On the Waterfront: Random Encounter Tables for High Seas

The Flashing Blades maritime supplement High Seas introduces six additional character backgrounds - colonial versions of the Rogue, Gentleman, and Soldier plus three new backgrounds, Marine, Sailor, and Pirate - as well as numerous new ranks, such as Gunner's Mate, Sailmaster, Ship's Pilot, or First Mate. HS also includes an encounter table for encounters at sea, aimed primarily at the waters on either side of the Atlantic Ocean; I took it upon myself awhile back to create a table specific to the Mediterranean Sea.

While High Seas covers encounters at sea, there are no new tables to add encounters ashore incorporating the introduced backgrounds, so I took that on myself to remedy.

Encounter Tables

Roll (d20)	Encounter on a Quay
1	1D6 Sailors
2	1D6 Smugglers
3	A Merchant Captain (a possible Patron)
4	1D6 Merchants
5	A Wealthy Ship Owner (a possible Patron)
6	1D6 Dockworkers
7	1D6 Fishermen
8	A Wealthy Merchant (a possible Patron)
9	1D6 Marines
10	A Knight-Captain and 2 Chevaliers
11	An Investor and 1D6 Clerks (a possible Patron)
12	A Food Seller and her handcart
13	A Cartographer
14	A Warship Officer (a possible Patron)
15	1D6 Sailors
16	1D6 Boatmen
17	A Ship Chandler
18	1D6 City Guards
19	A Magistrate an 1D6 Lawyers
20	1D6 Pirates

Roll (d20)	Encounter in a Port Tavern
1	A Barmaid
2	1-3 Merchant Officers carousing
3	1-3 Dockworkers
4	1-3 Sailors
5	A Wealthy Merchant Captain (a possible Patron)
6	1-3 Gamblers
7	A Knight-Captain and 2 Chevaliers (a possible Patron)
8	A Disguised Nobleman (a possible Patron)
9	A Pickpocket
10	A Master Gambler
11	A Master Gambler who cheats
12	A Rowdy (brawler)
13	1-3 Rowdies (brawlers)
14	1D6 Rowdies (brawlers)
15	1-3 Marines
16	A Warship Officer (a possible Patron)
17	A Drunk
18	A Ship Owner (a possible Patron)
19	The Tavernkeeper or Manager (a possible Patron)
20	A Smuggler (a possible Patron)

Notes -

• "A Knight-Captain and 2 Chevaliers" may represent knights of one of the military orders active against the Barbary corsairs or the Sallee Rovers, such as the Holy Order of Saint John of Jerusalem - the Knights of St, John, based on Malta - or the Order of San Stefano, based in Tuscany.
• Hopefully most of the occupations are self-explanatory, but here're a couple of notes just in case: "Boatmen" are the boatswain (or bo's'n) and oarsmen of what High Seas calls a jolly boat; "Ship Chandler" is a merchant who specializes in supplies for ships, everything from ropes and sailcloth to pitch and varnish.
• These tables, like the ones in the Flashing Blades core rules, provide the opportunity to flex the referee's creativity; frex, consider that a "Rowdy" or a "Drunk" could be a sailor, a pirate, a dockworker, a smuggler, a marine, a boatman, a rake, a plantation owner, a rogue, and on and on.

I know to a lot of gamers these and the Flashing Blades encounter tables on which they're based are thin to the point of emaciated, but I love how much they leave to interpretation and personalization. It's rare for me to find a commercial product that I can plug'n'play, so inspiration is much more important to me, particularly given the way I like to use the FB encounter tables.