TTRPG Charts for Incubation, Initiatory Visions, and Mystical Dreams
Below is a first stab at randomizing a mystical experience for characters in your tabletop game of choice. This is meant to be a between-sessions extra, either played solo or assigned as homework by a GM. Results should add details can be incorporated into future sessions or lead to new storylines. You might also use this while creating a new character, especially if they're in a religiously-inclined class. The flavor here is [Greco-Roman mystery cults](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_mysteries) in general and [Orphic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphism_(religion)) or [Bacchic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysian_Mysteries) cults in particular. Feel free to take vague items from tables and roll for something more specific to your system (e.g. "a creature" → a kobold) or from your campaign (e.g. "a loved one" → your dead mom) to incorporate it more meaningfully. ### The Situation The player character decides to * explore a cave * visit a temple of Asklepios * visit a hermitage and on the way * suffers from sensory deprivation or overload * undergoes an [incubation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepius#Sacred_places_and_practices) ritual * is initiated into a mystery cult. The GM (or the player, if prepping this solo) should roll from the *Table of things sensed*, *Table of vibes*, and *Table of words of power* for the content of the vision-dream. From these prompts the player should construct their character's memories of and interpretation of the dream, which can be left as vague half-remembered impressions or fully fleshed-out in detail. The character's mystical experience should leave some sort of impression on them; the player can decide this for themself based on how they're developing the character, but for those truly devoted to randomness I have provided a *Table of character reactions*. The player may also like to give their character something from the *Table of mementos*, which they can embellish to suit their vision or the setting. Contradictions that come up in the rolls can either be re-rolled or worked with — this is, after all, a dream. ### Example 1 Out of a longing for something more, you decide to undergo an initiation into the mysteries enshrined at a well-known cave. You are shown and told things that you cannot speak of again, and afterwards you wait for sleep in a chamber of the cave, alone with a guttering lamp... *Where the white ram waits you joyfully leap downwards into the milky stars. You can still feel the hands of the moon on your skin as you awake repeating the words "I am parched with thirst and am dying".* You decide that this had best remain a secret only to the chosen, and later you will sculpt, to the best of your ability, a small clay ram that you will keep with you always. Before leaving the holy site you trade keepsakes with a well-met stranger; you receive a small handful of mixed seeds that (to your eyes) are shaped like ramsheads and sparkle like the night sky. ##### *Rolls: sensory details: 99 (leaping), 47 (stars), 93 (lingering touch), 4 (ram), 48 (moon); vibes: 11 (descent), 7 (joy); words: 4; reactions: 9 (initiatory secret), 14 (votive object); memento: 5 (seeds).* ### Example 2 You don't quite know why you decided to visit that disreputable old guy who lives halfway up the mountain and never bathes, but you wake up the morning after with a wine headache and a strong sense of anticipation. You won't remember your dream until the time comes. *You're in the midst of a raging battle, barely able to see through the blood and rain obscuring your vision. You've Arrived.* The old guy is gone and when get up and look in the mirror you see he's taken the liberty of writing all over your face in sharpie: "O happy and blessed one! You are a god instead of a mortal." You still feel kind of antsy, so on your way down the mountain you make a little stack of rocks at a crossroads, leave behind some wildflowers, and decide to check on it whenever you're in town next. When you get home you find a small twist of red-dyed wool in your pocket, with no idea how it got there. ##### *Rolls: sensory details: 42 (obscuring haze), 74 (raging battle), 57 (rain), 24 (blood); vibes: 9 (anticipation), 4 (arrival); words: 11; reaction: 7 (forget), 15 (shrine); memento: 15 (wool).* ### Table of things sensed (roll d100 3-5 times) 1. egg 2. serpent 3. bull 4. ram 5. goat 6. swine 7. birds 8. wool 9. linen 10. flax 11. bones 12. coins 13. a mirror 14. a toybox 15. a lamp 16. a gem 17. a book 18. a weapon 18. a mysterious object 20. fruit 21. garlands 22. grain 23. beans 24. blood 25. milk 26. honey 27. wine 28. oil 29. perfume 30. incense 31. smoke 32. fire 33. drumbeat 34. trumpets 35. flutes 36. tympanum 37. shouts 38. singing 39. murmuring 40. gurgling 41. echoes 42. obscuring haze 43. sharp clarity 44. gold light 45. white light 46. darkness 47. stars 48. moon 49. sun 50. high noon 51. rosy-fingered dawn 52. violet-fingered dusk 53. midnight 54. rainbow 55. wind 56. clouds 57. rain 58. thunder 59. soil 60. deep forest 61. windswept plains 62. endless desert 63. desolate mountain 64. florid meadow 65. roiling sea 66. silent river 67. winding labyrinth 68. resounding cave 69. quiet village 70. bountiful harvest 71. bustling market 72. yearly festival 73. prominent temple 74. raging battle 75. famine-stricken land 76. plague-stricken land 77. crossroads 78. a deity 79. a spirit 80. a god 81. a goddess 82. a child 83. a youth 84. an elder 85. a stranger 86. a friend 87. a loved one 88. a beautiful body 89. a creature 90. a monster 91. a headless one 92. an unknowable being 93. a lingering touch 94. a kiss 95. the dance 96. the hunt 97. rending flesh 98. rushing 99. leaping 100. falling ### Table of vibes (roll d20 2-3 times) 1. awe 2. fear 3. panic 4. anticipation 5. ecstasy 6. intoxication 7. joy 8. grief 9. arrival 10. departure 11. descent 12. ascent 13. déjà vu 14. possession 15. confusion 16. recognition 17. transgression 18. intrusion 19. catharsis 20. returning home ### Table of words of power (roll d20 1-2 times) 1. This is the work of Memory, when I am about to die 2. Do not even go near this spring! 3. I am a child of earth and starry heaven, but my race is heavenly; and this you know yourselves 4. I am parched with thirst and am dying 5. I, too, having drunk, will go along the sacred road on which other glorious initiates travel 6. I come pure from the pure 7. I also claim to be of your happy race 8. I have flown out of the heavy, difficult circle 9. I have approached the longed-for crown with swift feet 10. I have sunk beneath the breast of the Lady 11. O happy and blessed one! I am a god, instead of a mortal. 12. A kid, I fell into milk 13. Now I have died and now I have come into being 14. I have wine as my fortunate honor 15. I drank the kykeon; I took from the kistes 16. I ate from the tympanon; I drank from the kymbalos 17. I escaped the bad; I found the better 18. I have been initiated and I went down into the chamber and I saw the other things below 19. Bring to perfection for me a perfect incantation 20. Already I have been a boy and a maiden, a bush and a bird and a fish jumping up from the sea ### Table of character reactions (roll d20 1-3 times) 1. You deny the truth of your dream 2. You feel afraid 3. You feel at peace 4. You feel full of joy 5. Your dream is in conflict with your previously held beliefs 6. You see reminders of your dream in everything 7. You forget your dream until it comes true 8. You keep your dream secret and private 9. You only share your dream with other initiates, when the secret word is spoken and the secret sign is shown 10. You share your dream with intimates or party members 11. You feel compelled to share your dream with the world 12. You take up an ascetic lifestyle 13. You take up a hedonistic lifestyle 14. You craft a votive object 15. You create and tend a wayside shrine 16. You are inspired to go on a pilgrimage 17. You know who the entity in your dream was 18. You know your dream was prophetic 19. You decide to research the content of your dream 20. You attach great significance to the words of power in your dream ### Table of mementos (roll d20 one time) 1. an invitation to visit a fellow initiate 2. an invitation to another ritual or revel 3. an interesting stone 4. an interesting feather 5. a handful of seeds 6. a small flask of alcohol 7. a drinking bowl 8. a simple oil lamp 9. a piece of metal foil inscribed with words of power 10. a coin, not to be spent 11. a simple ring with an engraved gem 12. a small pendant 13. a small clay votive 14. a rough linen robe 15. a small twist of wool 16. a rustic musical instrument 17. knowledge of a purifying herb, and a small pouch of it 18. knowledge of a protective herb, and a small pouch of it 19. knowledge of a healing herb, and a small pouch of it 20. knowledge of a baneful herb, and a small pouch of it ### Some Sources and Further Reading: * [Rushing and Falling into Milk: New Perspectives on the Orphic Gold Tablets from Thurii and Pelinna](https://www.academia.edu/23681625/_Rushing_and_Falling_into_Milk_New_Perspectives_on_the_Orphic_Gold_Tablets_from_Thurii_and_Pelinna_in_R._G._Edmonds_ed._Further_along_the_Path_Recent_Studies_in_the_Orphic_Gold_Leaves_Cambridge_2010_304-24) * [Mystery Cults and Incantations: Evidence for Orphic Charms in Euripides’ Cyclops 646–48?](http://www.rhm.uni-koeln.de/151/Faraone.pdf) * [Sending Dreams, Receiving Dreams: Oneiropompeia in Theory and in Practice](https://www.academia.edu/3667387/Sending_Dreams_Receiving_Dreams_Oneiropompeia_in_Theory_and_in_Practice) * [Pan Rituals of Ancient Greece: a Multi-Sensory Body Experience](https://www.academia.edu/7415476/Pan_Rituals_of_Ancient_Greece_a_Multi-Sensory_Body_Experience) * [Divinities in the Orphic Gold Leaves: Eukles, Eubouleus, Brimo, Kybele, Kore, and Persephone](https://www.academia.edu/10828857/Divinities_in_the_Orphic_Gold_Leaves_Eukl%C3%AAs_Eubouleus_Brimo_Kybele_Kore_and_Persephone) * [The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation](https://www.academia.edu/3158348/The_Greek_Magical_Papyri_in_Translation_including_the_Demotic_Spells) *This is an untested draft, if you use it I'd love to hear about it! You can email me at eregminos@protonmail.com or support me on [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/eregminos).*