Realised I had not done ugly background tables and to show all species have sometimes shitty problematic lives, here is a d100 gnome troubles for you to confess to Clerics for decades. I do have a variety of gnomes, including forest ones, murderous bandits, hillfolk and grey stony skinned psionic technological nihilist ones and especially mean ones. All wear caps are 2-3 foot tall and each species has a magic power. **d10 Quick Gnome Youth Gone Wrong Types** 1 Nature Rambles 2 Exploration 3 Persecution 4 Work 5 Vice 6 Tragedy 7 Violence 8 Suffering 9 Bad Luck 10 Supernatural . **d10 Quick Gnome Youth Gone Wrong Types** 01 Caught in a fox trap and had to drag yourself home 02 Got in a nasty fight with a badger 03 Almost drowned in a river 04 Was lost exploring an underground cave 05 Made friends with faeries of the same alignment, others thought you were odd 06 Trapped a beast menacing your burrow d4 1=cat 2=dog 3=giant rat 4=boar 07 Lost in the wilderness alone for years 08 Carried away far from home by a large bird and lost 09 Regularly battled a mean billy goat 10 Chased by hunters dogs 11 Spied on humans and once chased by some to a safe burrow 12 Found an ancient hidden ruin but parents said best to leave alone 13 Lost for several years in a cave complex alone with mushrooms 14 Travelled with a caravan riding d4 1=beetles 2=snails 3=lizards 4=rodents 15 Had to get some children to help you out of a pit 16 Accidently rode a creature a great distance d4 1=hog 2=bat 3=owl 4=goat 17 Explored a ruined level of your family burrow and got chased by spiders 18 Ate a strange mushroom you found and dreamed of other dimensions for days 19 Found an ancient drainpipe leading to a hidden ruin with interesting rubbish 20 Family kept travelling all kinds of secret subterranean roads and mountain passes 21 Hunted by wicked children who tried to smoke you out of a hole 22 Chased by an ogre who wanted to eat you and your friends 23 A wild cat or dog or lizard was a regular enemy in the wilderness 24 A crazed wizard wanted to eat you and tried all kinds of schemes 25 Giant spiders invaded the burrow and it was a terrible fight 26 A daft old farmer used to chase and shoot at you and your siblings 27 Wicked enemy gnomes framed your clan to enrage humans against your kin 28 Evil enemy gnomes always want you to join them by force and you have seen fights 29 A gang of evil faerie creatures tried to bully you to join their misfit gang 30 Took a shortcut through a worm burrow and had to flee your life 31 Worked in a child sweatshop making children toys and candy 32 Had to work with dangerous materials in a tough situation 33 Worked in the mines doing your miserable duty to the clan 34 Had to do chores for humans in return for bread and milk 35 Looked after livestock on a farm 36 Had to protect crops from giant bugs 37 Had to do kind deeds, helping wild creatures who were sometimes ungrateful 38 Had to make hot soup for frogs in winter 39 Had to deliver packages in secret to humans 40 Had to spy on human families from inside walls and under floors to see if they deserved gnome rewards or tricks 41 Family terrible gamblers who lost everything and ran away 42 Parents sold you to a mean gnome who always tried to kidnap human children 43 Parents were terrible pipe weed addicts and the burrow was like living in an ashtray 44 Used to like spying on other species while they make love 45 Used to steal goods from other species 46 Parents sent you to work to buy them drugs 47 Drinking parents used to fight and scream at each other, and you 48 Parents had a room of strange, embarrassing sexual contraptions 49 Friends and siblings died from drugs, drink and vice while young 50 Likes to spy on faeries, especially if bathing 51 Family killed by a monster, leaving you alone 52 Family members killed in a huge mine disaster 53 Survived an attack from a mutant chaos mole in your family burrow 54 Sole survivor of the plague that killed all the family 55 An evil wizard sold your family to greedy wizards who think they will learn new magic by eating them 56 Kin were crushed in an engineering accident 57 Kin were killed in an alchemical explosion 58 kin turned into mutant monstrosities by handling forbidden minerals 59 Clan left this world forever and accidentally left you behind 60 An evil alchemist gassed your family's burrow, and only you escaped 61 Shot by farmers who saw you near your burrow 62 Faught an evil rival, and the clan bunker was badly damaged 63 Attacked on an expedition and separated from family for years 64 Clan had a blood feud with kobolds, but they bred faster 65 Clan had a decimating vendetta with goblins, and both sides rejected peace 66 An evil gnome leader drove your clan away to live in miserable poverty 67 Your clan and another clan battled over underground resources to the death 68 Your clan joined a terrible war that was a hopeless cause, and most died 69 Your clan were eaten by gremlins 70 Ogres persecuted your family for generations 71 Had to steal garbage from a prison for food 72 Tortured while a prisoner for your pot of gold they were sure you had 73 Had a terrible sickness, and your burrow banished you 74 Came from a persecuted minority sect in hiding from the others in your burrow town 75 Had a terrible battle with parasites for years, and worry they might return 76 Swallowed by a monster but escaped 77 Kept in prison by enemy nasty gnomes 78 Trapped in a spider's larder for days, but escaped 79 Kept by a carnival as a freak 80 Had to bury all your family, as you were the youngest 81 Trapped in a cave alone for months 82 Imprisoned by rival kingdom gnomes 83 Cursed and enlsaved by a nighthag or witch 84 Animal friends were killed by hunters 85 Family wealth stolen by the enemy gnome clan 86 Terrible famine wiped out your friends and family 87 Goblinoids or kobolds overran your family burrow, and you've not seen them since 88 Swarms of giant vermin drowned your burrow complex, and you fled with nothing 89 An earthquake crushed your family while you were away 90 Cursed undead invaded your clan burrow and ate everyone 91 Chased by sinister spirits in the wilderness when alone and young 92 Malicious spirit enthralled your home clan, but you escaped 93 Gnome cult used summoned entities to slay your family 94 Burrow was haunted by the spirits of the unhappy dead, so the clan scattered 95 Family member was a demon worshiper and summoned a deadly flesh-eating horror from beyond that only you escaped 96 Necromancer in the family awakened dead kin to devour the living, but you escaped 97 Family burrowed into an ancient temple of eldritch terrors from beyond while you were away at the shops 89 Mutant gnomes from the elder deep invaded your home to incorporate the young into their tribe and eat all the elderly. You slipped free 99 An elder demon took control of your clan through their dreams, but you escaped due to some brain damage you luckily received at school 100 Used to test dangerous equipment, weapons and vehichles

For a little diversion, here’s a table that contains a hundred ideas for Hobbies/Pastimes that might be useful for adding to Characters. Whether we’re decorating downtime descriptions, or coloring a Camping situation, I find that these can sometimes add a bit of fun details to Retainers and Hirelings, but I thought why not open this up to Player Characters as well? This might make a good Player Facing “roll or choose” type table for any Player looking to add a little more detail or embellishment to help elaborate on what their Character might find amusing or rewarding in that little bit of “spare time” they might get before, during, and after Adventuring. Whether or not any of these passive pursuits merit tangible or mechanical impacts on the Game and its assorted Challenges however is something I’d rather leave as an exercise for the Table. I can see a few coming up in certain specialized situations, but it’s always more fun to Play in order to find things out!

When the Characters find themselves haplessly traipsing about in very strange places, be it Dolmenwood’s Realms of Fairy, the Gardens of Ynn, or even the odd Elfin Woodland (just beyond the fields we know so well, etc.), I often find it useful to have some ideas for little “Vignettes” or “Scenes” that I can use to help communicate that lovely _“Not in Kansas Anymore”_ sensation. There are times when a more **Mythic Overworld** can benefit from a little more Whimsy and Weirdness as well, because those can really help foster Wonder.

Never struggle with answering the question,

There's a really good post by Elmcat about prepping settlement-based adventures by designing neighborhood blocks and representing buildings (etc.) as people! But it also has a petty desire table that I felt like would be nice to generalize: that although people's relationships are often overdetermined by their relative positions in a social matrix (in TTRPG terms, we can refer to these as factional allegiances), it's interesting when a socially determined relationship is complicated by a personal one, whether mutual or one-sided. To that end, I came up with a D20 table similar to Elmcat's, with just 10 results; the idea is that results [11–20] are straightforward and fully overdetermined, whereas [1–10] are complicated: D20 | Relation ---|--- 1 | **Aspiration:** X wants to be Y 2 | **Competition:** X wants to outdo Y 3 | **Fear:** X personally fears Y 4 | **Grudge:** X feels Y wronged them 5 | **Hatred:** X outright doesn’t like Y 6 | **Infatuation:** X desires after Y 7 | **Jealousy:** X wants something Y has 8 | **Obligation:** X owes Y something 9 | **Pity:** X looks down on Y 10 | **Respect:** X admires Y I haven't used this yet, but it aligns with how I write characters/situations and how I perceive interesting relationships to function in literature. For fun, I rolled twice: [3] fear and [8] obligation. Would that be fucked up or what?

This is because I had a nice, thoughtful comment. Money is nice, but comments are rare as hens tits around here and apreciated. Please do comment occasionally, it often produces more posts. (Please ignore this if you are an AI bot). The evil tables also includes evil shrine as a type and includes a location table like the last post **d12 Wild Shrine Decor ** 1 Horn-shaped basket of fruit and vegetables 2 Wreaths of various leaves and flowers 3 Skull of a beast with spectacular horns 4 Wooden carved poles or maypole 5 Skulls in piles, in niches or hanging in bundles 6 Cauldron or stone basin or bowl (maybe with water or blood) 7 Whicker figures or humans or animals or scarecrows 8 Standing stone and/or stone altar 9 Spectacular tree or giant fungi 10 Niches in a rock or tree with small offerings (or skulls) 11 Rock art from simple patterns to script or relief rock art 12 Animals just hanging out **d12 Wild Shrine Trinkets ** 1 Branch of misstletoe, holly or oak 2 Bronze dagger or sickle 3 Bowls of herbs & mushrooms 4 Decorated bucket or copper cup 5 Snakes 6 Decorative stones 7 Copper ornate buckles 8 Bronze torc 9 Bones of a prehistoric beast 10 Bagpipes, horns, drums or other instruments 11 Morsels of tasty nuts or berries, or fruit in a bowl 12 Corn dollies or vegetal figurines **d12 Wild Shrine Grounds ** 1 Faerie rings of flowers or mushrooms 2 Stick figurines 3 Carved druid mark on tree or stone 4 Bugs, butterflies, snakes, rodents 5 Stone steps 6 Pool surrounded by plants and/or fungi 7 Spring grotto pool 8 Ancient trees or giant mushrooms 9 Campside with fire pit 10 Burial mounds 11 Dolmen 12 Stranding stones **d12 Village Shrine Decor ** 1 Crude, mass-produced, tiny painting of a saint or a god 2 Crude folk paintings on the wall 3 Decorated bucket or basin 4 Jars or vases of water, brass or ceramic 5 Ornate candlesticks of brass 6 Copper or tin decorated plate 7 Crude statue or folk idol 8 Woven rug or banner on the wall 9 Many candlesticks 10 Decorated floor, carved or painted symbols 11 Small chest with offerings or ritual paraphernalia 12 Religious graffiti from pilgrims **d12 Village Shrine Trinkets ** 1 Some eggs 2 Tub or buckets of manure 3 Garden tools 4 Barrels of root vegetables 6 Plate of a ploughman's lunch 7 Kegs of beer 8 Butterchurn 9 Body awaiting burial in a shroud 10 Leg of lamb, sausages, pies or a dead rabbit 11 Wreaths of holly leaves 12 Chicken **d12 Village Shrine Grounds ** 1 Several graves, possibly a small graveyard with fence 2 Stick folk figurines hanging somewhere 3 Graffiti marking of the faithful 4 Folk painting of the church story 5 Common animals on the threshold in a pen or chained 6 Holy symbol, possibly on a wooden sign 7 Barrels of fermenting beer or cider 8 Plants growing in neat beds 9 Herbs or other food bundled and drying, tied out of reach 10 Pile of beer bottles awaiting refills 11 posts for tying horses, possibly with a trough 12 Small sheds for storing local festival costumes **d12 Urban Shrine****Decor**** **1 Gold candleabra or 2 Stained glass windows 3 Stone font or basin 4 Paintings of nobles 5 Artistic carving in stone 6 Text carving in stone 7 Decorated arch or niche 8 Ornate benches 9 Decorated pulpit 10 Organ, horn or other instrument 11 Statue of a divine being or beast 12 Reliquary or ossuary, or under the floor crypts **d12 Urban Shrine Trinkets ** 1 Bottle of wine 2 Holy symbol 3 Sacred silver or gold chalices 4 Holy sceptre, rod, or staff 5 Priests' ornate ceremonial hat 6 Priests' robes on a peg 7 Plate or bowl of coins 8 Shield on the wall with coats of arms 9 Incense burner 10 Orate lantern 11 Silver statuette of a saint 12 Holy book **d12 Urban Shrine Grounds ** 1 Fountain or well 2 Stable sheds 3 Pilgrims' shacks or worker cottages 4 Hermits hole 5 Statues or gargoyles 6 Bench 7 Ornate garden, flowers or vegetables 8 Nice, trimmed lawn 9 Beehives and an orchard 10 Graveyard 11 Wall, some with castellation and tower 12 Porch with columns **d12 Evil Shrine Decor**** **1 Pit or well, or sinkhole 2 Altar and sacrificial weapon 3 Candles or a chandelier 4 Banner or tapestry 5 Niche of evil books and ritual paraphernalia 6 Chest of money and jewels, cursed and trapped 7 Torture niche or oubliette 8 Guardian beast niche and possibly chains 9 Idol of a planar being or monster 10 Cursed mirror or artwork 11 Cult graffiti, sigils and circles 12 Magical guardians like a living statue or invisible imp **d12 Evil Shrine Trinkets**** **1 Evil book or cult pamphlet 2 Decorated goat or bull skull 3 Hand size pet spider 4 Skull candle holder 5 Pipe and bowl of drugs 6 Erotic cult figurine 7 Whip or spiked mace 8 Exotic cult dagger 9 Bottle of poison or narcotics 10 Purse of 3d6sp 11 Silver chalices decorated with creatures 12 Evil holy symbol on a chain in silver **d12 Evil Shrines Locations ** 1 Graveyard crypt 2 Commoners basement 3 Sewer 4 Haunted house 5 Cave 6 Ruined building 7 Forest 8 Swamp 9 Field 10 Dungeon 11 Noble manour 12 Magic doorway to a magical place **d12 Evil Shrine Grounds ** 1 Secret door entrance 2 Cobwebs and dead shrubs 3 Thorn bushes or toadstools 4 Hooting owl or squeaky bats 5 Concealed entrance 6 Enraged animals possessed by an evil spirit 7 Single, heavily fortified door 8 Murderholes in the ceiling or above the doorway 9 Concealed boobytraps 10 Rodents or other vermin, sometimes a swarm 11 Cult sign graffiti 12 Faeces and garbage