Rig Trouble Random Chart
Used for general vehicle troubles (mechanical and otherwise), by the Gamemaster. (Again, use this as a starting point for your own ideas; this is just to get the ball rolling, Patriot!)
Heck, one of these could even lead into a little sub-adventure. Rule: make it interesting/fun!
Roll a d20:
- Urp! The furnace gobs are drunk on some homemade doombrew. Rig works at 1/2 efficiency until they get sober, or someone else shovels coal.
- Burnt out. The left taillight just went out. Sure you can ignore it all you want. It’s no biggie. However, the Authority notices such thing, and the punishment can be pretty severe. Are you gonna fix it? Hmmm?
- Geargrinder! An important gear has been ground down in a miss-shift. Rig grinds to a halt until the gear can be replaced or repaired. (A great “Mechanics” skill check + 2hrs would do.)
- BamPam! The rig is suffering a spate of backfires that sound like a cannon going off. It lurches ahead, making a confounding racket! (Won’t stop until fixed, attracting the wrong kind of attention.)
- Flatty! One of the rig’s many tires has been ripped apart by something in the road. (Caltrop?)
- Bloodless what?! Roadkill + zombie = zombie roadkill! The rotten “thing” looks like a C’thulu reject, and is sucking on the windscreen! Oh dear LORD!
- Automajikal. The rig just cruised through a foul majikal zone. It won’t respond to the driver, and it seems to have a life of it’s own. Possessed?! (Until the majik can be driven out!)
- Dead tired. The gobs have been overworked with no rest for the last 7 months. They’re asleep right now, just when you need them. Wake them up too quickly, and they just might die. Yep, it happens. You need more gobs. (6 is pretty ideal.)
- Steer clear! The steering chains have somehow become botched. The steering is not responding, and the rig seems to be going a random direction. Lookout!
- Dead engine. The furnace is cold. Dead cold. It’s not going to drive any pistons until it’s red hot. How it cooled down, right now, is anyone’s guess. (The gobs know, of course.)
- Bad belt! The serpentine belt is all worn out. It’s been squealing for weeks, but today it finally snapped.
- Cracked! The windscreen (windshield) has a chip that’s lead to a hairline crack, which has developed into a spiderweb. All in the matter of moments. -1 to all driving checks.
- Sicko. Everyone has caught the flu bug, and everyone is sick. Even the furnace gobs. Heck, the Mechan(s) have been sneezed on so much, it’s gumming up their gears too. No one is immune. Herbal tea must be found!
- Exterminate! The rig has been infested with insects. Roaches/spiders/ants are everywhere! They’re crawling over everything, and it’s terrible. If they make it to the mechanicals, who knows what might happen next!
- Got the flue! The chimney is blocked (bad flue), and black smoke is pouring into the rig’s cab. Exit/Attempt to fix it/Suffocate, players choose 1.
- Pot hole! That pothole you just drove through was a LOT larger than it looked. The rig is descending into a small sinkhole! Help!
- Hot hot heat. The rig is just plain overheated. Things need to cool down for the next few hours unless you can come up with a way to cool her down. If you keep on driving you risk MELTDOWN. You don’t want that.
- Explosm! Furnace goblins are killed in a tragic coal-gas explosion. The damage to the rig might be pretty bad, and you need a new gob crew. Damnit!
- Radio radio! The nob just fell off of the radio, and Troll Jazz won’t stop playing. At all. It’s loud. Obnoxious. And all trolly. It MUST be stopped before the crew loses their minds. Unless they’re troll minds, of course.
- Roll twice and apply both effects.
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didn’t realize others could stoke instead of goblins. Can’t be much fun, tho’
Well, you’d be shoveling on your knees… it’s possible, but really pretty horrible for one larger than a goblin.