Stepladder Tables

I am not certain that I am the first to have this idea. In fact, I most certainly am not; there's nothing new under the sun (especially in RPGs). But I did have this idea organically and think that it has merit, so I am sharing it. I expect instruction in the comments about how it has been handled elsewhere. 

The idea is similar to Ladder Tables, so I am calling it a "Stepladder Table." The purpose of this tech is to have a random table with memory (similar to the Ladder Table). Stepladder tables would be good for tracking a slowly changing state. To illustrate the idea, I'll use weather, since weather rarely goes from one extreme to the other.

The basic idea

To establish a baseline, roll or select the middle result. This is the current state. Then, each interval where the state would change, roll a dice. If the result is higher than the current state, the state increments to the next highest state. If the result is lower, the state decreases to the next lowest state. If the result is the same, the state is unchanged. 

Example: Weather (autumn)

Roll 1d6 every day for weather, incrementing the result up or down the weather table for the season. 

1. Torrential rain

2. Drizzle, damp

3. Cloudy, cold

4. Rolling clouds, chilly

5. Windy, cool

6. Balmy, clement

So, on the first day of autumn, perhaps the state begins at 4: Rolling clouds, chilly. 

• The next day, the GM rolls the dice and gets a 6. Because 6 is higher than the current state, the weather increments to the next highest state: Windy, cool. 
• The next day, the GM rolls the dice and gets a 6 again. Because 6 is higher than the current state (5), the weather increments to the next highest state: Balmy, clement. This autumn is fine so far!
• The third day, the GM rolls the dice and gets 2. Because 2 is lower than 6 (current state), the weather steps down the table to Windy, cool again. 
• The fourth day, the GM rolls the dice and gets 5. Because that is the current state, the weather does not change. 

Example: Weather (autumn in the Dismal Swamp)

But what if you want to simulate bell curves or demonstrate trends in your states? No problem. Just build the stepladder table out a bit. For example, the Dismal Swamp region could have a different weather table more prone to extremes. For example:

1. Torrential rain

2. Driving rain

3. Thick fog

4. Thick fog

5. Misty fog in morning, cold

6. Cloudy, cold

7. Rolling clouds, chilly

8. Windy, cool

Here, you'll never have a balmy clement day. And because thick fog is the state of two different results, more days will be foggy, even if the weather "improves." 

I imagine you can use stepladder tables to track all sorts of different kinds of persistent states (reaction rolls? spell effects?) but this is the basic idea.