Game Fodder: Twenty (d20) Places to Find a Body
Sometimes bad things happen to people. We won’t discuss whether the people were good or bad themselves, but sometimes these things do happen. And someone will die as a result. The PCs may stumble upon the results of such an event at any time.
If you’re looking for someplace for one of these bodies to be discovered, here are a few possibilities for inspiration. Roll a d20:
- Alleyway
- Street/Gutter
- Trunk/Chest
- Barrel
- Anchored at bottom of a body of water
- Pile of refuse
- Jail cell
- Cave
- Room at Inn
- Caught in a trap
- Spiked in the road
- Outside a tavern
- In a boat adrift
- Tied to a horse
- Shallow grave
- Middle of a field
- Parcel delivered by messenger
- Ditch
- Battleground
- Town fountain
Roll once and see if you are inspired. If I roll a 16 on a d20, I get “Middle of a field.” I might use that to deliver this encounter:
As you establish your camp for the night in a clearing, you find the remains of a dead body at its center. It has been here a long time. The body is wearing frayed clothing and you find a rusty dagger nearby.
The PCs can choose to investigate further to see what happened to this poor soul, find some way to set the body at rest to honor the departed, or simply move a bit further down the road to find a place untouched by death to spend the night.
What kinds of scenarios can you come up with?
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