The dice tray · In the middle of a session

What the person behind the counter wants

Sooner or later the table walks past the dungeon it was supposed to explore and starts asking the innkeeper about her missing brother, and there’s no missing brother, only a name made up the second somebody asked. More prep wouldn’t have helped, because the table didn’t know it would care about her until she was standing there.

So before answering, roll a d6. Now that person wants something, and a want is all a scene needs to start moving.

1. They want you gone. They’re too polite to say it, so they answer everything a little too fast.
2. They want to be asked one more question. Nobody ever asks them anything, and it shows.
3. They want to sell you something that was never for sale.
4. They owe somebody money, and you have the bad luck to look like that somebody.
5. They know the thing you actually came to this town for, and it scares them to hear it said out loud.
6. They want to come with you. Tonight. There’s a bag by the door they packed a long time ago.

Playing one want out loud is enough, and the players build the rest of the person from there.

From Vol. 4 of the letter, “When the table walks away from your dungeon”, September 22, 2026