Ideas needed: Common Events

[Don Lope]

i dont know if its possible but couldnt having the totally random events like the ones xienwolf made be put as an option in the custom game menu like the barbarian world and the others? that could make everyone happy

I would also strongly push for options to control frequency and type of events, because it clearly seems that some people don't want that much events and some crave for more.

I personally would love having an event every 2 or 3 turns, with 1 out 5 events being a rare one. Or an uncommon one, and then 1 out of 10 one rare a la Magic the Gathering

As xienwolf said, it would break monotony. With the actual settings, I have strange expectations now for my random events: The only time I didn't get the herbalist, I said Hey where is my health bonus, give me back my 2 health bonus I need it. No need also to mention the breakthrough and setback I am having them in ALL my games (at least one, but more generally both)

 

[mtagge]

Sometimes I wished I could just swap one resource for another, thus I came up with those ideas of allowing you to make choices

Mining

Require: a mine with or w/o bonus

My lord, during mining operations, our people have struck a vein of mana. Shall we ask them to explore it, but that would force us to abandon the rest of our mining operations

1. Yes, magic power is by far superior to production
   • 95% chance raw mana bonus is created, mine is destroyed
   • 5% earth mana NODE is created, mine is destroyed
2. No, I need those extra hammers
   • nothing happens

note: I gave the possibility to gain an earth mana node, because in so far in my games this was pretty powerful and new mining resources kept popping up. So having a small chance of having a super bonus would be fun (from my point of view).

sheep and horses don't mix

Require: horse resource w/o pasture

My lord, some shepherds want to settle in a promising spot. However there are already wild horses there. If we allow it we would gain a sheep pasture, but lost the horses. Although we would gain some additional food from butching those mustang (Marylin wouldn't be that happy though)

1. Yes, my people must be docile as an army of sheep, carry on
   • horse resource is replaced by sheep
   • pasture is created
   • +20 food in nearest city
2. No, let them live and remind us all that the horses are free like the spirit of our people
   • nothing happens

These are the types of events I would be more interested in seeing. It seems most of the other events people are suggesting are flat out bonuses (maybe in exchange for gold or maybe with a risk of unhappiness). In other words, no real decisions, just a "congrats the RNG decided to give you a bonus this turn". No suggestions seems to want "common" events to have real tradoffs until this one. How about more ideas like (please excuse the spelling on FFH specific stuff)

A New Monument
-Our people want to tear down the state monument and replace it with one celebrating one of the local religions:
--Leave the one that is there, changing it will be sure to upset some people.
--Put up one celebrating (insert pro nature religion) (monument gets +1 +1 +1 -2 )
--Put up one celebrating (insert pro production religion) (monument gets +2 +1 +1 -2 )
--Put up one celebrating (insert pro enlightenment religion) (monument gets +1 +1 +1 -2 )
--(Griogori only) Let us instead celebrate the greatness of our people. (monument gets +1 Great Adventurer +1 )
--(Civs that start Barb friendly) Let us celebrate the great war-chiefs among our people (monument gets +2 XP new land units -2 -10% war +1 )

You know events that can shift the focus of a city, but not really events that are random, "here congrats on having your lottery ticket pulled". I am sure that there are more creative people than me who know more of the background that could flesh these out for a building like the monument and the pagan temple or civ wide ones for the palace (maybe have several civ specific choices and one generic option and one no change option).

 

[Sandro]

More ideas which require that there are NO tooltips announcing the result of your decision. Or alternatively, each is a single event with 3 possible outcomes from each decision (33% chance of each), and the player is allowed to see a tooltip stating what the possible outcomes are & the percent chances.

I think this would be a great addition to add more flavor and some excitement to existing deterministic events! Super idea imho and I don't think any tooltip is necessary. If some people don't like randomness in their games they already have the opportunity to turn off events...

Cheers,

Sandro

 

[philippe]

The magic auction house:
the auction house in your capital seems to have an very strange magical item for sale, would you like to bid?
I bid 20! 5% of recieving netherblade
I bid 50! 10% of recieving netherblade
I bid 100! 20% of recieving netherblade
Screw it, I bid 250! 50% of receiving netherblade.

 

[marioflag]

Commercial tensions

High quality and low prices of CivX goods are making CivY goods less competitive in CivZ cities.CivY is pressing CivX to increase the price of its goods.Diplomatic Relations between CivX and CivY are heating up.
What should we do?

Reqs:
CivX and CivY need to have at least 1 trade route in 1 of the CivZ cities.

Option 1:
Let the market decide!Our good prices won't increase.

Effects:
Trade route(s) of CivX with CivZ cities will be more profitable by 25%-75% for X turns (based on game speed)
Trade route(s) of CivY with CivZ cities will be less profitable by 25%-75% for X turns (based on game speed)
CivX suffer -2 diplo relations with CivY

Option 2:
Increase prices and ask for a compensation

Effects:
no effect on trade routes
CivY give CivX a small sum of X gold
CivX suffer -1 diplo relations with CivY

Option 3:
Our relations with CivY are really important to us.Increase our good prices

Effects:
no effect on trade routes
Gain +1 diplo relations with CivY
+10% chance of 1 face in all CivX cities for X turns (based on game speed)

Option 4:
Diplo relationship with CivY are more important to us than the interests of some of our merchants.Let's foster our relations with CivY making our goods less competitive highly increasing their prices.

Effects:
Trade route(s) of CivX with CivZ cities will be less profitable by 50% for X turns (based on game speed)
Trade route(s) of CivY with CivZ cities will be more profitable by 25%-75% for X turns (based on game speed)
Gain +2 diplo relations with CivY
25% chance of +1 face in all CivX cities for X turns (based on game speed)

 

[TheJopa]

This is my concern as well, which is why I want to get the teams feedback on them. But the other side of that argument is that by abstracting the results to keep the player from being able to pick the most stragetically advantageous option the player is able to pick the option that matches his role playing nature. Does everything need to be strategy?

In my mind thats the most interesting part of Xienwolfs suggestion, but it is a pretty dramatic leap.

edit: I just read Xienwolfs followup. It is a fine line either way, Im anxious to hear the teams feedback.

edit2: great great suggestions from everyone here guys. This is exactly the type of help I was hoping for!

I think diversity is key here: A few events you roleplay would mix well with majority of events where you act strategically. So in my opinion, go for it! To keep it from being a gigantic leap, there should be an 'option D' to avoid the event altogether (Like leave the lioness alone), and effects probably shouldn't be too dramatical (i.e. losing unit, but if your scout is too valuable just tell him to leave the lioness alone)
It would make things more interesting, and we all want that don't we?

 

[Arwon]

The magic auction house:
the auction house in your capital seems to have an very strange magical item for sale, would you like to bid?
I bid 20! 5% of recieving netherblade
I bid 50! 10% of recieving netherblade
I bid 100! 20% of recieving netherblade
Screw it, I bid 250! 50% of receiving netherblade.

That's clever and could be extended to all sorts of items. Maybe tie it to the Market or something?

 

[TheCowSaysMoooo]

Originally, I disliked xienwolf's RP-ish "random events," for mainly the reasons stated in the thread, but I've jumped back on the fence.

I like the idea that, during the early civilization, there are many more events affecting you... when you're small, the world around you changes you more than you're able to change it. Then, as the civ grows, the event frequency tapers off a bit (allowing you to play the normal game ), and the nature of the events are more substantial (less, "Look, truffles! Yum!").

If there are many more early events available, a few of the RP-ish random events could be neat... however, I think that, especially in the case of the RP-ish events, your response should be used to trigger later (possibly much later) events, regardless of the immediate results of the current event.

Using the lioness quest as an example... If, in your "formative" years, you show kindness to the lioness (response 1 - regardless of whether she eats you, you gain xp, or you gain subdue animals), perhaps early-midgame there is another quest that allows you to again express kindness and thoughtfulness towards an animal, and then endgame, there is one final quest that allows the animal kingdom to repay you somehow (though it's effects are still minor - we're sticking with mostly RP for this chain). Alternately, if you are consistantly a "2", expressing interest more in just learning about stuff, maybe it's some sort of minor research-y bonus. Or if you're a "3", there's a warmonger-ish type result.

*shrug*

I've not had much luck coming up with common new events I like, so I just thought I'd pipe in. I do like Don Lope and mtagge's ideas about early events still being somewhat strategic, but more of a replacement than a direct gain or loss... maybe I'll toss around some of those in my head a bit.

 

[Don Lope]

A couple more events I have been thinking about at work

It all happens at the zoo

Require: animal cage in the city


My Lord, one of our animal at the carnival broke free.

1. Noooooo … it was so difficult to capture it, try to get it back
   • One of your animal cage is destroyed
   • One barbarian animal (same of course) is created next to the city
2. Spare no efforts to capture it back, enrol all volunteers in the local militia
   • One of your animal cage is destroyed
   • One barbarian animal is created next to the city
   • All units in the city get subdue animal
   • -50
3. For evil civ only (maybe Balseraph only) The carnival director is a stupid idiot, put him in the lost animal cage
   • One of your animal cage is destroyed
   • One human cage is created

Plague

Plague starts (one time event – must be rare)

My lord, one traveler just died suspiciously in our city of X, we believe he had a highly contagious disease

1. This is dangerous, close the city doors, forbids the soldiers to move out until we are sure this is finished
   • All trade routes in the city are severed for 3-5 turns and all units in the city can’t move for 3-5 turns, event Plague spreads can not happen to you any more
2. Bah, it is probably nothing but superstition, or it will just make the survivors stronger
   • 50% chance nothing happens
   • 50% chance all your units in the city get diseased promotion and all trade routes get minus 25% plus the plague spreads within 2-10 turns to another city
   • After 5 - 15 turns, the trade routes are restored and the units lose the diseased promotion

Plague spreads

Plague spreads to your city

My Lord the plague is spreading; you didn’t take the necessary measures last time, now another city has been hit

1. Close the whole empire, we must fight this at all costs
   • All trade routes in ALL cities are severed for 3-5 turns and all units in ALL cities can’t move for 3-5 turns, event Plague spreads can not happen to you any more
   • All of your units lose the diseased promotion
2. Too bad ...
   • Units in the city get diseased promotion plus the plague spreads within 2-10 turns to another city
   • After 5 - 15 turns, the trade routes are restored and the units lose the diseased promotion

Plague spreads to another player city
Same message for another player
You get -1 to -3 relation penalty with that player

If plague starts in another player realm, and you get hit, you get same message as Plague starts

There are 2 ways to handle that:
Either we have only ONE plague carrier “attribute” that goes from city to city, it would be nice if it chooses randomly the next target from the cities connected with a trade route (in the trade route list)

Or every city can contaminate every other, this would be more realistic BUT far less fun, and we already have deadly events such as pestilence, blight ...
I didn’t add any population drops since it wouldn’t be fun to play and would be a major event.

This event is different from pestilence, since you can try to contaminate your neighbors (well with open trade of course, but we could also make it that it contaminates one of the closest city)

I am not sure people would love it, but I definitely thinks it is realistic and I wanted to see also more bad events, also not killer like pestilence or blight

 

[Don Lope]

If there are many more early events available, a few of the RP-ish random events could be neat... however, I think that, especially in the case of the RP-ish events, your response should be used to trigger later (possibly much later) events, regardless of the immediate results of the current event.

Using the lioness quest as an example... If, in your "formative" years, you show kindness to the lioness (response 1 - regardless of whether she eats you, you gain xp, or you gain subdue animals), perhaps early-midgame there is another quest that allows you to again express kindness and thoughtfulness towards an animal, and then endgame, there is one final quest that allows the animal kingdom to repay you somehow (though it's effects are still minor - we're sticking with mostly RP for this chain). Alternately, if you are consistantly a "2", expressing interest more in just learning about stuff, maybe it's some sort of minor research-y bonus. Or if you're a "3", there's a warmonger-ish type result.

That seems a really cool idea, I think it was MOO3 (Did you say The Cow says Moo) that had this system in place, with your choices having an impact on your alignment.

Also I would guess it would be VERY difficult to implement:

• either we have an event outcome link to another event later (as I am proposing with plague)
• Or we have a new variable that keeps in store a kind of event-alignment modifier, but we (Kael and the team of course, I stopped programming one zillion years ago ) would then have to implement which events are of which type ... and so on and so on, pretty difficult I think

 

[TheJopa]

Pagan common events

They should probably require pagan temple but Pagan Temple should come with ancient chants and be cheaper since former Prophet unit is gone and also slaying promotions are gone from ancient chants. Even if not, here are some events to add pagans some meaning.


Pagans celebrate their holy feast day

1) Let them do so
-10
+25

2) That is a waste of money
+1 for few turns


Pagan priests see an evil omen in the sky

1) Let them sacrifice some of our animals
-5 in city

2)That is just a superstition
1 in city for few turns
5% Chance: +1 Unhealthy in city for few turns (Or some other random 'disaster' effect)


Pagans start making idols

1) Let them worship what they want
+10 in City

2) We should sponsor it
Pagan Temple: +1
-15


Pagan priest want to collect extra taxes from peasants

1) Let them do so
Pagan temple: +1
50% chance: 1 for few turns
50% chance: 2 for few turns

2) Only voluntary contributions
No effect



And finally after you civilize, to deal with pagans:

Pagans resist new religions

1) Too bad
Pagan temple: +1
2) Crush them
Removes Pagan Temple
25% chance: City revolts for 1 turn


Pagans accept new religions

1) Welcome them in conversion
Removes Pagan Temple
Give Temple (or Disciple) of state religion/whatever religion present

 

[Don Lope]

Gladiator

Require: Balseraph are ingame and you are not Balseraph
Target: one unit, the player can see which unit

Perpentach has been approaching you,
My dear, beloved neighbor
You can not understand
How much I am bor'
would you please lend
for me your best horde
in my arena to stand

1. Of course my beloved Perpentach,
   thou shall have my best attack
   • Lose unit
   • Receive 50
   • Relation +3 with Balseraph
2. Balseraph master,
   to give my army,
   o king of jester,
   impossible unfortunately
   • Relation -1 with Balseraph
3. Go to Hell
   • Relation -3 with Balseraph

I definitely need a native english speaker to improve my limited poetic ability

 

[El_Duderino]

well since every civ has a patron god to begin with couldnt the pagan temple events have something to do with that god?

Amurites - a soldier has dreams of Oghma telling him that he is the direct decendent of Kylorin [Thanks Kol.7]
1 - Train him! lose 50 gold - 50% chance of warrior gaining channeling and sorcery 50% chance of nothing
2 - The warrior is imagining things

Illians - a spirit claiming to be Mulcarn has appeared to our sages and wants to see one of our warriors
1 - Its a false god in disguise- nothing
2 - 50% warrior gains 2 ice combat 50% lose warrior and unhappy -1 in city for x turns

Kazad - Kilmorph's resembalance has been seen in an outcrop of rocks-
1)It is a trik by mischevious spirits - nothing
2)make a sacrifice on the outcrop - 50% all units in city gain stone skin 50% all units in city gain withered

I forget the other civs gods but events can be made for them too

 

[Ekolite]

Oghma is the amurites patron god. I think Kylorin is more of a national hero.

 

[eerr]

turin's voyage.
A man wishes to go on a voyage expedition, and reach unknown land within 10 years
you can choose to:
ignore him
provide minor funding
fund the expedition greatly
give him a ship in the city

each progressively increases the likelyhood of a successful voyage, the given ship has a 50% chance of sinking if he fails.

-monument to turin, "free promotion" for ships produced in the city, +2 gold and +1 hammer
-maps a random coastal city, and it's fat cross

 

[TheJopa]

well since every civ has a patron god to begin with couldnt the pagan temple events have something to do with that god?

Yea, why not. Otherwise, what do you think of the events?


From other thread:


Another Dungeon and Crime event:
Crime event, crime rate must be at least 40 and city must have dungeon

Sire, due to high crime rate our dungeon in [City] is full of criminals, more than it can handle. Escaping, fightings among inmates and attacks on guards are all reported!

a) Dungeon is not supposed to be a place of enjoyment! Put more guards in and keep an eye on the inmates!
Dungeon: +1 unhappy

b) We can extend the dungeon capacity and hire more professional guards.
-50 gold

c) Let the petty criminals go, so that we have room for more serious ones.
+5 crime rate

d) We need extensive program to help the poor and desperate and increase overall safety in city!
-250 gold
-15 crime rate

e) Too many criminals you say? That's easy to deal with- Execute em all!
-10 crime rate (Death sentence for a petty theft would deter most criminals)
25% chance: City revolts for 3 turns)


This is basically a nice little destabilizing event that happens when crime rate gets too high. You have a choice between increasing unhappiness, paying some gold, or increasing crime rate even further which may or may not have even more dire consequences latter. You can also go 'radically good' and pay a lots of gold to get crime rate reduced, or 'radically evil' and suffer a chance for revolt, also to get a crime rate reduced.

 

[xienwolf]

Another Toss of the Dice, RP, or whatever type of quest it winds up being possibility.

Mysterious Portal Series​

Triggers inside cultural borders, but outside the BFC of any city. If that isn't possible, then triggers in any non-city tile without a resource.

Mystical Laboratory
--Traveler's tell the tale of a portal which appears in our lands every night. Nobody has dared to venture into it, and thus far nothing has come out...

1. Send in a Scholar to sort things out, who better to explore the unknown?
   • Free Mage Guild in nearest City without one.
   • "Our Scholar returns with tales of a Mystical Laboratory full of otherworldly Scholars. He has learned much and is eager to teach others."
2. Grab a random Farmer and toss him in if he won't go willingly! If this leads to mysterious lands, we need someone who knows a turnip from a toadstool!
   • +10% Cost of Tech toward current Technology Research
   • "The Farmer returns jibberingly like a madman about other worlds and things which simply cannot be. But his arms are laden with scrolls and texts which back up his claims."
3. Send in a stray dog, we cannot risk people to such mystery.
   • Spawns a Barbarian Ravenous Werewolf on the Tile
   • "Shortly after tossing the mutt into the portal a great beast emerged. The soldiers report that it had the same markings on it's fur as the Dog, and a strange red shape hanging from one ear..."
4. If nothing has come out, why bother to send something in? Inform people to keep clear of the area.
   • Nothing Happens
   • "Word is spread and warnings are posted. Nothing more is heard of this portal again."

Garden of the Gods
--Traveler's tell the tale of a portal which appears in our lands every night. Nobody has dared to venture into it, and thus far nothing has come out...

1. Send in a Scholar to sort things out, who better to explore the unknown?
   • Spawns a Barbarian Druid in the Tile.
   • "The Scholar has returned wearing strange vestments and denouncing our Civilization as an abomination to nature. Not only that, but he has begun attacking our troops with strange magics!"
2. Grab a random Farmer and toss him in if he won't go willingly! If this leads to mysterious lands, we need someone who knows a turnip from a toadstool!
   • Reagents resource appears in Tile.
   • "The Farmer ran out of the portal like Hell itself was on his heels, and from his tales of a strange garden where the plants themselves can speak I'd almost believe it! But he had a seed laden fruit nestled in his arms which he has begun to cultivate in the area."
3. Send in a stray dog, we cannot risk people to such mystery.
   • +40 Culture in all Cities.
   • "We sent in a Mutt, but what returned can be likened unto perfection. We shall treat this Magnificent Beast as a National Symbol."
4. If nothing has come out, why bother to send something in? Inform people to keep clear of the area.
   • Nothing Happens
   • "Word is spread and warnings are posted. Nothing more is heard of this portal again."

Metaplanar Wildlands
--Traveler's tell the tale of a portal which appears in our lands every night. Nobody has dared to venture into it, and thus far nothing has come out...

1. Send in a Scholar to sort things out, who better to explore the unknown?
   • +40
   • "After a short while our Scholar returns. He claims to lack the proper words to describe the Wildlands through which he wandered, but has brought back some novelties which we can easily sell to fatten our coffers."
2. Grab a random Farmer and toss him in if he won't go willingly! If this leads to mysterious lands, we need someone who knows a turnip from a toadstool!
   • A Barbarian Sect of Flies Unit spawns on the Tile
   • "After waiting some time the soldiers nearly gave up on waiting and left the area when suddenly the Farmer, or so we think it was by the shredded remnants of his clothing on it, emerged from the portal and assailed the troops! His eyes have the glimmer of madness, and his arms a strength to match!"
3. Send in a stray dog, we cannot risk people to such mystery.
   • A permanent Sand Lion Unit spawns in the Tile under the control of the Civilization.
   • "This beast which has returned from the portal bears little resemblance to the Mutt we sent in, but responds to the same name and seems as loyal to his master as ever. But for such a transformation to take place so rapidly... It is a true miracle."
4. If nothing has come out, why bother to send something in? Inform people to keep clear of the area.
   • Nothing Happens
   • "Word is spread and warnings are posted. Nothing more is heard of this portal again."

Also, I have gone back and added a 4th option to each of the events with feedback text to get no effect, in case they are desired. I don't think they work so well in all cases, especially since in the case of the Stranger in the Night Events I already had a "Do Nothing" option that DID have an effect, so writing another "Do Nothing" was a bit of a stretch, and will probably not be an obvious "no effect" choice without a tooltip.

 

[Meester]

Barbarian Traitors

Tired of meagre wages and eating bad food, some barbarian warriors have approached asking to join your army.

Option A - The more the merrier.

(random barbarian warrior closest to your civilization joins your armed forces - could be within your cultural borders or outside it).

Option B - We don't want those scum around here. Let them rot.

(barbarian warrior does not join your forces. As a side effect, if the barbarian is within your cultural influence it is kicked to the nearest tile outside your influence. However if the nearest tile is water or impassable terrain for the barbarian, it is destroyed.

Civilized Barbarians

Barbarian warriors approach and ask to settle in one of your cities with their families.

Option A - Lets take pity and grant clemency.

(barbarian unit has to be within your cultural borders. 1 population is added to your city and barbarian unit disappears. The city that gains the pop is the one closest to the barbarian unit. As a side affect, anarchy lasts 1-5 turns in the city (due to citizens aversion to barbarians moving in next door)).

Option B - Sorry, we don't do charity

(barbarian unit stays put but becomes stronger with rage (increases its expereince making it harder to kill etc)).

 

[TheCowSaysMoooo]

Finally came up with a few ideas And, apologies for the few puns and stuff in advance... I don't know where they came from!

Corny Farmer
requires: farm with corn
A farmer comes to you with a problem. His father grew corn. He hates corn... The little skin part of the kernels gets stuck between his teeth, and... well, anyway. He'd really like to grow wheat instead. His wife bakes fantastically, and nothing beats the smell of home cooked bread!
-Wheat or corn, who cares? Let the man grow whatever he wants. (change corn on plot to wheat)
-What? Hot corn with butter and pepper is the a-maize-ing!? You'll grow corn, and you'll like it! (no change)

A "Miner" bit of Claustrophobia
requires: a hill with a mine
A recent rash of minor mining accidents seems to have caused a local miner to have a change of heart. He's tired of digging around in the dirt, and instead wants to work under the open skies... maybe with some animals... sheep, yeah, he wants to be a shepherd.
-Who wool-dn't want to get out of the mines? He's welcome to raise sheep. (change mine to sheep with pasture)
-Baaa. You don't want to work in the mines? I'll find someone to replace you. The mine stays. (no change)

"Ware" is this from?
requires: a civ on your continent that you haven't made contact with
A traveling merchant brings some exotic goods into the city that you have never seen before. You ask where he obtained the good, and he said from the nearby [civ].
-Inquire about the [civ]. (establishes contact with [civ])
-Ask the merchant more about the [civ], and pay him to make a map showing their location. (-15 gold. establishes contact with [civ]. Uses GOODY_MAP-type function to reveal a few plots in [civ]'s location)
-[civ]? Never heard of them. Huh. (no effect)

Kelp
requires: a coastal tile with no bonuses, Fishing (able to work coastal tiles)
A local fisherman has discovered strange sea plants that are not only edible, they're actually quite tasty.
-So my people have taken to eating seaweed? Whatever floats their boats. (+1 food in coastal tile)

Pagans? We don't need no stinking pagans!
requires: pagan temple
Several of the local folks have requested that the temple be formally dedicated to their god of choice.
-No. The temple shall stay undedicated, and available to all faiths. (no effect)
-Dedicate the temple to Mammon. (Pagan Temple loses culture bonus, adds +1 gold/turn)
-Dedicate the temple to Oghma. (Pagan Temple loses happiness bonus, adds +1 science/turn)
etc, I don't know the lore well enough... could be a quick-and-dirty way to easily add options for the other "missing" religions with minor substitutive effects here.

This Place is Hoppin'
requires: brewery
The local brewery is down to their last barrel of beer for the season! Naturally, a brawl breaks out over who gets it.
-Put the last barrel up for auction. Highest bid wins, but make sure I get my "special beer tax"! (+15 gold, -1 Happy in city for 10 turns)
-Here, have some of my personal stash. Drinks are on me! (-25 gold, brewery gains +1 Happy)
-Who gets it? I get it! It's good to be king! (5% chance of 1 turn revolt, but c'mon, you get the beer! Maybe have a RP tie-in like I mentioned in my above post)

Why are They Called Flood Plains?
requires: an improvement on a flood plain
Sir, some locals report that one of the area rivers have flooded, destroying the improvements in the flood plains.
-I hope they've got flood insurance. (lose improvement)
-Recoup the citizen's losses, and assist the poor people to rebuild. (-15 gold. This event will repeat often if you keep doing this, moron.)
-Build dikes to prevent this sort of problem in the future. (-35 gold. lose improvement. Change terrain from desert to grassland, remove flood plain feature)
-What? We're building where rivers obviously flood? Restrict building in the area and preserve the wetlands as a park. (no improvements allowed in that square, +1 Happy from "national parks" there)

Walkabout
requires: a worker, working
A group of serfs have stumbled across a cache of perfectly sized walking sticks while out working. They've taken it as an omen, and want to go on walkabout and see the world.
-They're nutters. Put them back to work. (no effect)
-Sure, why not? We could stand for some more exploration anyways. (delete worker, add 2 scouts)

Closer to Home
requires: a scout outside your culture
One of our scouts has just recieved a message from his family. His wife has had his first child! He'd really like to be transferred to someplace closer to home, and would be willing to take up arms in our defense to do so.
-Seems like a reasonable request. Make it so. (delete scout, add warrior in capital - maybe recoup xp from original scout, if possible)
-I'm sorry, but exploration is more important to us. He'll come home soon enough. (no effect)

The first step of the "Mason or Treason?" quest I suggested in the Events, or Living World in particular thread could work as a 1-time common event, and is somewhat an example of what I mean by the RP event chain in my post above.

 

[Xuenay]

Here are two event ideas stolen from King of Dragon Pass. If you truly want a mine of events - not to mention one of the greatest computer games of all time - go get that one.



Great Festival

A great festival is being prepared at [CityName]! How should we act?

(Optionally, requiring a Carnival or a Market, but at least requiring contact with others)

* Encourage our diplomats to entertain foreign dignitaries. (+2 diplomacy with nearby civs)
* Encourage our merchants to pursue trade opportunities. (+1 trade route yield in [CityName] for 10 turns)
* Encourage our common folk to have a good time. (+1 happiness in [CityName] for 10 turns)

Wild Shamans

We have been approached by two shamans hailing from the wilderness. They refuse to recognize any nation's flag as their own, instead preferring to survive on their wits and magical power alone. This shows that they are mighty and to be respected, but also unreliable and possibly untrustworthy. In halting speech, they offer to sell us some of their magics.

* Begone! You are strange and weird! (No effect.)
* Kill them, then loot their bodies for magical treasure. (Random city gets temporary -2 happiness from the shamans' curse, obtain 75 gold)
* Pay them for instruction in the hidden arts. (-25 gold, +15% research to current tech)
* Pay them for teaching the grunts how to apply the secrets of the arcane. (-25 gold, +1 experience for all units)