Random tables ahoy: Plot Generators

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:

1. Empty (and actually impossible, this is a 2d12 check, I just don't like starting from 2)
2. Empty
3. Empty
4. Reporter
5. Organised crime
6. Cops
7. Principal
8. Vice Principal
9. Idoru
10. Teachers
11. Classmates
12. Social Media drama
13. Main Yokai
14. Secret organisation 1 Ninja clan 2 Shinto priest 3 Buddhist priest 4-5 Yokai hunters 6 "Dark Side" priest
15. Side Yokai
16. School Bullies
17. Delinquents
18. Bosozoku bikers
19. Family Drama
20. Otakus
21. Zaibatsu
22. Foreign spies
23. Japanese counter-intelligence
24. 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

1. Earth, yin
2. Earth, yo
3. Water, yin
4. Water, yo
5. Fire, yin
6. Fire, yo
7. Air, yin
8. Air, yo
9. Void, yin
10. 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).

1. The Prince
2. The Princess
3. The Samurai
4. The Peasant
5. The Wanderer
6. The Artisan
7. The Shogun
8. The Moneylender
9. The Priest
10. The Doctor
11. The Teacher
12. The Student
13. The Sumotori
14. The Entertainer
15. 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.