Part one of this series used six tables to define the physical properties of a tavern (no guest accommodations) or inn (with guest accommodations), plus – because the modifiers needed were at hand – the meals provided by the kitchens.

Part two used another six tables to determine everything that directly contributed to the ambiance of the establishment, from the personality of the owner through to the decorations on the walls. In this final part of the generator, we’ll deal with the bartender’s family and process the worksheets that bring the whole tavern or inn together, ready for use.

Tavern Generator (cont)

We pick up the process right where we left off. Note that it is impossible to use most of these tables without having completed the earlier parts of the process.

Table 13: Family Size – Children in residence

Roll d% to determine the size of the barman’s family-in-residence. May give a modifier to Table 13a. Each entry also gives a Family Size Modifier representing the number of “staff” the family can provide (younger children are less than a whole worker). A pre-calculated distribution of ages is assumed.

d%	Number of children in residence	Modifier to co-owner’s table (13a), if any	Family Size Modifier
01-07	No Children	–	–
08-18	1 child, aged 5-6	+0	0.25
19-42	2 children ages 3-5 and 7-8	+0	0.25
43-62	3 children, ages 2-5, 5-6, and 8-9	+0	0.5
63-76	4 children, ages 1-4, 5-6, 6-7, and 9-10	+1	1
77-86	5 children, ages 1-4, 4-5, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10	+1	1.25
87-93	6 children, ages 1-4, 5, 6, 7, 8-9, and 10-12	+2	2
94-98	7 children, ages 1-4, 5, 5, 6, 7-8, 9-10, and 11-14	+2	3.25
99-00	8 children, ages 1-4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-11, 11-13, and 14-19	+3	3.5

Technical Notes: The number of children calculation is based on (2d6+d8)/(d4+1), but has been modified somewhat, notably to increase the chance of no children and remove the 9- & 10-children results. The model for the distribution of ages for the bartender’s children is (5d6+d8+1)/(d4+1). Try them when you need to generate family details, they work :)

 

Table 13a: Family Size: Co-Owners In Residence?

Roll d10 to determine the presence of co-owners who also work in the tavern. Some results require rolls on Tables 13b and 13c. Some entries also give a bonus to the Family Size Modifier.

d10 + Modifier from Table 13	Co-owner presence	Family Size Modifier for spouse, if any
1-4	Single Parent	+0
5-7	Couple	+1
8	Couple with Third Party/Parties (-1 guest quarters) – roll on tables 13b and 13c	+1
9+	Single Parent with Third Party/Parties (-1 guest quarters) – roll on tables 13b and 13c	+0

Table 13b: Family Size: Parental Presence

Roll d20 to determine the presence of parents or in-laws. Most entries also give a bonus to the Family Size Modifier.

d20	Presence of parents or in-laws	Family Size Modifier (if any) for parents or in-laws	Guest Quarters Adjustment
1-7	no parents, no parent-in-laws in residence	+0	-1 (50% if gender matches barman)*
8-10	father	+1	-1
11-13	mother	+1	-1
14-15	father & mother	+2	-1
16-17	father-in-law	+1	-1
18-19	mother-in-law	+1	-1
20	both father- and mother-in-law	+2	-1

* residence for unrelated partner. The “50%” indicates that half the time, the partner will share quarters with the barman to save money / make more profit. Note that this assumes that the Barman’s gender is known, and could be either male or female, even though no such determination has been made in the course of generating these results.

Table 13c: Family Size: Non-parental relatives in residence

Roll d% to determine the presence of relatives other than parents and in-laws.

If parents, in-laws, and other relatives are not present, any third party indicated by Table 13a is an unrelated business partner who also works in the Tavern. Most entries also give a bonus to the Family Size Modifier.

Add 1/4 of the Family Size Modifier to the Family Residence size from table 1 and make a note of the result – more people require slightly bigger accommodations.

d%	Additional relatives in residence	Family Size Modifier	Guest Quarters Adjustment
01-13 (13%)	None, reroll if this occurs on a “roll twice” check	+0	-0
14-27 (14%)	Brother	+1	-1 (70% 0, if gender matches barman)*
28-41 (14%)	Sister	+1	-1 (70% 0, if gender matches barman)*
42-45 (4%)	Stepfather	+1	-1 (25% 0, if gender matches barman)*
46-49 (4%)	Stepmother	+1	-1 (25% 0, if gender matches barman)*
50 (1%)	Stepfather and Stepmother or other exotic	+2	-1
51-53 (3%)	Stepbrother	+1	-1 (30% 0, if gender matches barman)*
54-56 (3%)	Stepsister	+1	-1 (30% 0, if gender matches barman)*
57-59 (3%)	Brother-in-law	+1	-1 (25% 0, if gender matches barman)*
60-62 (3%)	Sister-in-law	+1	-1 (25% 0, if gender matches barman)*
63-64 (2%)	Brother-in-law and Sister-in-law	+1	-1 (25% 0, if gender matches barman)*
65-70 (6%)	Cousin	+1	-1 (30% 0, if gender matches barman)*
71-72 (2%)	Uncle	+1	-1 (50% 0, if gender matches barman)*
73-74 (2%)	Aunt	+1	-1 (50% 0, if gender matches barman)*
75 (1%)	Uncle and Aunt	+2	-1
76-77 (2%)	Nephew	+1	-1 (60% 0, if gender matches barman)*
78-80 (2%)	Neice	+1	-1 (60% 0, if gender matches barman)*
81-83 (3%)	Grandfather	+1	-1 (80% 0, if gender matches barman)*
84-86 (3%)	Grandmother	+1	-1 (80% 0, if gender matches barman)*
87-88 (2%)	Grandfather and Grandmother	+2	-1
89-90 (2%)	Grandson	+1	-1 (75% 0, if gender matches barman)*
91-92 (2%)	Granddaughter	+1	-1 (75% 0, if gender matches barman)*
93-00 (8%)	Roll twice, re-rolling this result if it recurs	–	–

* indicates accommodations shared with the Barman. Note that this assumes that the Barman’s gender is known, and could be either male or female, even though no such determination has been made in the course of generating these results.

Table Notes:

• The table above reasonably accurately represents the social norms of the real world, shorn of any gender bias in the results, i.e. assuming that women are just as likely as men to become soldiers and get killed in battles, similar birthrates and survival rates, similar inheritance laws, etc. However, it is capable of near-infinite adjustment to reflect social practices within your campaign, and GMs are encouraged to make such adjustments. To facilitate this, the table indicates after each roll the percentage share allocated to that result.
• For example, it might be traditional for a second child to apprentice or understudy at a brother’s business as second-in-line to inherit that business should the brother’s first son die young. This would greatly increase the “nephew”, “niece”, “uncle”, and “aunt” presences, at the expense of reducing the likelihood of sibling co-owners.
• “Cousins” are possibly over-represented, but this is a staple of fantasy that recurs frequently.
• Some relationships were deemed sufficiently improbable that they are not explicitly described, such as “Grandparent-in-law”. Such relationships can be assumed to be encompassed within the most closely-related category, i.e. “Grandfather-in-law” could be included in “Grandfather”, or included in the only such relationship to be afforded a place in the table, “Stepfather and Stepmother or other exotic”.
• That relationship probably requires a little explanation, though it’s not completely inobvious when you think about it: Couple marry and have a child (our barman). One spouse dies, the other remarries. The surviving spouse then dies, and the surviving second spouse remarries. The result is that the child is related to both the married “parents” present only through past marriages, hence “Stepfather and Stepmother” are in residence.

Table 14: Employees & Entertainment

Roll 2d4, add both the Tavern Size Modifier and Commons Size Modifier to determine the number of staff required to maintain and operate the Tavern.

Subtract the Barman’s Staff Modifier from the result. Subtract the total Family Size to get the number of paid employees required. Note that it is up to the GM to determine how many staff the Tavern actually employs, taking into consideration the Barman’s personality.

The third line of the worksheet uses some of these numbers to calculate the number of rolls to be made on Table 15. Any entertainers are in addition to the staff numbers indicated. A “1/3” result means roll an additional time and decide based on the result whether or not it suits the “look and feel” of the tavern; a “2/3” result means doing this twice. There is a minimum result of 1.

Specific, step-by-step, instructions may be found in the examples – consult them if anything is unclear.

2d4 (a)	+ Tav Size Mod	+ Cmmns Size Mod	= Subtotal 1
	+	+	=
Subtot 1	– Barman	– Family Size	= Paid Employees Rqd
	–	–	=
Tav Size Mod	+ Cmmns Size Mod	= Subtotal 2	1/3 Of Subtotal 2 =
	+	=	/3=

Table 15: Entertainment by Tavern Size Modifier

Roll d% and cross-reference with the Tavern Size Modifier to determine the type of entertainment (if any) offered by the Tavern. GMs should override this result if they have something specific in mind, eg a high-stakes poker game in a back room. Each entry is accompanied by relative size for the space inside the tavern that is consumed by the entertainment. Multiple rolls may be required on this table, as determined in the previous step.

The entertainments on offer can reinforce or clarify the ambiance determinations, or can contradict and cloud that ambiance. It is vitally important that these results achieve the first and not the second; this may require a degree of censorship, an element of creative reinterpretation, or even an outright reject-and-reroll by the GM.

Table Notes:

• Some activities may be illegal in some societies. The GM should decide based on the barman’s personality whether to accept such results or roll again.
• Some activities may simply be unheard-of, socially taboo, or just culturally inappropriate. The GM should decide based on the barman’s personality whether to accept such results or roll again, with the latter the more frequent choice.
• Some activities may be euphemisms for less socially-acceptable pastimes, eg a “sparring ring” might actually be used for cock-fighting. Such substitutions/interpretations are for the GM to decide, but the lower the quality of the establishment and more disreputable the barman, the more likely they would be.
• Some activities may require materials that are much rarer or completely unavailable, eg Billiards, Pool, and Snooker requires a source of ivory.The referee is free to reroll any results that don’t make sense. It is also recommended that if there are any such results on the table, the GM should replace them with something else – whether that be pigeon-keeping, chess, falconry, displays of magic, or public meetings is up to him.
• The tables were derived by mapping the likelihood of that much space being devoted to such an activity in a tavern or inn of that size, and has produced some anomalies – for example, there are only two entries for “outside entertainment” – one for lawn bowls and one for a sports team’s changing rooms. If the GM wishes to increase the likelihood of such results because they are more culturally appropriate than shown, I recommend adding:
  • d10-1 plus tavern size mod to the d% roll, increasing the range of results depending on the size of the tavern, and extending the table accordingly up to a maximum possible result of 116, or
  • d20-1 plus tavern size mod to the d% roll, increasing the range of results depending on the size of the tavern, and extending the table accordingly up to a maximum possible result of 126.
• I have included space for eight additional entries in the table for this purpose. The effect will be a distortion in the likelihood of low-roll results, as shown by the probability graphs that follow the table.

d20 by Tavern Size Mod					Entertainment
Tav Size Mod 0	Tav Size Mod 1	Tav Size Mod 2	Tav Size Mod 4	Tav Size Mod 6
01-02	01-03	01-04	01-03	01	attached bowling green(s) (0)
03-09	04-08	05-09	04-07	02-03	backgammon (0.25)
10-13	09-12	10-14	08-12	04-05	bingo (0.25)
14-28	13-21	15-19	13-16	06-07	card games/gambling (0.5)
29-38	22-26	20-21	17	08	dartboard (one) (0.25)
39-53	27-35	22-26	18-21	09-10	dice games/gambling (0.5)
54-56	36-38	27-28	22	11	poetry recital (0.25)
57-65	39-46	29-32	23-24	12	small function room (0.5)
66-69	47-50	33-34	25	13	tiny stage, comedian/juggler/other performer (0.5)
70-78	51-58	35-39	26-30	14-15	tiny stage, live music (0.5)
79-80	59-60	40-41	31-32	16	billiards table (one) (0.75)
81-84	61-64	42-49	33-39	17-19	card games/gambling (1)
85-86	65-67	50-52	40-41	20-24	card games/gambling (1), small high-stakes area (0.25)
87	68-69	53	42	25	cooking/baking judging or market stall (0.75)
88-91	70-73	54-58	43-46	26-27	darts (multiple boards) (0.75)
92-93	74-76	59-64	47-50	28-29	dice games/gambling (0.75)
94-95	77-79	65-67	51	30-33	dice games/gambling (1.5), small high-stakes area (1)
96-97	80-81	68-69	52-53	34	pool table (one) (0.75)
98-99	82-83	70-71	54-55	35	snooker table (one) (0.75)
00	84-85	72-73	56-57	36	tiny stage & dance floor (1.25)
–	86-88	74-77	58-60	37-40	1 medium function room or 2 small function rooms (1.5)
–	89-90	78-80	61-65	41-43	attached sports field space includes change rooms (d6/4)
–	91-92	81-82	66	44	small stage, comedian/troupe (0.75)
–	93-95	83-86	67-70	45	small stage, live music (0.75)
–	96-97	87-89	71-74	46	small stage, pantomime production (0.75)
–	98-00	90-92	75-77	47-48	small stage, stripper/dancer & musician or other performance art (0.75)
–	–	93-94	78-79	48-52	1 large function room or 2 medium function rooms (2)
–	–	–	80	53-56	1 large function room or 2 medium function rooms (2.5)
–	–	95	81-82	57-60	duelling circle (2)
–	–	96	83-84	61-64	fencing circle (1.5)
–	–	97	85	65-68	medium stage, play or troupe of entertainers (1.25)
–	–	98	86-87	69-74	small stage & dance floor (2)
–	–	99	88-89	75-78	sparring/boxing ring (2.5)
–	–	00	90-91	79-82	wrestling ring (2.5)
–	–	–	92-94	83-88	billiards tables (2.25)
–	–	–	95-97	89-94	pool tables (2.25)
–	–	–	98-00	95-00	snooker tables (2.25)

Example: The Palomino and Fox (cont)

I knew that I wanted one multi-story establishment and one more typical two-level tavern. Turns out that this is the latter, though that question was up in the air for quite a while, until the randomly-generated ambiance resolved it. The tavern has come a long way in it’s concept from initial vague beginnings, and now has a definite character!

What we know so far:
The “Palomino and Fox” is a Medium-Large two-story rural tavern focused on hunting, especially fox-hunting; it hosts the local fox-hunting association, and has quite a respectable clientèle. It contains (with relative sizes) a bar (2), and a Large Common Room (5). Beneath the tavern is a Storage Cellar, and part of the first floor consists of the Family Dwelling (2). The walls of the tavern are rough-hewn stone.

Within the common room are 6 large tables that seat 20 each, occupying a total of 72 sqr m = 325 sqr ft = 13 x five-foot sqr spaces. The tables are L-shaped and made of wood.

The common room is decorated with stuffed/preserved animal heads. Behind the bar, several weapons are mounted, intact and ready for use. The bar serves very poor quality versions of the two most popular drinks, locally. There are no better alternatives available to patrons. People don’t come to the “Palomino and Fox” for the alcohol.

The Kitchens consist of Medium Stove, Large Ovens, Medium Grill (1.75) and a Medium-sized Food Prep area (2.5) relative to a business of this size [Total Kitchen Area 4.25]. The cuisine is Good Quality Food, a hearty meal with bread and meat/fish 0-1 (d3:0, 1/2, 1) day old, costing 7 sp.

Guest accommodations are medium,-sized, capable of accommodating 2-4 people, and of common quality. They are overpriced at 5.5 sp/night, or 3.5 gp/week. Relative room size 1.9.

The barman’s skills are given by d4+1, and he counts as 1 worker, so he’s nothing special as an inn-keep. He is tenderhearted, but hides it beneath a gruff, angry exterior. He is bold, fanatical about his religious beliefs, and tends to think with his emotions, not his head.

The barman has an ongoing conflict with a local Druidic order, who have used their powers to persuade all the foxes to go elsewhere. Rather than try to actually reach some settlement with the Druids, who have a philosophic objection to hunting for sport, the Barman has resorted to “cheating” to make sure that each hunt bags something they can brag about. If this deception is exposed, he will have even more trouble with the Druids, and hence is a little paranoid about strangers. Because of his cheating, the tavern has built up a reputation, publicly justifying the “overpriced” accommodations; in reality, the extra covers the cost of maintaining that reputation.

Tavern Size Modifier is 4, Commons Size Modifier is 3.

Resuming the example:
As elements of the ambiance fell into place last time, you can’t have helped but notice how most of our unanswered questions resolved themselves or otherwise melted away. All that remains is to dot the I’s and cross the T’s – starting with the question of who else lives, works, and co-owns the tavern? (I have to admit that my inclination is to staff it with a large family, but let’s see what the dice say…)

• Table 13: Roll 78: 5 children in residence, aged 1-4: 2, 4-5: 4, 5-6: 5, 7-8: 7, and 9-10: 10. There’s a +1 modifier to table 13a, and the family count as 1.25 staff (so far).
• Table 13a: 7 rolled +1 modifier from table 13 = 8: Family is a couple plus third parties residing in 1 of the guest quarters; roll on tables 13b and 13c. +1 family size modifier, so the family (not counting barman) represent 2.25 staff so far.
• Table 13b: Roll 17: Father-in-law present; +1 family size for a total of 3.25 staff, -1 guest quarters (as indicated previously).
• Table 13c: Roll 00: “Roll twice, rerolling this result if it recurs”.
• Table 13c, 2nd roll: Roll 10: “None, reroll if this occurs on a ‘roll twice'” (which it has).
• Table 13c, 3rd roll: Roll 61: Sister-in-law present, +1 family size to 4.25 staff, -1 guest quarters (bringing the total guest quarters occupied by extended family to -2). Note that the chance of shared accommodations does not apply because the barman has a primary family in residence.
• Table 13c, 4th roll: Roll 39: [Barman’s] Sister in residence, +1 family size to 5.25, and possibly -1 guest quarters. Normally, the chance of shared accommodations would not apply because the barman has a primary family in residence, but there is a possibility that the Sister and Sister-in-law share a room, so using the % chance of shared accommodations for that (70% chance, roll 66:= “yes”, so no additional loss of guest accommodations.
• “Table” 14, line 1:
  • 2d4, 4 rolled: write 4 in the first space of the worksheet.
  • + Tav Size Mod write 4, the Tavern Size Modifier, in the second space.
  • + Cmmns Size Mod write 3, the Commons Room Size Modifier, in the third space.
  • Subtotal 1 4+4+3=11, so write 11 in the space provided, and copy the total into the first space on the next line.
• “Table” 14, line 2:
  • – Barman write 1, the barman’s quality rating, in the second space of the worksheet.
  • – Family Size Mod write 5.25, the total Family Size determined above, in the third space.
  • Paid Employees Required 11-1=10; 10-5.25=4.75. Write 4.75 in the final space on this line, indicating that the tavern should employ 4 full-time and 1 part-time staff whenever it is open (which might in fact be 1 part-time worker (=0.5 full-time staff) and 1 casual worker (=0.25 full-time staff).
• “Table” 14, line 3:
  • Tav Size Mod write 4, the Tavern Size Modifier, in the first space.
  • + Cmmns Size Mod write 3, the Commons Room Size Modifier, in the third space.
  • Subtotal 2 4+3=7, so write 7 in the third space provided.
  • /3 = #Entertainments: 7 divided by 3 is 2 and 1/3, so write 2 1/3 in the final space, indicating that the tavern definitely has 2 entertainment features and may have a third.
• Table 15, roll #1 of 2 1/3: Roll 43 in the “Tavern Size Mod 4” column: darts (multiple boards) Relative size 0.75.
• Table 15, roll #2 of 2 1/3: Roll 51 in the “Tavern Size Mod 4” column: dice games (gambling) area (relative size 1.5), plus a small high-stakes area (relative size 1). Total relative spaces devoted to recreation so far = 3.25 (note this on some scratch paper).
• Table 15, roll #3 of 2 1/3: Roll 71 in the “Tavern Size Mod 4” column: small stage (0.75) with a pantomime production? I can see this working in a common inn or tavern, but it doesn’t fit the “hunting lodge” motif; disregarded. Final total of recreation space = 3.25.

With such a large family in residence – barman, wife, and father-in-law as the three co-owners, plus 5 children, and sisters to both the barman and his wife, for a total of ten people – this is definitely a family business. Several of the children are old enough to help out around the place and there are also plenty of adults to share the supervision of the younger children. I would suspect that several of the staff are also “strays” who have wandered in, down on their luck and looking to change their lives, who have been “adopted” by the barman and family as well.

All that starts to explain why the barman has felt the need to cheat. His is a story of stiff-necked pride leading him into a situation in which his sense of responsibility has forced a moral compromise – something that is clearly more palatable than admitting his error. The Palomino and Fox makes and excellent mini-adventure – the PCs can either discover and expose the barman, or can attempt to broker peace between the Druids and barman; and it can also serve as the springboard to something larger if there is more to the Druid’s motivations than meets the eye. It could easily be that the Druids tried to warn the local community of something but weren’t taken seriously – and so have taken matters into their own hands, efforts that the barman is unknowingly undermining.

It also seems likely that embarrassment over his hot-headedness and guilt over his “cheating” would make the barman more grumpy than usual. I’m picturing him as salt-of-the-earth but marred by pride and stubbornness, qualities that now have him in over his head.

Second example: The Spotted Parrot (cont)

The name is so suggestive of pirates that I wanted to play on that; this is an example of how to shape the results to fit a preconceived idea or requirement, essentially re-rolling until you get results that “fit” – not that I’ve had to do much of that, so far!

What is known so far:
The Spotted Parrot is a floating medium-sized tavern constructed in an unseaworthy vessel that has been “recommissioned”. It contains (with relative sizes) a bar (1.5), Small-Medium “Common Room” (3.5), Kitchens consisting of Small Stove & Ovens (0.75) and a Medium-sized Food Prep area (0.75) [Total Kitchen Area 1.5].

Meals are served on the deck, which functions as the “common room”, and have a definite seafood theme. There are 12 medium tables that seat 6 each of rectangular shape (2:1 proportions), made of stone; these occupy a total of 38.4 five-foot sqr spaces. The cuisine is of Good Quality and consists of bread and a small meal (soup, stew, or pie) with fish 0-1 (d3:0, 1/2, 1) day old, costing 6 sp per serve.

Accommodations are small staterooms below decks, (barely large enough for a couple), of good quality, but overpriced at 6 sp per night (relative room size 0.95). The family live in accommodations (1.5) also located in former “officer’s country” on the ship’s deck level, which is also where the kitchens are located. One of the Ship’s former Holds now function as cellar/storage area. For obvious reasons, these walls are of sawn timber.

The size of the kitchens makes it clear that these accommodations are quite limited in capacity; and, if anything, the number of people who can be seated at the tables (up to 60 at a time) is far in excess of what can be justified given the size of the kitchens, unless those tables are used for something more than meals. The suggestion is, therefore, that a lot of the tables are used for sitting and drinking, and not for the consumption of food.

The “common room” (deck) is decorated with leg irons, cutlasses, and other piratical/nautical memorabilia, while the space behind the bar is decorated with a large and quite good painting of a ship at sea in a storm.

The bar serves average quality versions of the two most popular local drinks and has 1 uncommon option of Good Quality available. Given the motif, the “two most popular” are probably rum and ale, and the third, uncommon option might be a wine or brandy.

The barman’s skills are given by d6+1, and he counts as 2 workers, so he is skilled at his profession. He is polite, greedy, cautious, impious, sensible or practical, and lawless, a felon, or an ex-felon. Sounds a lot like Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) from the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies, maybe in retirement.

Tavern Size Modifier is 2, Commons Size Modifier is 1.

Resuming the example:
As I confessed in part 1, I had a fairly strong vision for this tavern from the very beginning, and have been consciously shaping the random results accordingly. The few unanswered questions that were part of that vision have largely been answered, leaving a very well-defined concept for the place.

• Table : Roll 04: There are no children in residence, and hence there’s no modifier to table 13a.
• Table 13a: 9 rolled, no modifier: “Single Parent” (no children present) with third party or parties in residence in one of the guest quarters; roll on tables 13b and 13c.
• Table 13b: Roll 15: Father and Mother present, +2 family size = 2, -1 guest quarters as indicated previously. Note that if the roll had indicated no parental presence, it might have signified a business partner, depending on the outcome from Table 13c.
• Table 13c: Roll 26: Brother in residence, +1 family size = 3, 70% chance brother shares quarters with the barman Roll 83 Brother has his own room, -1 guest quarters.
• “Table” 14, line 1:
  • 2d4, 6 rolled: write 6 in the first space of the worksheet.
  • + Tav Size Mod write 2, the Tavern Size Modifier, in the second space.
  • + Cmmns Size Mod write 1, the Commons Room Size Modifier, in the third space.
  • Subtotal 1 6+2+1=9, so write 9 in the space provided, and copy the total into the first space on the next line.
• “Table” 14, line 2:
  • – Barman write 2, the barman’s quality rating, in the second space of the worksheet.
  • – Family Size Mod write 3, the total Family Size determined above, in the third space.
  • Paid Employees Required 9-2=5; 5-3=2. Write 2 in the final space on this line, indicating that the tavern should employ 2 staff whenever it is open.
• “Table” 14, line 3:
  • Tav Size Mod write 2, the Tavern Size Modifier, in the first space.
  • + Cmmns Size Mod write 1, the Commons Room Size Modifier, in the third space.
  • Subtotal 2 2+1=3, so write 3 in the third space provided.
  • /3 = #Entertainments: 3 divided by 3 is 1, so write 1 in the final space, indicating that the tavern has only 1 entertainment feature. Note that this is also the minimum result permitted for this result.
• Table 15, roll #1 of 1: Roll 41 in the “Tavern Size Mod 2” column: a billiards room with a single billiards table (0.75). This doesn’t fit the motif, so roll again:
• Table 15, roll #2 of 1: Roll 19 in the “Tavern Size Mod 2” column: a small room for card games (and gambling), relative size 0.5. Dice games may have been more appropriate, but I can accept this result. Since this is the only entertainment space, 0.5 is also the total relative size devoted to such purposes.

If there was any institution that I expected to best suit a bachelor or small family, it’s The Spotted Parrot, but once again the dice have had a very different idea. As it is, the effective family outnumber the paid staff – which (in hindsight) makes sense; the uniqueness of the facility would demand a lot of expensive ongoing maintenance, and only the savings possible to a largely family-operated establishment would make that practical.

This, then, would not be a hugely-profitable business, but one that is run for passion, for the love of the sea, and that would be true of the clientèle as well.

At some points, during the evolution of this Tavern as a concept, I thought about mechanical means being employed to simulate the rolling of the deck on an open sea and the sound of the waves such as a weight running length-ways back and forth along the ship’s axis and another from side-to-side, and “paddles” hidden beneath the waterline to create surface waves as the ship gently “rocked”. Some graphical analysis (as shown below) looked promising but insufficient, and I ultimately decided that it was probably impractical; I mention it because it would not only be consistent with the findings above, other GMs might find it sufficiently plausible and appropriate to their game worlds to support suspension of disbelief.

Image generated using FooPlot, click the image to visit the site. Click HERE to open full-sized image.

Third Example: The Robber’s End (cont)

Since the “Palomino and Fox” isn’t the multi-story establishment, it follows that “The Robber’s End” is. This has turned out to be an excellent example of how a name can be suggestive of one thing (two possible things, actually) while meaning something completely different; the reality has been shaped by the random-generation process into a structure with a quite distinct and colorful ambiance.

What we know so far:
“The Robber’s End” is a Small Tavern located in the poorer part of town. The walls of the tavern are plastered, surfaced, or rendered brick, and it might even be a remodeled square tower from ages past.

It contains (with relative sizes) a bar (1), Small-Medium Common Room (3.5), Ground-floor storeroom (0.75), and Kitchens consisting of a Small Pit/Rack (0.5) and a Small Food Prep area (0.25) [Total Kitchen Area 0.75]. The first floor contains guest quarters and a Family Dwelling (1). The second and third floors are completely given over to guest accommodations.

The common room is decorated with tapestries of battle scenes. Behind the bar, a number of weapons that are bent, broken, and mangled have been mounted, clearly souvenirs of some past military campaign or battlefield booty.

The bar serves poor quality versions of the three most popular local beverages.

Within the common room are 12 small tables that seat 4 each, taking up 31.2 x five-foot sqr spaces. The tables are square and made of wood. The kitchen produces food of Average Quality, normally bread with a soup, stew, or broth containing a little meat 0-3 (d4-1) days old, and costs 2 sp per serving.

The barman’s skills are given by d3. He is barely competent to run a tavern, and counts as just 1 worker. Clearly he must bring something else to the role or the tavern would have gone under a long time ago. That something is his character; he is friendly but a penny-pincher, fearlessly brave, and a pious man without being fanatical. He is viewed as a respectable man, and coldly logical. Not the criminal type, in other words, or the type who would turn a blind eye to criminal activities that he came across. However, he does sound like the sort of person who would start a legitimate business in an area known to be rife with crime, insist on his establishment being neutral territory, and manage to make a go of things, eventually becoming a local fixture and trusted arbiter of neighborhood disputes.

The focus on battle-related decorations, coupled with the barman’s profile, suggests that he served with distinction in the military before creating his establishment, and is probably still someone not to be messed with. The profile suggests the name be interpreted as being the place where ‘robbers cease to be robbers’. Perhaps many of the staff are reformed criminals, giving it the local nickname of the “second chance”.

There are not many guest-rooms on each level; it is a narrow, tall building with four floors, probably sandwiched between a couple of other buildings, almost a tower in design. Accommodations are small (barely big enough for a couple), of common quality, and under-priced (3 sp/night or 4 cp/hr). Relative room size is 0.85, which is almost “tiny”, but is appropriate given the size of the inn.

Variations on the tavern’s backstory are many; if the region was invaded years earlier, perhaps the barman was already located here, and fought off the invaders rather than seeing his establishment razed, or perhaps it was one of his ancestors who did so, making this a long-established local fixture, or perhaps he was still serving in the military and made a stand here against the invaders, later retiring here (and possibly marrying into ownership of the tavern).

Tavern Size Modifier is 0, Commons Size Modifier is 1.

Resuming the example:
As with the other examples, the “ambiance” part of the process (in Part 2) has done an excellent job of clarifying a distinctive structure that started as absolutely nothing, including the possible backstory that has started to emerge.

• Table 13: Roll 24: 2 children, aged 3-5: 5 and 7-8: 7, respectively, are in residence. They count as 0.25 staff members. There is a +0 modifier to table 13a.
• Table 13a: 5 rolled, +0 modifier: Couple; +1 to family size for a total of 1. Do not roll on tables 13b or 13c.
• Table 13b: No Roll required.
• Table 13c: No Roll required.
• “Table” 14, line 1:
  • 2d4, 7 rolled: write 7 in the first space of the worksheet.
  • + Tav Size Mod write 0 in the second space.
  • + Cmmns Size Mod write 1 in the third space.
  • Subtotal 1 write 8, the total of these three numbers in the space provided, and copy the total into the space on the next line.
• “Table” 14, line 2:
  • – Barman write 1, the barman’s quality rating, in the second space of the worksheet.
  • – Family Size Mod write 1, the Family Size determined above, in the third space.
  • Paid Employees Required 8-1=7; 7-1=6. Write 6 in the final space on this line, indicating that the tavern should employ 6 staff whenever it is open.
• “Table” 14, line 3:
  • Tav Size Mod write 0, the Tavern Size Modifier, in the first space.
  • + Cmmns Size Mod write 1, the Commons Room Size Modifier, in the third space.
  • Subtotal 2 0+1=1, so write 1 in the third space provided.
  • /3 = #Entertainments: 1 divided by 3 is 1/3, but there is a minimum result of 1 for this calculation, so write 1/3 in the final space followed by a 1 in brackets, indicating that the tavern has 1 entertainment feature.
• Table 15, roll #1 of 1: Roll 74 in the “Tavern Size Mod 0” column: a tiny stage (relative size 0.5) which provides a venue for live music. Again, because this is the only entertainment space, this relative size is also the total space devoted to the purpose.

This tavern suits a small family, and that’s exactly what the dice have indicated. Staff would probably come and go with great regularity. The Robber’s End definitely suits an urban setting. It’s the sort of place where something would always be happening, a central hub around which the community gravitates, a place where PCs can come to hear gossip and rumors, or possibly even use as a long-term residence. Even the entertainment on offer is well-suited to that interpretation.

Rome Wasn’T Built In A Day: Prologue To Part 4

The die rolls in the Tavern Generator are the raw materials required to construct a tavern, but many of them require interpretation. In particular, the area that each space within the tavern encompasses and the number of guest quarters remain open questions at this point. Usually, the ground floor is the most complex area in terms of the variety of spaces it contains, and for that reason, finalizing the details of that ground level is the subject of the next part of this series.