a stop to using your once-per-game d30 roll for how much money one spent though...

Pekka said...

I've used it and the one you made to make my own Sharn carousing mishaps table for my Eberron campaign.

Michael S/Chgowiz said...

I missed that poll. I use the Jeff Rients Carousing tables about once every month or two in my Dark Ages campaign. It's done some interesting things to the campaign, being far more than just a hangover. I haven't written about my wife barely missing the opportunity to burn down half a village...

Mr. Martian said...

I used your version in a 4e game I did, to hilarious and plot-moving effect, and I will most likely use it again in my new savage worlds game. One of my players wasn't too happy about contracting an STD and spent a lot of time trying to find some way to cure it. This somehow ended up with our heroes knee deep in a swamp full of succubi and sirens. Don't ask.

bliss_infinte said...

We've used Jeff's chart in out campaign and it has been nothing but a blast and set up some of the most memorable moments in the game as well as long term plot points. Great stuff that I recommend for every campaign.

crowking said...

I was thinking about this the other day how it would be great if there was a list of adventure seeds that the GM can interject into his or her games. Not necessary adventure ideas, but things just to get the ball rolling so there's a REASON why the local arch mage wants to hire the PC's to retrieve a spellbook for him or delivering the King's daughter safely to her relatives. I think we need that more right now more then anything ele.

Zak Sabbath said...

@crowking

I like that idea and would be typing it up right now if the possible things that could possibly be going on in a D&D game that needed explaining weren't so...infinite. Will think on it in the shower.

Adam Thornton said...

I didn't mention it, I don't think. But I DO use it.

BigFella said...

I've not used it personally, but my current DM Paul has used it to awesome effect, leaving our party's warrior with a pink, heart shaped tattoo reading "Princess" on one occasion and dragging us into a quest to atone for the same guy skinny dipping in a temple's holy font on another.

Good times, good times...

Tom said...

Best. Table. Ever. We even managed to incorporate it into a Traveller campaign at one point (I think I rolled a '13' then, no less!).

Jeff Rients said...

All y'all have really put a smile on my face. (And incidentally, my stats at the Ol' Gameblog showed that yesterday I had double the usual number of visits due to this post.)

Now somebody please go and post something twelve times cooler than my chart.

Juho said...

It's a great table- so far we've used it a few times, and the results were great (the tattoo is good fun, and waking up in a temple is a great way to begin a session).

I modified the table slightly to suit our Stormbringer campaign. The "Wake up with the dead Melnibonéan (10% chance of being an albino)" is a longshot, but one of these days, it is going to happen.

Jay Murphy said...

I turned the carousing mishap table into a vital mechanic reinforcing the genre of fantasy I aim for in USR Sword & Sorcery. The validity of this rules lite set kind of hangs on it.