d100 Open Reasons for, and Secret Results of, Adventuring
Your party gathered, either after reading notices at the local guard post, or at the request of a local sponsor, or to defend your family or village.
Everyone agreed on what needed to be done and set off with hope pushing you on. But now someone is not fully onboard with the aims of the mission and has their own secret agenda.
Will they help the party succeed or simply try to do what they must do? And will they be uncovered before it is too late? How to Use
How to Use this d100 Table
There are 100 “O” open reasons—what someone has said to the rest of the group—along with 100 “S” secret true purposes of their actions. They are listed as couples with a particular “flavor,” but rolling d100 twice to get interesting pairs works as well. However your group uses the list, let the results add intrigue to any mission in which the characters are engaged.
1—Open: A reclusive family member asks you to undertake a series of difficult but linked tasks; each element you achieve will bring an increasing reward.
Secret: No matter how big the role you really play, only taking full credit for the achievement when completing one task reveals the next.
2—O: Each time you finish an adventure your family’s legacy is enhanced and its fame rises.
S: The honors of your allies’ families are tarnished by the outcome, despite any material gains, but this will not be revealed for two generations.
3—O: You have been charged by your liege to concentrate solely on recovering a vital item for them and the realm.
S: A marketplace seer has distracted you by claiming that you will find your true love on your next journey, and this is your true purpose for adventuring. Your liege will have to wait.
4—O: In order to secure the approval of those who you hope will become your parents-in-law, you must undertake the greatest test of your courage possible.
S: Unfortunately, finding a truly reliable witness to confirm your bravery is proving difficult as they keep meeting unusual ends soon after witnessing your achievements.
5—O: You are adventuring to prove a recent misfortune was down to flawed judgement, not dubious motives.
S: But those events mean you are estranged from your family, and a couple of members sabotage you and your allies at every turn.
6—O: After you were given an attractive clasp for your cloak, you became plagued by a misfortune that still feels almost suffocating and needs resolving.
S: You must find a way to sneakily pass this miserable burden on to another who can endure it, and then ensure you never see the item again.
7—O: You have tried for a year on your own to complete a task for an ill-thought-of crafty schemer who occasionally sponsors you.
S: Now you must get others to commit themselves entirely to the task but reveal as little knowledge as possible as to why their help is needed.
8—O: You took on a task that has unfortunately cost you much more money and time for its partial completion than the reward gained so far.
S: Now you must earn enough to return home to collect further funds, which means secretly taking more than your fair share of rewards as you are penniless.
9—O: Someone you hold dear has been accused of a crime of which they might just be guilty despite their outward appearance.
S: But an unlikely piece of defensive evidence held by a sinister nomadic tribe will prove telling, although in which direction is unclear.
10—O: An esteemed elder in your hometown inadvertently gave away all they had gathered over the years to a couple of con artists.
S: Now you seek to find the rogues and the items, although you know they are members of a powerful guild.
11—O: Until you joined this band, a mean curse left you friendless and living a cheerless life on the outskirts of society.
S: But as time passes, you find your allies only thank you if you put yourself at greater and greater risk for them, although they do so more profusely on each occasion.
12—O: A mystic revealed your future will involve greatness, but only if you conceal your identity for five years and seem to behave selflessly as you buy your way to this lofty position.
S: However, if someone realizes your generosity is self-serving, you will have to begin again, no matter who else might benefit.
13—O: You need the help of a new group to secretly recover several essential items your long-ago former allies possessed.
S: However, you inadvertently managed to sacrifice every member other than yourself of the last three adventuring bands that were helping you do this, a fact which must not be revealed.
14—O: You have great hopes of achieving an important personal, but private, ambition through adventuring over the next six months.
S: However, to succeed, those with you must give up their own “most important” obligation for you, or else your failure is guaranteed.
15—O: You hope your new partners will help you retaliate against the humanoids that you believe attacked your family’s village when you were young.
S: But your memories are fanciful, as the village elders did the damage themselves to avoid paying some annual tithes to the local liege, and riling the local humanoids will be a mistake.
16—O: You have joined an adventuring band in the hope it will help you gain revenge against a gang of marauding bullies.
S: However, the thugs have honed their skills and are now vicious cut-throats who are best avoided, something to which you are blind.
17—O: You have found out where an item you secretly covet is situated but need others to help you retrieve it from its current home.
S: However, this will be difficult because whenever someone sees the item, they too begin to covet it, and you have to find a way to remove them from the recovery mission.
18—O: Although your motives for adventuring are heartfelt, many people find them unusual at best and distinctly off-putting at worst.
S: Therefore, you must behave with great guile to avoid the other members abandoning you, although this might arouse inaccurate suspicions against you.
19—O: The original straightforward task has become strangely puzzling and complicated with each new moon for the past four lunar cycles.
S: In truth, somehow you knew it would be the case before joining the group but chose not to say anything to anyone, so they were not put off helping you.
20—O: The more you look for it, the more it seems that the item you are desperately searching for possesses curiously cryptic and powers of precognition.
S: Unfortunately, it keeps evading the band at the last moment whenever someone gets close to it, and secretly you think you know why.
21—O: Every time your band comes close to completing its task a mysterious complication occurs to throw the possible conclusion off course.
S: But then you always crave these bizarre experiences more than reaching your target, and it may just be the energy you produce when this happens that creates the complication.
22—O: Right now, you and the other eleven folks recruited for this adventure are working in three groups to achieve the task cooperatively.
S: But you alone have sensed that after the next full moon, one person will disappear every four days, although the people you have spoken with about this are unconcerned.
23—O: You have joined the band to uncover the duplicity of another member, but you do not know who within the party it is.
S: Unfortunately, you have now discovered you are connected to their murderous secret yourself, and you must uncover the criminal within your group before someone accuses you.
24—O: The task your band undertook appeared straightforward, but every “three steps forward lead to two paces backwards.”
S: You feel this way because you disagree inwardly with the decisions of another member of the group, but causing unrest might backfire as they seem well-liked.
25—O: You have gathered a group of like-minded individuals to “adventure bravely for great reward,” whatever that may mean.
S: But secretly you are trying to win over a new love and intend to make some decisions based on how much they will impress the target of your affection, not their soundness.
26—O: You have joined a group to investigate reports of an otherworldly humanoid that is helping and hindering folks in equal measure.
S: But you already know that while the creature is what many consider an aberration, you are in love with the being as it psychically visited you the night before you set out.
27—O: It is obvious that your love for your adventuring life and allies is strong, but on this task, both are waning for reasons you do not understand.
S: However, secretly you would be happy to find a way to disrupt the adventure, without being blamed, so the party changes course and grows closer together again.
28—O: Outwardly, you are full of enthusiasm and bright ideas no matter what the adventure throws in your way.
S: But in truth, everything feels hopeless, and you would rather abandon this task for another, disregarding the potential rewards it presents.
29—O: To outside observers, such as your patron, your group appears in agreement, as you want to be paid for the job.
S: But you know that at least one member disagrees vehemently with you, and a “never the twain shall meet” situation exists between you two at least, if not others.
30—O: When you started out on your expedition, you all agreed the problem needed to be dealt with urgently.
S: Now you realize that everyone has a wildly different solution, but you are determined yours will prevail no matter what the effect on your comrades.
31—O: Only great courage in the face of any adversity is required on this adventure, and each party member constantly drives their allies onward.
S: But you know you have a deep-rooted phobia about facing a creature the rest of the party is determined to track down, but fear you are alone in thinking this.
32—O: Devotion to your objective is essential if the party is to succeed and considering any other thoughts and deeds will be nothing but distracting.
S: However, secretly you are focused on fulfilling what your mentor has asked of you, not what your party comrades are bent on achieving.
33—O: You are a driving force for any party; people admire you for it and have joined your last few adventures eagerly.
S: However, your power is sustained by the bad luck of others, something you have kept hidden successfully so far.
34—O: You are determined to always make the best use of your genuinely “lucky amulet” that seems to give to a distinct advantage when you least expect it.
S: However, you know it gains its power only by others making mistakes, and the extra luck that surprisingly comes your way always does so just as someone else suffers something painful.
35—O: At some point you have saved the life of each of your allies, something that they are always pleased to write home about.
S: But soon after you do, and the story reaches their hometown, a member of their family commits a terrible crime that most say is utterly unforgivable.
36—O: Your dreams allow you to display decisiveness and certainty when you adventure, and they always seem to lead to success.
S: But the night before each new moon, a vision shows which of those decisions were bad ones, and how the knock-on effects have made matters worse for at least one person.
37—O: You are the new member of a close-knit group yet have been welcomed quickly into this experienced team as an important addition.
S: However, you secretly need to incapacitate or even kill one of them who historically threatened your mentor for some unknown reason.
38—O: You are set on a course and have convinced your allies to help you through a variety of open and honest methods.
S: But increasingly you think you made a mistake somewhere along the line and are on the wrong path, no matter what other people think, and do not know how to tell everyone.
39—O: Your sponsor has discovered an unnamed member of your band is essential for the future of the region and you must secretly protect whoever it is at all costs.
S: Unfortunately, unbeknownst to you, another member of the group has been sent to dispose of them, plus any bodyguards, in an equally secret way.
40—O: You have joined a group that is hunting for a long-term foe of yours and intend to stop at nothing to get your revenge.
S: Unfortunately, your enemy knows a dark secret about you, a mistake from your past, and has placed a spy in your group who will ruin you unless you can kill the spy and your foe first.
41—O: A hazy vision means you believe one of your allies is hiding a cursed item primed to activate at a life-threatening moment.
S: But you do not know which person or what item, and everyone either laughs off your concerns or feels you are trying to steal either their items or glory, or even both.
42—O: You are accompanying a friend on this adventure only because they must steal an item from another party member to pay a debt.
S: Unfortunately, your friend will have to selflessly lay down their life if the rest of the group finds out, otherwise many good names will be stained.
43—O: When you started this expedition you were determined to do your liege’s bidding and deal with the creatures causing “the problem.”
S: But as you spend time with your comrades, you realize the issue is the problem itself, not the creatures caught up in it; your liege will not be pleased with you.
44—O: Everybody in your party, including you, is sure of the motives and obligations of your task, and has promised to stay on track no matter what.
S: But you sense that the details and solutions everyone believes in are sufficiently different that trouble taking the form of irreconcilable in-fighting is on the horizon.
45—O: During the day you are a loyal, hard-working member of the party that everyone else can rely on to agree with what they say and suggest.
S: But by night you scheme and dream of removing one (or two) of the “small-minded bigots” you are adventuring with.
46—O: Normally the aims of a journey like this would be against your morals entirely as they will certainly make the lives of those weaker than you are much worse.
S: But your family is already under watch by your ruler and an unknown party member is a spy for the crown, so you play your role even as you resist.
47—O: When you signed up to the group, you were confident it would go some way to fulfilling your obligations to your renowned mentor.
S: However, now a distant but influential family member has revealed themself to be a dissident and has requested you undertake a conflicting task.
48—O: You believe your mission has all the hallmarks of loyalty to your liege, their realm, and the people over which they rule.
S: But as you travel further away from home, you meet nothing but resistance and hostility to what you hope to achieve.
49—O: When events are toughest you suggest innovative if convoluted solutions that somehow have saved the party several times.
S: But what the rest of the party does not know is that these methods hide your own limitations, which you think will lead to scorn, by keeping everyone busier than necessary.
50—O: Your mentor and homeland believe in honesty and “the truth”, something you and your allies also hold dear.
S: But you must behave like criminals on this expedition to fit in with the people around you, and it is proving challenging to you and others.
51—O: You hoped to achieve this mission’s objectives legally as you have never been comfortable working with those who disrespect “the rules”.
S: But now it seems like you will have to act disreputable at best, and despicably at worst, if you are going to succeed.
52—O: Your group seems duty bound and follows a strict code, some more than others, that everyone and everything is accountable.
S: But one member of the party must be acting chaotically because vital items keep going missing and plans do not always run perfectly smoothly.
53—O: For the first half of this adventure everything went even more smoothly and harmoniously than expected.
S: But choices over the last few days have clearly been on “the wrong course” and group members are angrily blaming each other for their previous decisions.
54—O: As time has gone by, one of your allies has become quieter and quieter despite your best efforts to find out what is wrong.
S: However, their mood lifted entirely after you found and read the details of a terrible crime on a piece of parchment that faded as you scanned each word, and you need to discover why.
55—O: Your previous mentor has asked you to secretly protect their new protégé on this trek as there is a familial, if distant, bond.
S: Unfortunately, they clearly are not suited to the task, and most of your time is spent saving the apprentice rather than dealing with your foes, which is angering the other party members.
56—O: While planning the adventure, one of your allies told you they were fleeing an injustice, and their tale was compelling enough that you agreed to help.
S: However, as time has passed, their actions now make you think that they may well be guilty, whatever they believe, but they cannot see this themself.
57—O: The party leader, who is also sponsoring the group, presented you all with an ambitious and far-reaching plan of action.
S: However, the enemies have been pitiful, the rewards embarrassingly small, and the impact minimal to the extent you think your leader is delusional and a fantasist.
58—O: Everything you were told about the motives for the adventure seemed entirely plausible, and you felt you were on a true mission.
S: But now your sponsor’s selfish aims seem to have risen to the top of the agenda, and dealing with them is proving difficult.
59—O: Before starting out, the portentous sum of the mysterious messages you all received felt greater than their individual parts, however you reread them.
S: But as time has gone by, the lines each of you were given are turning out to be a disguised description of how an ally will die, and their puzzling contents are proving hard to decipher.
60—O: The bag of “tools of your adventuring trade” that you were given as you set out felt unremarkable thanks to the ordinariness of the contents.
S: But as time has gone by, using even the simplest piece of kit has made the adventure more complex, even when the item is the perfect solution to a problem.
61—O: Several early successes on your adventure left you feeling confident of a quick and easy conclusion to your task.
S: But now you realize that for you, each time you deal with an encounter it stops you going back to the previous one, and returning home has become a complex puzzle.
62—O: You pledged yourself to your sponsor’s eldest child prior to starting your current adventure, to the joy of your allies.
S: Now, however, each time you dream of your betrothed, an unfortunate event befalls one of your comrades, something that is enough to dishearten the party if nothing else.
63—O: You admire your sponsor enough to consider yourself in love with them, so accepting the offer of a large reward for helping them was an easy decision.
S: But their instructions for the task have been difficult to follow and have caused dissent, not least because it turns out other party members feel the same as you about your sponsor.
64—O: Your betrothed gave you a good luck charm before you set out on this adventure for them, in the hope it would bring you safely through it.
S: But you now know your true love is another party member; unfortunately, every time you think of this you have an accident, so telling the one you love how you feel seems impossible.
65—O: You agreed to help your sponsor recover a rare gem for them to give to the person they love deeply and genuinely, but they have not told the person yet.
S: Unfortunately, you now know you also love this person in secret and are torn between helping your generous sponsor and fulfilling your own dreams.
66—O: Because of the importance of your quest to your sponsor, you and the other party members were asked to be subjected to a geas spell.
S: But it seems that if one person does not follow the instructions, everyone suffers some damage, so now you are all trying to find a way to rebel against the quest entirely.
67—O: At first, the adventure went extremely well, but after dividing your first rewards, an unexpected disagreement brought out some surprising personal remarks.
S: Now, you and the other party members need to find a way to keep on course and complete your task, one vital to you all, despite the tense exchanges that occur at unexpected moments.
68—O: Despite your initial reservations, helping an acquaintance with their problem seemed the right thing to do.
S: But now the problem has become even more complicated, and you are trying to find a way to get out of the mistake you have made in joining the group, but without angering it.
69—O: Despite the task sounding difficult to complete, the reward for the challenge made the adventure appear worth going on, even if some party members were new to you.
S: But as time has gone by, you have become suspicious of the others; it is as if the person who gathered you together wanted to see you harmed by each other, and you must stop it.
70—O: While you and the least experienced member of the party were working separately from the others, your partner made a basic mistake and lost an important item.
S: However, you took the blame because you reckon you can solve the problem without your ally being persecuted, although the more seasoned members currently moan about you.
71—O: The newest member of the party has over-exaggerated their skills and abilities, which you know, but they were enthusiastic even when they made small errors that you covered for.
S: But now they seem determined to “show their worth” and run the risk of being a danger to the whole party, so you either expose their untruths or work harder to protect everyone.
72—O: Something about your nature seems to encourage others to reveal their aims, hopes, phobias and fears to you, but always in confidence.
S: But you have found several of these aims and phobias are in direct conflict. But if you let everyone know this will cause the party to implode, leaving you all at risk.
73—O: When the party got together, only you seemed to notice that one member looked down on their luck, with their battered armor, pitted weapons, threadbare clothing, and thin boots.
S: Now, they have told you that they are cursed; everything they touch starts to lose either its quality or its value, until it is worthless. They beg you to help them without revealing the issue.
74—O: When you agreed to go on this current task it was because the instigator of the adventure had a record of uncovering good rewards.
S: But as time goes on, everyone tells a different story of when the instigator failed, and in fact that they urgently need money, leading you to worry.
75—O: You threw yourself into the adventure because of the enthusiasm of the leader of the group, someone you have heard provided nothing but encouragement.
S: But you have discovered they are relying on you to constantly use a particular skill only you possess, despite everyone being at risk each time you do so.
76—O: You were happy to join the group on this adventure because its aim of helping a community in trouble is close to your heart.
S: But now some individuals on the village council favor different members of the party and are trying to turn their heads toward more selfish outcomes. This includes you.
77—O: A lot of members of your clan put pressure on you to undertake your current adventure because it was “the right thing to do” in their eyes.
S: However, the longer you try to complete the task, the more you feel it is entirely unnecessary and will be unhelpful even if finished, so you are trying to go against your family’s expectations.
78—O: A mentor and trainer put your name forward to be part of your current group, so you felt obliged to head off on your task.
S: However, the more you journey with your comrades, the more you feel they do not match your ambitions, but now you are a long way from home and need their help.
79—O: Your sponsor had clear objectives for the group, and you have achieved them more straightforwardly than you all thought you would.
S: As a result, a vote was taken to go further than asked. A couple of “loud voices” won this, but you are not really inclined to go along, especially as the aims benefit them, not your sponsor.
80—O: Your current adventure is one in a list of linked tasks that will take many months, even years, to complete for your hometown.
S: Unfortunately, each time you return, increased pressure is put on you by your family to stay, and its members constantly put obstacles in your way to stop you leaving despite your wishes.
81—O: You have often reinvented yourself after an adventure because some of your activities have been of a politically sensitive nature.
S: Unfortunately, two members of your current party have met you before, but in different disguises. Both are beginning to look at you sideways, and clearly suspect you of wrongdoing.
82—O: Your last adventure was not as successful as your group had hoped, and when you split up, it was to go on your separate ways to escape a chasing mob.
S: Now, one of your new comrades tells stories about your former band, but from the viewpoint of the aggrieved crowd. You will have to keep a low profile as they are a vital ally.
83—O: One of the younger members of your party seems overly angry much of the time, and rails increasingly against a range of perceived villainies despite other comrades disagreeing.
S: But now, you get the feeling the youngster is soon going to take the law into their own hands to relieve their frustration, an act that will anger the rest of the party and you want to stop.
84—O: You are in a group that, to you, does not seem to mix “business with pleasure” and its members have not said much about their past activities.
S: However, on a recent watch, you heard someone talking aloud, in fact discussing “dealing with the wrongdoer.” You must find out who it was and who that supposed transgressor is.
85—O: You feel the objectives of your current adventure are just and true, but you know many friends and family members would disagree.
S: So far, you have kept the real you hidden but must find a way to secretly disappear either just before or, better still, just after those aims are achieved, to never see your allies again.
86—O: The adventure started out as an attempt to drive off an annoying band of humanoids that were stealing livestock.
S: But the animals were not taken for food, as entrails have been found in magical divining circles that indicate occult practices. In addition, the party’s luck has been getting worse
87—O: Your current adventure, and the band you were with, started out as an ordinary, mundane task that did not tax anyone.
S: But after some members changed, events have taken a weird, fantastical turn, leaving everyone involved in a bemused condition much of the time.
88—O: It seems every member of your family and friends admires, indeed loves, you greatly because you make every effort to save your home and liege.
S: However, whenever you gain a material reward from an adventure, someone new appears to talk down your honor and integrity, which drives a wedge between you and your past.
89—O: You and your allies have been extremely successful on your current adventure, gaining significant rewards along the way.
S: Unfortunately, each time you specifically ask for an item, another party member becomes upset and weakens the bond between you all.
90—O: At first, your adventure was straightforward. Indeed, it could have been considered simple if thought about in any great depth.
S: But one confusing encounter changed that, and now you think that you are facing opponents that are either increasingly savage or sophisticated, although your allies do not seem to agree.
91—O: After a handful of quick initial successes, your party was given a strange deck of cards to tell your individual fortunes.
S: Now, whenever it is used, it tells tales of woe, and even your latest accomplishments have left you feeling worse off than before, to the extent that you want to change those around you.
92—O: The seer that you all talked with offered gloomy predictions to each of you, although some of the tales of woe were comically far-fetched.
S: Now, however, some of the minor mishaps have taken place, despite no-one being around when they occurred, and you need to find out if a party member is responsible.
93—O: Your adventure started close to civilization, and even if there was a significant risk involved when facing the targets, you had settlements to rest and recover in.
S: However, several of your foes retreated into primitive lands, and the places that support you are becoming rare and isolated, leading you to feel constantly afraid about your obligations.
94—O: When you started your current adventure, you thought it was the moment when your previous misfortunes were finally behind you.
S: But one of your allies recalls hearing about your “unlucky past” and is beginning to blame you for every little mistake, so you must find a way to amend their mistaken judgment of you.
95—O: This current adventure has presented a variety of extreme events and opportunities that have been almost overwhelming on many occasions.
S: Now, each party member is convinced that the others have changed whilst they remain the same. These changes, both real and perceived, are causing tensions that must be dealt with.
96—O: In truth, you only really have one cherished ideal in life, and every task you go on is in the hope of achieving this aim once you have made a name for yourself.
S: Unfortunately, you now think the direction this adventure is taking is going to help you reach this ideal too quickly, and so you are trying to steer everyone on a different course.
97—O: At first, you thought you were the only one in the party who was there to discharge a family obligation to your sponsor.
S: But several other members have said they too are fulfilling obligations to the sponsor of the journey, all of which are at odds, and there is a sense you have been pitted against each other.
98—O: You, like your siblings, are on the trail of a disguised fraudster who cheated your family out of an important heirloom, and your evidence suggests they are a party member.
S: But now you are adventuring together, all your allies appear decent and honest types; it is proving difficult to uncover the crafty charlatan.
99—O: You started out on this journey because you were curious as to whether the ancient mystery at its heart was anything more than a story told to children.
S: But as the adventure has gone on, you believe that the strange events that you have encountered are malicious lures designed to trap the unwary, and your paranoia is growing.
100—O: You were the last one to sign up for this adventure, only just making it to the recruitment point to demonstrate your skills and abilities that the others found invaluable.
S: But your demonstration was a deliberate distraction; in fact, you are after the bounty on the head of a killer who you believe is another party member who must be unmasked.