Sensory Stimuli Tables to Immerse Your Players in Fantasy Cities

In a recent article on improving intracity travel, I suggested immersing your players by narrating what they experience via their 5 senses. As the adventurers explore a city, your players should know what their characters see, smell, hear, taste, and feel. Ideally, you’d come up with these on the spot: if the players are exploring a market, describe the smell of spices, the colors of fabrics, and so forth. However, my brain is often fried while I’m GMing. A bit of quick sensory inspiration is always welcome!

With that, here’s a list of quick and evocative “sensory stimuli” your adventurers might experience as they explore a fantasy city. Whenever you need a quick visual, olfactory, auditory, gustatory, or tactile description to bolster immersion, roll on the relevant table, select one of the options in each set of bracketed entries, and tweak as necessary to match the unique flavor of your fantasy town.

d10 Visual Stimuli

1. A gentle [sunbeam/moonbeam/lighthouse glow] that lightly tickles the [leaves/rooftops/awnings]
2. Vibrant [murals/mosaics/stained glass] designed by [local craftsmen/ancient artists/unknown hands]
3. Mysterious, multicolored mist emerging from [smokestacks/cracks in the wall/sewer grates] 
4. Clouds of kicked-up dust from [masons/foreign laborers/regular townsfolks] erecting a [church/monument/fortification]
5. Violent political messages [painted on the street/scrawled on flyers adrift on the wind/written in blood on the steps of the town square]
6. The soft glow of [hundreds of church candles/the lamplighter’s lantern/the smith’s forge] lighting the way [on a dark evening/through a tunnel/underneath a dense canopy]
7. Passing glances from [everyday townsfolk/knights and nobles/serfs] suspicious of strangers in their town
8. Swarms of [birds/insects/specters] arranging themselves in slowly morphing formations in the skies overhead
9. Hand-illustrated advertisements for a local [potioner’s shop/smithy/adventuring guild] pinned to seemingly every wall and notice board
10. Enormous [sails from passing ships/rising and falling airships/lumbering megafauna] dominating distant views beyond the city's skyline

d10 Olfactory Stimuli

1. The rank stench of [rotting meat/burning corpses/festering sewage] emanating from [beneath the city streets/the slums/an abandoned district]
2. Pervasive smoke from [distant forest fires/burning buildings/charcoal kilns]
3. Boozy wafts from the nearby [alehouse/distillery/barracks]
4. The fragrant aroma of [blossoming flowers/bulk spices/exotic perfumes] just faintly perceptible from [a nearby district/a busy marketplace/a warehouse of luxury goods]
5. Nostalgic whiffs of [damp thatch/wet grass/soggy burlap] that always remind you of rainy days back home
6. The overwhelming sensation of smelling countless strangers who [haven’t bathed in days/just emerged from the mines/cover themselves in offensive perfumes]
7. The pleasant smell of recently laundered [bedding/ceremonial garb/linen textiles] [carried by passing servants/drying on clotheslines/emerging from washtubs]
8. The alluring aroma of [fried bacon/wintry spices/savory stews] drawing passersby to a humble inn
9. A distracting, omnipresent funk from [sweaty soldiers/native mushrooms/rotting wood] that everyone claims you’ll learn to ignore
10. Acrid, sour nosefuls of residue from [failed spellcasting/potent fertilizer/industrial cleaning agents]

d20 Auditory Stimuli

1. A haunting melody from a [weepy ghost/suspicious songbird/singing child]
2. The hollers of vendors hawking their wears [at the market/in the bazaar/from the incoming trade caravan]
3. Overlapping whispers from [gossiping lords and ladies/entranced townsfolks/conniving orphans]
4. A mechanical whirring emanating out from [the clocktower/a tinkerer’s shop/the town’s automaton guards]
5. Burbling from a [canal/stream/fountain] just barely audible over the din of the city
6. Faint, halting music from an [ensemble/soloist/church choir] practicing in an [attic/cellar/gazebo]
7. Rabid cheering from a crowd of people [welcoming soldiers home/celebrating an athletic victory/reveling in a holiday parade]
8. The [cries/laughter/snoring] of a newborn baby in a nearby [home/hospital/manor]
9. An old lady yelling at [those dang kids/the corrupt guards/an obnoxious dog]
10. [Loose stone/crumbling masonry/splintered wood] clattering onto the ground from [high above/adjacent roofs/towering fortifications]
11. The rustling of leaves [falling from the trees/blowing in the wind/crunching underfoot]
12. Distant tolling from [a cathedral bell/a ceremonial gong/a mysterious stone drum] marking [the hour/an event of great import/the advance of an invading army]
13. The metallic clink of [dropped coins/a bag of matching cloak pins/iron nails] scattered across the stones
14. A low, reverberant drone from [a passing ship’s horn/chanting monks/a stone waterwheel]
15. Huffing and puffing from [exhausted soldiers/laborers hauling cargo/schoolchildren playing games in the street]
16. A confusing overlap of different languages spoken by [traders/refugees/pilgrims]
17. Citywide announcements bellowed out from [a preacher atop a tower/criers on every street corner/an arcane megaphone]
18. The sizzle of grills and metal pans in a nearby [tavern/noble kitchen/barracks]
19. [Bugle calls/methodical drumming/intimidating cymbal clashes] from the city’s standing army
20. The jingling of keys hanging from a [guard’s belt/custodian’s keyring/crypt-keeper’s necklace]

d10 Gustatory Stimuli

1. Sumptuous meats from [far-off lands/nearby farms/the royal hunting grounds]
2. The refreshing taste of [pristine water/mint tea/fresh juice] provided by [the city’s custodians/scammy vendors/mystic sages]
3. The lingering aftertaste of [last night’s ale/this morning’s breakfast/foul medicine]
4. Salt on the wind blowing in from [the sea/nearby salt flats/preserved fish hanging on racks]
5. A sudden taste of [mealy bread/tough meat/eyewatering peppercorn] still stuck in your teeth from your previous meal
6. The flavors of [local delicacies/preserved rations/childhood sweets] that you can almost taste as the city jogs your memory of days long gone
7. The [unsettling/barely palatable/surprisingly alluring] musk of the city’s freshwater, the result of [adjacent mining efforts/alchemical runoff/a tainted aquifer]
8. A floral sweetness in the air as [flowers drift in the wind/the carnival rolls into town/meadmakers uncork their stock]
9. Caustic burning caused by [experimental weaponry/an inextinguishable tar fire/malignant magical energy] that sticks to the tongue 
10. Delicious sweets made from [fae honey/imported sugar and cocoa/jellied fruits]

d10 Tactile Stimuli

1. A [crisp wind/warm breeze] that suggests [the changing of seasons/a sudden shift in weather]
2. The mild discomfort of stepping on [rounded cobblestones/scorching sand/splintering floorboards]
3. Walls worn smooth by centuries of [winds and rain/passing carriages/decay]
4. A [magical/divine/obscure] stillness that calms the mind and eases all tension
5. The squelch of [a squished rat/stomped meatpies/dung falling out of a horse’s ass]
6. A [market cart/bicycle wheel/horse hoof] stomping your foot
7. A rumbling underfoot, undoubtedly the result of [subterranean experiments/tectonic shifts/an advancing army]
8. Unrelenting [pouring rain/whipping winds/blinding snow], rendering any traversal whatsoever untenable
9. Disorientation and claustrophobia born of [endlessly twisting streets/impenetrable crowds/lightly hallucinogenic haze]
10. A sticky residue of [spilled ale/thick sap/congealed blood] on a [railing/banister/doorknob]