Roofcrawling IV (Random Table/Encounter Table)

Roofcrawling Encounters (IV)

1. Three dead fish, gutted and strung on a length of rusty chain dangling from a nail. Who would leave something like this hanging off of the eaves of a house? Why?
2. Surface of rooftop is crumbling away. Anything weighing over 60 pounds will break through the surface. The hole that forms expands by 1 square foot for every failed Save or DEX Check, eventually dropping them into an abandoned attic that has become a hidden pigeon coop. There are close to 700 pigeons in this place.
3. (1d4) Roof-Rats scampering away from something else...
4. Dozens of small, dull-brown snails are clustered in a spot (1d4) feet wide. Their slime-trail smells strongly of kerosene and is extremely flammable. Any open fire-source within a 10' radius will cause it to erupt into flames causing (2d4) to everyone caught within a 20' radius, Save for half. The snails will be unharmed.
5. A patch of very sticky tar. Contact with it will cause the stuff to adhere to flesh, armor or clothes. It has a tendency to get on everything. It will cause a -1 penalty to DEX until removed with turpentine or some other solvent.
6. Loose tiles shift under the weight of any passerby with a 1 in 20 chance of breaking loose, causing a tile-slide that will carry anyone caught within a 10' radius right over the edge. Hello falling damage.
7. Not all those flapping sheets and shirts are just simple laundry--there is a necromancer's cloak hanging here that is still under a Sheeted Form spell.
8. Three separate sections of stout rope, six pitons, a light-weight hammer, and one glove all lie here in a pool of dried blood.
9. The body of a dead apprentice. If someone checks, yes, they are dead, that writhing motion is caused by Gore Worms.
10. An arrow is stuck firmly into the roof. A tough, silken cord dangles down over the eaves. Perhaps this is here for a reason?
11. A Flutter-Worm has been staked to this spot. Literally. Someone has deliberately driven a heavy iron spike through its tail. It is slowly starving to death.
12. This area is covered in a layer of greasy-looking orange ice, probably the after-effect of some spell or Damned Thing.
13. The facade in this area is completely riddled with termites. It will all fall away with just a little bit of pressure.
14. Three frogs have been nailed to a rough section of planking. There is a very sharp knife stuck into the plank as well. Someone was in the process of skinning these frogs...but that had to be several hours ago, as the frogs are all dried-out.
15. A bucket full of slops. It's for the Roof Pigs...
16. (1d4) bales of hops wrapped in burlap with a tag pinned to one of them. The tag is scrawled with the name of a local tavern.
17. A hand. Just a hand. Still clutching the edge.
18. A nest. But not just any nest. This is a nest close to 6' in diameter. There are green feathers mixed in with the debris, leading most people familiar with the area to suspect that this is the nest of a Green Sparrow--those really big sparrows some folks ride.
19. (1d6) eggs, all of them broken and sucked clean by some scavenger, probably a reptile. There's a scale stuck in the dried goo.
20. (1d20) strands of dried-out strands of old, abandoned webbing. These can be harvested, if one knows how. Properly collected and spooled, these are valuable.
21. Three lead balls from a Feral Child's sling. Each is slightly chewed. They are arranged in a triangle.
22. (1d4) broken and dirty old bottles of some obscure, off-brand Black Liquor. There's a 10% chance of enough being left between the bottles for one mild dose.
23. Six locks, all fastened together and rusted into a lump.
24. Some animal has burrowed under this section of roof to make a den for itself. Make a Save or DEX check to not have someone's foot break through the undermined surface. It's probably an empty den. Probably.
25. The skeleton of a rather large python is curled around the chimneys. The bones are all intact. It seems to have died of old age.
26. A dirty, ripped in half Aerial-Navy Officer's hat is caught in a drain spout. There might be a name inscribed within the band. The brass emblem is worth a little bit, if only to a collector of foreign and obscure militaria.
27. (1d4) boots. None of them match. None of them fit.
28. A sagging section of the roof has become a stagnant pond filled with mosquitoes and leeches. There's a small crate nearby and (1d4) glass jars and a pair of leech-tongs. Someone has been collecting the wriggly little monsters, probably to sell to a barber or surgeon.
29. The next 30' in each direction is caked in a thick, filthy coating of bird droppings. On one end there is a pair of spades, a trowel and (1d6) buckets where someone has been collecting this stuff for some reason.
30. A lightning rod juts from the roof in this spot, but the copper cable has already been removed. It'll take a bit of effort (combined STR of 36) to remove the rod, but it could be valuable, if you know where to sell it. (There is a base chance of 20% that someone might recall that such things are often sought out for the core of special wands used by warmages and the like.)

If you're looking for some way to bring a little more Roofcrawling into your game, Johnathan Roberts of Rite Publishing has produced an excellent set of maps 'Over the Rooftops,' that is perfect for a bit of Roofcrawling. We highly recommend it.