Out of the Out of the Pit

sean f. smith / he, him
2 min readSep 24, 2022

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For British reminiscence on your random tables

Cover art by Chris Achilleos (f in chat); © Penguin Random House used fairly

If you don’t have a copy of Out of the Pit you should get one. It’s consistently my favourite monster manual to dip into.

But Sean, my system of choice doesn’t use SKILL and STAMINA! Fear not. STAMINA /3 = HD // SKILL = morale // and make a judgement call for armouredness

At the back of the book are a number of random encounter tables and I much prefer using them to the OSE standard tables. What follows are a few of my variations.

Constructed undergrounds (dungeons, ruins, ect.)

  • 03. mummy
  • 04. demoen vermin (large)
  • 05. wererat
  • 06. iron-eater (aka. rust monster)
  • 07. skeleton warrior
  • 08. imitator (aka. mimic)
  • 09. large rats
  • 10. orcs
  • 11. tarator (ogre with damage reduction)
  • 12. rock grub
  • 13. draugr (fell dwarfs)
  • 14. chest-trap demoen
  • 15. manticore
  • 16. wight
  • 17. death wraith
  • 18. vampire

Coastal

  • 03. nessie (plesiosaur)
  • 04. sea giant
  • 05. mer-kin
  • 06. none
  • 07. large octopus
  • 08. none
  • 09. sharks
  • 10. large eel
  • 11. large crab
  • 12. none
  • 13. none
  • 14. large seasnake
  • 15. mer-kin
  • 16. sea troll
  • 17. none
  • 18. water elemental

Scrubland

  • 03. cockatrice
  • 04. red-eye (think Cyclops from X-Men)
  • 05. gark (goblin / ogre)
  • 06. man-orcs
  • 07. felinaur (centaur but with lion undercarriage)
  • 08. hobgobelins (mine are Machoke-style middle evolutions)
  • 09. wolfs
  • 10. gobelins (mine are Machop-style starter evolutions)
  • 11. orcs
  • 12. large wasp
  • 13. rhino-man (often, as ogre)
  • 14. tangleweed
  • 15. werewolf
  • 16. shapechanger (reptilian illusionist)
  • 17. clawbeast (sickle-armed yeti)
  • 18. basilisk

But Sean, I want my system to use SKILL and STAMINA!

Fear not: pick up the complete Quarrel + Fable today.

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