Events for RPGs

Template:CDD Articles Original article by John D. Eikenberry

In a game, my view of events that a group of players may learn about can be approached at multiple levels - those local to the players, nearby, regional, and then national. For instance, a burglary of a bakery in a town 2000 miles away probably wouldn't get mentioned unless there were some circumstances around it (how grisly it was or who was suspected or ...). But a burglary of the local bakery probably would get a lot of local talk. Likewise, the trial of a prince for treason would be the talk throughout an entire kingdom and perhaps beyond.

1 Rules of thumb for the two extremes
2 Event information
3 Events

Rules of thumb for the two extremes

Local- petty level items would be heard plus anything higher up
Nearby-
Regional-
National- only items involving celebrities, known people, or specially horrific events would be heard

In other words, the farther you are away from an event, the bigger/more important/more gruesome the event needs to be for you to hear about it.

Event information
Description:	What happened
Quality:	What is nature of event (magical, natural, economical, religious, or whim?) How important is the event? (major, medium, minor)
Reason:	Why did the event occur? (relates to nature of event) How long ago was the "why"? (ancient, past, recent, now) What is behind the event? (one person, group, organization, nation?)
Effect:	How many will be affected by the event? (one person, group,organization, nation?) What kind of effect will event have? (relates to nature of event)

Events

Social

Wedding (between whom, arranged?, Increase land holdings?)
Birth (who are the parents?)
Death
Uprising/Revolt/Rebellion/Coup
Political unrest/Demonstration/Protest

Riots

Change in government/union/guild policy or law
Traitorous/Treasonous/Spy/Sabotage activities
False charges against/Framing of celebrity/political/hero/local
Feud (family or otherwise)begins/ends
Coup (attempted or successful)
Assassination (attempted or successful)
Funeral
Kidnapping of public/political/local figure
Jailbreak/rescue
Trial (public or private)
Crime wave
Traveling Troupe/Bard
Message by messenger/post/town crier/town meeting
Stranger/traveller arrives/departs/passes through
Great performance done or great masterpiece created
Heist/Burglary
Fight/Duel
Smuggling/Contraband
Other crimes (rape, extortion, blackmail, bribery, etc.)
Trial/Imprisonment/execution
Treason or Betrayal
Slavery market
Coronation
Granting of land to someone (knighting?)
Removal of land rights
Omen/Oracle told about/seen/witnessed
Murder
Ambassador - sent to, arrives from another land
Famous Person (hero, artist, mage, bard, criminal)
Injustice done/corrected
Recruiting (military, political party, criminal)
VIP (political/religious) visit/sent
Troop movement (redeployment, military action, drilling)
Refugees (depart, arrive)
Kidnapping
Tournament/Contest
Visitation/Avatar of deity appears
Revenge
Inquisition/Fanatical behavior
Religion/political/business coalition forms or breaks up
Skirmish/battle/war/revolt by peasants/neighbor/army/political/business/religions
Shift in power within politics/crime/religions
Invasion/Raid
Archeological find
Festival/Fair/Market/Sporting Event
Religious celebration/observances