This is Not the Seclusium of Orphone: Random Wizard's Tower Generator

(art by Alex Nino)

I'm sure you've heard by now that James Raggi Type IV's latest fundraising insanity ended-up funding four adventures, which is frankly more than I expected due to the large number of potential modules vying for attention.  Raggi & co. threw in a lot of bonus perks as things neared the finish line; I've seen opinions on this ranging from "adding last minute stuff is like admitting failure" to "Raggi's willingness to meet his fans halfway shows his commitment to getting new gaming material out there," but I honestly can't figure out how people being excited enough by this mad scheme to plonk down money is in any way a bad thing.  So, congrats to James and his supporters for rolling up their sleeves and pitching it.

In the end, this wasn't the fundraiser project(s) for me as I'm still waiting for stuff from three fundraisers ago, but looking it over certainly gave me some ideas for my own games.  In particular, Vincent Baker's "The Seclusium of Orphone" made me realize that I don't have a go-to method for generating wizards' towers on the fly.  Let's fix that, shall we?

Random Wizard's Tower – the Dungeonesque way

STEP 1: Give the wizard's tower a name or use the following table to determine its title –

d12	The (Adjective)	(Noun) of (insert Wizard's Name)
1	Looming	Tower
2	Dreaded	Laboratory
3	Oracular	Sanctuary
4	Panoptic	Fortress
5	Cyclopean	Spire
6	Sorcerous	Steeple
7	Enshrouded	Hall
8	Black	Citadel
9	White	Manse
10	Magnificent	Bastion
11	Fell	Stronghold
12	Secluded	Fastness

Roll two d12s; rolls of 4 and 8 would generate “The Panoptic Citadel of X,” for example.

If you don't have a name for your wizard, you can roll for it on this table

d20	Random Wizard Name	d20	Random Wizard Name
1	Orfeus or Orfia	11	Zeria or Zerio
2	Melango or Melangela	12	Erathia or Eraster
3	Sersey or Sersus	13	Iraal or Iraalia
4	Katya or Katrick	14	Rhaldeus or Rhaldeia
5	Marlinius or Marlinia	15	Calabish or Calabisha
6	Horodius or Horodia	16	Araldo or Araldia
7	Snetch or Snetchnia	17	Balto or Balta
8	Brambleford or Bramblefordina	18	Amar or Amarinth
9	Zaster or Zastria	19	Sholtar or Sholtara
10	Phoulus or Phoulotia	20	Imogrand or Imograndia

STEP 2: This wizard is really into...

d12	Theme	d12	Theme
1	Necromancy	7	Seances
2	Things Man Was Not Meant to Know	8	Demonic pacts
3	Apotheosis	9	Mutational magic
4	Biological experimentation	10	Orgone magic
5	Black masses	11	Golem construction
6	Planar travel	12	Raising an army

STEP 3: A wizard's tower is usually designed to be foreboding of aspect so as to scare away any potential interlopers. Roll on the following table to determine what keeps the locals away.

d10	Foreboding Aspect
1	The main entrance is shaped like a demon's maw
2	The area leading up to the tower is a perpetually skeletal forest
3	The area near the entrance is a forest of corpses impaled on wooden stakes
4	A storm continually rages over the tower
5	The area around the tower is subject to Fortean weather phenomena
6	The area around the tower is subject to spectral howling at all hours
7	Horrific illusions near the entrance
8	Skeletons wander the area near the tower
9	The bodies of former interlopers hang from the trees
10	The area around the tower smells of the abattoir

STEP 4: The wizard's overall aesthetic style is...

d10	Aesthetic	d10	Aesthetic
1	Cluttered and disorganized	6	Baroque
2	Neo-classical	7	Neo-gothic
3	Minimalist, everything-in-its-place	8	Cthulhoid, tentacular
4	Overly refined;	9	Ascetic and monkish
5	Gaudy; nouveau riche	10	Rustic and charming

STEP 5: A wizard's tower has 1d4+1 levels (or 2d4+1 levels in the case of especially powerful wizards)

STEP 6: A wizard's tower contains the following levels (re-roll any duplicates):

A – the wizard's private chambers (bedroom, kitchen, dining area, etc.)

B – the wizard's library

• randomly roll for the rest of the levels; each level will have a series of related rooms –

d20	Level
1	Ritual chambers – incense, braziers, permanent summoning circle
2	Mutational experiment laboratory – vivsection equipment, animals in cages
3	Alchemical laboratory – alembics, retorts, strange and rare ingredients in vials and jars
4	Scrying chambers – mirror pools, crystal balls, tarot cards, books on divination, entrails
5	Necromantic laboratory – bones, flesh, stitchery, dreadful tomes
6	Cages and holding pens – humans, animals, wooden or metal cages, whips, locks
7	Henchmen's quarters – rough quarters, some gold and silver, weapons, dice and cards
8	Enchanted portrait galleries – talking portraits, portraits the step from their frames
9	Musical room – self-playing instruments, enchanted musicians
10	Trophy room – stolen goods, broken wands from wizardly duels, treasure on display
11	Wunderkammer – medical oddities, natural history specimens
12	Operating theaters – operating tables, scalpels and saws, blood stains
13	Extra-dimensional rooms – dimensional doors, portals, gifts from otherworldly beings
14	Igor's chambers – manacles, rough clothes, foulness
15	Concubine's chambers – pillows, chained men/women/both, willing slave, succubi
16	Harem chambers – pleasure consorts, spearwives, orgiastic cult
17	Apprentice's chambers – minor books of the occult, minor magical baubles
18	Treasure vault – gold, silver, art works, precious gems
19	Observatory – telescope, astrological charts, hymns to those beyond the stars
20	Torture chambers – the rack, thumbscrews, the iron maiden, whips, manacles

STEP 7: The wizard's tower is primarily protected by

d12	Protection
1	Complex mechanical traps (roll 1d4 to determine the most common type found in the tower: 1 – gaseous attacks 2 – tripwires that fire crossbows 3 – doors and chests trapped with poison needles 3 – descending spiked ceilings 4 –
2	Crude mechanical traps (roll 1d4 to determine the most common type found in the tower: 1 – pitfalls 2 – deadweights 3 – pots of boiling oil 4 –
3	Magical traps (roll 1d4 to determine the most common type found in the tower: 1 – trap releases monster from stasis 2 – fiery explosions 3 – curses 4 – petrification)
4	Misguiding illusions (roll 1d6 to determine type: 1 – illusory wall 2 – phantom sound 3 – illusory image 4 – illusory image that causes terror 5 – illusory image that causes horror 6 – illusory image with phantom sounds)
5	Summoned demons (roll 1d6 to determine the demons' general methodology: 1-2 – brute force and battle 3-4 seduction and misdirection 5 – demonic possession 6 – magical hindrance)
6	Hired mercenaries (roll 1d6 to determine the type of mercenaries: 1-2 – bandits 3-4 – sellswords 5 – berzerkers 6 – fallen knights)
7	Charmed beasts roll (1d8 to determine the most common type: 1 – cadaver grub 2 – umber hulk 3 – basilisk 4 – medusa 5 – cockatrice 6 – manticore 7 – griffin 8 – otyugh 9 – lycanthrope 10 – )
8	Necromantic servitors (roll 1d10 to determine the main type of necromantic servitors that follow the wizard's commands: 1-3 – skeletons 4-6 – zombies 7-8 – ghouls 9 – wights 10 – wraiths)
9	Hauntings (use the What Type of Haunting is Afoot Table on page 74)
10	Riddle-based traps (roll 1d4 to determine the riddle's method of delivery: 1 – sphinxes 2 – Magic Mouth spells 3 – fey creatures 4 – talking oil paintings)
11	Enslaved humanoids (roll 1d12 to determine the main type of enslaved humanoids in service to the wizard: 1 – kobolds 2 – goblins 3 – orcs 4 – hobgoblins 5 – bugbears 6 – gnolls 7 – ogres 8 – trolls 9 – dwarves 10 – elves 11 – halflings 12 – lizardmen)
12	Created monsters (roll 1d6 to determine type: 1 – golem 2 – homunculus 3 – clockworkian 4 – living statue 5 – caryatid column 6 – gargoyle)

STEP 8: The wizard's tower is secondarily protected by → roll again on the previous table, discarding a matching result; this secondary method of protection will simply be less prevalent than the primary method generated in STEP 7.

Some Associated Tables

d6	Don't Touch That Because...	You Knocked That Over And...
1	It's a mimic	Now it's eating through the floor
2	It's cursed	Now it's smoking
3	It's a disguised ooze	Now we hear strange chanting and ululations
4	It's an illusion	Now we seem to be somewhere else
5	It's poisoned	Now the tower seems to be falling apart around us
6	It's going to explode	Now a secret door has opened

d6	Odd Room Features	Abortive Experiments
1	Unusually high ceiling	Half-owl, half-boar (owlboar)
2	Wall covered in runes	Shadow shedu
3	Choked with furniture	Gollum-shaped golem
4	Everything is one color	Hybrid blink dog/hellhound
5	Everything is striped	Hybrid medusa/gorgon
6	Naked portrait of the wizard	Half-ettercap, half-drider (spiderman)

d20	What's In the Wizard's Dustbin?	d20	What's In the Wizard's Dustbin?
1	Infernal dictionary	11	Bent forks
2	Gelatinous flesh	12	A broken skull
3	Old love letters	13	Multicolored prisms
4	Unhatched, monstrous eggs	14	Catgut
5	A snake made of human teeth	15	Pile of cinders
6	Empty bottles of perfume	16	Insect husks
7	Rusty razor blades	17	Shattered globe
8	A small casket	18	Empty hourglass
9	Soap cask	19	Drained wine bottles
10	Pipe cleaners	20	Misplaced keys on keyring