Free tables Improv — towns and taverns
Tavern Specials and What's Happening Tonight — d20
Roll twice: what the tavern serves, and what's going on inside tonight. Twenty of each for fifth-edition games.
A tavern needs two things to feel real: something on the menu worth mentioning, and something happening in the room that isn't the party. Roll d20 for each. The two columns are separate rolls, so the eel pie and the arm-wrestling grandmother don't have to arrive together.
The table
20 results. Roll d20.
| d20 | House special | Tonight |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eel pie, served with a warning about the bones | A card game in the back room has been going since yesterday, and the pot is enormous. |
| 2 | A dark ale the landlord brews himself and won't name | A travelling bard is performing, and every song is about the same woman. |
| 3 | Mutton stew from a pot that has been going for eleven years | The place is half empty: the landlord's daughter marries tomorrow and everyone is helping. |
| 4 | Honeyed mead, sweet enough to give you a headache before you're drunk | Off-duty guards are drinking hard and looking for someone to annoy. |
| 5 | Fried river crayfish in a paper cone | An arm-wrestling contest is on, and the undefeated champion is a small grandmother. |
| 6 | A cheese so strong it is served in a separate room | A stranger in a good coat is buying drinks for anyone who'll talk about the old ruins. |
| 7 | Roast pigeon on toast, which is better than it sounds | A merchant is auctioning "goods salvaged from a shipwreck". |
| 8 | Spiced cider, always warm, even in high summer | Two regulars who haven't spoken in ten years have been seated at the same table. |
| 9 | Black bread and dripping, free with every second drink | The landlord is short-staffed and offers free board to anyone who'll pour ale for an hour. |
| 10 | A pale wine from a vineyard that burned down; nine bottles are left | It's a wake — for someone who, it emerges halfway through, isn't dead. |
| 11 | Pickled eggs from a jar nobody remembers filling | A local poet is reading aloud, and the crowd is throwing bread rolls. |
| 12 | Venison sausage the cook swears is venison | The harvest is in, and the whole room is singing. |
| 13 | Blackberry brandy that turns your tongue purple for a day | Another adventuring party is here, boasting loudly about a job the party wants. |
| 14 | Fish soup with a whole head in every bowl | A dog in the corner has been trained to fetch drinks, and mostly manages it. |
| 15 | Oatcakes and butter, with something green baked in for luck | The room goes silent every time the door opens. They're expecting someone. |
| 16 | A porter so thick a spoon stands up in it, and someone demonstrates | A fortune-teller by the fire is doing a brisk and suspiciously accurate trade. |
| 17 | Lamb and barley pudding, served with a story about the lamb | Rain has driven in a crowd of travellers, and there is nowhere left to sit. |
| 18 | A smoky whisky distilled over peat cut from a haunted bog | The landlord is quietly paying for news of the road north. |
| 19 | Buttered turnips, bafflingly the most popular thing on the menu | A drinking contest is underway, and one contestant has a bucket under the table. |
| 20 | Hot chestnuts by the fire, free if you'll sing | It's very quiet. The only other customer sits in the dark corner, watching the door. |