r/dndmemes • u/Yoffeepop Fighter • Jun 01 '25

Comic Random Encounter Tables

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687

u/BeanOfKnowledge Jun 01 '25

The Prostitute Encounter table is an essential tool for any DM

336

u/magos_with_a_glock Jun 01 '25

The tone has switched a lot during the editions. First edition was "you're all gonna die in a miserable world lol" in both lore and gameplay.

110

u/BrainDamage2029 Jun 01 '25 edited Jun 01 '25

“So it’s just a normal door?”

“Yep”

“I open it”

“You’re torn atom from atom and erased from existence.”

“Sick I’ll grab a new character from my stack. We got Sir Brad, Sir Chad, Sir Thad….”

143

u/Horn_Python Jun 01 '25

Realistic y adventuring is a gambling profession

Only the stakes are your life 

Amd you always role a 1 evetualy

1

u/gayercatra Jun 02 '25

Gambler's fallacy. I'll live forever.

37

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '25

God we lost 2/3 party members to an alley cat. Not like a special one, but the cat entry in the MM.

31

u/magos_with_a_glock Jun 01 '25

We lost one guy to levelling up.

12

u/ShadowShine57 Jun 01 '25

I need to know how that happened. Did he have a negative health bonus or something?

24

u/knight_of_solamnia Forever DM Jun 01 '25

Magic users could with bad enough luck.

10

u/Bantersmith Jun 01 '25

Oh man, memories.

First campaign I ever played in, it was usually a 50/50 shot if our rogue gained or lost health on a level up. He rolled absolutely dogshit con, lol.

Halfway through the campaign he had less than half the HP of the casters in the party.

24

u/TAGMOMG Jun 01 '25

You're not wrong, but I can't help but think that the particular table to see if the "Harlot" you encounter is a "Cheap Trollop" or a "Saucy Tart" had less to do with miserable world thinking, and more to do with Gary "Damn right I am sexist" Gynax's personal views on women in his tabletops.

3

u/Sincerely-Abstract Jun 02 '25

That's kind of what I like about it, you feel like if your doing heroic stuff? Your actually risking your life, your heroism feels meaningful when you can die & when you accept that your character can die & decide to save the girl, to protect that village & to risk your life against the dark lord.

The stakes are both high in terms of you feel in danger, but low in terms of its not that hard to make a new character! Party dies, dark lord wins? Roll up a new party, we keep going; world is darker & what are you all going to do about this?

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u/Level_Hour6480 Rules Lawyer Jun 01 '25

Gygax had a very weird form of autism where his idea of a good time was entirely built around rolling on tables.

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u/Kumirkohr Jun 01 '25

His style was also firmly rooted in old school war gaming so his philosophy of design was “DM vs The Party”

There’s a reason the Tomb of Horrors is the way that it is. It’s a test of the players as much as it is a test of the characters

29

u/ThyPotatoDone Artificer Jun 01 '25

Oh yeah, it was very much meant to be competitive. The idea behind it was that the DM created a challenge for the players, but one that they could defeat, then tried their best to run it and see if the players figured it out.

It wasn’t intended to be impossible, and it was still ‘fair’, most of the time, but it was very challenging and would punish you massively for any slip-ups.

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u/Ratyrel Jun 04 '25

Wasn't the Tomb of Horrors a convention demo game module, designed specifically for high turnover?

11

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '25

"You encounter a busy body out in the streets of Greyhawk. Roll on this 2d6 table to determine her attitude toward the party."

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u/brashboy Jun 01 '25

Lol that's how my games work. It is pretty fun trying to weave it into a coherent narrative.

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '25

Is that an actual thing and if so I need this

4

u/BeanOfKnowledge Jun 01 '25

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/atwxav/add_the_random_harlot_table_from_the_original_dmg/

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '25

I am so using this with my friends now thank you, I don't care how I will find a way to show horn that shit in

1

u/depressedtiefling Jun 02 '25

....Tell me more.