Random Festival Generator
“Funny that you’re holding a human sacrifice to celebrate your equinox celebration on the same day we’re holding our Smite the Heathen Day. No, I’m not making that up; you can check with the Royal Ministry of Culture; we’re registered. And look, we booked the same festival grounds! How convenient! ”
“It’s the Day of the Slaves; from dawn to dusk this day no slave in the kingdom may be asked to do anything against their will. They may even request to be given to another master, if that one agrees.”
“We celebrate today the final vanquishing of the hideous Mind Leech that lowered the collective IQ of our tribe those many moons ago. “
Just about every culture has days for celebration, even if it’s in a mournful, somber, self-flagellation manner. With access to untold numbers of extradimensional cultures, as well as centuries of cultural isolation, divergence, and adaptation, Rifts Earth has seen many many celebration days, holidays, days of memorium, and days of recognition played out upon its shores. Somewhere, somebody is celebrating something, and the PCs may just stumble across the festivities.
a) Type:
b) Duration:
c) Attendance:
d) Attitude:
e) Tolerance:
f) General Alignment
g) Security:
h) Criminal Activity:
i) Other Attractions:
a) Type:
“Happy Emperor’s Birthday! Long may He reign!”
What’s the main focus/inspiration of the event?
01-15% Religious Observance----The celebration is dedicated to some aspect of a religion. Rituals and prayers mark such occasions, and sometimes an actual or symbolic sacrifice of something. (Kwanza, Hannakuh, Easter)
16-20% Birthday/Biographical---The festival celebrates the life of a great person or local celebrity(01-50% dead and past, 51-00% still living). (Presidents Day, Martin Luther King Day, Victor Lazlo Day)
21-35% Seasonal----Maybe it’s a solstice or equinox festival, but the celebration marks the passing of the seasons and time. (New Years)
36-40% Scapegoat/Purging----The festival is dedicated to throwing off some psychological burden through(most of the time) symbolic casting out or destruction of some representation of that burden, like tax forms, effigies of demons/evil behaviors, broken marriage vows, or (again, most of the time) combats meant to get rid of bad feelings. Or maybe the actual things and persons are exiled out of the community, or destroyed(like a bonfire of cellphones, or mass execution of deviants). By extension it can also be a celebration temporarily loosening religious or social restrictions on behavior. (Mardi Gras)
41-50---Fertility Festival---Typically takes place around the beginning of planting season and hung with religious connotations to appease the gods for a bountiful growing season, but can have evolved into a festival of love, with activities meant to bring people together and matchmake, or formalize and celebrate marriages and bondings.
51-60% Harvest/Agriculture----The celebration gathers in people for the gathering of local crops, or to rejoice in the completion of bringing in those crops. May also celebrate a local foodstuff or food-critter coming into season(shad, corn, pigs, apples, etc.)(The Big E).
61-65% Product-Themed---The celebration is focused around celebrating a particular sort of item, food, or object typically locally produced, like wine, cheese, beer, sausage, yarn, steel, or garlic.(Oktoberfest). +20% to Attitude. Automatically gets Food Vendors as a Special Feature.
66-70% Cultural----The festival is devoted to celebrating an aspect of culture, such as music, books, movies, or sexuality. Can also be used to celebrate specific ethnicities without an attendant religious day( Burning Man, Sadie Hawkins Day, Gay Pride Day, Comicon, Flooperpolozza). +25% to Attitude.
71-75% Memorial---The event is held in commemoration of some past tragedy or a fallen leader(9-11, Pearl Harbor Day). Such events are commemorated with moments of silence, services of remembrance, and public reflection. -50% to Duration, Attitude.
76-80% Military----The event celebrates some great military victory or military personnel in general. (Memorial Day, Armistice Day, VE Day, Earth Liberation Day)
81-95% Sporting Event---This can be a championship game, gladiatorial contests, beast races, hunting competition, or Olympic-style tests of skill and physique. (Olympics, Shad Derby, Highland Games, Derby Day, Dragon Hunting Day).
96-00%Trade Meet/Exhibition-----The festival is a big swap-meet or open air market. It may also be a showoff trade show where various companies get to show off their latest creations to drum up interest. It can also be a showing off of a particular type of technology.(Tractor Day, Oshkosh Air Show)
b) Duration:
“Don’t go overboard on the first day, ‘cause you’ll miss the REAL fun on the second and third days! Save your hangover for the fifth day, when everything starts winding down, but count on sobering up for the sixth and seventh, because you don’t want to miss out on grabbing any last day bargains when they start cleaning out the inventory.”
How long does the festival go for? The duration of the festival may be dictated by a progression of religious events, or by how long it takes to set up the festival grounds and gather the participants.
01-50% Day-long: from dawn to dusk
51-75%1d4 days
76-98% Week-long
99-00% Month-long
c) Attendance:
“....we’re going to need to rent a lot more port-a-potties, and in a hurry if what the gate attendants are telling us about the entrance line are correct...”
How well attended is the event?
01-15% Small---At best perhaps 6d6x10 people attend the festival
16-40% Sizable----2d6x100 people on average attend the event
41-75% Big---1d6x1,000 people are expected to attend on average. +1 to the number of (possible) Criminal Activities and and Additional Attractions.
76-90% Vast---The festival draws in crowds of 2d4x1,000 or more. +2 to the number of (possible) Criminal Activities and and Additional Attractions.
91-00% Gianormous---These events can boast of numbers of 1d6x10,000 or more attendees. +3 to the number of (possible) Criminal Activities and and Additional Attractions.
d) Attitude:
“Yeah, this is the Festival of Evil, but you wouldn’t know it from the fun you can have here!”
What’s the overall emotional tone of the event?
01-20% Somber----The overall attitude is one of sobriety and mourning
21-60% Businesslike----The ceremony and celebration are respectful and restrained, but also active and joyful.
61-00% Exuberant Free for All
e) Tolerance:
“I’d have thought that all the ‘Smash Humans Day’ signs would cue you in that your kind isn’t exactly welcome here.”
How tolerant is the festival of outsiders?
01-10% Closed---The festival is only open to a particular faith, species, or community. Outsiders are NOT welcome.
11--30% Reserved----Mainly meant for locals or adherents of a particular belief or profession. Outsiders are allowed to observe, but not to participate.
31-50% Conditional----As with Reserved, but outsiders can obtain permission to participate under certain conditions(such as paying a fee).
51-00% Open to All. All are welcome and even bad behavior is overlooked(for the most part)
f) General Alignment
(This step can be Optional)
“Dude, that ain’t hot mulled punch you’re drinking; if I don’t miss my guess, that’s fresh-drawn blood, and that guy up on the podium leading everybody in song is the High Priest of the Daemon Klz’arcg. Who, I might add, we prevented from entering into that last universe we visited.”
It’s hard to assign an average alignment to a gathering of people, especially if they’re coming from all points, but if the GM so desires, they can rule that the celebration draws a particular mindset of folks, which may have profound effects on the way the festivities are conducted. If the GM so desires, the general Alignment can prevail throughout the festival/celebration, in which case even the more positive features can be can be used to celebrate EVIL ends, especially if he hosting community or organization is evil in orientation. In which case, the religious ceremony will probably have a deliberate blood sacrifice of a sapient being or several, the demonstrations will have prisoners as live targets, the food festival may involve cannibalism, and the events memorialized may be atrocities conducted by the festival supporters, or the mourning of the thwarting of some master scheme by heroic forces.
01-05% Diabolical---The festivities have a decidedly macabre bent, and life is cheap; celebrants are allowed to do whatever they want, to satisfy their basest desires, no matter who it hurts...but beware, that applies to celebrants as well, who might well be the fodder for some greater atrocity. +30% to Criminal Activity
06-15%Aberrant--- The general overall attitude is of power through organized self-interest, directed by the strong, willing to do what it takes. There’s order in this, but it is directed by Those In Charge, who lay down the rules, and severely punish those step over the line . Fox example, if part of the festivities is a hunt of innocent beings, there will be an escape clause for the hunted, the hunters must abide by the rules, even if the prey gets away. +20% to Criminal Activity, +10% to Security
16-25% Miscreant---’All for one, and that one is me’ may as well be the motto of the celebration. Greed is the prevailing attitude, and acquisition of power or wealth. Even state funerals will be occasions for political maneuvering, chiseling the bereaved for services, and stealing grave goods or the choicer offerings to the gods. +15% to Criminal Activity
26-40%Anarchist----There just isn’t any one attitude prevailing in the ceremonies; people are free to do as they may, provided they don’t blatantly break the rules or cross the line into crass and disruptive behavior.
41-60% Unprincipled-----The attitude of festivities is generally upbeat and law-following, though there may be some petty price-chiseling on services and goods, good natured looking the other way on bad behavior, and some blatant roguishness tolerated in the crowd. -20% to Criminal Activity
61-80%Scrupulous---- Law-abiding and peaceful, but there’s little toleration for certain forms of behavior, which might be punished by the crowd with the quiet approval of the festival organizers(for instance, a group of neo-nazi DeadBoy punks trying to crash a D-bee parade might be curbstomped by a CyberKnights-fan motorcycle group, to which the local Lazlo cops turn a blind eye). -30% to Criminal Activity
81-00% Principled----The festivities celebrate, however obliquely, the Light, Order, and Altruism. There’s a sense of strict rule and etiquette-following, and attendees are expected to be considerate of others. -25% to Criminal Activity, +10% to Security.
g) Security:
“Well, that’s a new one for the heights of stupidity! Trying to steal from a SECURITY TECHNOLOGIES TRADE SHOW! Not taking pictures of lock systems or security systems, but actually trying to steal stuff? Damnit, man, I think every renta-cop, paramilitary, and even booth-babe came out to bring you down, just to show off their equipment!”
With crowds of people, there’s bound to be some problems cropping up, either from internal friction, or from unwelcome outside disruptions, How well-secured or policed is the event? This also covers emergency services available to attendees.
01-20% None; there is no provision to protect attendees or restrict their movements.
21- 55% Monitors----The sponsors have a few deputies or proctors wandering the grounds, keeping an eye on things, and a front stand or kiosk where people can report problems. First aid is available onsite, but anything more extensive will need to be summoned from outside. -5% to criminal activity.
56-80% Patrols---The grounds are regularly patrolled by highly visible security guards, and there are two or three groups of emergency responders(including ambulances and fire engines) in reserve on the edges of the grounds. -10% to criminal activity.
81-95% Heavy---Attendees must pass through regulated checkpoints, there are armed guards stationed at regular intervals and locations throughout the grounds, and there are covert undercover security infiltrated among the attendees. There’s several teams/taskforces of emergency vehicles and personnel standing by in case of trouble(veterans having health emergencies, runners collapsing, racers wiping out, etc.). -20% to criminal activity.
96-00% Paranoid----Access to the ceremony festival grounds is strictly limited, and those attempting to enter are stopped, frisked, and ordered to give up certain materials(such as weapons, knapsacks, costumes, etc.) which may or may not be returned upon the owners leaving the area. The festival grounds are monitored by remote sensors from a command center or vehicle with attendant small army of well-equipped security forces. Snipers and overwatch maintain watch from above. Any trouble is subjected to immediate attention in the form of flying squads with the option of lethal force. The sponsors may even hire extra personnel in the form of military contractors/mercenaries to keep order. -30% to criminal activity.
h) Criminal Activity:
“This is the Festival of Thieves! Of COURSE there’s going to be pickpockets in the crowd! REAL ones! The sponsors COUNT on it! It adds LEGITIMACY!”
Crowds of people inevitably attract elements of the wrong crowds, so it’s possible that there’s illegal activity going on, with or without the event sponsors’ knowledge. Roll 1d4 times.
01-20% None---There is absolutely NO criminal activity going on; none, even with zero security. Nosirree, there is nobody in all this crowd doing anything even remotely criminal. Miraculous you might say.
21-40% Pickpockets----Crowds of people....people with money...people not always paying attention to their immediate surroundings....pickpockets and purse-snatchers are a constant problem at all but the most somber or heavily policed public events.
41-65% Transportation Thieves----An organized gang of thieves/highjackers works the event’s parking lot/corrals, stealing cars or horses/ridding beasts.
66-75% Snake Oil Sales---Vendors of fraudulent nostrums, patent medicines, cures, amulets, and other goods with exaggerated properties of good health or fortune. Also includes such faith-based scams as indulgences and remote healings.
76-85% Contraband Exchange---Whether it’s a tailgate trade in the parking lot or an under the counter sale at a booth, somebody’s arranging to sell proscribed or unregistered goods. This can be selling stolen merchandise, religiously-sensitive or -banned materials, or unregistered weapons sales without background checks.
86-90% Prostitutes----'People of ill repute' are cruising the fairways looking to arrange illicit hookups. Could be free agents or part of a larger prostitution ring. Or some of the 'fortune telling' or 'spa' tents are offering more hands-on experiences.
91-95% Kidnapping----A criminal(or criminals) is using the noise and confusion of the festivities to cover stalking and abduction of prey. The victims may be ransomed later or sold into slavery.
96-00% Slave Market----Part of the events is a market selling intelligent beings(or, if the GM desires, the slave stock is intelligent, but being marketed as animals to unknowing customers).
i)(Optional) Other Attractions:
“Hey, look what we got at the big MageFest! I got a genuine shrunken head from the necromancers’ stall! And it talks!”
Besides the main focus of the event, what other goings-on are there? Depending on the circ*mstances and mood of the festival, there could be a some very odd permutations of the following; for instance a memorial date might feature games that are symbolic defeats of an ancient enemy, or sales of mortuary goods to celebrate life and death(think: Latin America’s Day of the Dead). Roll 1d4 times.
01-10% Fireworks----A pyrotechnic or laser light show, usually at night, to cap off events.
11-20% Live Bands---Live music is played during the festivities.
21-25% Prize Drawing----Central or subsidiary to celebrations will be a prize drawing of some sort. This could be a new vehicle, a rare comic book, a slave, a mate, being the human sacrifice offered to the gods at the climax of the festival, etc....
26-30% Sporting Events----Races, team sports, contests. If the overall festival is dedicated to a sporting event or Olympiad, these can be other sprots sharing the same venue, or sideshow events.
31-35% Parade----There will be a parade at some point; of veterans, religious converts, racing beasts, freaks, gladiator robots, military vehicles, etc...
36-40% Farmers’ Market---Agricultural sales
41-50% Bazaar/Flea Market----Open air market
51-55% Fly-Over----Local military/militia or host nation military stage a fly-over; this could be SAMAS, jet fighters, dragons, TW fly-boards, or other flying gear. Whatever; it looks impressive.
56-65% Food Carts----There are food vendors to be found around the ceremonial grounds.
66-70% Rides---Mechanical, vehicular, or animal rides are offered to attendees. This can range from carousels and ferris wheels, to dragonback rides and hot air balloons, or a chance to go up in a vintage aircraft.
71-80% Game Arcade----Sideshow stalls offering challenges of strength, marksmanship, chance, skill, or tests of faith, with rewards ranging from colorful trinkets to crop shares to medical transplants.
81-90% Traveling Circus----The gathering of people has attracted a traveling show or circus which has set up nearby.
91-96% Celebrity---Some personage of note is attending the celebration; this can be a celebrated athlete, survivor of the war/battle, high government/religious authority, traveler from afar, champion, local hero, member of the aristocracy(like a member of the Prosek family), etc...
97-00% Blessing----Participants in the festival get some sort of boon; it could be temporary freedom form some restriction, fertility(pheromones released into the air as part of an annual fertility rite), exception from actions committed during the festival(like eating proscribed foods, or killing outsiders), or maybe an actual divine blessing from whatever spirits the festival is meant to honor/appease.
