Itchy Bonez

I underestimated the importance of having tools to tell me why something was happening in my solo D&D sessions. My solo D&D experience started off well. The The Solo Adventurers Toolbox was working well and I was having fun. However, I began to feel that something was missing, or perhaps more accurately, some of the things I needed to do to make it feel like a roleplaying game felt too contrived.

I've struggled to get past this nagging feeling and have spent a lot of time wondering what I could do. Eventually I remembered a TED talk by Simon Sinek. He spoke about the principle where any enterprise of worth starts with why before the how and what. Why are my characters having this encounter? Why are these Orcs holed up in this abandoned ruin? Why does this NPC engage with my characters?

After thinking about ways to make why more obvious, without it feeling contrived, I settled on the idea of making my own random tables. I worked out there are 3 components to a good why:

• Motivation
• Resources
• Strategies

Armed with a basic principle, and plenty of examples of how to make a good random table from The Solo Adventurers Toolbox I set about creating my system form generating a good why.

Motivation

Here is a table of motivations you can randomly select from. Use oracle rolls, or your imagination, to flesh them out.

Roll d6	Result
1	Survival - Are they facing some threat and struggling to survive? Do they not have safe water to drink or enough food to eat? Is the population suffering from some kind of disease or illness?
2	Community - Are they building a community? Are they looking for certain people to join their community? Are they dealing with some unwanted elements in their community?
3	Greed - Are they looking to acquire more treasure? Are they adventurers looking for rewarding challenges? Are they extorters, blackmailers or kidnappers? Are they a criminal gang that preys on travellers?
4	Domination - Are they warlike and like to use force to defeat their enemies and acquire more land? Are they oppressive and keep the local population in check and under control?
5	Influence - Are they trying to spread their influence further? Are they seeking to gain influence over someone or somewhere? Are they under the influence of someone or something else?
6	Protection - Are they following a noble cause to protect someone or somewhere? Are they seeking protection from someone or something?

Resources

Next we need to think about what resources are available to the group. Resources can take many different forms. They can be material, organisational or magical in nature. Roll as many times as makes sense to you and use oracle rolls, or your imagination, to flesh them out.

Roll d10	Result
1	Wealth - Do they have a lot of monitory wealth? Do they have lots of valuable items such as furniture, tapestries, rugs, etc? Do they have a lot of jewellery or precious stones?
2	Population - Do they have a lot of people in their community? Do they have strength in numbers? Do the people have a particularly strong bond and sense of community?
3	Individuals - Are there some particularly important or powerful individuals?
4	Items - Does the group posses some special items or items with extra powers?
5	Geography - Does the group occupy or control a geographical feature that they can use to their advantage? Perhaps they control a river crossing such as a ford or bridge. Perhaps they control the only pass over a mountain range.
6	Natural - Does the group have access to natural resources of value such as a gold mine? Maybe they claim ownership of a forest or meadow that's the only place where a particularly important plant grows?
7	Magic - Does the group have access to a special kind of magic or magical phenomena?
8	Cunning - Is the group particularly cunning when it comes to using their abilities and can often outsmart their opponents?
9	Allies - Does the group have allies that they can call on for help in times of need?
10	Favour - Does the group have the favour of a powerful entity such as an ancient dragon or a being from another plane?

Strategies

Once you have motives and resources for your NPCs, you can work out strategies and tactics they might use.

The following table shows some possible options, and the motives and resources that best suit them. Roll as many times as you like or choose the options that fit your world.

Roll d10	Result	Motives & Resources
1	Ambush - The NPCs are aggressive but not strong enough to launch an open assault so they must use the element of surprise.	Survival, Cunning
2	Aggression - The NPCs see attacking the party as an opportunity to further their goals. They might be confident in their ability to overcome the party. They might also fear the party and attack only because they are cornered and see no other option.	Domination, Greed, Population
3	Intimidation - The NPCs see the party as weak and susceptible to manipulation. They will try and force the party to do their bidding or follow a particular course of action.	Domination, Influence, Individuals
4	Capture - The NPCs see value in capturing the party. They might believe they can ransom the party to another group. The NPCs may be under orders to capture the party on behalf of someone else.	Greed, Influence, Cunning, Favour
5	Alliance - The NPCs want to form an alliance with the party. Maybe for honest reasons or maybe they have an ulterior motive?	Survival, Protection, Cunning, Individuals
6	Avoidance - The NPCs see the party as a threat and choose to avoid them. They may simply try to move away from the party. They might use other tactics to make the party avoid them, such as cutting off their approach, creating a diversion or leading them in another direction.	Survival, Community, Geography
7	Submission - The NPCs see surrendering to fate as their only option. This could be because they are weak or don't have many resources to call on. This could also be a bluff and they have other plans for the party.	Survival, Protection, Cunning
8	Deception - The NPCs choose to deceive the party in some way. This could be to prevent them from learning a secret or discovering something the NPCs wish to keep hidden. This could also be to hide their true intentions.	Survival, Influence, Cunning, Individuals
9	Acceptance - The NPCs are welcoming towards the party. They are secure in their position and either see the party pose no threat to them or offer some kind of positive opportunity.	Protection, Influence, Population
10	Ambivalence - The NPCs are indifferent to the party, seeing them as neither threat nor advantage.

I haven't tried out these tables yet but I'm looking forward to it.

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IB