Long time no see!
I am preparing a longer post. But now I want to share with you a random generator that I'm using it to determine NPC intentions, a.k.a. plots (I've lately given up on using this word in the narrative sense) during the session preparation.
First, we have the actor.
Actor:
- Empty (and actually impossible, this is a 2d12 check, I just don't like starting from 2)
- Empty
- Empty
- Reporter
- Organised crime
- Cops
- Principal
- Vice Principal
- Idoru
- Teachers
- Classmates
- Social Media drama
- Main Yokai
- Secret organisation 1 Ninja clan 2 Shinto priest 3 Buddhist priest 4-5 Yokai hunters 6 "Dark Side" priest
- Side Yokai
- School Bullies
- Delinquents
- Bosozoku bikers
- Family Drama
- Otakus
- Zaibatsu
- Foreign spies
- Japanese counter-intelligence
- Other Yokai
Note: the reasons I have "empty" is because other NPCs are meant to be written there if I want to up their chances of coming up (like, if they're actively searching for the PCs).
Then we have the Intentions.
I have written them in "shortform" using the Yin and Yo concept: Yin means the intention is passive, in extreme form it might be reversing the actor and the object, or meaning the attempt is ill-advised).
The five elements mean that you achieve your goals via unyielding strength and resilience (Chi, earth), flexibility, adaptivity and emotion (water, Sui), energetic, forceful, aggressive, flashy action (Ka, fire), evasion, freedom of movement and momentum (air, Fu), or spontaneity, inventiveness, spirit (Ku, the void).
Just remember: the elements have their dark side as well. Earth can be unable to adapt, water can be indecisive, fire can be scared (as fear is the other side of aggression), air can be wasting time aimlessly, and the void can be allowing space for a negative influence.
With that in mind, you can see what this table means:
Intentions
- Earth, yin
- Earth, yo
- Water, yin
- Water, yo
- Fire, yin
- Fire, yo
- Air, yin
- Air, yo
- Void, yin
- Void, yo
And last, object, the thing upon which the intention is focused.
Roll 2d8-1
(I wasn't in the mood for another "empty" entry in a table).
- The Prince
- The Princess
- The Samurai
- The Peasant
- The Wanderer
- The Artisan
- The Shogun
- The Moneylender
- The Priest
- The Doctor
- The Teacher
- The Student
- The Sumotori
- The Entertainer
- The Mendicant
And of course, you can just use one of them. Like, I often just roll 1d10 to determine the approach an NPC is going to take in a conversation. Or I could roll 2d10, and pick whichever is closer to a specific result (say, 9, for someone using his spiritual power for nefarious purposes).
Or I could just roll 2d8 to determine what kind of a person this is they're meeting.
