Friday, November 25, 2011

Random Cult Generator


I was looking through my new copy of Vornheim, and I became disappointed in the lack of a random cult* generator.**    So here is one I just made up:

The [Table A] of the [Table B] [Table C] -- Worships a [Table D]

Masculine terms are used whenever the word is gendered, but if the judge would prefer to have the cult worship a goddess or be an all female order he or she has only to change the gender of the noun.

Table A -- 1d20

  1. Cult
  2. People
  3. Servants
  4. Lovers
  5. Friends
  6. Followers
  7. Faithful
  8. Hearers
  9. Mystes 
  10. Masters
  11. Teachers
  12. Students
  13. Slaves
  14. Perfecti
  15. Brotherhood
  16. Cabal
  17. Congregation
  18. Temple
  19. Order
  20. Church
Table B -- 1d30
  1. Blessed
  2. Blood
  3. Transcendent
  4. Terrible
  5. Silver
  6. Gold
  7. Electrum
  8. Hateful
  9. Glorious
  10. Hidden
  11. Burning
  12. Sacred
  13. Holy
  14. Bloated
  15. Fearful
  16. Blinding
  17. Unnamable
  18. Voracious
  19. Divine
  20. Hideous
  21. Blue
  22. Red
  23. Purple
  24. Yellow
  25. Green
  26. Orange
  27. Enlightened
  28. Night
  29. Omniscient
  30. Unconquered 
Table C -- 1d20
  1. God
  2. Eye
  3. Toad
  4. Serpent
  5. Worm
  6. Maggot
  7. Maw
  8. Tongue
  9. Phallus
  10. Mask
  11. Light
  12. Fire
  13. Dark
  14. Idol
  15. Star
  16. Comet
  17. Oyster
  18. Hands
  19. Angel
  20. King
Table D -- 1d12
  1. Strange aspect of a mainstream deity
  2. Delusional NPC
  3. Powerful undead entity (lich, vampire, crypt thing, etc.)
  4. Non-sapient monster (carrion crawler, peryton, oozes, etc.)
  5. Non-magical idol
  6. Construct (golem, animated statue, crazy-frankenstein thing, etc.)
  7. Demon/Devil (1d6: 1-4 - minor demonic entity 5-6: demon lord or prince)
  8. Powerful intelligent monster (medusa, dragon, beholder, etc.)
  9. Dungeon
  10. Constellation or star sign
  11. Lovecraftian entity (1d6: 1-4 -- Independent Race 5: Great Old One 6: Outer God)
  12. Ephemeral concept (love, hate, death, etc.)
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* Technically a cult is any religion that venerates one god above others, making 99% of clerics cultists; however, this definition is really terrible when applied to how the word cult is used by most people.  For the purposes of these tables a cult is a religoin that does not actually worship a god of goddess but thinks it does. In some systems this definition would mean that the cult should not have clerics.  That's perfectly fine, if not desirable.  The upper echelons of the cult should be filled out with magic users or anti-clerics, whichever makes more since with your chosen system.

**Vornheim is otherwise an excellent product.  Cults are just something I shove in everywhere. 
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17 comments:

  1. Jeremy DuncanNovember 25, 2011 at 5:18 PM

    I'll definitely be swiping this for my campaign.

    ReplyDelete
  2. migellitoNovember 25, 2011 at 5:45 PM

    Neato Bandito Evan. I was just reading about the Illuminati earlier today.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PierceNovember 25, 2011 at 5:52 PM

    snazzy

    ReplyDelete
  4. JamesNovember 25, 2011 at 6:14 PM

    Random Cult Generator + OpenOffice = PDF.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. MirandaNovember 25, 2011 at 6:19 PM

    Random Cult Generator + OpenOffice = PDF.

    I'm thinking of working up a more complicated version and then making it into a pdf. Might take some time though.

    ReplyDelete
  6. huthNovember 25, 2011 at 6:42 PM

    Masculine terms are used whenever the word is gendered, but if the judge would prefer to have the cult worship a goddess or be an all female order he or she has only to change the gender of the noun.

    Random Cult-Related Gender Nouns (roll 1d6)
    1-2: Male
    3-4: Female
    5-6: Roll on Subtable A

    Subtable A (roll 1d6)
    1: Has a sex (flip a coin), but lacks or hides culture-specific identifiers (i.e. sack robes and shaven heads or the like)
    2: Has a sex (flip a coin), but all culture-specific identifiers have been physically removed (by burning, excision, castration, et cetera).
    3: Sexless; complete androgyne.
    4: Hermaphroditic.
    5: Amorphically displays multiple congeries of sexual characteristics in inhuman or unnatural fashion.
    6: Switches between sex (1-4 at will, 5-6 due to environmental factors like the lunar cycle or presence of other sexes.)

    ReplyDelete
  7. MirandaNovember 25, 2011 at 6:44 PM

    Hüth, do you mind if I put that in the hypothetical .pdf mentioned above?

    ReplyDelete
  8. huthNovember 25, 2011 at 7:03 PM

    No problem!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gothridge ManorNovember 25, 2011 at 7:55 PM

    Nice table!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Chris KutalikNovember 25, 2011 at 8:00 PM

    I am a sucker for these kinds of tables.

    Say if you want, Evan, I could whip these up into an online random generator at Abulafia (www.random-generator.com). I have been playing around with tables over there for my Swords & Sorcery nation generators and it's a great and easy way to do these things fast.

    ReplyDelete
  11. MirandaNovember 25, 2011 at 8:16 PM

    I could whip these up into an online random generator at Abulafia (www.random-generator.com).

    I'd like to wait until I have the longer versions of the tables ready. I hope to get each to be at least a d30 table, if not a d%

    ReplyDelete
  12. KiltedyaksmanNovember 25, 2011 at 9:16 PM

    Behold!

    The Lovers of the Hideous Mask!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Charlie WarrenNovember 25, 2011 at 11:12 PM

    Great post with a very nice table! Plus, any post that has an image from a BOC album cover automatically ROCKS!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Greg JohnstonNovember 26, 2011 at 1:07 AM

    In the setting for Xhuul, I have no Clerics. It's all cults just like you have presented them here.

    ReplyDelete
  15. MirandaNovember 26, 2011 at 1:18 AM

    In the setting for Xhuul, I have no Clerics. It's all cults just like you have presented them here.

    In the World of Nightwick, there is only one true god. All clerics worship him. All other religions are "cults."

    ReplyDelete
  16. God forgive meDecember 23, 2020 at 7:44 PM

    ....lovers of the bloody phallus..lovecraftian outer god..

    ReplyDelete