All fantasy adventure games (such as the brand-new Tales of the Valiant roleplaying game) eventually put the characters in a city. But when you go looking for adventure in a city, you don’t go shopping. You go to the back alleys and sewers to find ne’er-do-wells perpetrating wrongs what need righting.

But after you’ve beaten up one set of thugs who tried to mug the wrong set of yokels, then what? Keep the adventure rolling by rolling 3d8 on the Back Alleys and Sewers Encounters table!

Roll one d8 for each column, and combine the Scene, Occupant, and Action results with your imagination to create something unique for your campaign.

Have fun with the results you get. If a result seems incongruous, ask yourself why it could be like that and embrace the strangeness.

Back Alleys and Sewers Encounters

d8	Scene	Occupant	Action
1	Dead end alley	Human walking on their hands	Running from the city guards
2	Sewer swamp	Birdfolk with clipped wings	Running from a crime lord’s gang
3	Squatter’s castle	Sludge elemental	Trying to light a fire
4	Fallen temple	Friendly zombie	Casting a newly created spell
5	Bright spot	Hag coven	Eating the remains of a dinosaur
6	Lightning tent	Librarian with a stack of books	Searching for a secret trap door
7	Gravestones	Large rat skeletons	Dragging a cage with an animal inside
8	Grate	Ghost of an untimely death	Laughing madly

Scenes

These are the areas where the encounter takes place.

A dead end alley looks like any city street, but ends suddenly. The occupant stands against the wall.

The sewer swamp is an area of the sewers that inexplicably supports hanging vines and moss, with a thin pool of dirty water and no light source. The occupant is in the center of the swamp.

A squatter’s castle can exist either above ground or within the sewers. It consists of a ramshackle wooden shack, three stories tall, barely standing. The occupant is within.

The fallen temple is an old shrine which has descended to the depths of the sewers without any evidence of how it got here. The occupant stands at the altar.

A bright spot is a small area above or below ground within the shadows, but brightly lit in a 10-foot diameter. Perhaps the source of the light is visible or perhaps it comes from no place. The occupant is within the light.

A lightning tent is a 10-foot cube framed by bolts of lightning. The occupant is inside.

A handful of gravestones stand either above ground or in the sewers, in an area inappropriate for burial. One stone bears the name of the occupant.

A large grate is supposed to let water through, but not people. The occupant didn’t get that message and is either entering or exiting the sewers through it.

Occupant

These are the creatures present in this encounter. Decide the number of creatures based on the numbers and levels of the PCs.

A human walking on their hands doesn’t seem to have any cause for not walking on their feet, and seems resistant to talking about why it’s doing this.

A birdfolk with clipped wings can be of any birdlike humanoid species, and is scared to talk about who did this to it.

A sludge elemental has the statistics of either an Earth or Water elemental, or an odd combination of both.

The friendly zombie can speak and greets the characters with a warm welcome, arms extended wide.

The hag coven is three impossibly old hags, completely taken with their current action.

The librarian with a stack of books sits staring at their books, as if deciding what to read next, but unable to decide. 

The Large rat skeletons are the size of horses and always hungry for new creatures to join their undeath.

A ghost of an untimely death was killed nearby by foul play. The ghost is not clear why it died, and it wants to find out.

Actions

These actions describe what’s happening as the PCs approach the encounter.

Running from the city guards can happen if the occupant is a criminal or if they’re innocent but have been framed for a crime.

Running from a crime lord’s gang usually happens when the occupant owes the crime lord money or a favor, but can also mean the crime lord’s assassins have been hired to kill the occupant.

If the occupant is trying to light a fire above ground, their success means the shacks and houses of the area catch fire soon after, leading to a conflagration of this end of the city. If the occupants are in the sewers, they are misguided, as there’s nothing dry to burn.

The occupant casting a newly created spell is perhaps testing a creation of its own or working out a scroll found somewhere.

If the occupant is eating the remains of a dinosaur, use a Tiny dinosaur for a Large occupant or a Medium dinosaur for a smaller occupant. Make it a type of meat that wouldn’t naturally be in the area.

If the occupant is searching for a secret trap door they look to be searching feverishly for something, but won’t admit what unless threatened or persuaded. 

If the occupant is dragging a cage with an animal inside the animal is awake and fighting to escape. The animal is a rare and valuable one.

If the occupant is laughing madly, it won’t be able to explain why or stop laughing for 1d8 minutes. After that, they won’t remember laughing, and any questioning about the laughing fit makes them hostile toward the characters. 

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