60 Setting Agnostic Star Wars Cantina Style Vignettes

One of my favourite parts of the whole Star Wars saga is the cantina sequence. There are a number of similar moments throughout the series – always showing a series of contextless vignettes reinforcing how big the world is and how small the protagonists are in it – and they’re always great, no matter what movie they’re in. The cyberpunk sports bar in Attack of the Clones, the Cantina in A New Hope, Jabba’s Palace in Return of the Jedi, Maz’s Castle in The Force Awakens, that casino I forget the name of in The Last Jedi. Similar scenes in other franchises are great too, like the Prancing Pony in Fellowship. These sequences achieve so much so quickly. They instantly communicate the vibe of the location, the world suddenly feels real and lived in, and they set your imagination running wild wondering at all the stories behind the strange characters you see.

They’re also great to steal for RPGs.

On top of fleshing out the worldbuilding these scenes provide instant plot hooks for sandbox games. Imagine if Luke and Obi Wan had approached the wolf guy and his worm buddy instead of Han and Chewie, or sat next to the little rat guy instead of Ponda Baba and Dr. Evazan. I don’t know if I should be proud or sad that I knew both those names off the top of my head. I spent a lot of my childhood reading expanded universe guide books, and now I know Star Wars names instead of algebra.

But anyway, imagine the possibilities! The story could have gone in so many different directions. The issue with these scenes is that they can take some time to think up, and it’s especially hard to come up with a bunch of them on the fly, if your players unexpectedly decide to head to a tavern or similar locale – and these sequences really do rely on their numbers. If the PCs walk into a seedy tavern and there’s only one interesting thing happening, it can feel railroady and immersion breaking. It smells of obvious plot hook.

To solve these issues, I made this table of 60 Star Wars cantina style vignettes. They should work with most settings, but I wrote them with sci fi and fantasy in mind. The table can be rolled on during prep or in the session itself, with each vignette written so that they can be read out to your players directly or just paraphrased.

I included a mix of truly scummy, villainous vignettes mixed in with tamer ones that could appear in more high society areas. If you have a specific tone in mind, you might have to reroll a few times before you get vignettes that fit, but if you’re going off the cuff, you can use the scenes you get to determine the tone of the location.

To roll a d60, roll 1d6 and 1d10. The d6 represents the first digit and the d10 represents the second. Treat the 10 on the d10 and the 6 on the d6 as 0s. If you roll double 0s (6 & 10) it counts as a 60. Or use a digital random number generator.

1. A suave man lounges at a table tucked into a dark corner with his companion. They eye the newcomers carefully.
2. A cloaked figure smokes from a long pipe at a far table, unmoving.
3. Two drunken friends laugh uproariously, spilling their drinks and nearly falling off their seats.
4. A white haired man leans on his cane by the fire, telling tall tales to an audience of enraptured youths.
5. A scarred woman leans back on the bar, absently rolling a coin along her knuckles.
6. Three figures at the bar are enraptured in a tense argument, completely oblivious to their surroundings.
7. A lone musician sits on a stool atop the stage, singing a sombre ballad.
8. Two brawny men are locked in an intense arm wrestling competition, eyes locked, faces red, neither budging.
9. A gaggle of fellows casually chat as they are dealt their cards, a small sum of money in the pot between them.
10. One woman smiles confidently among five dejected players at a card table, cradling their heads in their hands. The majority of the pot sits in front of her.
11. A man nimbly moves three upturned mugs in a disorienting pattern, as a drunken onlooker tries and fails to keep track of one of them.
12. A rugged man and woman stand in a corner. They bear unusual face paint.
13. A ragged traveller has his boots off and warms his mud-encrusted feet atop a stool by the fire.
14. A frail woman sits unmoving, with her head down. Long matted hair obscures her face.
15. A rowdy crowd cheers on two barely conscious men in a fierce drinking competition.
16. Eyeing everyone around him, a man whittles a stick into a sharp point with a large knife.
17. A figure clad in dark robes and a bizarre mask is seated by a window. It’s impossible to tell who or what they are watching.
18. The large piercing eyes are all that can be confidently made out of a figure seated in a dark alcove.
19. Three foreigners dressed in unusually patterned clothes speak in an unintelligible language.
20. An obese man is obscured by a gray haze, as he smokes from a large hookah.
21. Three ratlike fellows chitter among themselves excitedly.
22. A small woman happily carries an oversized mug to her lone table.
23. Two bards perform a carefully choreographed dance while playing and singing a merry tune atop a table.
24. A serving boy forces a polite smile as two drunkards shove and berate him.
25. A woman looks at the ceiling, ignoring the stammering man pleading to her from a seat over.
26. A flamboyant man bears a rakish grin. Two giggling women sit by either side of him.
27. A one eyed woman picks at her teeth with a knife.
28. A figure clad in dazzling gold and silver ornaments by the newcomers.
29. A small group huddled by the door suddenly stops speaking as the newcomers enter, they watch them carefully before resuming their hushed conversation.
30. A man covered in thick cloaks wanders through the room with a heavy limp.
31. A gigantic woman and a tiny man laugh at some unheard joke.
32. A burly man raises his fist threateningly at the meeker man seated before him.
33. Loudly snoring, a drunkard is passed out leaning on the bar, still clutching the toppled mug whose residue they lie in.
34. A figure is slumped in a dark corner, unmoving, probably asleep and possibly dead.
35. A red faced man bares a gigantic wicked grin as he scans the room.
36. Leaning against the wall, a woman in a revealing dress smokes from a long cigarette holder.
37. Two traders argue over the price of a gilded necklace that one holds onto tightly.
38. A woman strokes a black cat that rests on her lap.
39. Juices run down the chin of a woman gorging on an opulent meal.
40. A man sadly gnaws on the leftover bones of his meal, using them to scrape up any remaining sauce on his plate.
41. A woman walks past the bar, her hand nimbly slipping something out of a drunk patron’s pocket.
42. A woman deftly handles a playing card, making it disappear before producing it again from behind a stunned onlooker’s ear.
43. A grizzled man with a deep scar across his face sits atop a metal box that bumps and shakes as its contents try to escape.
44. A large nosed character inhales deeply as they are clouded by a waft of steam rising from a pot on the table in front of them.
45. Adorned in expensive fabrics, a woman flanked by two bodyguards reapplies her makeup with a small hand mirror.
46. A man with sunken, hollow features jitters nervously at the bar, constantly glancing in every direction.
47. A pair garbed in pristine white fabrics talk over glasses of brightly coloured, bubbly drinks.
48. Helmets off and weapons down, three local guards casually rest at a table by the fire.
49. Five heavily equipped soldiers drink from large mugs. Their equipment has had skulls and various other emblems crudely painted on.
50. The distinctive sound of dice rolling from a cup can be heard from a far table surrounded by patrons.
51. An armed woman stands, arms crossed, behind the bar. She watches everyone who orders carefully.
52. A serving woman tries to collect an empty bowl from a savage looking patron who quickly snatches it back off her and snarls. He begins to lick the bottom of the bowl.
53. A woman reaches below her table with a shank of meat, where a bedraggled dog lazily begins to gnaw on it.
54. A black bird perches on the shoulder of a gangly woman loitering in a dark corner.
55. A scholarly fellow with a pair of tiny spectacles perched on his nose leafs through a book with leisurely comfort.
56. A burly woman slams a bedraggled man to the floor, before yanking him up by the back of his collar and dragging him choking and kicking out the back door.
57. The bartender is diligently trying to scrub away a stubborn bloodstain on the counter. A few discarded teeth rest near the stain.
58. A serpent curls around the shoulders of a man dressed in a black mantle.
59. A woman with a fishing rod in hand and a gigantic fish slung over her shoulder is bartering with the bartender.
60. A woman and a man talk with heavy accents, their clothing is bright and resembles butterflies.

There’s just one thing missing from this list: species diversity. I think all the bizarre aliens are some of the best parts of these sequences in the Star Wars movies, but I didn’t want to make this list too setting-specific, so I left them out. But if you want that cultural melting pot of strange creatures kind of vibe, I suggest that each time you roll on the vignette table, also roll on a table of species from your world, and try to include at least one of the species you rolled somewhere in your description. Here are two d20 tables to start you off, one for generic fantasy, and one for generic sci fi.

Fantasy:

• 1-3. Elf
• 4-6. Halfling
• 7-9. Dwarf
• 10. Lizardfolk / Dragonkin
• 11. Orc / Half Orc
• 12. Goblin
• 13. Beastman
• 14. Catfolk
• 15. Dark Elf
• 16. Frogman
• 17. Satyr
• 18. Tiefling
• 19. Fairy
• 20. Treefolk

Sci Fi:

1. Cat Headed Alien
2. Dog Headed Alien
3. Rat Headed Alien
4. Bird Headed Alien
5. Large Furry Alien
6. Tiny Furry Alien
7. Tall Four Armed Alien
8. Beetle-Like Alien
9. Tentacle Faced Alien
10. Praying Mantis-Like Alien
11. Cyborg
12. Alien in a Respiratory Suit
13. Spider-Like Alien
14. Alien in a Floating Chair
15. Worm Alien
16. Winged Alien
17. Humanoid Alien with Brightly Coloured Skin
18. Robot
19. Fish Alien in a Robot Suit
20. Large Burly Alien

And if you aren’t the type to run more sandboxy games, scenes like these can still be a fantastic way to sell your world as a place that exists beyond the PCs. Just roleplay all of the patrons as drunk or untrusting of strangers to avoid complete derailment.

I hope this can provide some inspiration for your games. Thanks for reading the whole post (or scrolling down to the bottom). I’m considering expanding the table into a printable d100 list, which I could release on Itch, so please let me know if you got something out of this post and if that’s something you might be interested in. Any feedback is always appreciated <3

I will leave you with this:

My face peels back, revealing the cold, inhuman eyes of Neil Degrasse Tyson. ‘Actually, Star Wars couldn't really happen …’