Bring Your City to Life with Gritty, Weird Encounters!

Tired of the same old city encounters? Let’s explore the urban wilderness! These are the forgotten spaces in our sprawling metropolises: overgrown lots, abandoned subway lines, and derelict factories. They’re the perfect place for GMs to drop unexpected adventure and mystery into any urban fantasy TTRPG, from D&D to World of Darkness.

This d10 table is designed to spark your imagination and generate strange, memorable moments in the concrete jungle’s forgotten corners.

Urban Wilderness Encounters (d10)

1. Abandoned Construction Site: It’s become a nesting ground for some very strange birds.
2. Feral Dog Pack: The alpha isn’t a grizzled pitbull, but a tiny, possessed Chihuahua.
3. Ghostly Echo: A spectral replay of a 1920s gangland shooting haunts this alleyway.
4. The Hole: A crack in the pavement leads to an unexpected, sprawling tunnel network.
5. Mutant Overgrowth: An old chemical spill has resulted in bizarre, semi-sentient vegetation.
6. Forgotten Shrine: A hidden, crumbling altar dedicated to a forgotten deity of concrete and rust.
7. Haywire Drone: An autonomous city-cleaning drone has gone rogue, aggressively ‘tidying’ everything in sight.
8. Strange Squatters: A group of squatters is in the middle of a ritual that’s making the air crackle.
9. Time Glitch: A localized time anomaly is causing reality to stutter and repeat in this area.
10. Flickering Portal: For just a moment, a shimmering portal to another dimension opens, then snaps shut.

Drill Deeper: Adding Detail

Got a result you like? Let’s add another layer of weirdness! Use these tables to flesh out your encounter.

What Kind of Strange Birds? (d6)

1. Crows with shimmering, metallic feathers.
2. Pigeons whose eyes glow with an unsettling light.
3. Escaped parrots that speak in a language no one recognizes.
4. Ravens that deliver cryptic, context-free messages.
5. Seagulls with unnaturally sharp, serrated beaks.
6. Owls that stare silently, even in the bright light of day.

What’s in the Tunnel Network? (d8)

1. A cache of lost, incomprehensible technology.
2. A rushing, subterranean river of clean (or not-so-clean) water.
3. The lair of a creature that should not exist in a city.
4. A well-stocked criminal hideout, currently empty.
5. A perfectly preserved, forgotten subway station.
6. A secret, bioluminescent garden, thriving in the dark.
7. A surprisingly organized community of homeless people.
8. The dangerously unstable foundations of a skyscraper.

Make It Your Own

Use this table as a springboard! Mix and match results—maybe the ghostly gangsters are hiding out in the forgotten subway station, or the haywire drone is trimming the mutant vegetation. The best encounters are the ones you weave directly into your players’ story. Now go make your city a little more wild!