Random Monthly Events




The following is a table of random events that I use in my Skyfell campaign to build a little more depth into the setting. The table includes five different areas: city, town, village, rural, and wilderness. I do not have a “kingdom” category because, ultimately, any event occurring inside a kingdom will happen in one of these five locations.

  • City, town, and village are per the description in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
  • Rural is a sparsely populated area with no centralized settlement or governing body to speak of. There might be a location where the locals gather, such as an isolated temple or tavern, but otherwise the few folks living there remain mostly to themselves.
  • Wilderness is not settled and is perhaps even unexplored territory. It’s where truly heroic adventures are found.

I generally treat these as in-game, monthly events where one event takes place in each area that either affects the player characters or that the player characters care about. For example, I always make a roll for both the capital city and the city that is currently their home base. I also make a roll for wherever they happen to be or plan to be. For example, if I know they will be going off to a village as part of an ongoing adventure, I’ll make a roll for a random event in that village. Sometimes this results in a simple fluffing up of the backstory. Other times it becomes a side quest. It depends. I might roll for more than one event in an area if that area is large enough or important enough to justify it. For example, I almost always make two rolls for the capital city and two rolls for a specific expanse of wilderness that happens to be pretty large and is visited quite often by the player characters. I then space out the events in a way that makes sense for my campaign. If you decide to do this, limit yourself to a maximum of two rolls per area. More than two events per area will start to cramp and clutter your campaign, especially in the context of any other story arcs you might already be managing. The players really don't need to know everything that is happening in the realm.

 The significance of an event is ultimately up to you but you should at least be realistic regarding the scope of its impact. For example, the death of a noble will likely be known across their realm while the death of a friendly tavern owner in a village, while important to the village, will likely go unnoticed elsewhere. A dragon taking up residence in the wilderness will most certainly impact all surrounding areas but a single bugbear moving into a cave will be, shall we say, of less import. That said, very large events are often started by a very small spark. That tavern owner might have been an exiled noble whose death sets off a struggle between belligerent factions for control over his or her estate. The bugbear might be the first of what turns out to be a massive migration due to some natural disaster in his/her homeland or one of many scouts preceding a full-scale invasion force bent on destroying the kingdom. It’s really up to you and your imagination.

 There will be times when the same event occurs from month to month. I generally treat these as an escalation in the intensity of the first event whenit makes sense. For example, I might get the Creature event for a town and decide that the sewers become infested by giant rats. When the Creature event comes up the following month, I might decide that giant spiders, who find giant rat to be a delicacy, also occupy the sewers. When I get the Creature event a third time, I might decide that those giant spiders have multiplied out of control (because there is so much yummy giant rat to dine on) and they are now spreading into surface buildings and hunting the town’s residents. When I get the Creature event a fourth time, I might decide that a majority of the population is now spider food (only a lucky few manage to flee to tell their tale) and the town is essentially a horrific nest of giant spiders. Yikes!

 Some of the events in the table, such as the Birth event, refer to families or individuals. As this is an event table, these families and individuals will be someone of importance to the area or the player characters. Maybe they occupy an important leadership role. Perhaps they’re a critical thread in the social fabric. Maybe they’re just well liked (or disliked). It’s up to you. For a city, this usually means the royal family, nobility, influential merchants, guild masters, temple leadership, celebrities, and so forth. For towns and villages, this usually means influential business persons (traders, tavern owners, etc.), local temple leadership, local celebrities, folk heroes, and the like. But again, the exact details of an event are up to you. For example, a noble might give birth while traveling through a rural area.

 Using this event table is simple. Roll 1d100 and find the result for the area you want. Descriptions of each event are after the table. Depending on the event, you might be asked to make an additional roll to determine further details. 


City Town Village Rural Wilderness
Birth 1-41-3 1-2 1 1
Celebration 5-11 4-9 3-5 2 --
Contest 12-15 10-12 6-7 3 --
Creature 16 13-17 8-17 4-18 2-16
Cult 17-21 18-22 18-22 19-28 17-26
Death 22-25 23-25 23-24 29 27
Disappearance 26-27 26-27 25 30 28
Entertainers 28-32 28-31 26-27 31 29
Fire 33-42 32-38 28-31 32-35 30-33
Folk Hero 43-44 39-41 32-34 36-37 34-35
Illness 45-54 42-49 35-40 38-40 36-41
Kerfuffle -- 50-52 41-46 41-46 --
Marriage 55-58 53-55 47-48 47 42
Merchants 59-66 56-61 49-52 48-49 43
Mob/Riot 67-69 62-64 53-55 -- --
Organized Crime 70-75 65-69 56-63 50-58 44-51
Pilgrimage 76-79 70-73 64-65 59-60 52
Project 80-83 74-76 66-67 61 --
Ruins 84 77-79 68-73 62-70 53-63
Skirmish 85-86 80-85 74-81 71-79 64-73
Storm 87-91 86-90 82-86 80-84 74-79
Visitation 92-97 91-94 87-88 85 80
No Event 98-100 95-100 89-100 86-100 81-100



Organized Crime

A group of criminals (bandits, brigands, pirates, cutthroats, rogues, gangs, etc.) either arrives in or becomes more active in the area. Roll 1d8 to determine their activities. How they carry out these activities is up to you.
1. Petty theft/banditry/piracy
2. Murder/assassination
3. Trade in stolen or illegal goods
4. Blackmail
5. Embezzlement
6. Extortion
7. Trade in illicit substances
8. Hoolganism
9. Kidnapping
10. Spycraft

Child

One or more babies are born into a family or one or more children are adopted into a family. The sex, gender, and gender identity of each child is up to you. Roll 1d6 to determine the number of children.
1-4. Single child
5. Identical twins
6. Fraternal twins

Merchants

A trader or group of traders passes through the area. This could be as simple as a traveling merchant selling goods out of their wagon or as large as a caravan from a distant land carrying exotic goods. Roll 1d8 to determine their merchandise:
1. Non-magical equipment, tools, and/or other day-to-day items
2. Non-magical weapons
3. Non-magical armor
4. Flora (such as crops or exotic plants)
5. Fauna (such as livestock, pets, or exotic animals)
6. Foodstuff (alcohol, bread, cheese, and other prepared foods)
7. Treasures (jewelry, paintings, scultures, etc)
8. Magical items

Celebration

Residents of the area are involved in a celebration. Roll 1d8 to determine the purpose/reason for the celebration.
1. Agricultural festival
2-4. Religious observance
5-7. Historical remembrance (reroll on this table to determine the historical event)
8-9. Social event (a gathering just for the fun of it, birthday, coming of age ceremony, etc)
10. Completion of long-term goal/task (completing a structure, opening a mine, expanding the settlement, clearing land, exploring wilderness, and so forth)

Contest

Two or more individuals or groups of individuals are engaged in a contest. At stake can be money, status, pride, the ownership of goods or a property, or some other prize. Contests might also be used to settle an argument. Roll 1d8 to determine the nature of the contest. You can decide whether the contest involves or forbids magic.
1. Unarmed combat
2. Melee combat (dueling, jousting)
3. Feats of strength (lifting, pushing, breaking)
4. Feats of dexterity (acrobatics, dancing, slight-of-hand, riding)
5. Feats of endurance (eating contests, holding breath, running)
6. Feats of intelligence (trivia, problem solving, riddling)
7. Feats of charisma (singing, storytelling, joke telling, acting, intimidation)
8. Feats of wisdom (advice, perception, animal training, gaming)

Creature

One or more creatures arrives in or becomes more active in the area. Use the encounter tables in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything to determine the creature. For cities, towns, and villages use the Urban Encounters tables. For the rural and wilderness areas, use the appropriate table, such as the Forest Encounters tables if the area is a forest.

Cult

A religious cult arrives in or becomes more active in the area. The cult can be either benevolent or malevolent. Roll 1d6 to determine its activities:
1. Recruit new members.
2. Establish a temple or other important center
3. Disrupt the activities of local clergy
4. Sow doubt among adherents of the local religion(s)
5. Remove/destroy temples, iconography, and other elements of the local religion(s)
6. Summon a lesser or greater entity/deity related to the cult

Death

A well known individual or group of individuals dies. Roll 1d6 to determine the cause.
1. Illness
2. Violence (fight, murder, assassination)
3. Accident
4. Suicide
5. Old age
6. Combat (war, battle, or skirmish)

Disappearance

A well known individual or group of individuals dies. Roll 1d4 to determine the cause.
1. Left willingly but didn’t tell anyone
2. Kidnapped
3. Is lost
4. Died but no one knows of their death (roll on the Death event to determine the cause of death)

Entertainers

A well known entertainer or group of entertainers arrives in or becomes more active in the area. Roll 1d6 to determine the nature of their performance.
1. Actor(s)
2. Musician(s)
3. Animal trainer(s)
4. Storyteller(s)
5. Comedian(s)
6. Dancer(s) and/or acrobat(s)

Fire

Fire burns through the area. Roll 1d10 to determine its size and effect.
1-6. Minor. A small area or a very few structures are damaged. There are a few injuries.
7-9. Moderate. A large area or several structures are damaged and a few structures are destroyed. There are many injuries and a few deaths.
10. Major. A huge area or large number of structures are damaged or destroyed. There are many injuries and many deaths.

Illness

An illness sweeps through the area. The nature of the illness (bacterial, fungal, magical, viral, poison, alchemical, or something else) is up to you. Roll 1d10 to determine its extent and effects.
1-6. Minor illness. Victims are stricken for only a few days, are mostly inconvenienced by it, and recover with no lasting side effects. There are only a handful of deaths, if any at all. 
7-9. Moderate illness. Victims are stricken for several days, many are bedridden, and many recover slowly. A small number of those who recover have lingering symptoms. There are several deaths.
10. Major illness. Victims are either stricken for a very long time or die shortly after becoming ill. The afflicted are unable to function and most die. Those who survive have a difficult and prolonged recovery with lingering and secondary symptoms.

 Roll 1d12 to determine what is affected.
1. Mosses
2. Ferns
3. Conifers
4. Flowering plants
5. Aberrations
6. Beasts
7. Dragon-kind
8. Fey
9. Giants
10. Humanoids
11. Monstrosities
12. Plant creatures

Kerfuffle

Two or more individuals or groups of individuals are embroiled in a bitter argument. They might be from the same area or different areas. Tempers are dangerously hot and are close to erupting into violence. Roll 1d8 to determine the cause of the argument.
1. Insult
2. Lies/trickery
3. Politics
4. Land dispute
5. Romantic entanglement
6. Broken promise
7. Historical animosity
8. Cheating during a contest

Marriage

A well known individual marries. Roll 1d4 to determine the reason for the marriage. You can determine the reaction on your own.
1. Political alliance
2. Economic expansion
3. Love
4. Convenience

Mob

An angry mob takes up arms and causes all manner of damage and chaos. Roll 1d4 to determine the reason for their anger.
1. Current event
2. Hatred of an individual or group
3. Economic hardship
4. Military occupation
5. Unchecked spread of illness (roll on the Illness event to determine what is affected)
6. Social injustice

Pilgrimage

An individual or group of individuals on a pilgrimage to a holy site are passing through the area. 

Project

A large-scale construction project is either begun or completed. Roll 1d8 to determine the nature of the project.
1. Fortification
2. Royal/noble/merchant residence
3. Sewers
4. Waterworks
5. Mill
6. Mine
7. Workshop
8. Temple

Ruins

The remains of an ancient structure are discovered. Roll 1d8 to determine its type or purpose.
1. Temple
2. Magic-user’s tower
3. Fortification
4. Workshop
5. Mine
6. Tomb, burial site, or catacombs
7. Library
8. Prison/dungeon

Skirmish

A battle between two or more armed forces of appreciable size occurs. This might be an isolated incident or the start of full-out war, depending on your campaign. Roll 1d6 to determine the cause of the fight.
1. Land
2. Natural resources
3. Magical resources
4. Liberation
5. Historical animosity (reroll on this table to determine the event that caused the animosity)
6. Recent event (reroll on this table to determine the event)

Storm

A storm sweeps through the area. Roll 1d10 to determine its size and effect.
1-6. Minor. A small area or a very few structures are damaged. There are a few injuries.
7-9. Moderate. A large area or several structures are damaged and a few are destroyed. There are many injuries and a few deaths.
10. Major. A huge area or large number of structures are damaged or destroyed. There are many injuries and many deaths.

Folk Hero

An individual or groups of individuals accomplishes a feat that captures the imagination of the locals in the area. Use the Folk Hero background in the Player’s Guide and the This is Your Life section in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything to determine the personality, history, and actions of the folk hero(es).

Visitation

An important individual or group of individuals visits the area. Their arrival causes excitement among the locals, either positive or negative. Roll 1d4 to determine the type of visitor.
1. Royalty/noble
2. Clergy
3. Warrior/soldier
4. Magic-user

No Event

No event occurs.


Gadget: n/a

The gadget station is closed. All design and construction work has been postponed until a proper clean-up operation can remove the debris and other sundry bits that seem to be littering the place in a rather unsettling manner. We are sorry if this causes any inconvenience, physical distress, or emotional tumult. We do assure you that the gadget station will reopen and resume its usual shenanigans as soon as is gnomishly possible. Until that time, please listen to your favorite musical playlist, design-and-chill with your significant other, take your favorite pet for a stroll, or busy yourself with whatever activity it is that normally drowns your sorrows and mends your broken heart. We love you.

 Sincerely, 
The WhatNot Shop Management

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