A tavern or inn is usually the place of respite for an adventuring party between missions. It’s a place to relax, enjoy some food, drink, and gossip — and it can be a place to find the next bounty or a lead in the grander story.
It’s also often the place where the adventurers meet and form their party!
But sometimes the tavern or inn can become a routine where the group just follows the motions and waits for the Game Master (GM) to lead them to the next adventure. I believe this is a hugely missed opportunity to add some intrigue, horror, and even some interesting side quests for the PCs.
This table allows you, as the GM, to quickly add some of these elements to your session and extend the roleplay part of a session when things become too combat-intensive or roll-heavy.
Most of these can be adapted to almost any setting or campaign, even futuristic cyberpunk-style settings (with a few minor adjustments), and the players can choose to follow the hooks or to just mark them as an interesting occurrence in their characters’ story arc.
By the way, check out “Horror at Yishusu Landing”, a campaign adventure that will enthrall your players at every turn!
Horror at Yishusu Landing
A campaign adventure that will enthrall your players at every turn
Step 1
Roll 1d6
Roll to determine your encounter category, then roll 1d20 on the matching sub-table below.
1
A Stranger Approaches
Someone walks up to the party
2
Oh, No!
Something goes wrong
3
Look What I Found
A strange discovery in the tavern
4
Quiet!
Drama among the other patrons
5
These Employees Deserve a Raise
Something strange from the staff
6
You Won’t Believe What I Heard
Rumor, legend, or dark secret
Step 2
Roll 1d20 on Your Sub-Table
1
A Stranger Approaches
1d20
| 1 | Patron walks in with a strange pet. |
| 2 | Man walks into the tavern screaming crazy things. |
| 3 | A man approaches the party offering a strange artifact. |
| 4 | A man approaches the party after they find a strange note. |
| 5 | A woman walks in chatting with a human skull she cradles in her arms. |
| 6 | A woman walks in accusing the cook of being a murderer. |
| 7 | Bitter rivalry: two separate men offer to hire the PCs to hurt the other man. |
| 8 | A man and woman approach and try to recruit the PCs into their cult. |
| 9 | An old man approaches offering to sell strange items to the PCs. |
| 10 | A strange character has a riddle for the PCs to solve. |
| 11 | A child wanders into the tavern and says one of the PCs took their mother. |
| 12 | An abused stray dog wanders in and begins licking one of the PCs. |
| 13 | A man walks in with no clothes on. |
| 14 | A woman enters and reveals that there is a bounty on one of the PCs’ heads. |
| 15 | A woman sketches one of the PCs and reveals that she has taken their soul for ransom. |
| 16 | A man walks in and challenges one of the PCs to a fight. |
| 17 | A woman walks in with a huge sack; it moves slightly, and people hear moans. |
| 18 | A man tells the PCs that he is their contact and the deed must be done by sunrise. |
| 19 | A woman is seen leaving the tavern holding one of the PCs’ treasured items. |
| 20 | A blind man tells the PCs that he has a tome with maps of ancient treasures and relics. |
2
Oh, No!
1d20
| 1 | A fire starts. |
| 2 | Robbery. |
| 3 | The ground shakes. |
| 4 | A patron has a medical emergency. |
| 5 | The drinks are bitter. |
| 6 | The tavern slowly starts to flood. |
| 7 | All the glass windows get blown out. |
| 8 | Rat infestation. |
| 9 | Guards raid the tavern. |
| 10 | The tavern becomes unbearably cold. |
| 11 | Commotion outside: a wild animal attacks the town. |
| 12 | Commotion outside: someone is walking through town covered in blood. |
| 13 | Commotion outside: a dead body is found in the well at the center of town. |
| 14 | A strange smell fills the tavern. |
| 15 | Everything suddenly has a bluish hue for the PCs, but NPCs don’t experience it. |
| 16 | The PCs hear a shrill sound that nobody else can. |
| 17 | Everything has a metallic taste. |
| 18 | The PCs start to itch uncontrollably. |
| 19 | The PCs’ table collapses. |
| 20 | Everyone in the tavern acts like they know one of the PCs. |
3
Look What I Found
1d20
| 1 | The PCs see their names carved into the wooden table where they sit. |
| 2 | There is a wanted poster in the tavern with a sketch of one of the PCs. |
| 3 | The PCs find a ring with a unique insignia (later they will be accused of stealing it). |
| 4 | A trap door under the PCs’ table, hidden under a rug, but too small for an adult to fit through. |
| 5 | A bloody dagger (with fresh blood). |
| 6 | An invisible spellbook. |
| 7 | A mirror that reflects someone that isn’t there. |
| 8 | A chest behind the bar with three keyholes and scratches on the metal and wood. |
| 9 | A map for a continent that the PCs are not familiar with and nobody else recognizes. |
| 10 | A music box that nobody touches, and the staff warn that last time it was wound up, it “brought something here.” |
| 11 | A ledger of unpaid tabs with several names crossed out (with notes like “see basement” or “washed away”). |
| 12 | A “menu” that doesn’t match the regular menu. May be code for something. |
| 13 | The name of the tavern is different every day. |
| 14 | A jar of pickled eggs, but they don’t look right, and they pulsate. |
| 15 | A post with tally marks under writing in an unknown language; one of the PCs notices on their way out that a new mark has been carved while they were there. |
| 16 | A song list, but one song is scratched off so completely the parchment is torn. |
| 17 | A bloody finger. |
| 18 | Stairs in the back room that lead to nowhere. |
| 19 | Eyeglasses that, when worn, don’t do anything, but when held at arm’s length show another world. |
| 20 | A pair of stiff gloves with the metallic smell of blood. |
4
Quiet!
1d20
| 1 | Two rival gangs get into an argument. |
| 2 | Another adventuring party gets drunk and bullies the waitress. |
| 3 | There is suddenly a drunk adventuring party at a table where a second before there was nobody. |
| 4 | A brawl breaks out in the tavern but nobody knows who started it or why. |
| 5 | A group of farmers upset they got taxed. They found out the burgomaster was actually murdered days before, making it some kind of imposter or shape-shifting charlatan. |
| 6 | A group of adventurers bragging about clearing out some haunted ruins, but they are obviously beaten up and missing most of their gear. |
| 7 | Drunk guardsmen bragging about a bounty that can change their lives. One of them notices that one of the PCs matches the description “a bit too much.” |
| 8 | A wealthy merchant with two shady bodyguards carrying a chest. Under the table the chest moves, and the merchant threatens the bodyguards to “handle it.” |
| 9 | Dueling bards (doing a rap battle-style duel) begin to get heated. |
| 10 | Sailors ask the opinion of one of the PCs on something. No matter what the PCs answer, the sailors say that “the sea claims someone tonight.” |
| 11 | Ex-cultists getting rowdy. A man then enters with three women and the ex-cultists go quiet. |
| 12 | Another adventuring party who were promised the same contract the PCs are here for. |
| 13 | Seven brothers whose father just died are bickering over land rights. |
| 14 | A group of card sharks get caught stealing. |
| 15 | Monster hunters who are told by a scout who runs in that “The creature lives!” |
| 16 | Strange people who are just not right… |
| 17 | Miners drinking away their sorrows. Their foreman was “dragged down by something.” |
| 18 | Traveling circus. One of their own went missing, but they won’t describe the missing “carnie.” |
| 19 | A loud table laughing that won’t stop. They keep getting louder, then mock the heroes, pounding fists to the table until they bleed. |
| 20 | A table that keeps toasting to “Yuric,” and then cursing Yuric for being late again. Yuric never shows up. |
5
These Employees Deserve a Raise
1d20
| 1 | The waitress tells the PCs that a hooded patron sitting in the corner is always there and never seems to go home, never says anything. May be a dead body. |
| 2 | The bard sings of the PCs’ adventures, but gets the details backwards (the PCs as villains). |
| 3 | The bard sings of the PCs’ adventures and even foretells of a future encounter. |
| 4 | A steady regular hasn’t shown up in three days. |
| 5 | The bard performs a magic trick, after which he slits his own throat. |
| 6 | The waitress drops dead. |
| 7 | The cook disappears. |
| 8 | The waitress looks different to each of the PCs. |
| 9 | The barkeep tells the PCs that patrons often disappear when the tavern gets very crowded. There’s a mimic in the tavern eating people. |
| 10 | The barkeep stirs all of their drinks and salivates as he waits to see the PCs drink, even non-mixed drinks like water, beer, and mead. |
| 11 | The waitress serves and talks to what appears to be a dummy at a table by itself. |
| 12 | A regular insists they must sit in a specific corner chair. The chair splinters and the guest falls hard, briefly speaking in another voice. The server quickly cleans up and won’t talk about it. |
| 13 | An employee storms up from the cellar, wiping strange black liquid from his hands. |
| 14 | The tavern suddenly falls deathly silent. Everything is paused until the bard starts to play, slowly “winding” everyone back into motion. |
| 15 | A patron at a nearby table suddenly collapses with no visible wound. The cook runs over and resuscitates the patron with surgical precision. |
| 16 | The barkeep rushes to bar one specific side door, mumbling, “Not this night.” |
| 17 | The cook comes out and asks the server if “they” have come in yet. She says yes. The cook smiles and returns to the kitchen. |
| 18 | As a table leaves, the server finds a single, perfectly smooth coin of unknown mint. When she touches it, all the candles near the counter flare, and she quietly pockets it. |
| 19 | Near midnight, a bell jingles in a back hallway, though no one touched it. The staff smile and say, “It’s time!” |
| 20 | Near closing, a drenched figure shuffles in and sits at a corner table. If any guest tries to talk to the figure, a staffer appears instantly with a distraction: a free drink, sudden conversation, an urgent “favor.” |
6
You Won’t Believe What I Heard
1d20
| 1 | “The tavern’s cellar is actually the top floor.” |
| 2 | “One of the regulars is a retired dragon. They just don’t know it yet.” |
| 3 | “If you tell a lie here that everyone believes, it becomes true outside.” |
| 4 | “The stew remembers every animal that went into it.” |
| 5 | “I am here to die.” There’s a door you can only unlock by dying here. |
| 6 | “The tavern owner is in league with demons.” |
| 7 | “The tavern moves, but nobody changes the maps.” |
| 8 | “The tavern’s signboard is slowly spelling out a prophecy.” |
| 9 | “If you fall asleep at the bar, you might wake up having already made a dark deal.” |
| 10 | “The tavern owes a life for every year it’s stood.” |
| 11 | “Every laughter here feeds something under the floor.” |
| 12 | “A demon pours drinks here on nights no one remembers.” |
| 13 | “If you hear someone crying in the walls, don’t answer. It’s not for you.” |
| 14 | “The upstairs hallway gets one door longer every year.” |
| 15 | “The tavern cat keeps choosing people to follow home, and they never come back.” |
| 16 | “The lullaby the staff hum when it’s busy isn’t for the customers. It’s to keep something in the walls asleep.” |
| 17 | “The last owner melted in front of everybody, but nobody will talk about it.” |
| 18 | “The tavernkeep was a king in another continent, but gave everything up for an unknown reason.” |
| 19 | “There’s a man who visits the tavern and always leaves with a patron that is never heard from again, but nobody remembers who the stranger is or what they look like.” |
| 20 | “If you talk about the sea in here, the tavernkeep will have you murdered tonight.” |
Keep the Conversation Going
