Game prep with Maze Rats: The vengeful inventor

The Itch.io download is linked at the bottom if you just want to see the result.

Maze Rats by Questing Beast / Ben Milton has lots of random tables for generating game material, this is a walkthrough of how I use them to prepare a small scenario.

The process: I like to start with one of two main themes: a monster or a conflict. In this case I'm going to start with a randomly generated monster and build out from there. I roll three times for each generated feature and pick a configuration that catches my attention.

I settled on flying locust with geometric armor plates that can call for support and are generally aloof. None of the weaknesses felt like they made sense so I'm just going to go with "a well-placed strike". Now let's do a little synthesis based on the implications of this monster design.

• The geomtric armor plating isn't natural, so somebody must have outfitted them.
• They call for support using radio waves from their antennae, so they can also be remote controlled.

Creating the mastermind: Who created this armored remote-controlled locust fleet and what are their motivations?

Our mastermind, Balthazar Knibbs (rolled name), has a laboratory where he built his locust. He's using them for sabotage after being sued (a bit of an overreaction due to his temper). Instead of rolling up a faction for the target of his ire, I'm going to use the context of the monster and the mastermind.

• Locust are effective at decimating crops so the faction is a farming community.
• They're suing (or reneging on a contract) with Balthazar because the machinery they had him build broke down.
• Balthazar is sending his locust after them in retaliation.

Adding a twist: I don't want Balthazar to be completely in the wrong, so I want to add some details that aren't immediately apparent to the PCs that muddy the waters.

• The farming community has horrible boulders in their soil which is why they needed custom machinery.
• They didn't tell Balthazar about it because previous machinery providers told them it's impossible to work with.
• The machinery Balthazar built for them was high quality but destined for failure.
• The short-tempered Balthazar doesn't have the patience for these games.

As the PCs unravel the story they can side with the farmers (stop Balthazar, collect the bounty), Balthazar (double-cross the farmers, get Balthazar his payment, gain a benefit from Balthazar's inventing prowess), or neither (play both sides off each other and attempt to collect rewards from everyone).

Finishing touches: Although I'm using Maze Rats to generate this scenario, I'm statting it for Cairn. The locust are built on the cave locust in the Cairn bestiary. I'm using Sersa Victory's Cyclic Dungeon Generation to build Balthazar's lair, specifically having a view of the control room in the entryway plus a dead end in the locust barracks. The skeleton lab assistants discussing unionizing is just a dunb gag I throw in when I don't have any better banter ideas.