Category
Events 60
Narrative encounters with choices, skill checks and consequences.
Settlement 30
- Smoke from the WorkshopA plume of greasy black smoke rises from a crafting workshop across the square. Shouts come from inside, followed by a metallic crash. A moment later, a young apprentice stumbles out…
- The Barter DisputeA heated argument at a trading stall draws your attention. A scavenger is trying to trade a bundle of salvaged copper wire for ammunition, but the vendor insists the wire is corroded and…
- The Broken LanternA row of street lanterns along the main path has gone dark - all except one, which is flickering erratically and throwing shadows that make everyone nervous. In a settlement where…
- The Broken WellThe communal well's hand pump has seized up, its mechanism grinding and producing nothing but a dry wheeze. A line of people with empty containers stretches around the corner, their…
- The Card Game DebtA young woman approaches you with red-rimmed eyes and a desperate look. "You look like you handle yourself. I owe a man named Cutter eighty caps from a card game last night. He says if I…
- The Cassette TapeA kid runs up to you in the market and holds out a battered cassette tape. "Found this in the old drainage tunnel. Nobody wants it - they say it's cursed. But it's got writing on it. You…
- The Collapsed StallA loud crack splits the air and a market stall collapses sideways, its support beam finally giving out after what looks like years of neglect. Goods scatter across the ground - jars,…
- The Collapsed TunnelA section of the old drainage tunnel beneath the settlement has partially caved in, creating a sinkhole in the middle of a side street. It's not large - maybe a meter across - but the…
- The Contaminated BarrelA supply barrel at the edge of the market has split along a seam, leaking a thin stream of dark liquid onto the ground. The smell is sharp - chemical, not organic. Nearby vendors are…
- The Counterfeit CapsYou're counting your caps at a food stall when the vendor snatches one from your palm and holds it up to the light. She bites it, then flicks it onto the counter with a look of disgust.
- The Dice GameBehind the trading post, four settlers sit in a circle on overturned crates, rolling bone dice on a flattened piece of sheet metal. Caps change hands with every throw. One of them spots…
- The Dog and the Dead ManA mangy dog sits at the edge of the market square, whining at anyone who passes. It's wearing a makeshift collar - clearly someone's animal, not feral. Every few minutes it trots a few…
- The FistfightTwo men are throwing punches outside a bar. Neither one is winning - they're both exhausted, bleeding from split lips, swinging wide and missing more than they connect. A small crowd…
- The Herbalist's GardenA small walled garden behind the healer's quarters is in trouble. Overnight, something got in and trampled half the herb beds. Leaves are scattered, stems broken, root systems exposed to…
- The Leaking PipeA sharp hiss of steam draws your attention to a side alley. A rusted water pipe has cracked along a seam, spraying a fine mist into the dry air. A small crowd has gathered - not to fix…
- The Locked RoomA building manager stops you in the corridor of a converted pre-war motel. "Hey - you look resourceful. I've got a tenant three weeks overdue on rent. Door's locked from inside but…
- The Missing ToolA crafter at the workshop is tearing his bench apart looking for something. "My best hammer - the one with the wrapped handle - it was right here an hour ago. Nobody touches my tools.…
- The Moonshine StillA sweet, alcoholic smell leads you to a back alley where someone has set up a crude distillation rig - copper tubing, a clay pot over a low flame, and a catch jar that's slowly filling…
- The Night BeforeYou wake up with a headache and a mouth that tastes like something died in it. Your memory of last night is a series of disconnected images: firelight, someone playing a guitar badly, a…
- The NightwatchA tired-looking guard catches you near the gate as the sun drops below the mesa. "Hey - any chance you can cover a two-hour shift on the wall tonight? Ramirez is down with gut rot and…
- The Old PhotographWhile sitting in the shade between errands, you notice a faded photograph tucked into the stones of a low wall beside you. It shows a family - parents, two children - standing in front…
- The Old RadioYou hear music. Actual music - not someone humming or banging on scrap percussion, but a recording. Tinny, warped, and coming from a junker's stall where a battered portable radio sits…
- The Rooftop ArgumentTwo kids are screaming at each other on a rooftop above the main street, throwing what looks like pieces of dried mud at passersby. A woman on the ground is yelling up at them to come…
- The Sick AnimalA trader's pack mule is lying in the dust near the gate, breathing in shallow, labored gasps. Its owner is arguing with a guard about bringing it inside the walls.
- The Sick KidA woman blocks your path near the well, her face drawn and eyes red. She's holding a bundle of dried plants in one hand and a scrap of paper in the other.
- The Stranger's GearA woman you don't recognize sits on a low wall near the gate, a heavy pack beside her. She's not a trader - no signs, no displayed goods. But the pack is half-open and you can see…
- The Stranger's MapSomeone has pinned a hand-drawn map to the community notice board. It shows a route from the settlement to an unmarked location about two days' walk northeast, with a crude drawing of a…
- The Tattoo ArtistA woman has set up a makeshift tattoo station in the shade of a canvas awning - ink pots, needles, and a surprisingly clean workstation. A hand-painted sign reads: "MARKS OF THE NEW…
- The Wandering PreacherA man in faded blue-gray robes stands on an overturned barrel near the square, holding a cracked water jug above his head. "The waters cleanse! The waters forgive!" he shouts at the…
- The Water RationThe daily water distribution is running late. A growing crowd mills around the distribution point, murmuring about cuts, shortages, contamination. A harried distribution worker is trying…
Wasteland 30
- The Abandoned CampfireA campfire ring sits just off the trail, stones still warm to the touch. Whoever was here left within the last hour. The fire has been carefully smothered - not kicked apart in haste,…
- The Abandoned Water CacheA stack of plastic containers sits under a rock ledge beside the trail, covered with a faded tarp. Water cache - someone set this up as a resupply point. The tarp has been undisturbed…
- The Ash RainFine gray particles begin falling from a sky that was clear ten minutes ago. Not dust - ash. Light, almost weightless, drifting on a breeze from the southwest. Something is burning,…
- The Burned CampYou smell it before you see it - acrid, chemical, wrong. Around a bend in the trail, a campsite has been burned. Not a campfire that got out of control - this was deliberate. The fire…
- The Caravan RemainsScattered across a wide stretch of hardpan: wooden debris, torn fabric, a broken wheel spoke. This was a caravan - a real one, with multiple carts. The wreckage stretches for fifty…
- The Collapsed BridgeThe trail crosses a narrow canyon via a pre-war footbridge - or it did. Half the bridge has collapsed into the ravine below, leaving a three-meter gap in the middle. The remaining half…
- The Coyote PackFour coyotes watch you from a ridge about forty meters off the trail. They're not hiding - they're sitting in a line, ears forward, perfectly still. Watching. Waiting.
- The Dead DropWedged into a crack in a sandstone outcrop beside the trail, a small oilskin bundle catches your eye. It's been placed deliberately - hidden from casual glances but visible if you know…
- The Dry WellA hand-painted sign beside the trail reads "WATER - 200M EAST" with an arrow. You follow it to a stone-lined well with a rope and bucket. The bucket comes up dry. The well isn't empty -…
- The Dust Storm WarningThe sky to the west has turned the color of rust. A wall of red-brown haze is building on the horizon, wide enough to fill your entire field of vision. You've seen dust storms before -…
- The Dying JuniperA massive juniper tree stands alone in a rocky clearing, its trunk wider than your arm span. Most of its branches are dead - bare, bleached wood reaching upward like bones. But one side…
- The Electrical StormThe horizon flickers. Not lightning - something else. A pale, bluish-white strobing that pulses across the sky in sheets, illuminating the underside of clouds that weren't there an hour…
- The Flash Flood ChannelThe trail descends into a dry wash - a wide, sandy channel cut between sandstone walls. Easy walking, flat ground, good time. Except the sky to the north has gone dark, and these…
- The Fork in the TrailThe trail splits at a dry wash. The left path follows the wash south - longer, but flat and easy walking with good sight lines. The right path cuts through a narrow canyon - faster by at…
- The Hermit's ShackA structure that barely qualifies as a building stands fifty meters off the trail - scrap metal walls, a canvas roof, and a chimney made from stacked cans. Smoke rises from it. Someone…
- The Lightning-Struck TreeA massive cottonwood - rare in this terrain - stands at a bend in the trail, split almost perfectly in half by a lightning strike. The wood is charred black along the split, and the…
- The MirageThe heat shimmer on the hardpan ahead resolves into what looks like a pond - still water, reflecting the sky. You know it's a mirage. You've seen them before. Your brain knows it's light…
- The Night SoundYou've made camp for the night when you hear it - a low, rhythmic tapping from the rocky ground beneath you. Not an animal. Not settling earth. A steady, deliberate pattern: three taps,…
- The Overturned CartA two-wheeled cargo cart lies on its side at the edge of the trail, one axle snapped clean. Crates are scattered in the dust, most of them cracked open and picked clean. Boot prints lead…
- The Rustling ScrubSomething is moving in the scrub brush alongside the trail. You can hear it - a rhythmic rustling that matches your pace. When you stop, it stops. When you walk, it walks.
- The Signal FireA thin column of smoke rises from behind a ridge about three hundred meters off the trail. It's the wrong color for a campfire - too white, too steady. Signal smoke. Someone is trying to…
- The Singing RocksYou hear it at dusk - a low, resonant hum coming from a cluster of sandstone formations just off the trail. Not wind. The air is still. The sound pulses gently, rising and falling in a…
- The Snake DenYou hear the rattle before you see them. A cluster of rocks beside the trail is alive with movement - diamond-patterned scales catching the afternoon sun. A rattlesnake den, recently…
- The Snapped CableA steel cable lies across the trail, half-buried in sand. It stretches from a rusted anchor bolt in a rock face to somewhere in the scrub on the other side. The cable is under tension -…
- The StandoffVoices carry in the desert. You hear them before you see anything - two people, shouting. Over the next rise, a man and a woman stand ten meters apart on the trail, each with a hand on…
- The Trade OfferingA flat rock beside the trail has been set up as a trade post - items arranged neatly on a cloth, with a small sign reading "TAKE WHAT YOU NEED. LEAVE WHAT YOU CAN." No one is present.
- The Traded MapA traveler coming from the opposite direction flags you down. He's moving fast, barely stopping. "Trade you - I've got a route map of the next twenty miles. Shows water, shelter, and…
- The Traveler's GraveA cairn of flat stones beside the trail, clearly deliberate - someone's grave. A wooden marker leans at an angle, the name weathered past reading. At the base, a small collection of…
- The Wounded StrangerA man sits propped against a rock beside the trail, pressing a blood-soaked rag to his left arm. He sees you and raises his right hand - palm out, universal sign for 'not a threat.'
- The Wrong CairnTrail cairns dot the route - small stacks of flat stones that mark the path across featureless terrain. You've been following them for an hour when you notice something wrong. The last…
