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Column Welcome to the Page of a Thousand DM Tables!

Cities - Adventures (Main Table)
City Adventure Items (Subtable)
City Adventure People (2 Subtables)
Cities - Customs - Clothing (Main Table)
Unusual Item of Clothing (Subtable)
Citizen Subgroups (Subtable)
Marriage Groups (Subtable)
Cities - Customs - Speech and Mannerisms (Main Table)
Distinctive Gestures (Subtable)
Distinctive Greetings and Departures (Subtable)
Distinctive Expostulations (Subtable)
Cities - People on City Streets
Main Characteristic of Appearance (Subtable)
Clothing (Subtable)
Truly Unusual Characteristics (Subtable)
The Person's Activity(Subtable)
Cities - Inns
Problems with Rooms
Low Quality Dinners at an Inn
High Quality Dinners at an Inn

All material contained in this website is Copyright 2002-2004 by Matthew J. Finch unless otherwise identified. No claim is made herein, whether intentionally or inadvertently, to copyrighted materials of others.

Column

Cities - Customs - Clothing

Anyone who has read any of Jack Vance's novels knows the importance of strange local customs in setting a fantasy mood. Here are some odd customs of dress, beginning with a main table.

Odd Customs of Dress Table
1-2 - All citizens customarily wear a particular unusual item of clothing (see Unusual item of clothing subtable)
3-4 - Certain citizens (see citizen subgroup table) customarily wear a particular unusual item of clothing (see unusual item of clothing subtable)
5 - Visitors must wear an identifying badge, device, or article.
6 - Visitors of a particular PC class (eg, wizards, arcane spellcasters, fighters, etc) have to wear an identifying badge, device, or article.

Cities - Customs - Clothing - Unusual Item of
Unusual Item of Clothing Subtable
1 Pointy hat
2 Pointy shoes
3 jingle bells
4 metal or wooden box
5 wooden spoon
6 spray of feathers
7 ribbons
8 flowers
9 nose ring
10 single earring
11 embroidered badge
12 sleeves too long
13 normal item of clothing, but uniform color (eg, red gloves)
14 gloves
15 wooden shoes
16 hat with wide brim
17 tattoo
18 relict (mummified ancestor scalp, necklace of your baby teeth, lock of hair from your wife, mother, etc)
19 metal gauntlet or other item of armor
20 mask or veil

Citizen Subgroup
1 - Members of a particular guild
2 - Anyone not a member of any guild
3 - Females
4 - Males
5 - By Marriage (see Marriage groups subsubtable)
6 - Members of a particular race
7 - Members of a particular religion
8 - Members of a political faction (check "power groups")
9 - Members of a particular social class (ala Hindu untouchables)
10 - Criminals of a particular kind (ala the Scarlet Letter)

Marriage Groups Subsubtable
1 - Single Males
2 - Single Females
3 - Married Males
4 - Married Females
5 - Uncles
6 - Aunts

City Customs (Speech and Mannerisms)
1 Avoid eye contact
2 Nod throughout another’s speech
3 Address foreigners as “Sir Foreigner,” or other “foreigner” appellation
4 Bow constantly
5 Distinctive Gesture instead of nodding to indicate affirmative or negative response
6 Distinctive Gesture when confronted with agreement or disagreement
7 Distinctive Greeting
8 Distinctive Expostulation
9 Calling people (including total strangers of any gender) by a term of endearment such as “Darling, Brother, Lovey”
10 Calling people by their full name, with any applicable titles
11 Referring to self by name, in third person

Distinctive Gesture Subtable (d12)
1 Fist over heart
2 Open hand over heart
3 Fist to forehead (hard or soft contact)
4 Smack self
5 Smack other
6 Flutter fingers
7 Low whistle
8 Clasp own hands
9 Flick own ears with fingers
10 Smack sole of foot
11 Tap nose
12 Snap fingers

Distinctive Greeting/Departure Subtable (d8)
1 Any Distinctive Gesture
2 “Hail fellow, well met”
3 “May blessings rain upon your {any body part or internal organ}”
4 “Have you eaten {or any other bodily function} this day?”
5 “Good morrow”
6 “Good day, may your {body part} never fail”
7 “Are you lost?” (this may refer to the status of the immortal soul, which invites misunderstandings)
8 Nonsense Word (write it down, or you will forget it)

Distinctive Expostulation (d6)
“Bless your heart”
“Mercy”
“Heavens of {deity}”
Nonsense word (write it down, or you will forget it)
The term for a group of animals (Example: “Covey of Quail,” or “Herd of Bullocks”)
“May you have ample {name of ability: strength, dexterity, constitution, etc}”

Cities - Adventures
1 Capture a criminal
2 Defeat a rival faction
3 Deliver an item or message (Roll on City Adventure Item Table)
4 Disrupt an event (Roll on City Adventure Event Table)
5 Find a lost item (Roll on City Adventure Item Table)
6 Floor or street collapses over a small dungeon complex
7 Guard a building
8 Guard an event (Roll on City Adventure Event Table)
9 Guard a person (Roll on City Adventure People Table)
10 Impersonate a person (roll on City Adventure People Table)
11 Investigate a crime
12 Investigate a strange event (roll on City Strange Events Table)
13 Kidnap a person (roll on City Adventure People Table)
14 Kill an enemy
15 Protect innocents from disaster or monster
16 Rescue a person (roll on City Adventure People Table)
17 Rob a building
18 Smuggle someone (or something) out of the city
19 Win a competition
20 Participate in a Deception or Con Game

City Adventure Subtable - Item
1 Artwork
2 Letter
3 Magic Item
4 Merchant’s Cargo
5 Money
6 Religious Artifact
7 Scroll
8 Stolen Goods

City Adventure Subtable - People
First Table: Adjective
1 Adulterous
2 Convicted
3 Diabolical
4 Evil
5 Fake
6 Famous
7 Fugitive
8 Hidden
9 Hypnotized
10 Impoverished
11 Injured
12 Insane
13 Lovesick
14 Popular
15 Possessed
16 Rebellious
17 Religious Convert
18 Unpopular
19 Unwell
20 Wealthy

Second Table: Person
1-4 Alchemist
5-8 Artist
9-12 Author
13-16 Bard
16-19 Barbarian
20-23 City Official
24-27 Cleric
28-31 Commoner
32-35 Contest winner
36-39 Duel-winner
40-43 Fighter
44-47 Foreigner
48-51 Jeweler
52-55 Merchant
56-59 Nobleman
60-63 Preacher
64-67 Relative of a Nobleman
68-71 Rogue
72-75 Saboteur
76-79 Spy
80-83 Thief
84-87 Troublemaker or Rabble-Rouser
88-91 Widow
92-95 Wizard
96-00 Weapon maker


People on City Streets
Main Characteristic of Appearance

A person with:
Knock knees
A large nose
A long mustache
A braided beard
A bald head
Many warts
A skin disease
Extraordinarily long hair
No nose at all
A jaunty demeanor
Shifty eyes
A lazy eye
Eyes of two colors
Two left hands
Heavy eyebrows
A pointy chin
Greasy hair
One leg
One arm
Missing fingers
Perfectly symmetrical facial features
Unnaturally high cheekbones
Hair ribbons
A remarkable tattoo
Feathers in his/her hair
A dented forehead
Bulging eyes
A sloping forehead
A pronounced saggital crest
A pointy head
A priest’s tonsure
Small but definite horns
A bad burn scar
Scars from the pox
A dramatic level of bodily fat
An emaciated apperance
Clothing
A dramatic hat (select color of hat)
A blue tunic
A red tunic
A green tunic
A nondescript tunic
A black cloak
A red cloak
A green cloak
Dirty and stained garments
A wizard’s hat
Flour-dusted garments
Garments powdered with sawdust
A threadbare cap
A scholar’s gown
An embroidered vest
A fur-trimmed cloak

Truly Unusual Characteristics
Roaches crawling over his person
A pet rat
A pet monkey
A pet parrot
On stilts
Exuding a debilitating odor (considerably beyond the norm – acts as mild poison)
With wooden hands
With antlers
Wearing nothing
Riding an ox backwards

The Person's Activity
Butchering geese
Belching well-known prayers (Perform DC 10 – belching). Not a common perform skill…
Selling nuts
Selling roasted sweetmeats
Selling meat pastries
Selling painted rocks
Selling painted eggshells
Selling noodles
Selling cooked sausages
Selling souvenirs of the city
Selling holy symbols
Selling holy relics
Selling trained dogs
Selling roast chicken
Selling drinks of fruit juice mixed with water
Selling patents of nobility on the sly (inexpensive, too)
Offering haircuts
Offering baths (in large kettle on street)
Offering tarot card readings
Offering alchemical substances from PH at 10% discount
Offering reading lessons
Offering writing lessons
Offering Perform (Speaking) lessons
Juggling
Tumbling
Swallowing swords
Eating fire
Walking on coals
Exhibiting dancing animals
Displaying trained or friendly monster (cockatrice, grig, etc)
Drawing caricatures of passers-by
Entertaining passers-by with friendly games of chance
Singing ballads
Playing musical instruments
Making wood carvings to order
Making political speeches
Making religious speeches
Yelling obscenities at passers-by
Yelling obscenities at merchant
Engaged in an impropriety
Collecting alms
Begging

Inns - Problems with rooms
1 Bad smell
2 Cold draft from a cracked window
3 Window shutter is broken and bangs in the wind
4 Sheets are dirty
5 Bed has fleas in it
6 Water drips from ceiling
7 People making noises in room next door
8 Mouse keeps trying to get at your possessions
Inns - Low Quality Dinners
1 Black bread and soft (smelly) goat cheese
2 Boiled eggs and pickled herring with buttered rolls
3 Boiled mutton and an apple
4 Boiled salt pork with slightly stale bread
5 Fried turnips with pickled beets and bread
6 Rabbit stew
Inns - High Quality Dinners
1 Stewed rabbit served over a bed of wild rice
2 Venison sausage and crusty black bread
3 Herb chicken seethed in wine, with a vinaigrette salad
4 Garlic-crusted roast mutton with a salad of field greens
5 Roast beef, mashed potatoes and lentils
6 Sausages mixed into mashed potatoes, served with leeks
7 Slices of roast venison with gravy, served with dumplings
8 Grilled codfish with a cream sauce, served with fried onions
9 Fluffy pastries filled with spiced meat, served with watercress.
10 Eggs poached in butter, served with grilled salmon and chives


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