Super Hero Random Adventure Tables
Roll some dice and assemble a (sometimes silly, always awesome) super hero adventure in minutes!
A simplified version of the Overarching Theme Table will appear in the upcoming Invulnerable RPG: Vigilante Edition! Many thanks to Aaron Connor for suggestions and contributions!
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Overarching Theme (2d6):
2: Natural disaster (roll 2d6):
- 2: Tidal wave (if near the coast; otherwise, roll again).
- 3 to 4: Hurricane.
- 5 to 7: Earthquake.
- 8 to 9: Power Blackout.
- 10 to 11: Flooding.
- 12: Wildfires.
3: Gang war (roll 1d6 twice; if the same result comes up twice, it’s a civil war):
- 1 to 2: Chaos Crew.
- 3 to 4: Underworld Syndicate.
- 5 to 6: Local gang.
4: A fellow hero goes too far and needs to be taken down.
5: Villain takes a personal interest in a hero and sets out to (roll 1d6):
- 1: Make them a better hero by making them miserable.
- 2: Punish them for making the villain in the first place.
- 3: Discover their secret identity and out them to the world.
- 4: Kill them and take their place.
- 5: Take petty, childish revenge for their own failures in life.
- 6: On a whim, become the hero’s sidekick, and “reform” (at least, until it gets boring or hard).
6 to 7: Rash of thefts (roll 2d6):
- 2 to 3: Irrational matter taken from super-science labs.
- 5: A huge cache of military hardware.
- 4: Radioactive materials.
- 6: Priceless works of art.
- 7: Money.
- 8: High-tech computer chip.
- 9: A list of names; mutants, traitors, heroes’ secret identities, etc.
- 10: Plans for a new invention, such as battle armor or energy weapons.
- 11: Biological warfare materials.
- 12: The recipe for Moistest Brand Snack Cakes(tm).
8 to 9: A science experiment goes awry (roll 1d6):
- 1 to 2: Heroes are thrown into an impromptu, unplanned jaunt through space and time.
- 3 to 4: A new villain is born.
- 5 to 6: A series of portals open into other dimensions, and horrible monsters pour out.
10 to 11: A bunch of villains escape from confinement (roll 1d6):
- 1: Outbreak of zombies, crazed industrial robots, vampires, or other simple, non-human Mooks.
- 2 to 3: A large number of B-listers and second-stringers.
- 4 to 5: A mixture of major and minor villains.
- 6: A handful of big-time villains, close to the PCs’ AWE, and one villain slightly more powerful than the heroes are.
12: Evidence of a conspiracy.
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It’s Complicated Because (2d6):
2 to 3: Physical/power issues (roll 1d6):
- 1 to 2: A cosmic force or energy exposure causes an unsettline power increase in one hero. The hero’s Powers all gain +1d3+1 Levels. One of the hero’s Mental Weaknesses increases by the same amount. The hero will find it increasingly difficult to wield their Powers safely!
- 3 to 4: Lingering wounds from a previous mission hamper the heroes. Each hero loses (AWE)d3 HLT from a random Body Part and 1d3 LIF.
- 5 to 6: One or more heroes’ powers are impeded. They’re sick, or they took a near-overdose of Extinguisher in a previous mission, or their equipment is malfunctioning, or the phases of the moon and the stars are disrupting their magical powers.
4 to 5: Heroic career issues (roll 1d6):
- 1 to 2: Rivalry with another hero team is getting in the way of fighting evil.
- 3 to 4: One of the villains is a former friend who turned heel.
- 5 to 6: Work is getting in the way of one hero’s career. The hero needs money, or an alibi.
6: Holiday Annual Special. The big caper takes place during Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Spring Break, Dia de Muertos, or another major holiday.
7: Terrible weather conditions (2d6):
- 2 to 3: Snow. Exposure Level 2 cold. -3 to Notice and Ranged Combat rolls during snowfall. Each round that a hero moves, roll 1d6; on a 6, they suffer the Dizzy Affliction (similar to the Elemental Control Enhancement Slick Surface).
- 4 to 5: High winds. -1 to Ranged Combat attacks, -3 if they are thrown attacks or arrows.
- 6 to 7: Driving rain. Exposure Level 1 cold, -2 to Notice and to Ranged Combat rolls.
- 8 to 9: Sweltering heat. Exposure Level 1d2 heat.
- 10 to 12: Hail and sleet. -3 to Notice and Ranged Combat attacks. Each round roll 1d6; on a 6, the character takes 1 Blunt damage to a random Body Part.
8: Media issues (roll 1d6):
- 1 to 4: One of the local newspapers or TV channels has it in for the heroes. They lose 1d3 REP.
- 5 to 6: A local reporter decides to figure out the hero’s secret identity.
- 9 to 10: An ancient legend/prophecy is about to come true. Choose a religion or mythology and go to town.
- 11 to 12: The villains kidnapped one of the heroes’ loved ones.
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The Heroes Find Out By (2d6):
2 to 3: Another precognitive hero alerts the hero to the upcoming crimes.
4 to 5: A crimefighting super-computer that hacks worldwide databases and correlates the information.
6: The heroes are at ground zero, in their secret ID, when the bad guys do their thing.
7: It’s right there on the news.
8: Tip from a criminal informant on the street.
9 to 10: Given the mission by CHIMERA, the government, or a team they trained with.
11: One villain rats out one of their rivals.
12: Heroes see a pattern to their last 1d6 adventures, and realize what’s coming next.
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The Dominant Location Is (2d6):
2: An alternate world, timeline, or another dimension.
3: A distant planet.
3: A city in a foreign country. At AWE 7+, this might be another planet.
4: The middle of the wilderness.
5: Underground lair, in caves or the sewer.
6 to 7: The heart of the city.
8: A rundown, dirty section of town.
9: A super-science lab.
10: A military base.
11: Long-forgotten ruins.
12: Deep underwater (roll 1d6):
- 1 to 3: Atlantis.
- 4 to 6: Lemuria.
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The Deathtrap (2d6):
2 to 3: Slowly lowered into:
- 1: Vat of acid.
- 2 to 3: Pool full of (roll 1d6):
- 1 to 2: Sharks.
- 3 to 4: Piranhas.
- 5 to 6: Electric Eels.
- 4 to 5: Pit full of (roll 1d6):
- 1: Spiders.
- 2: Snakes.
- 3: Tigers.
- 4: Mandrills.
- 5: Wolves.
- 6: Bears.
- 6: Hot lava.
4 to 5: Strapped to a table with (roll 1d6):
- 1 to 2: A laser burning its way toward the heroes.
- 3 to 4: A saw blade slowly lowering toward the heroes.
- 5 to 6: A pendulum slowly swinging, lower and lower, toward the heroes.
6 to 8: Thrown into an area and forced to fight to the death (roll 2d6):
- 2: Robotic duplicates of themselves.
- 3: Clone duplicates of themselves.
- 4: Duplicates from alternate timelines.
- 5 to 12: Roll on the ‘pit full of’ table, above.
9 to 10: Thrown out of an airplane, boat, or airlock. If the heroes can fly, their powers have been negated. In water, the heroes are weighted down with rocks or concrete.
11 to 12: The heroes must fight duplicates of themselves that are:
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Shocking Twist (2d6):
2: The villain secretly wants to lose and go to prison (roll 1d6):
- 1 to 2: Genuinely penitent.
- 3 to 4: Wants to help another criminal break out of prison.
- 5 to 6: Wants to sabotage the heroes’ base from the inside.
3: You’ve gotta be kidding me! (roll 1d6):
- 1 to 2: The item that the villain wants is actually quite useless, but the villain wants it for sentimental reasons.
- 3 to 4: The villain has been out to avenge an imagined or minor sleight all along (THIS will teach my second-grade spelling teacher who’s the boss!)
- 5 to 6: The villain is weaker than they seem, but they’ve been brash and lucky so far. A C-lister at best, the scheme just kept spiraling out of control, until the villain commands vast forces and threatens the lives of many.
4: The villain is actually being controlled or blackmailed by another villain, and the heroes have to take on both.
5: The heroes have been unwitting pawns of evil, and the villain was actually trying to help (this time). Maybe the evil third party left clues for the hero to discover, and steered them down the wrong path.
6 to 8: The shocking twist is that there is no shocking twist. Shocker, I know.
9: This was all a test put on by a Cosmic Entity or an unknown organization. They wanted to test the heroes’ moral fiber and amazing skills.
10: Love and betrayal (1d6):
- 1 to 2: The villain is in love with one of the heroes and just wanted their attention.
- 3 to 4: One of the villains’ henchmen falls in love with one of the heroes, and betrays the villain to let the heroes escape and succeed.
- 5 to 6: The villain’s top lieutenant, a lover they treat cruelly, betrays them and takes their place in the villain’s organization. They abandon the current plot, but focus on escaping to consolidate control of the villain’s resources.
11: The villain is (1d6):
- 1: A clone of the hero.
- 2 to 3: The hero’s (now-adult) child from the future.
- 4 to 5: The heroes capture a clone of the villain; the real villain was elsewhere, on another caper.
- 6: Actually a different villain, one presumed killed in a previous adventure.
12: Villain is close to achieving something big, and will kill anyone and sacrifice anything (enslave the human race, kill all adults on Earth-Omega) to achieve their goals (roll 1d6):
- 1: World Peace.
- 2: Total spiritual enlightenment.
- 3: Ending world hunger.
- 4: Free energy for all.
- 5: Migrating humanity into space.
- 6: Bringing an end to some social system (capitalism, communism, etc.)