random shops of hackway heights
The following is taken from my file on Hackway Heights, the setting of our Electric Bastionland podcast. In my last post, I showed the map. For this post, I’m revealing my six random shops for when my players want to shop but are looking for something off the beaten path, or don’t know what they want. They can be placed anywhere. And with a few tweaks they can be placed in whatever system or setting you want.
If you enjoyed this, I’ll be releasing an entire pdf of Hackway Heights, that will include this and a bunch of other NPCs, locations, and random encounter tables once the show ends. It will be available on our Patreon.
To use:
When players are out shopping, or exploring Hackway Heights, roll 1d6 for the shop. Each shop description has 4 special items or oddities that can be discovered there. You can decide if they’re all present, only one, or none. Maybe there’s a 1 in 6 chance that a special item is available. OR one of the owners could be talking about making such an item and needs specific component to finish the job. Maybe your players could help make that dream a reality. Names that are bold and underlined in text are NPCs or specific locations in Hackway Heights.
1d6 Random Shops
Cradle to the Cane
Utne’s Teas & Yeastery
Langley’s Radio Repair & Dynamics
Get in the Box: Leather & Containment Shoppe
Francis For Dransses
Good Effort! (Awards & Trophies For Everyone!)
Prices are whatever feels right. Bartering is also good. See if you can get your players to trade one cool item for another. Doing favors(like a quest) is even better.
1. CRADLE TO THE CANE.
Woodwright Pimento’s shop specializing in cradles and canes. Sawdust is everywhere and dolls made from twine and scrap wood hang from the ceiling. One of these dolls is sentient and will try to pick your pocket for jewelry and take it to its true master – Vermillia the Witch.
A friendly gentleman with a mustache and overalls is often working on the wood between customers. This is Pimento and he likes a tight dovetail as much as he likes a vodka. A lot. He’ll do his best to create custom orders as he enjoys the challenge.
You might come in when he’s complaining to a supplier about a lost shipment of Yamblar Wood, which is particularly rare and dense.
Players may acquire a variety of canes and cradles here. Canes can be used for status, clubbing, or may come with a hidden sword. If pressed for something reeeeeally out of the ordinary, they may come upon one the following 1d4 canes:
1d4 Oddities
1. Hammer of Orblarn A bulky walking stick with a thick hammer head handle. Carvings of mountains and storm clouds. Highly intimidating. Will do 2d10 damage and shatter into splinters. Not so intimidating now.
2. The Door Knocker. An elegant dark cane with a bronze fist for a handle. Can be used to unlock any door, by knocking it, however it creates a booming noise as it does so. Not subtle.
3. Cradle of Silence. This cradle is not for sale to anyone with children. No noise escapes the cradle. Which sounds great for new parents in need of sleep...but has its obvious drawbacks. But when used carelessly lead to
4. Cane of Propulsion. The only metallic cane in the room, which with multiple rubber tubes running around it. Two pegs at the bottom similar to a pogo stick. Has a mechanical compressor that sucks in large quantities of air (or water!). Will fire a charge propelling the cane, and anyone attached up in the air 60’ft. Takes 5 minutes to recharge.
2. UTNE’S TEAS AND YEASTERY
A bouquet of herbal teas and yeast smells great you when entering this former trash bin company. All teas and yeasts are contained in left over unused trashcan stock from the previous tenants.
Lance Utne is gregarious man with a bush beard and jiggly belly. He wants all of his customers to stay as long as possible, fixing them pots of tea and making room at a table. This is because when everyone leaves he’s haunted by the spectre of his great uncle Gorman Utne – a former knight and connoisseur of fine brews.
There is a chance that one of these trash cans is the home of Elura a mock snail. This snail collects a comic book series called Magnificent Murgartroid. She’s missing some key issues. Find them and she’ll allow you to use her trashcan as passage to the Lair of the Grub Dandy in the Underground.
1d4 Oddities
1. ??? - An unmarked package of tea that no one remembers making. Makes 1d6 pots of tea. Sharing this tea with a group swaps everyone souls for the next hour.
2. Glacial Yeast - A chilly blue block of compressed yeast that when submerged in a body of water brings that water temperature down to freezing. Will spread indefinitely, devour, and freeze its surroundings unless set on fire.
3. Boulder Bread Yeast - When this yeast is used to make dense bread that makes the person immobile for 24 hrs or…until passed.
4. Inner Strength Tea - This green and chunky tea can brew 1d6 cups. Will transform the drinker into a massive green goliath for 10 minutes. With their tongue swollen they become unintelligible. The goliath still has the same stats as the drinker, though, he just looks really damn scary.
3. LANGLEY’S RADIO REPAIR & DYNAMICS
Langley is an old patriot of Bastion who fought in the war. He listens to the radio often and probably has strong opinions about the world that you might not agree with, but he treats everyone who comes into his store with respect. He thinks that Quantum Dynamics is hiding certain discoveries from the public. there is a chance that his friend, Don Burglecamp, is present. Don is a conspiracy theory loving exterminator, whose paranoia goes far beyond Langley’s.
The store is made of dusty old shelves and glass cases of broken devices and scrap parts. Finding what’s usable may require a keen eye, or engaging Langley more than you want to. A flag of Bastion hangs in the shop window. There is a ceiling fan made from a much too large plane propeller. It hangs in place by a small motor and a thin electrical cable, and constantly shakes when in use, threatening everyone in the room’s life,
1d4 Oddities
1. Neural link– Two helmets linked by a 30 foot cable that allows users to communicate with one another via thought.
2. Portable Propulsion Speaker – A loud speaker that straps to the back. Includes a microphone with a six foot cable. By turning the volume to 11, the speaker can scream into the microphone, propelling them through the air. One can continue flying as long as one has the vocal capacity to do so.
3. NIFF-T Bake Oven – A small oven for children. Will cook mundane, even ugly looking foods that people will be compelled to pay exorbitant prices for, in hopes of reselling. After 1d6 uses the oven will malfunction and all food becomes worthless. Any buyers will come looking for you and their money.
4. Mimicial Vocalizer – A bulky helmet that obscures vision. Allows wearer to mimic 1d6 recorded voices.
4. GET IN THE BOX: LEATHERS & CONTAINMENT SHOPPE
A leather fetishist store with specialty boxes for everything from toys to people.
Elegant chests and vaults made from a variety of materials are here, including ornate locks and keys. These can handle storing important items and keeping them relatively safe. There is also a collection of leather riding crops, bindings, and contraptions. Simple batons and flogging devices can be found here and used for weapons if necessary.
Carmella runs the store and is very jovial and plain in appearance. Brown hair, pulled back in a bun. Beige slacks and a loosely buttoned up shirt. Her partner, Phil is locked in the large cabinet behind the register. He may answer when she has trouble remembering if she has something in stock or where she last placed a particular item. Carmella will admonish him for his insolence and he will be thankful for her guidance. Phil never comes out and is never seen.
1d4 Oddities
1. Whip of Everlasting Shadows - When cracked juuuust right, this whip makes a MEOW sound and shuts out all light sources in a room. Darkness can be your friend. Also can be used for 1d6 damage in a fight.
2. The Borden Boxes - Both of these tall phone booth sized cabinets are adorned with a round brass door knob. Each made of the same smokey gray wood paneling. Walking into one allows you to walk out of the other no matter the distance. Every time this is used, roll a 1d6. On a one, the Box produces a clone of the user that they probably won’t know about.
3. Collar of Answers - Nine strings of silver beads hang from this leather collar adorned with frilly lace. Silver nightingales are etched into the leather. If you ask someone a question while wearing this collar they are compelled to answer truthfully. After every use a string of beads falls off. After nine questions the collar is just a collar.
4. Binding of Bliss - When bound by these black satin ropes and gold chains the user is in heaven when others try to inflict pain on them. You’re practically immobile but cannot be harmed.
5. FRANCIS’ FOR DRANSSES (Dresses for Dancing)
A bright and floral setting with beautiful dresses for balls and banquets, designed for women who like to boogie. The back room features several albums of new music that’s too underground for mainstream squares. The sign out front says FRANCIS’ DRANSSES, with “Dresses for Dancing” written below, as no one knew what the hell a Dranss was. Francis Femur thought this was a novel and self-evident, but the society clearly hasn’t caught up to her wit. Great place for finding formal wear that can help out with some CHA checks or music to impress the snobbiest of audiophiles.
Francis will talk to anyone who shows interest in music about her belief that some albums have hidden powers that need to be unlocked through some kind of technology she’s still trying to understand. She is in her fifties, has a mop of graying hair that she lets fall in front of her bespectacled eyes. Her Yorkshire terrier hangs out in a black dog house by the register. Its name, “Villain” is on the red feeding bowl near by.
1d4 Oddities
1. The Dransfection - A garish forest green tea length dress, with yellow guipure lace covering the bust and arms. Pick some one who can see you dancing. If they fail a CHA check they are compelled to dance with you. Music must be playing.
2. Ol’ Man Tinglefeather & The Elbows - The album art for this Big Country musical oddity is of an old man riding a tiger on the plains. Five denim overall wearing band members playing fiddles, banjos, bass, etc are floating around an intense sun in the sky. The vinyl is a misprint, featuring no grooves. However, breaking this album summons a fiercely loyal Tiger cub. It ages rapidly going over the course of a day, going from infant to adult to very old. Once it reaches an elderly state, it leaves the group wanting to see the big country in its final hours.
3. The Elegant Rain Dranss - This blue ball gown made from experimental polymers, keeps the wearer dry under any circumstances, wicking away any and all moisture. Dancing causes a rain storm whether the wearer is inside or outside. But hey, they’ll still be dry.
4. The Dransmitter Prototype – This violet A Line dress, sparkles with the dust of stars. Its elegance is offset by some sort of square backpack that a single vinyl record can be loaded into. Wires run from this devices to velvet opera length gloves. Loading special records allows the wearer to unlock the power of the album and channel it into magical effects. Locating these albums means hitting up record stores, and always perusing a person’s collection when in their home. This methodology is obviously cumbersome, as someone else has to load the dress with a new record or the wearer has to take the whole damn thing off and do it theirself.
***A note on “magic” albums. Discovering an album’s magic requires the user to play it backwards, of course. Most albums are just gibberish (or Satanic Rituals, your choice.) But every once in a while a player may find an album with an incantation that explains the albums “spell” effect.
6. GOOD EFFORT! (An award store for the also-ran in all of us!)
A bright and shiny shop stands out from the other dark and dreary buildings. This store has a mural of a park scene, marked by a vibrant rainbow and smiling sun, that changes its glance as you walk by.
Inside is a collection of ribbons, medals and sashes for all sorts of contests, in which placement is irrelevant. Everyone is a winner at Good Effort!
This store is owned by Nicholas and a Mock Lion named Sunshine. Sunshine is often seen reading in a red high back chair by a fire place, surrounded by a stack of old tomes. She loves a good story, and if anyone tells her one, she’ll give them a free book mark that says “What a good try!” in rainbow letters. Nicholas is young and enthusiastic, undeterred by negative energy. If anyone asks for anything specific, he grabs them by the hand and sings a song.
“It’s time to take a look!
It’s time to take a look!
On a shelf or in a nook
Can you help me take a look?
…..Let’s find it!”
At the back of a store is a locked door to the basement. It is clearly barricaded shut. There are demonic undead in the basement that neither Nicholas or Sunshine will talk about or deal with, regardless of the moans and shrieks that come from under the floor boards.
1d4 Oddities
1. We’re All Winners Medal – A gold colored medal with a giant thumbs up. When worn it allows the user to pass into important VIP locations, like a noble’s ball, or an exclusive jazz club. However it only works once per location or event, as further inspection reveals this medal is foil covered chocolate.
2. Grubby’s Wonderful Ribbon of Cooperation – By saying the phrase “I know what this problem needs! Cooperation!” and passing a CHA check, you can summon Grubby the Mockery to help you. Unlike other Mockeries, Grubby isn’t a puppet version of animal. Instead they are a kind of vague humanoid shape of small stature. Furry and wild eyed. There is a 50/50 chance that they accidentally make a situation worse. If Grubby makes a mess of things three times in a row, the next time they’re summoned the camera cuts to them hanging from a noose. A suicide note on their chest says, “Now I can’t let you down ever again.”
3. “What a Healthy Eater” Medal – A aluminum metal of a baby sitting in a high chair clapping. While wearing this medal one can eat anything without ill effects. Anything.
4. Incredible Sash of Sharing – A yellow over the shoulder sash that says “SHARE OR DIE ALONE”. Targets must pass a CHA save or be compelled to share with you anything you ask. However if you ever, EVER deny a request to anyone, this Sash will explode causing 1d8 BLAST damage to you and everyone near by.