Gathox Vertical Slum: District Tram Lines and Encounter Tables

After reading through David Lewis Johnson's excellent Gathox Vertical Slum for probably the 3rd time now, I decided to make my own DIY content for it. On a longish train ride recently, I sketched up some ideas for a tram system through the slums. My idea is that the trams would not only provide a type of transit and a new location for a variety of random encounters while city-crawling, but also another means and strategy for the territory control and the gangland meta-game. For example, the PCs end up controlling a specific station as a source of income, but are constantly warring against another faction who controls the rest of the line. I felt that this new method of travel would work well in a futuristic/pan-galactic mad-max-esque urban landscape. The tram cars themselves are mostly ramshackle assemblages of discarded technology and are generally in need of constant upkeep. They aren't terribly safe to ride, but still shuttle tens of thousands of passengers a day. Although verticality is a huge part of the Gathox setting, I haven't placed the tram lines vertically within the world -- that's up to the DM. In my game I chose to go with elevated lines that directly followed streets at about six stories up. This led to a variety interesting scenarios and tense encounters.

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How It Works

Depending on where adventurers are in the slum at any given point will affect which lines are available to them. On the map below you can see the tentative placement of three haphazard tram lines, each of them connecting two of the three districts. Each line also comes with an indicated Danger Rating on a scale of 1 (safest) to 3 (most dangerous). 

GREEN LINE (3): connects The Kettle to Berchan Favela

BLUE LINE (2): connects The Kettle to The Craw

PINK LINE (1): connects Berchan Favela to The Craw

When PCs wish to use the tram to move within a district or between districts, they would pay the indicated fare to the operator, and the DM would roll on the encounter table once for the ride. So for example, if Vardax the Mutant, Kristi the Cosmic Doctor, and Lobat the Martial Master wanted to take the GREEN LINE 2 stops across The Kettle, the DM would roll once on the GREEN LINE ENCOUNTER TABLE after the PCs paid for 2 stops worth of travel. 

Map

Map courtesy of David's blog. 

Encounter Tables

GREEN LINE (3)

4GP / stop

1 - 5. Ride continues as normal

6. A small band (d4) of hyper-capitalist Kermen plant a flag on the tram car and declare by First Possession Theory that the tram car is now sole property of Kerman society. As such, they quickly begin an attempt to convert the tram car to small textile factory.
7. 1d6+1 X'Xul halt the tram using their space magic and attempt to enslave the passengers (including the PCs). 

8. One of the tram passengers unwittingly disturbs a trash pile in the rear of the carriage, causing 1d6 Arachnoclasts to spring into action, instantly riddling him with laser holes as they begin firing indiscriminately into the tram car. 

9. PCs board the tram car only to find 1d4 dead and dying commoners, potentially victims of a gang scuffle. With proper skills half of them can be saved.

10. As the tram creaks along, a nearby building is swallowed by Gathox, but several vagrants are able to leap from their windows and hang onto the moving carriage for dear life. One of them looks like she's falling though. If saved, she can be recruited as a lvl1 Street Tough hireling at no initial cost.

11. At the first station, a large human and several bodyguards board as well. It seems their leader, Shasta the Serpentigress, is looking for people vaguely matching the PC's description. PCs must persuade that they aren't the right people or be forcibly dragged all the way to the Gorgontula estate to talk to Shasta.

12. A Contrail Antenna flies alongside the tram, spouting inane conspiracy theories about the passengers and PCs alike. 

13. PCs pay for a tram ride, but are surprised when none shows up as expected. If they question the fare collector thoroughly enough, they might reveal that they were paid off to ignore any stoppages by a well-funded gang who wished to assassinate a rival gang leader (Krotex Motorhead, Lvl3 Soldier) riding the car. If the PCs can locate the stopped tram in time, they could potentially prevent the assassination. 

14. A Contrail Antenna flies alongside the tram, spouting inane conspiracy theories about the passengers and PCs alike. 

15. Kalina von Hammershmitzensteinbergovichdorf, a popular celebrity heiress, boards the tram car with a small army of personal servants and several guards. The servants sweep the ground in front of her and clear the rabble from the car. Kalina wears intricate neon and bejeweled robes and avant garde makeup to conceal her face from advanced facial recognition tech employed by the Mokron and some paparazzi.  

16. Tram car track/cable snaps/breaks and the whole carriage crashes through the ground into the sewers. The crash ends with the tram car in a pool of oil, and a group of 3d4 sewer children stalking the passengers as they exit. 

17. Gathox begins a planet-hop mid tram ride. Gravity is suspended, lights flicker and colors invert. The tram car seems to stretch to infinite length as all matter is extruded and contorted. The effect lasts seemingly forever and for no time at all. When Gathox finally arrives at its new home, things seem to resume as normal, but one of the PCs realizes that their arms and legs have been flipped, the result of an unprepared hyperspace jump.

18. Two upstart nightclub DJs stage a turntable battle on the tram car. The passengers, having decided the winner by the strength of their dancing, mob the loser and attempt to toss him from the moving carriage. If saved, the DJ can be hired as an entertainer to boost the income of any entertainment-type property owned by the PCs. 

19. A toxic jet spews from a nearby waste dump, soaking one side of the car in radioactive techno-waste. PCs near the jet of waste (50% chance) must make a DEX throw or suffer 1d6 damage of radiation burns, take a -2 penalty to CHA checks until they can clean themselves, and have a 10% chance of sprouting a random mutation. 

20. 4d4 pirates stop the tram with steel grappling hooks and quickly attempt to instal rocket boosters to the tram. This will take 5 turns. If successful, they turn on the rockets and attempt to fly the tram car out of Gathox into the wilds of the planet, and towards their base of operations. 

BLUE LINE (2)

8GP / stop

1 - 10.  Ride continues as normal

12. A tall, bald woman in neon robes and face paint slips into a seat near the party. She offers to join their street gang (lvl2 Cosmic Doctor) if you agree to help her assassinate the leader of the Free Bastards, the gang that killed her brother. 

13. Just as the group settles down on the tram, a supremely ugly mutant in a trench coat approaches  and asks if they want to buy any weapons from his "special supply". If so, he gives them an address to a hidden shop in The Kettle.

14. A fanatic of the Elven Primacy Hall leaps onto the tram car from above and tosses a smoke grenade into the car. All party must save vs. poison or hallucinate for 5 hours (-3 to hit). 

15. Two human street urchins board the car in the crowd at the next station, and ask among the crowd for donations to an acrobat troupe - worshippers of The Goddess Who Balances on Narrow Precipices. If donation is given by the party, they are invited to a performance in Berchan Favela. 

16. Shouting is heard from the front of the tram car as several Vulzari agents leap through the windows and assassinate the tram operator! They claim the tram for the Vulzari and attempt to hold the occupants hostage until they can be taken below ground for forcible conversion.

17. Some newly installed parts explode (50% chance of the explosion being near the party) instantly killing nearby occupants, or dealing 1d6 damage (save for half) to PCs. The explosion leaves the tram near a station but in a precarious situation (i.e. might be hit by another tram car, dangling and about to fall to the street, near a building that's about to collapse, etc.)

18. 1d6+1 gang members from a hostile Neighborhood Friendship Society board the tram and begin asking occupants for "protection money".

19. Several passengers in the back are openly smoking bakra root in the back of the tram, filling the cabin with an acrid smoke. Unless they're stopped, everyone on the tram is spun out by the next stop (save or -1 to all checks for 6 hours). 

20. As the PCs get up to exit the car 1d8+1 Sloughs crawl through the car, having already removed the face of the tram operator and one passenger! If left unchecked, they will harvest a number of faces equal to the number of rolled Sloughs -2 before returning underground. 

PINK LINE (1)

12GP / stop

1 - 15. Ride continues as normal
16. An otherwise uneventful ride is interrupted when the tram's (already unstable) power goes out, leaving it stranded halfway between two stations.
17. A Mi-Chiw elite death squad (1d6+1, level at DM discretion) boards the tram at the next station, shouting loudly that they're searching for someone. The grotesque turtle-people snatch a small boy from his mother if nothing is done and leave the tram car before it departs.
18. Without warning a fight breaks out between d4 humans and d4 Glaatu down the aisle of the tram car. Laser blasts start firing and other passengers flee or hide.
19. If PCs are lucky they'll notice that the tram has begun to move in a direction it wasn't supposed to. It turns out that the Gathox tendrils have eaten the next station, and now the tram is headed deep into the underground caverns where swallowed buildings dwell.
20. A massive sandstorm from the deserts of Red Doom sweep through the city, filling the tram car with a thick red sand haze. When it clears, the PCs realize that the tram has stopped, but they're now missing any currency they were carrying.

Reshaping Settings: Randomized Revolutionary Factions

Inspired by some events from one of my games (which I'll potentially detail later, but it involves a PC inspired laborer uprising an an Abhorrer) I decided to take a stab at making some random tables to determine some potential revolutionary factions to use in your game. Some of these might only work in certain settings, eras, or cultures, so feel free to pick and choose as you see fit for your own game! To determine the current size of the revolutionary faction, roll a d12, d8, or d4 and multiply by 100 for a large, medium, or small city or region respectively. Roll a d6: on a 1-2 the faction has been fomenting revolution only newly/recently, on a 3-4 the faction has been plotting revolution for several years, and on a 5-6 the revolutionary faction has been a constant presence in the area for most of recent history. 

Revolutionary Motivation
D10 Roll	Motivation
1	Poor laboring conditions
2	Fed up with vast wealth inequality
3	Smash patriarchal aristocrats
4	Smash matriarchal aristocrats
5	Wants repression of magic/mages
6	Wants to freely practice magic
7	Seeks abolition of town/city guard
8	Wants institution of official religion
9	Race/species nationalist group
10	Wants abolition of royal dynasty/court

Structure of Revolutionary Group
D10	Structure
1	Disorganized band of commoners
2	Coalition of street gangs
3	Well organized egalitarian cooperative
4	Triumvirate of aristocrat leaders with followers/family
5	Religious leader, clergy, and believers
6	Sleeper-cell cult leader instructing his loyal cultists
7	Dual city guard commanders and their soldiers
8	Temporary alliance between hired mercenary bands
9	Merchant union and laborers
10	Outsider culture/species inspiring a band of citizen followers

But the Twist Is...
D10	Twist
1	Group is being mind-controlled into revolution.
2	Group is being fed information by a mole in an opposing faction.
3	Group is backed by a deity of chaos.
4	Revolution being manufactured by elites in order to have populace consolidate their power.
5	Faction is host to a sleeper cell planted by an opposing group.
6	Group is terribly weak-willed and will disband without their figurehead/leader
7	Events in PCs' past sessions has inspired this revolution (and it's traced back to them).
8	Faction has secretly been spreading a deadly virus to achieve their goal.
9	Revolutionaries have turned to dark, evil magic to achieve their aims.
10	Heel turn! Re-roll on motivation table. This was secretly the group's motivation all along.

Location: Charnel Valley of Reverse Life

Occasionally a strong wind will crawl down the Southern faces of the Weeping Children towards the Flowering Expanse, and bring with it the stench and mind-scrambling sound of newly birthed beasts living life in reverse. 

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The few Vymrrysian scholars versed in such matters disagree as to the true nature of the Charnel Valley; some argue that beasts born from the Valley are simply the result of a powerful and unsettling necromantic spell, while others pursue the line of thought that such a place could only exist at the behest of a great and sick deity. Regardless of their reasoning, those who have witnessed its horrors firsthand rarely wish to speak of such things again. Currently missing scholar Izrid Yildirim spoke of it thusly:  

"I sat perched on the edge of a great rib bone which was growing slowly out of the rock face and looked down on the Valley. Below there was a furious and seething churn of activity. Freshly birthed beasts screamed as their bones were formed, their old and wrinkled flesh growing slowly over them, blood coalescing out of the putrid air to fill their newly old veins. Finally made, the beasts crawled, slithered, and slugged along on old and rickety limbs, growing younger by the day, each meal renewing their bodies. Within days, they became as wildling children, fresh and vivacious, slaughtering each other with abandon. The metalic stink of viscera fills the valley. Finally, they shrank, becoming infants amongst the carnage. Those lucky enough to go undisturbed in this kismet simply progressed back to fetal nothingness, the soil absorbing their remaining essence. By the time I was done watching, a week had passed, and the large bone I had been occupying had grown another several feet. I believe there is little to be gained by visiting such a place." 

Enter the Blood Ring (WIP)

Somewhere among the vast sandstone sprawl of Vymrrys, by moon and candle-light, the always-moving Blood Ring is constructed from wooden boards and packed sand. A crowd gathers around the edges, awaiting the first fight of the night. As word of the event spreads through the slum, more spectators gather on nearby roofs, balconies, and bridges, looking down through the clotheslines to see the ring. Stars glimmer in the night above, the crowd grows restless, and some minor drug-fueled scuffles break out. Finally, the first two combatants are led to the circular fighting pit by their trainers, already grunting and sweating in the nighttime heat. A hush falls over the assembled audience as the two half-orcs enter, staring intensely at each other. Each bends down and scatters a fist-full of sand into the hot breeze – a sign of respect before the bout. The elven referee paces the ring, reminding the fighters of the rules that must be observed: no weapons, no eye pokes, no strikes below the belt. When both men agree, he rings the bell and the fighters charge towards each other. The crowd roars as the combatants rain blows upon each other, and dark orcish blood splatters the earth. As the night goes on, many fighters enter the ring, and some even manage to leave relatively unscathed. By first sunlight, the ring is destroyed, and the audience disperses, the location for next weeks’ bouts having been decided. The Blood Ring never stays in one district for long, but the records of its fighters are kept and tallied by many, and its great champions are known far and wide.

If the party stumbles upon the Blood Ring, or seeks it out using gathered information, here are some things that might happen:

Roll 1d20 on the following random table

1. The party encounters a fighter preparing in a nearby alleyway, but he looks weak and weary. He thinks he’s been poisoned by his opponent ahead of the fight!
2. A brawl breaks out between 2d4 attendees. 
3. A bookie approaches the party and offers them inside information for betting on the next fight, in exchange for a favor the following day: she needs them to collect payment from someone who’s overdue.
4. 3d4 city guards approach the crowd and attempt to arrest anyone who doesn’t run!
5. A coach approaches the party, recognizing their potential, and offers to train them to fight in the Blood Ring, for a price. 
6. A fighter challenges the weakest party member to a match in the ring, and the crowd nearby erupts into applause! 
7. 1d4 shady aristocrats sit on private palanquins near the ring, surrounded by their bodyguards. The party overhears them discussing sending hitmen after a fighter who wasn’t supposed to win…
8. The party finds a dejected fighter under a nearby building canopy. He tells them that he needs to fight to feed his family, but can’t handle another loss in the ring.
9. A former adversary of the party is also at the Blood Ring! He/she calls them out for a group brawl to settle their beef once and for all. 
10. The party hears screaming as one of the combatants pulls a knife and charges his opponent!
11. Final fight of the night! A party member accidentally spills their drink as a challenger walks up to the Blood Ring through the crowd. He slips and knocks himself out on a misplaced stone. The promoter coerces him/her to enter in his laid out fighter’s stead against the reigning champ Dooran of the Stone.
12. As the party observes the fights, a group of cloaked thieves are stealing money from distracted audience members. 

Vymrrys Building Generator (WIP)

The following table can be used to quickly generate the vertical structure and connectivity of any building for which the DM might need more information. Individual floor layouts would have to be created separately. This is a work in progress and will be updated on and off. 

To start:

1. Roll a D4+1 (for a regular building) or D10 (for a tall tower, taking only results over 5) to determine how many floors tall the building will be. 
2. Roll a D6-1 to determine how many connections this building will have to nearby buildings via bridges. 
3. Roll on the below tables to determine what occupies the floors of the building, the shape of the building, and any interesting features. 

or

1. Pick and choose to suit your tastes or the where in the city the building is constructed.

D100

What’s On That Level

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46-50 51 - 100

Tavern Tannery Armorer Weaponsmith Alchemist General Store Jeweler Baker Butcher Hidden Brewery Weaver Schoolhouse Furrier Bookbinder Printer Tailor Orphanage Drug Den Hidden Winery Locksmith Stone-carver Mason Curiosity Shop Gambling Hall Brothel Theater Lawyer Barber Candle-maker Produce Store Sign-maker Bookstore Exotic Animal Bazaar Minor Church Major Church Woodworker Granary Architect Painter Aviary Observatory Fortune Teller Library Botanist Cult meeting place Wealthy Residence Residence

D6	Building Shape
1 2 3 4 5 6	Building is narrow but deep, has entrances on 2 parallel streets. Building is wide but shallow, takes up half of the current street. Building is identically wide and deep. Building twists, with each floor offset, doesn’t seem stable but is. Building has a flat backside, but rounded front. Building is wide and deep, but an interior courtyard takes up most of the space.

D8

Architectural Feature

1-4 5 6 7 8

Building is made from sandstone blocks without any real flourishes. Building is made from sandstone blocks, but includes twisting veins of orbicular diorite. Building is made from interlocking sandstone and lapis lazuli bricks. Building is made from sandstone blocks, but with wooden pegs driven partway into the walls for ivy to grow up. Building is made from sunbaked bricks that are slowly crumbling.

Bacchanalia of the Otter-People

DIONYSUS: Would you like to see their revels on the mountains?
PENTHEUS: I would pay a great sum to see that sight.

-The Bacchae, Euripedes

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In the southwest of Vymrrys, near where the boiling sea flows in through the western gate-locks to cool, a small enclave of otter-people make their homes. Some live scattered throughout the city, but most choose to live among their own. 

While they have coexisted among the humans, elves, and dwarfs of the city for as long as most can remember, speculation as to their origins remains. Some believe they came to the city from an island in the Boiling Sea (before it was boiling, of course) while others believe they migrated down the rocky cost from the tidal pools of the Eucalyptine Graves. Regardless of their origins, the Otter-people of Vymrrys have become a part of the rich tapestry of culture woven between the city's walls. 

One of the most talked-about cultural practices of the Vymrrysian Otter-people are their twice-yearly bacchanalia, to which very few outsiders are ever allowed to attend. Rumors of what transpires can be heard across the city when word gets out that one is soon to occur, though many of these are unfounded. 

Below are some sights, sounds, and encounters that PCs might experience if they are able to attend the Bacchanalia of the Otter-People. 

D20 Bacchanalia Encounters

1. A small band of D10 Otter-people parade over a small bridge shouting in ecstasy, swinging fresh fish carcasses on poles.
2. D4 otter-people thrash around in an alleyway by torchlight, for purposes unknown. 
3. A burly otter-woman accosts the group, her face-fur painted in white designs. She writhes among them and disappears, leaving them smelling of fish. 
4. D20 otter-men splash around in a small tidal pool, chanting the names of Otter-gods under elaborate silken canopies. 
5. A gang of D6 otter-cultists in horned masks rushes a gathering of D12 ecstatic bacchic revelers with sharpened fish knives!
6. An otter-elder approaches the group and warns them of the dangers of the Bacchanalia, before shrieks and splashes can be heard from a nearby alley.
7. D6 (minimum of 2) otter-people carry a palanquin made of bone through a shallow tidal pool. It bears a juvenile otter-person wearing a fresh shark-maw mask. 
8. Fish blood bubbles and overflows from a cistern atop a rock in a courtyard as D20 otter-women twirl in circles. 
9. The group hears slapping noises from far off, as if a wet fish was being smacked against a rock. 
10. D4 unfortunate elves slumped against a wall in a drugged stupor. They smell of clams. Cracking and hammering sounds can be heard from nearby. If rescued and revived, they reveal themselves to be treasure hunters looking for the Labyrinth of Yal'Sin.
11. A shark carcass is gleefully carved into by D6 otter-people juveniles as they laugh joyously.
12. D8 otter-people dye silks in luminous colors, occasionally whipping the dye to splatter fellow bacchanalians. 
13. D4 nearby otter-people inhale whiffs of an etherial green substance, and offer some to the group as they pass by. (Drug is an opiate-like substance that grants D10 temporary HP for 2 hours, at a cost of -2 to hit)
14. D6 otter-thieves spring from a tidal pool wrapped in shark leathers, taking advantage of the revelry to strike at the interlopers!
15. An otter-priest in shark leathers challenges one of the party members to a duel with swordfish spears as revelers roll around on silk sheets near an altar piled high with fish.
16. A drunken dwarf slings fish guts at the party. If approached, in his drunken haze he reveals to the party that he is the son of a wealthy aristocrat waging a shadow war with the snake-man House of Zell. 
17. A parade of D100 otter-warriors in pufferfish helmets holding sea-anemone flails and swordfish lances stride down the street. Nearby bacchanalians shower them with luminescent dye and fresh clams. If approached, a soldier informs the group of their recent campaign against the Crab Men of the Seething Tidepools. 
18. Shouting and carousing can be heard from behind a nearby doorway. If opened, several otter-people are chasing each other around the room and smearing each other with golden paste. A subtle green haze fills the air. (Drug that if inhaled for more than a minute, acts as a stimulant. Affected PCs take D6 psychic damage but gain +1 to hit for 2 hours)
19. D4 otter-people sing joyously from a raised platform in a nearby pool as a crowd cheers and showers them with dried kelp. 
20. A crowd of D100 bacchanalians dance through a tightly packed alleyway as the sound of drums and horns can be heard. This group all have brightly painted fur, but are not wearing silks.