Saturday, May 18, 2024

ruislip dissected

lol I did all this work for nothing, Luke already posted his hexfilling procedures on his blog go look at them and use them they're wonderful





I dissected the Ruislip demo of Luke Gearing's Wolves upon the Coast game to see what I could learn. I like the way the keys are written. It feels to me like it could have been generated using dice and random tables from something like OD&D, then fleshed out. I'm kind of enamored with the idea of randomly generating hexmap content, then going back and forming connection and loose reasons for things to be, and adding unstable situations for players to mess with.

the Ruislip map has about 46 hexes. Of that 27 are keyed (58.6%), 19 are empty (41.3%)

There's 9 towns (19.5%), 13 lairs (28.26%), and 5 set pieces (10.8%).

I'm counting a town as a mostly friendly place the players will come back to for rest, quests, equipment, resources. Lairs are places that are inhabited by enemies. Usually this means monsters, but I've included a few pagan settlements where they're acting like jerks and probably gonna be violent to the PCs. One of the lairs could also be used as a monster town if the PCs play their cards right. Set pieces are the other things - interesting locations with something to interact with that may or may not have treasure.


  • You could get pretty close to those odds by by throwing a d6: 1 is a town, 2-3 is a lair, 4 is a set-piece, 5-6 is nothing (empty).


The Lairs are mostly one monster type. A few of them have 2 or 3 monster types. Some lairs have no treasure at all, but none of the sites have bullshit treasure (except the whale is a little bullshit, but it's a set-piece). None of the locations are really your typical dungeon delve where the players are crawling through a trap-infested pit, fighting different kinds of monsters and interacting with monster factions. The Orc and Goblin lairs come the closest to this, but those would be more heist-type or kill-em-all or deal-with-the-faction scenarios, not crawls. It's a classic 1975-style hexcrawl campaign, where the focus was on overland exploration and picaresque shenanigans Vs. traditional dungeon crawling.


of the 9 friendly human settlements 6 are villages (have less than 100 people) and 3 are towns (have people in the several hundreds). If you get a friendly settlement throw a d6, on 1-4 it's a village, 5-6 is a town.

It looks like village population was thrown on a d00 and town populations were d10x100.

Villages tended to have a higher combatant to villager ratio, around 24-30% of the population for each being soldiers.

Towns had comparatively smaller populations of combatants, about 12-15%, but they generally have fortifications.




Here's my notes on the hex keys:

02.05 Dunrick (set piece)
weird plant thing makes people sleep. turns them into wraiths


05.05 shoal (lair)
griffon nest, attacking griffon mama


01.16 burnt village (set piece)
a destroyed village with nothing


02.16 lair of sruthkin (lair)
dragon lair, treasure


03.07 ogre house (lair)
ogre lair, treasure


04.07 beached whale (set piece)
beached whale, some treasure


01.08 runestones (set piece)
fancy rocks with words


02.08 stamullen (town)
79 people, 15 skirmishers (18% combatants)
weird bee town with pagan influences. a situation to get involved in. a druid you could befriend and learn some spells from.


04.08 culemwardern (town)
600 houses, 40 footmen, 50 skirmishers, boats (15% combantants)
a situation involving griffons. druid influences, a few characters and their relationships


05.08 cloyne (town)
58 people, 19 skirmishers, 5 fishing boats (32% combatants)
pagan town, some situations


01.09 manticore cave (lair)
cool manticore lair and interesting situation, treasure


03.09 donenashoe (lair / monster town)
juggernaut, medusa, 198 goblins, some ruins and treasures.


05.09 belcarra (town / lair)
99 people, 80 footmen (80% combatants)
unpredictable pagan town


06.09 bitter druid (lair)
evil wizard lair, treasure


01.10 dorbog (town)
800 people, 50 armored foot, 50 skirmishers, boats (12% combatant)
some characters, leader, druids, situations, relations to other hexes, henchies


03.10 awoken king (lair)
mummy lair, a time-sensitive situation, treasure


05.10 stone circle (lair)
evil pagan wizard faction, spells and treasure to be had, a situation, a thread to some other hex and situation


06.10 pirates (lair)
pirates, a faction, some treasure


02.11 ogonnelloe (town)
80 people 24 skirmishers (24% combatant)
ruined fort, town, characters, a time-sensitive situation, a werewolf,


03.11 orc fort (lair)
80 orcs, orcs in vats, a fortification, treasure


01.12 st olham's monastary (town)
only monastary 96 monks, a faction, treasure, resource for PCs: sages / library


03.12 a dog (set piece)
cool a dog


05.12 blulach (town)
1000 people 20 armored foot 40 foot 60 skirmishers 20 horsemen boats (14% combatant)
fortification, market, alehouse, church, docks, characters with goals, relations to other hexes, quests, henchies, horse stables


06.12 barrows (lair)
ruined camp, hidden lair, wraith, zombies, treasure


02.13 nameless hemlet (lair)
abandoned town, merfolk, no treasure


04.13 gargoyles (lair)
gargoyles, no treasure, relations to other hexes


04.14 killucan (town)
43 people 5 foot 5 skirmishers 5 boats (23% combatant)
cattle town, fishing, a situation, relation to other hex, a mystery

Sunday, May 12, 2024

The Rain Game

 I was inspired to write this solo wilderness exploration / survival RPG based on an outdoor adventure my three-year old took me on at our neighborhood park. I let her lead me through a pretend exploration in which we gathered nuts, built campfires, caught monsters in traps, protected our nest using magic herbs, stored away food, gave gifts to buddhas, and hid from the rain underneath trees. I'm so lucky to have such a being of pure light in my life. 

A note about the name: she initiated our adventure by saying "Come play the rain game with me, daddy!"

I haven't playtested it, I don't know how fun or functional it is. If you play it, tell me about your adventures.

The Rain Game Link

 





Quest Generator

 A quest is when a faction wants to hire the party to do something. An adventure is when the party decides to pursue a goal of their own accord. Quests often spawn adventures, and adventures typically involve quests.

Roll d3 for the number of factions involved. If you already have factions use those, otherwise generate some.


Determine an alignment for each faction.

1. Lawful 2. Neutral 4. Chaotic

Opposing factions of similar alignments may have similar goals but disagree about methods, or are competing, but not necessarily want to destroy each other 

Neutral alignments do their own thing, may be unwilling participants or bystanders, and may switch sides with the tides of fortune.


Faction:

1-10. Humans

11. Demi-humans

12. Monstrous humanoids

13. Celestial / daemonic / elemental beings

14. Dragon / mythical creature

15.  Deity / demigod / immortal

16. Government / army / nobility

17. Secret faction / cult 

18. Wizard

19. Technological / Outsider

20. Roll two: first is puppet for second.


Goal

1. Power / money / control

2. Paying back a debt

3. Consolidating assets

4. A weapon against enemies

5. Turn an enemy / neutral faction into an ally

6. Mindless revenge

7. Gain favor with another faction

8. Restore what was lost

9. Control / access to resources

10. End / avoid some misfortune, current or future


Methods:

1. Direct and confrontational

2. Scheming and secretive

3. Regretful and hesitant

4. Hopeful, fearful

5. Courageous and bold

7. Despotic and malicious

8. Ignorant, unaware, selfish

9. Plays the victim / greed

10. Bent on vengeance / insane 


Where do we go?

1. Cave, cavern

2. Ruin

3. Temple

4. Keep / stronghold

5. Prison

6. Lair

7. Another plane / planet

8. Population center (d6 for size)

9. Terrain hex (roll)

10. Island


Object of importance:

1. Valuable treasure

2. Resource (food, gold, fuel)

3. Promise / assistance / oath

4. Lost information

5. Technological artifact

6. Magical item

7. Lost heirloom

8. A person of importance

9. Pass / path / conveyance

10. Medicine / religious artifact


Complications

1. Flooded

2. Buried

3. In different location

4. Additional faction

5. Powerful monsters

6. Radiation storm

7. Thieves

8. Army / battle

9. Difficult choice

10. Roll twice


Payment for accomplishing goal

1. Respect / trust / honor

2. Money

3. Artifact

4. Magic item / spell

5. Needed information

6. Transportation

7. Access to resource

8. Ally in time of need

9. Safe passage

10. Debt



Saturday, May 11, 2024

Trap Generator

 A trap is something that looks harmless/useful but actually kills you.

What does it protect?

1. A treasure

2. A lair

3. A passage

4. A holy site

5. Just built out of malice

6. It's something that was once helpful, but now dangerous or misused.

7. Keep people out

8. Keep people in


Style

1. Arcane

2. Mechanical

3. Hidden

4. Obvious

5. Trick

6. Warning


What is the method of application? 

1-3 mundane

4-6 Arcane 


Mundane

1. Spikes

2. Gas

3. Blades

4. Arrows / spears

5. Crusher

6. Pit (falling)

7. Pit + roll again

8. Water

9. Fire

10. Twisting

11. Rolling boulder

12. Ripping

14. Catapult

15. Boiling oil / water

16. Monofilament

17. Attacking monster

18. Trapping / Containing

19. Shifting walls / confusing environment

20. Collapsing environment / natural disaster


Arcane

1. Teleport

2. Vaporize

4. Ice / electricity

5. Stone / crystal

6. Transform

7. Alert / summon

8. Adhesion / slippery 

9. Gravity / propulsion

10. Melting / acid 

11. Charm / hallucination

12. Roll spell effect

13. Mutation / radiation

14. Memory wipe / psychic attack

15. Repelling force / magnetism

16. Laser beam / plasma

17. Darkness / confusing senses 

18. Plants / fungus / drugs

19. Sound / echoes / music

20. Physics disruption / aging / time



What shape does it take?

1. Passageway

2. Door

3. Table / chair

4. Bed / dresser / cabinet

5. Bookcase / picture / tapestry

6. Statue / pillar

7. Mirror / window / screen

8. Vase / pottery

9. Chest / coffin / box

10. Staircase / elevator

11. Hole

12. Chamber

13. Weapon / armor

14. Plant / natural substance

15. Animal / living thing

16. Mineral / crystal

17. Pool

18. Machine

19. Computer

20. Tube / pod

21. Ship / conveyance

22. Bottle / wine / food

23. Taxidermy

24. Floor

25. Wall

26. Ceiling

27. Jury rigged contraption

28. Cage

29. Carving

30. Treasure / mundane curiosity


Method of activation

1. Touch / sound

2. Button / pressure plate

3. Chemical reaction

4. Proximity / camera

5. Magical detection

6. Tripwire

7. Timer

8. Movement / sound

9. Weight / gravity/ magnetism

10. Always active / generating

11. Violence

12. Identity / race / class


Other features

1. Rope

2. Needle

3. Sand

4. Weights / scales

5. Book / chart / map / diagram

4. Sentient being

6. Illusion

7. Lure

8. Skulls

9. Ladder / stairs

10. Trapdoor

11. Constructed recently

12. Arcane experiment gone wrong/right

13. Transdimensional horror

14. Alien / monstrous technology

15. Maintained by faction

16. Long forgotten

17. Antique / valuable-looking / opulent

18. Worthless / ruined

19. Chasm

20. Falls apart before completing it's intended purpose