Sooner or later, your players will ignore your narrative breadcrumbs in favor of aiding a random NPC. This is good and right. But it helps to be prepared when it happens!
One Roll Wonders are a way to throw together RPG locations and points of interest in the time it takes for a bathroom break!
Grab one of each of the polyhedral dice: d4, d6, d8, d1, d12, and d20. Roll them all at once and consult the tables.
The results provide a ready-made bit of adventure. You might need to massage the outcome to create something coherent, or you might find a result that appeals to you more than what you rolled. Whatever gets the game moving is the right call!
Want more help keeping things running? The Prepared! Expanded Collection is an group of pre-generated one-shot adventures that helps you look like an improv master.
The Clearing in the Woods
Your PCs are roaming the woods and there’s a break in the trees ahead. (Maybe you’re even using the Kobold Press Map Tiles: Forests at your table!)
What’s in the clearing? Much like Chekhov’s hand crossbow, a good GM should make it relevant to the adventure, or why bother with the clearing at all?
| d4 | How did the PCs stumble across the clearing? |
| 1 | They are scouring the countryside for a safe place to rest |
| 2 | They are pursuing a wounded animal, who expired in the clearing |
| 3 | They are trusting the word of an oracle, who promised they would find safety along a dangerous path |
| 4 | They are following the tracks of an enemy, who has a day’s lead on them |
| d6 | What features does the clearing provide in case of weather effects? |
| 1 | Dense foliage provide protection from the rain |
| 2 | A bubbling brook covers conversation from prying ears |
| 3 | Shrubbery-reinforced embankments keep rain away from bedrolls |
| 4 | Towering trees attract errant lightning strikes |
| 5 | Bushes protect the clearing from high winds |
| 6 | Thick foliage obscures campfires from watchful eyes |
| d8 | What is the nearby foliage in the clearing? |
| 1 | Stout spruces |
| 2 | Airy artemisia |
| 3 | Towering basswoods |
| 4 | Flowering sweet potato vines |
| 5 | Arcing thickets of zebra grass |
| 6 | Aromatic sassafras |
| 7 | Hardy hornbeams |
| 8 | Leafy linden trees |
| d10 | What unexpected boon does the clearing provide? |
| 1 | Any water that remains in the clearing for at least eight hours is infused with restorative magic and becomes 1d4 + 1 potions of healing |
| 2 | A PC can befriend a benign spirit that follows them around, acting as an unseen servant |
| 3 | A previous visitor left behind a lute with a dagger hidden in the body |
| 4 | A PC can wipe mud from the clearing on their face, providing advantage on CHA (Intimidation) checks for 1 hour |
| 5 | If they spend hit dice during a short rest in the clearing, a PC can reroll a number of hit dice equal to their PB |
| 6 | A meal eaten in the clearing is so filling that the PC doesn’t need to eat for a week |
| 7 | After placing blossoms in the clearing under their tongue, a PC can cast speak with animals without using a spell slot |
| 8 | Silt found in the clearing can be used as the spell component for illusory script |
| 9 | A previous visitor left behind a quiver containing 1d4 + 1 arrows or bolts of +1 ammunition, an hourglass, and a steel mirror |
| 10 | PCs who complete a long rest in the clearing regain hit dice previously expended |
| d12 | What signs of nearby danger can the PCs find, if they only look? |
| 1 | Birds don’t sing near the clearing |
| 2 | Standing stones in the clearing hum in the moonlight |
| 3 | If left unattended, water boils without an evident heat source |
| 4 | Flavors and smells are heightened while in the clearing |
| 5 | Shadows cast in the clearing seem longer than they have any right to be |
| 6 | Dried droppings seem too large to come from forest creatures |
| 7 | The nighttime howls of carnivorous creatures echo around the woodlands |
| 8 | Food and drink brought into the clearing spoils immediately |
| 9 | Fires lit in the clearing cast light but burn cold |
| 10 | Rocks move around the clearing when one isn’t looking |
| 11 | Just outside the clearing are six freshly dug graves |
| 12 | The clearing wanders the countryside at night, settlings at a new location just before dawn |
| d20 | What monstrous habitat is the clearing near? |
| 1 | A family of four to six ettercaps |
| 2 | A bulette in need of slumber |
| 3 | A mated pair of ankhegs |
| 4 | A decomposing heap of a shambling mound |
| 5 | A hound of the night, loose from its shadow fey handlers (see Tome of Beasts 1) |
| 6 | A coterie of alseid warriors (see Tome of Beasts 1) |
| 7 | A roost of crimson drakes (see Tome of Beasts 1) |
| 8 | A bone swarm (see Tome of Beasts 1) composed of murder victims buried in the clearing |
| 9 | A marauding chuhaister (see Creature Codex) |
| 10 | A gulon (see Creature Codex)in need of a meal |
| 11 | A colony of acid ants (see Creature Codex) |
| 12 | A wounded elder ghost boar with 74 hp (see Creature Codex) |
| 13 | The maddening tendrils of an eldritch ooze (see Tome of Beasts 2) |
| 14 | A pair of crocotta (see Tome of Beasts 2) who use their mimicry to try tricking the PCs |
| 15 | Brain hoods (see Tome of Beasts 2)that awaken at nightfall |
| 16 | Entrancing dancing foliage (see Tome of Beasts 2) |
| 17 | A slumbering oaken sentinel (see Tome of Beasts 3) |
| 18 | The creeping liana of an asp vine (see Tome of Beasts 3) |
| 19 | A tripwire patch (see Tome of Beasts 3) fertilizes the land around the clearing |
| 20 | A ferocious grolar bear alpha (see Tome of Beasts 3) |
