Random Location Generation

Ive covered Random Stash Generation in a previous post, but what about locations? Im sure you could run a game no problem covering only the actual game locations (Covered in the Key Locations chapter) but the best part of tabletop roleplaying is creating your own stories, and doing things that videogames dont let you do.

Its a quick and simple process, and actually was the first part of the system that I created, I had a lot of fun just rolling randomly to see what I had discovered (Call it bad luck or fate, but almost everywhere was doused in high radiation, dense anomalies and bloodsuckers when I rolled.) Ill break down the process here and show how it works, and what you can do with it;

Step 1 - Location

These are just some interesting set pieces to fuel your imagination.

1d20 roll, I roll a 4 - A  Truck Yard, I see it as some sort of logistics depot, rusted trucks litter the yard, maybe two or three big garages, an office building, that kind of thing.

Step 2 - Encounters

Breathe some life into the location, whether its a factions outpost, a bandits hideout, a bloodsuckers nest, or just an abandoned building, silent save for the wind rustling through the open doors and broken windows.

This is a 1d100 roll. I rolled  a 9, which is; (Oh cruel fate) a bloodsuckers nest.

So immediately something about this place seems off to the players. Its quiet. TOO quiet. Maybe someone catches a flitting shape crossing between the buildings, or hears a low growling noise from inside the sprawling darkness of the truck garage.

Step 3 - Points of Interest.

Points of interest you can think of as 'flairs', things that draw the characters into this location in the first place, and make them consider braving the challenges to claim the reward. Maybe its a particularly good stash, or a dense anomaly field that known to yield rare Artifacts to patient and determined Stalkers.

This is another 2d100 roll, for added effect, you are rolling twice on the table, I've found that two results are much more interesting than just one.

I roll a 56 - Nothing of interest, and a 93 - Vehicle graveyard.

So this place really is abandoned, there isnt much to draw the characters to this location, but it seems that after the disaster, this was one of the sanctioned dumping grounds for irradiated machinery. Not only trucks, but buses, cars, flatbed lorries, maybe even a helicopter.

Conclusion

Maestro reaches the truck yard as twilight falls.The looming Garages are open fronted, their gaping mouths swallowed in inky blackness, and inside, he picks out the shapes of several large Lorries, still loaded for a delivery they will never make. A small single story building runs along the side, its windows smashed and its roof collapsed. He picks his way in between the buses and trucks left to rust as he makes for the offices, hoping to find a quiet corner to bed down in. About halfway across the yard, as he is sliding between a flatbed and a bus, he catches something in the corner of his eye. Instinctively, he reaches for his pistol strapped to his backpacks' strap. He crouches low and scans under the truck, seeing nothing. As he stands up he sees it. Reflected in the dying sunlight on the windscreen of a decrepit car its muscular figure arched  back as it cocks its head to sniff the air. A bloodsucker.

Climbing quickly onto the truck, he vaults onto the roof of the bus and lies down. He can see them all now. Four of them, barely visible, their camouflage partially engaged, as they stalk the narrow paths between the vehicles, searching for his scent. He is surrounded. Lying flat on his stomach and trying not to move, he slides his pistol into its holster and reaches around to his back for his rifle.
They would have to fight for their meal.