Adapting North West of Earth By C.L. Moore - Orbital Decay (MicroRed version) From The Red Room & The New Flesh Rpg - D100 Random Solar System encounter table based on North West of Earth By C.L. Moore

 

C.L. Moore’s Northwest of Earth collection—featuring her iconic space-faring rogue Northwest Smith—blends planetary romance, cosmic horror, dark decadence, and raygun pulp. In Moore’s 1930s Solar System, Mars is a dry wasteland of ancient dead gods, Venus is a sultry jungle ringed with sinister matriarchal fortresses, and Jupiter’s moons hide ethereal siren-entities. This picks right up from Adapting North West of Earth By C.L. Moore - Orbital Decay (MicroRed version) From The Red Room & The New Flesh Rpg - Expanding The Campaign

Below is a d100 Random Solar System Encounter Table crafted in the rich, hypnotic style of C.L. Moore’s Weird Tales classics (Shambleau, Black Thirst, Dust of Gods, Julhi, The Cold Gray God, Yvala, Lost Paradise, and The Tree of Life).

 D100 Encounter Table: The Weird Solar System

01–20: Mars & The Drylands

d100	Encounter
01–02	A beggar in the back-alleys of Lakkdarol offers to sell a stone key that hums with a frequency that vibrates in your teeth.
03–04	A drylander priest attempts to lure you into a crumbling Martian temple dedicated to Phorag, the Sleeping Devourer.
05–06	A windstorm clears, revealing the fossilized, gigantic skeleton of a non-humanoid creature spanning three city blocks.
07–08	A wandering band of leathery Martian nomads offers safe passage through the red dust—in exchange for half your water and all your ammunition.
09–10	You find an abandoned raygun resting in the sand; its power cell is corroded, but its barrel is melted from an impossible interior heat.
11–12	A blind Martian musician plays a three-stringed lute outside an opium den; listening to the melody causes subtle, vivid hallucinations of ancient oceans.
13–14	A local smuggler tries to pawn off a jar of gray dust claimed to be the pulverized remains of a forgotten Martian god (Dust of Gods).
15–16	You cross paths with an Earthman mercenary clad in worn spacer’s leathers, nursing a severe burn on his shoulder and a deeper wound in his sanity.
17–18	A petrified forest of crystal trees that chime in the Martian wind; touching one causes a brief, blinding flash of psychic agony.
19–20	A mob of angry locals chases a hooded, slender figure down an alley. The figure looks human, but moves with unsettling, unnatural grace.

21–40: Venusian Jungles & The Minga Fortresses

d100	Encounter
21–22	A patrol of Venusian guards in scaled armor blocks the canal bridge, demanding a prohibitive transit tax.
23–24	In a steamy, fog-choked Venusian jungle, a weeping woman calls for help from atop an impossibly ancient obsidian ruins.
25–26	An emissary of the Minga—the mysterious cult that breeds dangerously flawless women—silently offers you a black pearl to turn back (Black Thirst).
27–28	A dense swarm of glowing, carnivorous Venusian spores drifts across the path, seeking exposed flesh.
29–30	A shadowy alleyway in the ruins of Vonng opens into a non-Euclidean passage that seems to defy gravity (Julhi).
31–32	A vendor sells "Venusian dream-wine"; drinking it grants telepathic sensitivity for an hour, followed by a day of crippling paranoia.
33–34	An automated alien defense pylon, centuries old, awakens in the mud and begins tracking movement with a crackling heat-beam.
35–36	A dying patrolman gasps out a warning about "the woman with the glowing hair" before dissolving into a pool of fragrant, clear oil.
37–38	You stumble upon a hidden courtyard containing a statue made of a metal unknown to Earth science; it is warm to the touch.
39–40	A heavily veil-wrapped Venusian noble offers a fortune for an escort out of the city, pursued by unseen, silent assassins.

41–60: Spaceports, Dives & Lowlife Outposts

d100	Encounter
41–42	A brawl erupts in a low-G dive bar between Earth smugglers and Venusian canal-racers over a rigged game of dice.
43–44	An alien merchant tries to sell an intricately woven tapestry or shawl whose patterns seem to shift when looked at indirectly (Scarlet Dream).
45–46	A disgraced Earth Space Authority officer offers classified star-charts in exchange for passage off-world.
47–48	A quiet, steel-eyed Earthman sitting in the corner of a saloon silently adjusts his heatgun holster as you walk past.
49–50	An alleyway merchant sells alien artifacts dug up from the Martian drylands; one of them is pulsing with a soft, heartbeat-like rhythm.
51–52	A wanted poster lists a massive bounty for an infamous smuggler known only as "Northwest," dead or alive.
53–54	You are slipped a folded piece of parchment marked with an ancient symbol; a whispered voice says, "The mistress expects you at midnight."
55–56	A heavily scarred cyborg/salvager tries to recruit crew members for an expedition into the asteroid belt to loot a pre-human ghost ship.
57–58	Two shadowy figures are seen disposing of a body wrapped in heavy canvas into an atmospheric ventilation shaft.
59–60	A sleek, unmarked, matte-black freighter lands without port clearance on a private pad, unloading locked, lead-lined crates under guard.

61–80: Outer Moons & Deep Space Anomalies

d100	Encounter
61–62	On a frozen moon of Jupiter, you hear a siren-like voice whispering directly into your mind, promising absolute fulfillment (Yvala).
63–64	An ancient Lunar relic is uncovered—a vessel containing memories of Earth’s Moon when it was a paradise millions of years ago (Lost Paradise).
65–66	A derelict Earth ship drifts in orbit; its interior is completely dry, free of air, and covered in intricate, non-human wall carvings.
67–68	An asteroid base inhabited by an isolated, decadent cult worshipping an entity from outside known space.
69–70	A spatial rift opens briefly near your vessel, revealing a glimpse of a sky filled with scarlet clouds and a dying, purple sun (Scarlet Dream).
71–72	You land on a moon where the flora is semi-sentient and reacts aggressively to the sound of human speech.
73–74	An ancient, artificial mini-world created by a long-dead Martian sorcerer-scientist lies hidden behind an illusion field (The Tree of Life).
75–76	A cloud of cosmic dust passes over your ship, causing all crew members to experience the exact same waking nightmare simultaneously.
77–78	An alien probe of unknown origin matches your ship's speed, broadcasting a looping audio signal that sounds like a woman laughing softly.
79–80	A moonlet made entirely of a strange, translucent green stone that amplifies psychic abilities—and madness.

81–100: Eldritch Horrors & Ancient Entities

d100	Encounter
81–82	Shambleau Encounter: A breathtakingly beautiful woman with a mass of squirming, snake-like tendrils for hair seeking a "companion" (Shambleau).
83–84	A cold, shadowy entity possessing the corpse of a noble attempt to drain the life force of everyone in the room (The Cold Gray God).
85–86	A parasitic entity disguised as an ethereal, glowing songbird that feeds on the life-will of those who hear it sing.
87–88	You awaken an ancient, slumbering cosmic entity housed within an underground temple; it views humans as mere microbes.
89–90	A extradimensional doorway traps you in a surreal landscape where pain and pleasure are indistinguishable (Scarlet Dream).
91–92	An ancient, vampiric entity made of pure, crackling crimson energy demands a sacrifice of blood to grant passage.
93–94	An entity of pure psychic force attempts to overwrite your memories with those of a long-dead alien monarch.
95–96	A forgotten temple where an altar bleeds black oil; drinking it grants dark visions of the universe's creation and eventual death.
97–98	An ancient cosmic predator that feeds on the concept of identity itself—victims gradually forget who they are until they fade from physical reality.
99–100	The Ultimate Dread: A primordial Elder God begins to stir from its slumber deep within the core of a dying moon; the reality around you starts to unweave.