Random Encounters: Steampunk Marketplace

Another in my series of Random Encounter posts. In these posts, I include three tables: one for the creature, one for an environment feature, and one for a surprise to be delivered during the encounter whenever you see fit. I hope that these three elements can actually generate useful random encounters for your game.

In order to be particularly useful, though, the tables have to be fairly specific. So, each post is geared towards a single genre and a single location type. Today, you can generate a random encounter in a marketplace in a steampunk setting.

Creature

1. A cloaked figure wielding a pair of long, crackling knives
2. Urchins playing football or rugby
3. A boisterous snake-oil seller
4. A corrupt law officer looking for trouble
5. A charistmatic speaker rallying an increasingly angry crowd
6. A desperate fabric vendor trying to make ends meet

Environment feature

1. Loose cobblestones can trip up the unwary.
2. A large glass and steel box houses a mechanical fortune teller.
3. A deteriorating stone fountain sprays water into a fine mist.
4. The various stalls are filled with valuables and improvised projectiles.
5. A nearby factory churns out heavy smoke that darkens the whole area.
6. Large steel gears (exposed for maintenance), turn and grind.

Surprise

1. A horseless carriage barrels through the area, heedless of pedestrians.

2. A gyrocopter crashes to the ground, its pilot injured but alive.

3. A squad of heavily armed officers burst into the area, looking for a child.

4. One of the vendors announces a huge sale, and the crowds stampede that way.

5. A mechanical bird swoops down and begins pecking feverishly at the creature.

6. The creature stops moving and begins making a mechanical grinding sound.