The Fortean Flanaess

Over at Scott’s World of Thool blog, we are reminded that many of the works of Charles Fort are in the public domain and available online. I’m a fan of such things, so I skimmed through one or two of the books over at Mr. X’s Fortean Site for inspiration and came up with the following table of weird events that can be used to liven up a campaign. Just roll percentile dice or pick one from the list that strikes your fancy.

They can happen as often or as rarely as you like (I would recommend leaning on the side of rarity) and they can be as significant or red-herringesque as you please. Is that rain of snails a sign of diabolic visitation, or is it just some random weirdness that will never be explained? You decide.

The list can also be used to come up with bizzare events for prophecies and omens, side effects of magical or divine occurrences, etc. There are a few references to the fact that Oerth has two moons (Luna and Celene) but other than that it should be portable. I would also say that most of the effects should be pretty local, even the ones that involve figures and lights on the sun and moons (since that only adds to the mystery to me), but if you want to have a planet-wide grey sun for some reason, knock yourself out. Enjoy!

1. Purple gelatinous substance falls from the sky.
2. Orange rain
3. A farm animal with two heads is born. It dies shortly thereafter.
4. A rain of snails
5. Green Sun
6. A meteor shower appears in the night sky. It is not a “regular” event.
7. Green Sunset
8. Purple Moon
9. Black hail
10. Green snow
11. In a stone quarry, workers cutting stone find a mysterious inscription inside the rock.
12. A rain of fish
13. 1d6 luminous objects are seen in the sky, remaining for 1d10 minutes before disappearing at vast speed.
14. Blue gelatinous substance falls from the sky.
15. Black snow
16. A single stone sphere the size of a grapefruit falls from a perfectly clear sky.
17. A humanoid shape is seen briefly obscuring the face of the sun. 35% chance it has wings.
18. Hailstorm with stones the size of hens’ eggs
19. Green gelatinous substance falls from the sky.
20. Orange snow
21. Pink snow
22. Hailstorm with normal-sized hail except one the size of an elephant
23. Purple snow
24. Clouds over a particular area are seen to form geometric shapes (lasts for 1d6 hours).
25. A beam of light of unknown origin illuminates a small area (such as a particular farm, a park, an inn, etc.) for 1d4 hours. The light is as bright as daylight, but has no discernable source.
26. Orange Moon
27. Beautiful singing and music is heard coming from a cloudless sky. This lasts 1d20 minutes.
28. A black spot is seen moving swiftly across the face of the sun.
29. Yellow Moon
30. A bright spot is seen moving swiftly across the face of Luna.
31. Green rain
32. Pink Moon
33. Yellow rain
34. Red Sun
35. A rain of dead birds of various types
36. Purple Sun
37. Loud thunderous noise is heard in an otherwise clear sky, lasting 1-100 minutes.
38. Blue Sunset
39. Pink rain
40. A rain of perfectly cubical pieces of ice
41. Grey Sun
42. Blue snow
43. Pink Sunset
44. A freshwater fish is caught in the ocean with no ill effect.
45. Purple Sunset
46. An area is subjected to night-like darkness in the middle of the day, lasting 11-30 (1d20+10) minutes.
47. Red gelatinous substance falls from the sky.
48. A luminous ring appears around Luna (50%), Celene (25%), or both (25%).
49. A single smallish stone falls from a perfectly clear sky (5% it has strange writing on it, 5% it is a lodestone).
50. A hitherto-unseen star shines very brightly in the night sky, brighter than any other object save the moons. This lasts for 1d6 days, and then the star disappears.
51. Pink hail
52. A rain of pebbles
53. Hordes of (ordinary) caterpillars are seen after a snowstorm.
54. Red rain
55. Red hail
56. Blue rain
57. Snowstorm with flakes the size of saucers
58. The footprint of a horse (25%), goat (25%), or man (25% bare, 25% shod) appears in a stone floor, step, or street suddenly, overnight, with no witnesses.
59. A large stone found completely inside a tree (5% it has unknown writing on it).
60. A human or demi-human baby is born with a tail.
61. Orange hail
62. In a stone quarry, workers cutting stone find a human footprint inside the rock.
63. Yellow hail
64. Yellow gelatinous substance falls from the sky.
65. Blue Sun
66. A comet appears in the night sky, visible for 1d12 days.
67. Red Moon
68. A rain of small stones
69. A rain of milk
70. A single bright light (50%) or group of lights (50%) is seen in the dark area of Luna.
71. A salt-water fish is caught in a lake or river with no ill effect.
72. A rain of oil (non-flammable)
73. Black rain
74. Pink gelatinous substance falls from the sky.
75. A rain of butter
76. Lightning strikes from an otherwise-clear sky.
77. Orange gelatinous substance falls from the sky.
78. A gold ring is found in the egg of a hen or duck.
79. Red snow
80. A rain of urine
81. Blue hail
82. Green hail
83. A child is born entirely blue-skinned. The color fades away in a few weeks.
84. Green Moon
85. A rain of meat (of unknown type)
86. Yellow snow
87. Black gelatinous substance falls from the sky.
88. A rain of snakes
89. Purple rain
90. A brilliant fireball-style meteor is seen in the sky.
91. Pink Sun
92. Blue Moon
93. A rain of frogs (50%) or toads (50%) – they are always only a few months old, never tadpoles or adults
94. A rain of blood
95. A tree bleeds when it is cut down.
96. The shadow of the Oerth on the moons is reversed.
97. An Aurora Borealis is seen in unusually southern latitudes (re-roll if you are already in a locale where auroras are commonly seen).
98. Purple hail
99. Two effects in rapid succession or simultaneous (re-roll, ignoring rolls of 99 or 100)
100. Three effects in rapid succession or simultaneous (re-roll, ignoring rolls of 99 or 100)

[EDIT: I randomized the list; I think it works better this way.]