IRON & OMEN

What This Is

A book of tables for solo and GM-less play. When the fiction asks a question the rules don't answer - who walks the road, what waits in the ruin, what goes wrong now - you roll here and read the result into your story.

It is built for low-magic, iron-age fantasy: ruins and warbands, omens and old wars. It works with RIVEN and with any solo tabletop RPG that leaves room for an oracle.

How To Use It

Most tables are rolled on a d20. The two name tables are rolled on d66 (roll two d6: the first is the row, the second is the column).

Roll when you want the world to surprise you. Pick a table that fits the moment, roll, and take the first true thing the result suggests. Do not over-think it. The wrong answer, taken boldly, is better than a right answer you stalled on.

Pairing with RIVEN's Oracle: ask the Oracle the yes/no question first. When it answers and you need the specifics, roll here. On a Miss or a complication, roll WHEN IT GOES WRONG. When a new threat arrives, roll THE FOE. When the Escalation Meter brings something down on you, roll ON THE ROAD & IN THE WILDS or THE FOE for what it is.

1. On The Road & In The Wilds

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| d20 | WHAT YOU MEET
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|   1 | A hanged man at the crossroads, the rope still creaking.
|   2 | Crows feeding on something that wears your colours.
|   3 | A burned waystation, the ash still warm underfoot.
|   4 | Pilgrims walking backwards, eyes bound with grey cloth.
|   5 | A child's shoe on the path. Then another. Then no more.
|   6 | Standing stones humming low enough to feel in the teeth.
|   7 | A merchant's cart, untouched, the oxen long since gone.
|   8 | Wolves keeping pace at the treeline, patient, unhurried.
|   9 | A dead knight propped sitting, sword across his knees.
|  10 | Mist that smells of iron and moves against the wind.
|  11 | A toll-keeper at a bridge who asks for a name, not coin.
|  12 | Fresh tracks: more feet went in than have come out.
|  13 | A shrine to a god whose name has been chiselled away.
|  14 | Refugees who will not say what they are fleeing.
|  15 | A field of old spears planted upright, rusting, marking graves.
|  16 | Birdsong stops. The wood holds its breath. Something watches.
|  17 | A well at the path's edge, a fresh rope, a wet bucket.
|  18 | Smoke where the map says nothing should burn.
|  19 | A beast's carcass, killed by something larger, half-eaten.
|  20 | A lone piper on a hill, playing a march for no army.
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2. The Ruin

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| d20 | WHAT FILLS THE ROOM
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------
|   1 | A hall of broken thrones, each seat filled with bones.
|   2 | Floodwater black and still, something pale beneath it.
|   3 | A library of rotted books; one shelf, impossibly, dry.
|   4 | Chains bolted to the walls, all of them snapped outward.
|   5 | A forge cold for centuries, the anvil warm to the touch.
|   6 | Murals of a war the histories never mention.
|   7 | A stair that descends further than the building is tall.
|   8 | The last defenders, weapons still in their hands.
|   9 | A door barred from this side. Whatever's within wanted out.
|  10 | Coins of a dead realm scattered as if dropped in flight.
|  11 | A chapel where the idols all face the wall.
|  12 | Roots have broken through; the forest is taking it back.
|  13 | A dry cistern used as a tomb, names scratched in the stone.
|  14 | Mechanisms of brass and bone, still ticking, purpose unknown.
|  15 | A banquet hall set for a feast, the food turned to grey dust.
|  16 | Claw marks climbing the walls toward a hole in the roof.
|  17 | A vault already opened, the lock picked, the prize gone.
|  18 | Cells, all empty, all unlocked, the keys still hanging.
|  19 | A mosaic floor showing a door that matches one in this room.
|  20 | Silence so complete your own pulse sounds like a drum.
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3. The Settlement

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| d20 | WHAT IS WRONG HERE
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------
|   1 | No children. No one will say why.
|   2 | The well is boarded over and nailed shut.
|   3 | Every door is marked with the same handprint in tar.
|   4 | They are friendly, too friendly, and will not let you leave.
|   5 | A bell rings at dusk and everyone goes indoors at once.
|   6 | The headman died a week ago. No one has noticed.
|   7 | They owe tribute to something in the hills, and soon.
|   8 | Half the village is gone; the rest won't speak of it.
|   9 | Strangers came before you. They did not leave on foot.
|  10 | A plague-cross painted on the last house standing.
|  11 | The granary is full but the people are starving.
|  12 | They mistake your warband for someone they expected.
|  13 | A feast is being prepared. You are the guests of honour.
|  14 | The smith works through the night, forging only chains.
|  15 | Every face turns to watch you, and none of them blink.
|  16 | A new shrine to an old god, built in a single night.
|  17 | They beg you to take a child away with you. Just one.
|  18 | A debt is owed here, and they think you've come for it.
|  19 | The graveyard is freshly dug, and far too large.
|  20 | All is well. Truly. That is the worst sign of all.
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------

4. Strangers On The Path

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| d20 | WHO THEY ARE
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------
|   1 | A deserter still in the armour of a broken company.
|   2 | A relic-hunter with a map and no idea what it leads to.
|   3 | A blind seer led by a child who does the real seeing.
|   4 | A tax-collector for a lord who may already be dead.
|   5 | A hedge-witch trading cures for memories.
|   6 | A knight errant a decade past any war worth fighting.
|   7 | A trader in things that should not be sold.
|   8 | A penitent dragging a chain they will not explain.
|   9 | A messenger with a sealed order they're afraid to read.
|  10 | A survivor of the place you are heading toward.
|  11 | A bounty-killer who thinks your face is worth coin.
|  12 | A minstrel who knows a song about your warband already.
|  13 | A grave-robber with the night's takings still in the sack.
|  14 | A child who speaks with an old soldier's voice.
|  15 | A healer fleeing the people they could not save.
|  16 | A scholar mapping the ruins, certain they're harmless.
|  17 | A cult recruiter: gentle, reasonable, patient.
|  18 | A twin searching for the brother who wears their face.
|  19 | A mercenary captain down to a single loyal sword.
|  20 | Someone you were certain was dead.
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------

5. What They Carry, What They Hide

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| d20 | THE STRANGER'S SECRET
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------
|   1 | They want protection, and won't say from what.
|   2 | They carry a letter that names one of you.
|   3 | They are not travelling where they claim.
|   4 | They've sold you out; the buyers are an hour behind.
|   5 | They want you to kill someone they cannot.
|   6 | What they guard is worth more than their life. They know it.
|   7 | They are cursed, infected, or marked, and hiding it well.
|   8 | They owe a debt to the same power you hunt.
|   9 | They want to come with you, badly, and won't say why.
|  10 | They are lying about their name, and badly.
|  11 | They hold a map fragment that completes one of yours.
|  12 | They are bait. Someone wanted you to find them.
|  13 | They want the relic you carry and will trade anything.
|  14 | They've seen your ending and won't tell you it.
|  15 | They are fleeing a vow they swore and broke.
|  16 | They carry a child that is not theirs, not wholly human.
|  17 | They want witnesses to a death, and have chosen you.
|  18 | They are richer than they look and terrified of it showing.
|  19 | They serve the very thing you think you're hunting.
|  20 | They want only to be remembered. Promise it; they help.
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6. Plunder & Relics

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| d20 | WHAT YOU FIND
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------
|   1 | A blade that hums when the old enemy is near.
|   2 | A purse of coins from a realm not yet fallen.
|   3 | A sealed flask. The seal is a warning, not decoration.
|   4 | A map inked on skin, the owner's name still legible.
|   5 | A ring that fits no finger, but pulls toward one road.
|   6 | Armour that reshapes to fit whoever puts it on.
|   7 | A symbol of a faith that murdered its own gods.
|   8 | A ledger of debts owed to the dead.
|   9 | A horn that should not be sounded - and everyone wants to.
|  10 | Three iron keys. No locks in sight.
|  11 | A child's toy of impossible craft and great age.
|  12 | A weapon notched once per life taken. It is nearly full.
|  13 | A jar of teeth: sorted, labelled, and waiting.
|  14 | A cloak the eye slides off, but only in shadow.
|  15 | Letters never sent, naming a traitor by their true name.
|  16 | One draught of healing, and only one. Choose later, wisely.
|  17 | A crown light as paper. To wear it is a claim, and a target.
|  18 | A whetstone that sharpens more than steel.
|  19 | A book bound in something recently alive.
|  20 | The very thing you came for - and the cost of taking it.
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------

7. Sky & Omen

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| d20 | THE SIGN ABOVE
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------
|   1 | Clear skies, but every shadow falls the wrong way.
|   2 | Rain that leaves the ground dry.
|   3 | A second moon, faint, that no one else remarks upon.
|   4 | Frost in high summer, spreading from a single point.
|   5 | Birds flying in a perfect, deliberate ring.
|   6 | The sun sets, rises an inch, then sets again.
|   7 | A wind carrying voices in a tongue you almost know.
|   8 | Blood-coloured dusk, lasting far too long.
|   9 | Thunder with no lightning, and it is keeping time.
|  10 | A still, grey day where no creature makes a sound.
|  11 | Stars in daylight, low on the horizon, getting lower.
|  12 | Fog that thins only where you are not looking.
|  13 | The smell of smoke and roses where neither should be.
|  14 | A double rainbow over the exact place you must go.
|  15 | Snow falling upward into a hole in the cloud.
|  16 | Heat-shimmer in cold air, and a figure within it.
|  17 | The tide comes in across dry land, miles from any sea.
|  18 | A comet - and the old folk make the warding sign.
|  19 | Dead calm, then one gust that opens every door at once.
|  20 | The kind of beautiful morning that comes before the worst.
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8. When It Goes Wrong

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| d20 | THE COMPLICATION
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------
|   1 | The noise carries. The Escalation Meter advances.
|   2 | A weapon fails at the worst moment and must be cleared.
|   3 | The way back is cut off. Find another.
|   4 | An ally is wounded - or worse, missing.
|   5 | What you took is missed, and the owner is coming.
|   6 | The ground gives way; you are separated.
|   7 | Your light is failing, and the dark is not empty.
|   8 | A trusted face was never on your side.
|   9 | Reinforcements arrive for the other side. Roll The Foe.
|  10 | The relic you carry begins to make demands.
|  11 | A wound festers; one of you fights at a penalty.
|  12 | A storm closes the only road for a day and a night.
|  13 | You are being tracked, and have been for some time.
|  14 | Supplies are spoiled, stolen, or were never there.
|  15 | A vow is tested; keeping it costs, breaking it costs more.
|  16 | The map was wrong, or a lie, or both.
|  17 | Someone you spared has returned with friends.
|  18 | The thing you thought dead was only waiting.
|  19 | A choice: save the prize, or save the person.
|  20 | It was a trap, and it has only now finished closing.
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9. Whispers & Errands

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| d20 | THE HOOK
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------
|   1 | A lord pays well for a head, and is vague about whose.
|   2 | Something was taken from the barrow. It wants it back.
|   3 | A village will pay in grain to be rid of its protector.
|   4 | A relic lies on the old battlefield. Others already dig.
|   5 | A bridge must be held one night, against they won't say who.
|   6 | A child of the high house is hidden in the low country.
|   7 | The mines stopped sending ore, then stopped sending word.
|   8 | A blood-debt is owed; the creditor hires you to collect.
|   9 | A vault map - and three other parties hold the same one.
|  10 | A monster troubles the road. Double pay to take it alive.
|  11 | A traitor hides among loyal men. Find them before muster.
|  12 | The old shrine must be burned. The faithful will object.
|  13 | A caravan needs guarding through country that eats caravans.
|  14 | A name must reach a prisoner by dawn. Only the name.
|  15 | A rival warband holds what you were hired to find.
|  16 | A widow pays to know how her husband truly died.
|  17 | The well must be cleansed. Something lives at the bottom.
|  18 | A king's writ must reach a fort that may have fallen.
|  19 | Someone wants the ruin mapped. They won't say why.
|  20 | The reward is real. The job is not what you were told.
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10. The Foe

+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------
| d20 | WHAT COMES AGAINST YOU
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------
|   1 | Starving wolves, bold with hunger, hunting as a pack.
|   2 | Bandits who have done this many times before.
|   3 | A single knight, oath-bound, who will not yield or flee.
|   4 | Grave-things: slow, many, and in no hurry.
|   5 | A war-party of the old enemy, scouting ahead of more.
|   6 | A beast too large for the country it hunts in.
|   7 | Cultists mid-rite, who'd rather you joined than died.
|   8 | A rival crew after the same prize, sharing nothing.
|   9 | Something that wears the dead like clothing.
|  10 | Conscripts: frightened, badly led, dangerous for it.
|  11 | A hunter that has stalked you since the last table.
|  12 | Carrion-birds the size of hounds, and just as clever.
|  13 | A revenant with a grievance and a long memory.
|  14 | Slavers with nets, after coin on the hoof, not corpses.
|  15 | A thing of frost and silence the fire just keeps at bay.
|  16 | Deserters with nothing left to lose and good steel.
|  17 | A guardian that was here first. You are the intruders.
|  18 | Plague-touched who do not know they carry it.
|  19 | A duellist seeking a name to add to their blade.
|  20 | The Foe you've been avoiding, finally caught up.
+-----+----------------------------------------------------------------

11. Names Of Folk

Roll d66: first die = row, second die = column.

+----+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------
|    |    1     |    2     |    3     |    4     |    5     |    6
+----+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------
| 1  | Bren     | Asca     | Maeve    | Orin     | Hewl     | Sigga
| 2  | Dagomar  | Wren     | Talen    | Yrsa     | Coll     | Mabon
| 3  | Edda     | Garrow   | Lif      | Osric    | Bryn     | Hesper
| 4  | Tove     | Renn     | Sela     | Grimm    | Nessa    | Auld
| 5  | Vasca    | Doran    | Imre     | Kestrel  | Brannoch | Eilif
| 6  | Hald     | Marrow   | Senna    | Owain    | Drust    | Yorath
+----+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------

12. Names Of Places