Oddities for a Southwestern Hill Country
Welcome to our growing list of “Oddities for a Southwestern Hill Country”! It can be used to add intriguing details to any areas or encounters and even be used to serve as seeds for or generate them.
As its title suggests, this list has been developed with a geographical area like the large, rugged, forested plateau located in central Texas north of San Antonio and west of Austin. This list is, however, very versatile and can be used to enhance scenarios set in just about any sort of hilly regions, particularly ones that are only sparsely inhabited, and is suitable for milieus including Wild or Weird West, horror, fantasy, or post-apocalyptic (and will be playing a role in some upcoming sessions of my own “Chaps & Apps” space cowboy homebrew game).
As the editor-in-chief for Skirmisher Publishing, I have had the opportunity to work with all of the company’s bestselling “100 Oddities” titles and to be the primary author for two of them, “100 Oddities for a Pilgrimage Trail” and “100 Oddities for a Viking Encounter.” As with both of those annotated lists, this one is inspired by personal experiences, but while they have their origins in faraway lands this one actually has its roots in things I have encountered on the hiking trails around where I live in the Texas Hill Country.
Exploding Dice
This list uses a dice rolling sub-system often referred to as “Exploding Dice” that should be applied anytime a lower case “x” appears after a die notation in the entries below (e.g., “2d8x”). In this sub-system, a die that rolls the maximum value possible — e.g., an 8 on a d8 — is rolled again, and the new value is added to the previous total. This continues until a value other than the maximum is rolled. So, for example, you might roll 2d8 and get a 4 on one of them and an 8 on the other, then roll that die again and get another 8, and then, rolling it a third time, get a 3. You would then stop and total the results, in this case a 23 (4+8+8+3). This can allow for fun and unpredictably open-ended results in cases where it is applied.
Oddities for a Southwestern Hill Country (roll 1d40)
1) A small cemetery with 1d6x grave markers, which might be either in a clearing or a grove of trees and which is 80% likely to have a fence around it. There is a 10% chance that the grave markers have names like “Champ” and “Rex” that are more suggestive of pets than of people. If there are more than a half-dozen graves, then there is a 5% chance per plot that the burial ground will have a name and some distinguishing characteristics (e.g., be called Baby Head Cemetery, be adorned with one or more doll heads, and have a backstory about how the first person interred there was a decapitated infant).
2) An animal runs across the trail 3d6x10 feet ahead of you (feel free to determine what kind by rolling on the Animal Subtable, below). If giant, “dire,” “were,” fiendish, celestial, undead, mutant, or other modified versions of creatures might exist in a particular scenario then the storyteller can feel free to include one here if they deem that to be appropriate.
3) You hear a bell-like tinkling sound, possibly right behind you and possibly some indeterminate distance away. Investigation might reveal a cause, such as an animal with a bell around its neck or some wind chimes hanging from trees or at a nearby dwelling, or nothing at all, with the sound possibly persisting until the area it is coming from is reached.
4) An area where the ground consists of dark gray bedrock that might simply be in a grassy meadow or located within a clearing in the woods. It is 10% likely that a fairy ring of cactuses grow up from cracks in the rock.
5) A cluster of 1d3 huge, ancient oak trees, most likely concealed in surrounding woods, that have prolific gray-green moss hanging from their limbs. Anyone with knowledge of local flora will realize that moss of this sort is not native to woodlands in this area and is an anomaly.
6) A low ruined stone wall that is 1d4x times 10 feet long and 1d6 feet high. It does not appear to have ever been part of a larger structure.
7) A number of plants that are mysteriously at least two or three times as large as they should be (e.g., an area filled with stands of clump grass that are 10 feet tall, a grove of thistles that are 12 feet high).
8) A wiggling lizard tail protrudes from a section of solid rock. It may or may not be attached to a lizard but, because there is not a hole that one could crawl in or out of, any such creature would have to be inexplicably embedded in the stone.
9) A rock that appears to be an actual intact heart. It may in fact be just that, could be a petrified bivalve clam, or could be something else altogether. It is 20% likely that a a scorpion or some other venomous creature clings to the back side of the rock and will attack the person holding it.
10) A small natural grotto covered with slabs of stone that is filled with water bubbling up from a spring deep below. This water is most likely to be fresh and potable but, at the storyteller’s option, might be contaminated with microscopic organisms or toxic minerals like arsenic.
11) Strong winds rise up and blow from a particular direction for d8-1 hours plus 1d20 minutes. These gusts are powerful enough that they will slow and possibly knock over those walking into or through them, impede missile fire, disperse gas and vapor, extinguish candles, torches, and small campfires, and possibly cause large blazes like bonfires to spread. There is a 10% chance that the winds will develop into a small tornado that will set down nearby and follow the path of least resistance for 2d10 x 100 yards, inflicting appropriate harm to anyone too close or coming into contact with it.
12) Voices of at least two people can be heard coming from a particular area or direction some 10d10 yards away but, because of intervening woods or other obstacles, their sources cannot immediately be seen. What they are saying cannot be made out without moving closer to them, and their source might be bandits, travelers, hunters, ghosts, or something else altogether.
13) Haze obscures the sun and causes it to appear pale, lemon-yellow, and dim enough to be gazed at directly. This could be caused by the smoke of a distant fire, a sandstorm that might or might not be coming in the direction of the viewers, or some other natural or supernatural effect.
14) A distinct smell is evident but its source is not immediately apparent. Possibilities include a wood fire, cooking meat, burning tobacco, or skunk musk.
15) Ruins of a small stone structure, quite possibly an old ranch house, sit nearby. Each of its sides is 1d4x10 feet long and, depending on its size, it may have more than one room or entrance and 1d4-1 windows. Its walls are 1d8+2 feet high and if they are as much as 10 feet tall then it is 50% likely that there will be at least some remains of a roof.
16) An open pit dug into the rocky ground, some 1d4+2 feet deep at its greatest depth and some 4+1d6x feet across. This is a worksite established by people hunting for hidden treasure, which they may or may not have already found here, or artifacts of previous inhabitants. Search of the area might reveal some cached tools that could include one or more shovels, a pick, trowels, and one or two framed screens for sifting debris. Continued excavation might reveal artifacts appropriate to the area (e.g., stone arrowheads) or some special item the storyteller wants the characters to find and which might affect the direction of the scenario.
17) A long metal chain, one end of which is tethered to a tree and the other end of which is entwined around the antlers of the skeletal carcass of a male deer.
18) A cleft in the rock, 1d6+4 feet wide and 2d6+8 feet long, that descends in a rough shaft some 1d4+1 x 10 feet deep. There are equal chances that this is just a simple pit or that one or more passageways lead off from it but, if this is the case, it is 50% likely that they will only be big enough for a Human-sized creature to crawl through. At the storyteller’s discretion, one or more creatures of a certain sort might be using this area either as a lair or an entrance to one accessed by the tunnels leading off from it.
19) A rusty metal bell, of the sort that might be hung around the neck of a cow, which has a leather strap with a simple buckle attacked to it.
20) A windmill mounted on top of a simple four-post tower that is 1d6+1 x 10 feet tall and which has a percentage chance equal to its height of being made from metal and which will otherwise be constructed of timber.
21) A shiny new fishing lure (which is present whether or not any bodies of water are nearby).
22) A vulture circles overhead, bobbing up and down on the breeze and, apparently, keeping an eye out for something to eat. It is 50% likely that 1d6 more such creatures are also flying together some distance further away.
23) An old bucket that is equally likely to be made of metal, wood, or leather and which might variously be upright, upside down, or lying on its side. It is 50% likely that it is filled with stiff, soiled old rags.
24) A single deer antler that has 1d4+1 points.
25) A hunter with a bow who sits on a small platform 2d10+10 feet above the ground and who will be indignant about the presence of the characters and maintain, whether it is true or not, that he or she is entitled to be there but that they are not. However improbable it may be, it is 50% likely that the archer is someone one of the characters knew previously, perhaps even years before and in a distant land.
26) The front half of a dead animal, the rest of which is missing and appears to have been eaten. There are equal chances that this animal is either a deer or some other random or appropriate sort of creature.
27) A group of 1d4 local people and a dog who are out and about in the area for some reason (e.g., recreation, foraging for herbs, collecting firewood).
28) A work hammer with a metal head and a wooden haft that is wrapped with yellow leather. This tool is old, battered, and a bit rusty but is of high quality and perfectly serviceable. If this result is rolled again then, at the storyteller’s option, a different sort of tool that appears to have been created as part of the same set is found instead (e.g., a saw, a chisel).
29) A half geode that is embedded in the ground, its visible crystals worn by the elements. It is 20% likely that a swarm of fire ants some other hazard clings to the back side of the rock and will attack the person holding it.
30) A large spider web, some 1d4x5 feet across, that stretches across a trail or one side of a small clearing and which is occupied by 1d6 large spiders, half of which have bright green markings and the other half of which have bright orange markings.
31) A small bush, just one to two feet in height, that has bright green leaves and small, elongated red berries. Tasting the berries will reveal them to be hot and peppery and valuable as a seasoning for food and characters with knowledge of nature may identify this bush as a pequin.
32) A metal marker, some 1d4 inches across, that is firmly embedded in a slab of bedrock. It is emblazoned with the symbol of some nation of the past or present and with symbols, characters, or numbers that indicate or describe its location in some way.
33) A brush pile that probably consists primarily of cedar boughs, but possibly cuttings from other sorts of trees, and which is 2d6+3 feet wide and high and 4d6+1 feet long.
34) A heavy weighted rope (65%) or metal cable (35%) that is 1d4+1 times 10 feet long and which stretches between sturdy posts or trees across a dry stream bed. Characters with backgrounds in ranching or rural life in general might recognize it as a driftline, a device designed to prevent cattle from passing through a particular area.
35) A common set of clothes that has equal chances of being for a man, a woman, or either, and which is soiled from having been rained on and exposed to the elements for some time but which is otherwise serviceable.
36) A large flat rock, more-or-less waist high, that is located in a small clearing and which is reminiscent of an altar and large enough for a person to lay on.
37) An oak tree that appears to grow directly out of a slab of bedrock. This might be the result of a seedling growing out of a now-obscured cleft in the rock or something else altogether. Whatever the case, it is especially well-grounded, and might be located in a place like a dry streambed where it might otherwise have been toppled.
38) Some 1d4+1 feathers lay together in the trail, apparently deliberately placed there and possibly forming some symbol or otherwise conveying a message or other meaning.
39) A large oak tree that will momentarily appear to have one or more shadowy figures hanging by ropes from its largest limbs. These spectral forms cannot be seen at will and are only visible by chance or under certain circumstances. If photography is available, however, they may be captured in it.
40) Dark clouds form overhead, a cool wind begins to blow, and soon thereafter a heavy rain begins to fall and continues to do so for 2d12x hours. Possible side effects of this deluge could include water beginning to flow through otherwise-dry streambeds and flash floods sweeping through low-lying areas, all of which could potentially be very dangerous to travelers. Alternately, if it is winter or very cold, hail rather than rain might fall for up to a few minutes during the storm and possibly inflict damage on anyone exposed to it.
41) Some 1d4x gloves of various sorts are scattered along a section of road or trail. All are worn and in poor shape and, while there are ones for both right and left hands, there are no actual matches among any of them.
42) A small, clear, glass or crystal sphere. It might be anything from a child’s marble, to a detached component from a piece of jewelry, to a scrying device for a tiny creature.
43) A large wagon or similar conveyance sits in a clearing that is thickly enclosed with vegetation. It is in at least decent shape and appears to have recently been moved but there is no path into the clearing large enough for it to have been brought on.
44) Some 1d4 people go tearing by in an appropriate small vehicle of some sort (e.g., a carriage, a light chariot, an ATV). They are barely in control of this vehicle but might not actually have any reason for putting their lives at risk by being so fast and reckless.
45) A mighty herd of red-eyed cows, plowin' through the ragged skies and up a cloudy draw. Their brands are still on fire, their hooves are made of steel, and their horns are black and shiny, and anyone present can feel their hot breath. They are being chased by 1d4+1 spectral cowboys, riding hard on ghostly horses and crying out mournfully, their faces gaunt, their eyes blurred, and their shirts all soaked with sweat. It is likely that the fiendish cattle produce some sort of fear effect, and possible that one of the cowboys will pause to speak with a character and offer them some warning (e.g., about their morals in general or some questionable endeavor they are involved with in particular).
Animal Subtable
Roll 2d10 Animal
2 Armadillo
3 Cat
4 Coyote
5 Fox
6 Dog
7 Roadrunner
8 Caterpillar
9 Wild Turkey
10 Lizard
11 Deer
12 Centipede
13 Beetle
14 Snake (e.g., rattlesnake, coral snake)
15 Squirrel
16 Spider (e.g., a tarantula)
17 Goat
18 Rabbit
19 Possum
20 Raccoon
21 Wild Pig
22 Chupacabra
Add +1 if it is dusk or dawn and +2 if it is nighttime
