Adventurer:terrain and cities

Some peeks at the sandbox generation rules: Cities.
Cities
A key element in any tale of adventure is the city. Exotic, decadent an corrupt, from glittering towers to pestilential slums, the city is both a source of adventure and a base of operations.

Typically, the sword and sorcery campaign has human habitation much more tightly clustered than in actual history. Cities are larger, towns rarer and the areas between cities are often large and uninhabited, left to marauders and monsters. A somewhat more historical version would use a European medieval landscape of about 1000AD –smaller towns and villages abound, with most hexes having some human presence. Then, obviously, adding lots of evil lords, stalwart tribesmen or peasants, dragons, wizards, evil inquisitors, witchfinders, and noble bandits.

Two approaches are possible. One simply rolls for each hex, regardless of terrain, and makes up reasons for cities in mountain passes or deep swamps. Given the genre of the setting, this should not be seen as a hardship, nor unreasonable. Alternately, one may simply roll on only those hexes containing: Rough, Plains/Steppe Lake or Mixed wilderness.

For convenience as one rolls, mark cities with an open square, town/villages with an open circle, and sparse hexes with an open triangle. If the city town or hex is rolled with Pop>0, fill in the symbol. An open symbol indicates a ruin or wilderness that is no longer populated.

Any wilderness or plains hexes directly adjacent to a city are assumed to be pastoralized –in other words, containing farms, small settlements and outposts. Assume that any hex with a town or village is a pastoral hex itself.

Roll for each Hex

If Medieval style campaign
1 empty
2-3 sparsely inhabited: no major city or town: (total population of hex =1d6-1)
4-5 town or villages ( population 1d6-1)
6 standard city.

If a Literary/Epic style campaign
1-3 empty
4 sparsely inhabited (total population of hex =1d6-1)
5 towns or village( population 1d3 +2)
6 standard city.

Hexes keyed as “sparsely inhabited” will have some obvious human improvements, but will still be mainly the noted terrain.

More details than you probably need.
Sparsely inhabited hexes in Epic campaigns will have a number of inhabited forts or castles equal to the population roll.

These hexes will contain fortifications/castles built by the city equal to the cities population number, and at least one village or town equal to the cities population number-3 . Medieval settings will have a rig of outlying villages and hamlets, epic settings will not, but may have forts as noted for pastoral hexes equal to the size rating of the village.

The chance of encountering a patrol or other official group in a city adjacent hex is equal to the population number or less on 2d6.

Roads, trails and tracks.
Any Pastoral hex can be assumed to have a network of trails, tracks and poorly maintained roads linking the settlementys and forts, and at least one major (relatively) road leading out from the city to its trade partners. Historically, rivers were often the main communication routs although this seems to be often overlooked in literature. In this period or setting, roads mainly allow a constant pace to be kept and eliminates the change of getting lost or taking roundabout ways. Too, there are often convenient sources of food and drink, which eliminates hunting or whatnot when in trackless wilderness. Thus, roads enable rapid movement, more than they increase movement in general.

Moving through a settled hex, characters can gain a speed bonus by using the roads and trails, or keep to the countryside to avoid (much) attention. Actual roads also speed up travel, but make detection almost certain. Such hexes increase base movement afoot or mounted by 1, but mainly due to enabling rapid marches. Foot movement can be increased from M1 to M2, and mounted movement from M2 to M3, but at the cost of greater exhaustion.

Adventurer progress

Hello again, and by the way, thanks for the comments, even the one in Spanish ? Catalan ? Portugese ? that doesn't seem to be spam. Ta !

So, I've just about done all with spells that I'm going to for this version, and I also got inspired and expanded the slim section on random creation of fantasy worlds using Traveller subsector generation type mechanisms. Still thrashing the dungeon profile/generator thingie, but mostly I need to get my thoughts ordered and on paper. So, If I don't get the new version done this weekend, I'll post parts as they seem interesting to me, and/or new to you.

Bwaaaa- haaa ha !

Got some more work done on adventurer; both clean up and ....the Universal Dungeon Profile ! Size, wealth, threat,type,theme and probably one more !!!!

There is nothing that cannot be pounded into hexitraveller notation. NOTHING ! AHHHH HAH HAHAHAHAH !

Blather

So, my post on TLAPD yesterday, got me moved back towards posting after a very relaxing vacation (real, not from blogging) and the not so relaxing run up to it at work. So what is where ?

Well, I found that when I posted on forums that I frequent, two things happen,. Three really. First is that I don't post stuff here. Second is that I get much more conversation and feedback from the forums. Third, and this is important, about 50% of it is with people I don't actually want to talk to. So, my assumption that forums give me more feedback is less true than I initially thought, once one factors in the fact that a big chunk of it is stoooopid.


Sigh.

Well, I have made progress on the second Beta, and the first has muiltiple hundred down loads, which is way cooler than I ever imagined. I ran down one of my usual alleys and decided to rewrite the magic system, got about 50% thru it, and decided that that wasn't what was needed, assuming that my goal is in fact to ever get it out there. So, I'm hoping to have the Beta 2.0 out by the end of this week, warts and all; and whuile there are some , there are less now than before.

That said I have other projects I've started on, both traveller related and not, and while I want to get them up here, i think I need to put this project to bed for a while after this week. A confession: one of the main reasons I put this blog up was to make myself produce, and, actually its worked. Unlike any other RPG player or GM I'm a wannabe designer -I know thats an astounding revalation, but hey. So, it seems that the first step is doing somthing that has an existance outside of my own head, and this is that.

Final realization: despite its success, this is a damn tedious blog unless one is interested in the nuts and bolts of my system as it builds -which not to many people are, and who could blame them ? Still the fact that the actual rules are moving is whats important, not that my design process be transparent.

Why is today different from all other days ?

Because by blackbeards raggedy blown out underwear, its talk like a pirate day ye filthy lubberly god-cursed poxy swabs !!!! !

An the first one of ye chunder headed deck apes that spells "ARRRRR" with a "G" is fer the short walk off the side after ye chases yer burning guts around the mainmast and dammit ! I hates it ! I'll cast me anchor in ye , ye G writin' lubberly swine, see iffn I dont !

Arr be what A pirate says ! ARRRGH be what a lubber says when his faint heart be ripped out with a cutlass stoke and chewed with blasphemous teeth afore his horrified eyes !*

Gets it right 'r its the basinado fer ye !


*Tm captain L'Ollenais aka he cruelest man who ever lived. Look it up.