Random Encounter Tables for Areas / POI

The idea sounds simple and somewhat similar to an earlier suggestion, but I believe it would actually be extremely relevant for Friends & Fables because, in my opinion, it could be the perfect tool for leveraging the strengths of AI and compensating for its weaknesses at the same time. So possibly it could massively enhance the gameplay experience: We need random encounter tables for areas/POIs!

Why?

- DND classic

- Reduces AI clichés/repetition

- Makes Franz less passive and less dependent on player input

- Allows for real surprises

- Makes regions/POIs more lively

- World-building tool

- Get to know the world without having to read lore

- Invites players to actively interact and role-play by reacting to hooks

- Would make travel / revisiting places more interesting

- Strong combo with AI

- Originality, no other AI game tried this before (to my best knowledge)

- Simple measure, high output

I imagine that for each POI or region, a table can be defined by world builders, which can contain up to 20 short entries. When entering a POI or traveling within an area, the table is randomly rolled and the corresponding event is triggered, unless the player disables these events in the options.

Simple example for the bazaar: Roll a d20

1 - A dubious merchant offers a strange trade

2 - The player hears two farmers arguing

3 - A small animal approaches the player trustingly

4 - A desperate thief tries to steal from the player

5- The player sees a farmer almost come to harm in an accident.

6 - A street bard sings a song about a local legend.

7 - An old man needs help carrying something heavy.

8 - A few men make a game out of tossing a coin into a bucket

9 - A mage drops a volatile component

10 - A man flees from the town guard

...

20 - A stranger bumps into you accidentally

Just small, vague prompts like this could make a huge difference, because they give Franz additional random external input that he has to react to without the player having to trigger them themselves.

But wouldn't it be incredibly exhausting to do this for every area/POI? No!

- It should be optional and you don't have to do it for every area: Why not just for your favorite tavern?

- There are already hundreds of these tables on the internet that you can use.

- The entries don't have to be complicated or detailed; on the contrary, the vaguer they are, the more different things Franz can conjure up from them.

- You could set it up so that world builders can share these tables via the workshop.

What do you think? I'm convinced by the idea and I’d love it if we were given the chance to experiment with such a tool!