📯 Event generator
Random events for narrative campaigns: things happening between battles, battlefield complications, weather, loot, plot twists, mission objectives, road encounters and rumours – for any game.
Something that happens between battles and changes the campaign.
Whole table: Campaign event · k12
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1 The Grand Fair
Merchants from distant lands pour into town and prices drop by the day. Wagons crowd the market square, and among the stalls wander mercenaries looking for work and thieves looking for an opportunity.
Suggested play
- Until the end of the round, all purchases cost one tenth less.
- The player who controls the town levies a market toll on the merchants and gains extra gold this round.
- Among the merchants is a smuggler – the first player to send a unit into town may buy a rare item not normally on offer.
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2 Camp Fever
Marsh fever spreads from tent to tent. It began after a halt on a waterlogged meadow, and now every morning more soldiers lack the strength to rise from their bedrolls.
Suggested play
- One random unit of the player misses the next battle unless a physician is paid from the campaign treasury; the game master sets the price.
- The fever spreads: if no one pays for a physician, another unit falls ill next round – including in any other army that stood in the same place.
- The herb that cures the fever grows in only one place on the map, chosen by the game master – if one of the player's armies reaches it and wins a battle there, the sick recover at no cost.
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3 Deserters in the Night
Before dawn a handful of soldiers slip out of camp, taking some of the supplies with them. The sentry swears he saw nothing, but the tents are already whispering that someone must have opened the gate for them.
Suggested play
- The player's largest unit starts the next battle one model short.
- The deserters have gone over to the enemy and told them everything: in the next battle the player must deploy the whole army before the opponent.
- The player may send a party after the runaways – one unit misses the next battle, but the soldiers and supplies are brought back to camp.
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4 Envoys from the Mountains
Envoys of a mountain clan arrive at the camp and offer an alliance in exchange for guarding their pass. They have brought a chest of silver as a gift and make no secret that, if no one here will listen, they will take the same offer to the neighbours.
Suggested play
- A player who accepts the alliance gains gold equal to half their income, but next round must send one army wherever the game master decides.
- The offer travels on: a player who refuses passes it to a neighbour on the map, who decides on the same terms.
- If the ally wins a battle at the pass, the clan sends them a free unit of mountain warriors for one battle.
- A player who fails to send the promised army earns the clan's enmity – the pass is closed to their armies for the rest of the campaign.
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5 Harvest Festival
The nearby villages celebrate a rich harvest and the troops get fresh bread and ale. Fiddles play by the campfires, and the village headman shyly asks whether the soldiers might stay until spring.
Suggested play
- In the next battle each of the player's units gets +1 to its first morale test.
- A player who leaves an army in the village for the whole of the next round gains a small unit of volunteers for free.
- The village becomes a tempting prize: if another player takes it this round, they seize the harvest stores and gain extra gold.
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6 The Scouts Report Back
The scouts return with a detailed sketch of the land. They have marked the fords, the overgrown ravines and a path that appears on no map.
Suggested play
- In the next battle the player chooses the table side and deploys second.
- The hidden path: in the next battle one of the player's units may skip deployment and enter in the second turn from either side edge of the table.
- The sketch can change hands: instead of using it, the player may give it to an ally or sell it to another player for whatever gold they agree on.
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7 The Granary Burns
At night the granary in one of the player's holdings goes up in flames. No one knows whether it was an accident or arson, but in the morning a knife of a kind no local carries is found in the ashes.
Suggested play
- That place yields no income this round.
- The trail leads to a neighbour: winning a battle against the player whose army stands closest to the burnt place recovers the lost income.
- Without grain the troops go hungry – an army stationed in that place suffers −1 to morale tests in its next battle, unless the player buys grain elsewhere.
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8 Blessing of the Banners
A wandering priest stops at the camp and blesses the colours. All he asks in payment is a bowl of stew and a place by the fire, and on leaving he warns the commander against pride.
Suggested play
- In the next battle the player may reroll one failed roll once.
- One unit chosen by the player carries the blessed banner and automatically passes its first morale test in the next battle.
- If the player asks the priest to stay and pays for his keep, the reroll applies in every battle until the player's first defeat.
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9 Swords for Hire
A company of sellswords is looking for a new master and asks little. Their captain brushes off questions about their last employer, and his men fall silent whenever anyone mentions him.
Suggested play
- The player may hire one unit for a single battle at half the usual price; afterwards the mercenaries move on.
- If the mercenaries win their battle, the player may keep them for good by paying the other half of the price.
- If more than one player wants them, the company goes to the highest bidder, with bidding starting at half the usual price.
- The captain's secret: the game master rolls a d6 in secret, and on a 1 the mercenaries quit the field halfway through the battle.
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10 Quarrelling Captains
Two captains cannot agree on who will lead the attack. Their quarrel over an old insult has dragged on for weeks, and the soldiers of both units are starting to take sides.
Suggested play
- In the first turn of the next battle, one of the player's units, chosen by the opponent, stays put.
- The player may make peace between the captains with gold, paying an amount set by the game master, and the penalty is cancelled.
- If the quarrel is not settled, in the following battle the two captains' units may not support each other in combat or attack the same target.
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11 Rumour of a Hoard
Tavern talk speaks of riches hidden somewhere on the map. Everyone tells the story differently, but they all agree on one thing: the last person who went looking never came back.
Suggested play
- The game master marks the place, and whoever first wins a battle there gains extra gold.
- The game master secretly picks three places, but the treasure lies in only one – players find out whether they guessed right only after winning a battle there.
- Something guards the treasure: the first army to enter the place must fight a monster or a robber band, commanded by the game master or another player.
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12 Black Sun
At noon the moon swallows the sun, and the soothsayers cannot agree on what it means. For a few moments darkness falls over the camp, and even old veterans spit over their shoulders to ward off ill luck.
Suggested play
- In the next battle, wizards and priests on both sides suffer −1 to their spellcasting rolls.
- An ill omen: in the first turn of the next battle all units on both sides suffer −1 to morale tests.
- Whoever is first to win a battle after the eclipse declares it a good sign – next round their wizards and priests get +1 to spellcasting rolls.
The content is our own and fits any game. The suggestions are described in general terms – the game master picks one or adapts it to their rules.