Adventure Seed Generator: Spears of the Dawn (Sine Nomine)

 A few months ago I was flicking back through my old PDF of Spears of the Dawn by Kevin Crawford (currently available from Drive Thru RPG I believe) and came across a neat table for generating adventure seeds.

The set up is simple: 5 1d20 tables which together imply a story: 

1. 20 patrons who approach the party
2. 20 antagonists in conflict with the patron
3. 20 causes of the conflict
4. 20 MacGuffins that are central to the conflict
5. A location where the MacGuffin is found.

I put the 100 entries into a simple generator using perchance:

Obviously there's go t to be some degree of interpretation on the GM's part, but that's the point: it's a seed. How the adventure grows out of this sentence is down to you. You'll also notice that there are buttons for "Old school Fantasy" and "Pariah", the additional lists for which you will find below:

Old School Fantasy

Spears of the Dawn is inspired by the history and mythology of medieval west Africa, but there are strong sword & sorcery elements at play so in some cases I ported some of the entries directly over....

OSF Patrons

1. renowned artisan  
2. burgomaster of the local town 
3. {Bishop|Lama|Curate|Patriarch} of the local {church|temple}
4. seneschal of the noble's castle 
5. boss of the thieves' guild 
6. {theurgist|thaumaturgist|magician|enchanter|warlock|sorcerer|necromancer|wizard}
7. {swashbuckler|myrmidon|champion|local lord} 
8. {captain of the watch|a man-at-arms|chief of the king's guard} 
9. {wealthy|down-on-their-luck|scheming} merchant 
10.  an elven clan 
11. the leaders of a dwarven nation
12. {disgraced|disreputable|disfunctional} {noble|minor royal} 
13. group of gnomish craftsmen  
14. peasant {leader|rebel|elder} 
15. priest of {the orthodox religion|a disgraced cult|an heretical sect|a forgotten god|a foreign deity}
16. relative of a party member
17. prominent halfling family
18. wise sage
19. Herald of the King 
20. unpopular vagrant

OSF Antagonists

1. chaotic bard
2. assassin 
3. goblin tribe
4. bandit gang 
5. cultist 
6. evil high priest 
7. cunning charlatan 
8. {theurgist|thaumaturgist|magician|enchanter|warlock|sorcerer|necromancer|wizard}
9. orc warlord 
10. mercenary captain
11. merchant 
12. doppelganger 
13. corrupt noble 
14. corrupt official 
15. group of kobold bandits 
16. Neurovore 
17. lawful priest 
18. lich
19. Eye Tyrant 
20. slavemonger 
21. high-level thief

OSF Fighting over...

1. the security of a minor trade route
2. a series of tit-for-tat raids
3. a disputed land claim
4. a blood feud
5. institutional corruption
6. a romantic rivalry
7. the interpretation of {a} {ancient prophesy|religious text|occult grimoire|priceless work of art}
8. access to a tract of land
9. a claim to dungeon loot
10. an argument over who was to receive credit for a victory
11. an unpunished crime
12. an unjust law
13. the unfair distribution of wealth
14. a drunken wager that has gotten out of hand 
15. precious gems
16. recent crime
17. sheer spitefulness
18. a sporting contest
19. antagonistic family members
20. the grave of their surprising common ancestor

OSF MacGuffin...

1. the body of an ancient dragon rotting
2. proof of a bastard's lineage hidden away
3. fact that they were cursed by a chaotic cleric  
4. dormant shell of a sleeping golem rumoured to be found
5. grimoire of necromantic magic
6. legendary hoard of a deceased king buried beneath
7. remedy for a grim plague 
8. unholy relics of a deceased anti-saint
9. inflammatory writ in possession of nervous lawyer
10. hitherto indecipherable map to a great treasure
11. {holy talisman|demonic idol} which is hidden 
12. unwilling ward of a noble family held hostage 
13. meticulous expense accounts of an otherwise corrupt merchant 
14. desecrated {cathedral|shrine|abbey} 
15. ornate {house|shrine|implement} 
16. roof of a legal privilege which can be found 
17. holy sceptre of the Once and Always king guarded well
18. sack of precious jewels hidden 
19. stolen bride-to-be imprisoned 
20. stolen tribute due a local lord

 

OSF Locations

1. abandoned temple complex from antiquity 
2. mines of a fallen dwarven kingdom
3. camp of outlaw mercenaries turned brigands
4. haunted mausoleum of a legendary concubine 
5. cursed stone circle built by barbarian tribes 
6. old catacombs beneath the city
7. crumbling palace of a corupt noble family
8. enchanted gardens of a decadent lord
9. monastery in a high mountain pass
10. stinking swamp shrouded in a permanent fog 
11. elaborate abandoned sewer network beneath the better part of town
12. warren-like alleyways of the capital's slum quarter 
13. over-sized castle built by giants, rumoured to still be inhabited.
14. deserted town on the very edge of the wilderness
15. sea or river-cave 
16. sacred grove at the heart of an old forest
17. least -reputable of the city's many thieves' guilds
18. most sacred temple of a persecuted cult  
19. border fortress manned by conscripts on the verge of mutiny 
20. tower of an elderly {man|woman|humanoid} rumoured to be a wizard

PARIAH ADVENTURE SEEDS

These were just a few examples of what adventures might take place in a proto-Neolithic world. for further inspiratin, have a look at 20 Pariah Plot Hooks and rumours

Patron

1. emissary from the settled peoples
2. chief of a rival foraging band
3. toothless shaman 
4. messenger from a powerful forest spirt
5. enormous wolf, seemingly controlled by a minah bird perched on its crown
6. haggard wisewoman
7. starving band of pariahs
8. herdsman from the northern grasslands
9. some nomad band from the far-off desert
10. untrustworthy sorcerer
11. figure from one of the pariahs' past
12. old woman, renowned for her hunting prowess,
13. pair of lovers fleeing their former tribe(s), one of whom
14. Aziza, the Morning Star
15. the Lord of the Sun and Heavens
16. the Lord of Death
17. our-Dimensional Insect Goddess
18. artisan-priest of the settled folk
19. feathered serpent
20. powerful animal spirit

Antagonist

1. bitter, exiled shaman
2. priest from a far-off city
3. the Yellow Witch and worshippers of the accursed moon
4. the short-tempered war-chief of a nomadic tribe
5. a Forest Demon
6. a recently awoken Titan
7. a village of angry fisher-folk
8. starving agricultural workers
9. a mysterious trading party from far-off lands
10. a fox
11. a furious cave bear
12. a powerful sorcerer and his retinue of monkeys
13. the Genius Loci
14. a figure from the pariahs' past
15. an undead tree-spirit
16. a great spirit of the Beyond
17. the Deep One
18. an ancestral spirit clinging to the Here and Now
19. an giant, ancient Isopod who eats star-metal
20. their own doppelganger

Fighting over...

1. the improper conduct of one or both parties (a matter of honour)
2. a reneged wager
3. a romantic rivalry
4. the breaking of an ancient taboo
5. an artefact of the others
6. a beautiful human
7. theft of a story or song
8. a feud dating back to the age of chaos
9. hunting rites on sacred land
10. a great earthwork depicting a lewd figure
11. unfair distribution of foraging yields 
12. the desecration of an ancient {megalith|shrine|spirit-tree}
13. an out-of-touch community leader
14. an unfulfilled promise of marriage 
15. a broken covenant  
16. a valuable idol
17. a string of violent incidents
18. pure malevolence
19. an old family feud
20. access to a flint mine

MacGuffin

1. a sacred spear hidden away at
2. the plastered skull of a revered ancestor, buried somewhere beneath
3. an elemental bound to {a} {monkey|elephant|wooden idol|gnarled wooden staff|ancient drum} is an ivory flute belonging to {a} [pariahantagonist] 
4. the polished bones of a revered ancestor, stored in a clay jar at 
5. a set of gold tablets engrave with strange symbols guarded by {a} [pariahantagonist] at
6. the blood of the forest guardian spirit kept at
7. a song known only to an obscure pariah band hiding out at
8. a great palanquin assembled from the bones of {mastodons|fallen warriors|flying tyrants|thunder lizards|aurochs} said to reside at
9. the flight-feathers of an eagle witch known to dwell in
10. the still conscious shrunken head of a powerful sorcerer dwelling at
11. the fruit of the spirit-tree growing at
12. the eyes of a spider-god found in a den beneath
13. an ancient piece of rock art to be found at
14. a mysterious {shaman|wisewoman|witch|sorcerer|stranger} last seen at
15. a set of ceremonial masks sacred to a semi-settled tribe known to reside near
16. an artefact of the Others known to be located at
17. an ancient weapon forged by a mighty Titan hidden away at
18. the disembodied spirit of a once-spirit-touched, now bound to
19. 49 clay effigies of diminutive humans stood in a perfect square formation at 

Location

1. a meteor crater located in the centre of a field of corn
2. an abandoned city of The Others
3. an abandoned city of the ancient Titans
4. a cave hidden behind a brilliant waterfall
5. a stone circle on a blasted moor
6. a crumbling temple in the heart of the jungle
7. a foul-smelling caverns riddling the slopes of a slumbering volcano
8. the Realm of Dawn
9. the Realm of Dusk
10. the Realm of the Silver Lake
11. the Realm of the Sun & Heavens
12. the Realm of Death
13. the realm of Beyond
14. a tree-top village in an enchanted forest
15. an ancient megalith atop a great hill
16. a far-off city populated by lizard-skinned reptile-folk
17. the shrine of the Genius Loci
18. the great hollow beneath a dying tree
19. the blasted tundra, far to the north
20. the temple of the Deep One, far below the waves

The link for the generator on perchance is here: you can extend or otherwise amend the lists, save copies and customise your own adventure seed generators:

https://perchance.org/quick-adventure-elements