Over Kill?

Okay, I went a little overboard with the encounter areas... Yes, a lot... But I was having fun and ideas were flooding my brain as I divided up the terrain for, what I hope, would make for a plethora of low level adventure hooks. I hope to delve deeper into these 'regions' in later posts. For now, have a map!

Scale: Large Hex = 2.5 miles (1 hour), Small Hex = 2640 feet (12 minutes)

As can be seen, I have chose a large selection of common humanoids to populate the surrounding area of Skelan and Ength. I hope, though breathing some individuality into them, I can put a new spin on them in the process. Yes, they are Goblins, Orcs, and such, but as ideas came to me, something else occurred to me. Motivations... Suffice it to say, more to come as I stop mapping and get to table design!

So, how bad did I mutilate it?

TB

BANG! Hexographer Pro Baby!

With the current sale going on over at Inkwell Ideas, I broke down and bought the Hexographer Pro Software. I am so glad I did! Making 'Child Maps' has become a snap. I couldn't resist zooming in on Skelan and seeing what popped up!

Scale: Each Small Hex = 528 ft (Large Hex = 2640 ft)
EDIT: The Huge Hex is actually 2.5 miles across!

Zooming in was a snap. I just selected the area, told it 5 hexes for each hex selected and it converted it all. I had to do some touch-up around the edges and added a little forest. The majority of the time I spent adding buildings based on Erin Smale's, Population for Low-Fantasy Population generator, from his blog; The Welsh Piper.

From that I gleaned the following about Skelan:
Population: 974
Occupies: 1.22 square miles
Nobles: 28, Officers: 10, Clergy: 8, Freeholders: 66, Citizens (Farmers) 858, Hirelings:4
Ruling House: 6 Relatives, 4 Servants, 3 House Guard, 1 Sergeant
Additional Nobles (2 Houses) w/ 14 people
Reeve: 1, Messor: 1, Woodward 1, Constable: 1, Law Enforcement: 6
Mansions: 3
Churches: 2
Businesses: 79
Municipal: 1
Homes: Alot! 129

It took me longer to type this than to do it. The map isn't great, but it was fun doing!

Hope you can use it,

TB

Moving On A Budget

Over at Untimately, Brendan spoke about Wilderness Movement Costs and how to 'move on a budget'.

I really liked the idea and have decided to convert it to my thoughts of movement by time, where I have decided to think of traveling not as distance, but as time.

So, without further ado, a version of Brendan's tables with time equivalents for a league (2.5 miles) of travel:

Encumbrance	Movement Budget
Unencumbered	10 Hours
Lightly Encumbered	8 Hours
Heavily Encumbered	6 Hours

Unlike Brendan, I chose not to differentiate statistically between forms of locomotion; foot, horse, wagon, etc. For me, as an example, horses and such move at roughly the same walking speed as a person on foot with equivalent loads, or, a horse with a heavy load is going to move about as fast as a human with a heavy load. Granted, the weight of that load is significantly different, but hopefully you get my meaning. It is not until you get into forced marching and running that things change dramatically, but even then, it will all be about time. How long can you do it before giving out? This, at least for me, can be adjudicated on the fly.

Now on to the costs:

Terrain	Examples	Movement Cost	Becoming Lost
Average	Clear, City, Grasslands, Road*, Trail*	1 Hour	1 in 6
Moderate	Forest, Hills, Desert, Badlands	1.5 Hours	2 in 6
Difficult	Mountains, Heavy Forest, Jungle, Swamp	2 Hours	3 in 6

* Moving along Roads, or well marked Trails, does not result in a risk of Becoming Lost.

I would like to thank Brendan for pointing me to this simple and hopefully easy to master system. Thanks!

Best,
TB

Thoughts On Random Encounters

While establishing my first Encounter Location within the Free Barony of Warhone, I discovered that my 2d6 table blog reference no longer exists... "Crap!"

Gonna have to figure this out on my own and recreate the wheel. Using this handy dice probability site, I came up with an adjective based 2d6 table of my own. So when I need random encounters I will go with:

Five Option Table

2 & 12 Very Rare (5.56%)
3 & 11 Rare (11.12%)
4 & 10 Scarce (16.66%)
5 & 9 Normal (22.22%)
6 to 8 Common (44.45%)

Seven Option Table
2  Very Rare (2.78%) - Note: Could be used with the Five Option Table as Ultra Rare if 2 & 12 were broken out
3  Rare (5.56%)
4 & 5 Scarce (19.44%)
6, 7 & 8 Common (44.45%)
9 & 10 Scarce (19.44%)
11  Rare (5.56%)
12 Very Rare (2.78%)

I realize that there are more ways to break a 2d6 roll down for this, but my mind is not functioning this evening. If anyone wants to help out, and suggest what distribution they use for such a table, it would be appreciated.

Maybe the tables will reappear over on The Yaqqothl Grimoire? I'm not holding my breath though.

Now to work on the encounter tables for the site: Azimar's Ruined Keep. A little typical, but I have to start somewhere to get my creativity kindled!

TB

So, Moving Along Then (part 2a)

I changed my mind, or so Mr. ADD often convinces me to do. I was convinced to zoom in rather and jump down to 'settlement level'. I am glad I did too. It really helped me get an idea of the area. Why? I can't explain. But, none-the-less, here is a step-in on the Skelan area that was in my previous post.

 

Scale: 2640 ft sub-hex / 2.5 mi large hex

A note on the above map, the actual settlements (read rural area) of Skelan and Ength probably will most likely NOT end up where I placed the village and town icons. I tried to 'center-mass' them. I envision both being more in the branches of the 'Y' of the river, which I have to name.

Next up, before I do the actual rural settlements, is to place key encounter areas for this level, make random tables, etc. So, expect to see this map again in more detail soon.

TB

So, Moving Along Then (part 2)

Pressing forward, I have added some to the newest experiments in Mini-Gazetteer. Or, maybe I'll just call it a Blog-Gazetteer? Anyway, I added some additional terrain and random names to the base map.

I think this is as big as I feel comfortable with. Not being one that enjoys 'drilling-down' into a setting, I want to start small and work out from somewhere. So, with that in mind, I will pick a 'Base Camp' and flesh it out, and expand.

Perhaps from Skelan...

TB

So, Moving Along Then (part 1)

Now that I have had my grand epiphany about time, I return to mapping. As you can see from the below map, I have just quickly roughed in the basics; Mountains, Ocean, and the two Settlements (green hexes) I want to start with. The Settlement near the ocean will be the main trade point. The other, or located there-about, will be the starting 'base' for the campaign.

Next I want to map the trade center, so I get a feel for how dispersed it will be at this scale (small hex = 1 league, or 1 hour). So...

Not what I had hoped, but I can come back to it. Just couldn't figure out how I wanted it to look, Icon wise...

That's it for now, enjoy.
TB

It's Time To Move On

Yesterday, I posted about how I really like Bat in the Attic's use of leagues. Yes, I realize it is not a new phenomenon, but it was there that I grokked its awesomeness. I haven't been able to reproduce his great maps, as I had hoped, but I have figured out how to do something similar with Hexographer, while keeping Mr. OCD smiling.

The realization that distance is moot was a major breakthrough for me, believe it or not. I don't really care about distance anymore. Why? Because the only thing that is in distance are maps and movement.Strange considering that mapping is what makes Mr. OCD standup and flail about as if his arms and legs are independent of his body. Now, maps and movement may seem pretty important to the game, even maybe a pillar, but I have chosen not to think in distance any longer. I intend to think in time. Much more of the game, IMHO, is based on the unit of measure of time.

How did I come to this decision? Mr. OCD pointed me to it. I was trying to extrapolate the accuracy of the one hour / league, and it worked out.


Using a 5:1 sub-hex to hex ratio:
2.5 miles / league / 13200' equals 1 hour (Overland Scale)
2640' / .5 miles equals 12 min or 720 sec
528' equals 2.4 min or 144 sec (Settlement Scale at a 'block' distance)
105.6' equals 28.8 secs
21.12' equals 5.76 sec (close enough to a 20' / 6 sec combat round, even for Mista OCD)

What does that solve? Well, for me, I no longer have to think in distance, but rather in time! Torch life is in time. Rations are in time. Spell length, preparation, and casting, are in time. Everything else is in units of time! I can't help but to think that this will help 'in game', not to mention with my brain curdling attempts at mapping! Win-Win in my book. Hope it pans out while playing too. I know it has helped with mapping, which I hope to share shortly.

Surely not a significant discovery to the blog-as-sphere, but I am glad I have finally made the discovery! Or, at least, learned what others already know.

Best and happy gaming,
TB

More Mini Campaign

So I started messing around with mapping (Hexographer) again, and made a small regional map, or started it anyway. Then my best-est friend ever, OCD, came to visit. I wanted to drop in a small coastal harbor town or city. But what size? I knew I wanted to have each sub-hex be 2.5 miles (1 league) and the larger hexes to be 12.5 miles (5 leagues) based on how much I like Bat in the Attic maps. This scale just makes sense to me, and I hope to elaborate more on that in my next post.

Then I wavered! I do so ever like how it's done on The 25 Mile Hex too! Finally I just said, "Screw It!" and went to another bookmark, Medieval Demographics Made Easy. Both the above blogs mentioned it, as I recall, so it has to have something going for it, right?

So, based on the formula there ((Hex Width x .9306049)squared) tells me that there are 5.43sq miles in a 2.5 mile hex, or 1 league. Cool! Population Density, which I took to mean Rural, ranged from 30 to 120 people per square mile. So this town/city, assuming it has some kind of patrolling guard, could patrol out, on a regular basis, a half-a-day. So four hours, or 4 leagues, to be able to make it back by dark. Counting all the hexes surrounding the town/city I came up with 60 hexes and an Excel Spread Sheet...

So, based on density, this town could range from a Large Town to a Large City... I am not a complete sadist. I didn't want to randomly figure out the density of every league within the settlement's control. So I created a formula that would give me a random range between 30 and 120. Then OCD's friend showed up...

Yay, ADD, welcome! Mr. ADD wanted to know, "If the settlement could only 'protect' 3, 2, or even 1 hour out from it, what size settlements would result?"

This didn't, even at minimum density, get me a settlement smaller than 489 person Village with the Village itself and the adjoining 6 leagues. (I am using the settlement sizes from 3.5 by-the-way because I would like to use the eventual map in either a Microlite20 or Pathfinder Beginner Box campaign)

"Doh!" All I had to do was reverse the formula to be able to enter the settlement population and random density to tell me how many leagues a settlement needed. I did this not just because of Mr. ADD, but because I noticed that the first settlement was going to eat-up alot of my map. I wanted some smaller settlements for 'bases-of-operations' too out in the 'wilderness'.

Long-story-short, I think Mr. OCD and Mr. ADD have just had their communal asses kicked by Mr. Excel!

More to come!
TB

Playing With Hero Lab For PFBB

It appears, that the Hero Lab version for Pathfinder Beginner Box is free, full functioning, and works wonders:

This creature stands barely three feet tall, its scrawny, humanoid body dwarfed by its wide, ungainly head.
--------------------
Grinder: Male Goblin (Neutral)

Goblins are hateful, suspicious creatures about 4 feet tall. They prefer to dwell in caves or buildings abandoned by others. They love fire, hate dogs and horses, and believe that writing steals the words from your head.

Initiative +6; Speed 30 ft. (6 sq.); CR 1/2; HP 8
Senses Darkvision (60 feet); Perception +4
--------------------
DEFENSE
--------------------
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14   (+3 armor, +2 Dex, +1 size)
Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +0
--------------------
OFFENSE
--------------------
Melee (M) Dagger +0 (1d4+1/19-20/x2) and
   (M) Dagger +0 (1d4+1/19-20/x2) and
   Unarmed Strike +2 (1d2+1/20/x2)
Ranged Shortbow +3 (1d4/20/x3)
Special Attacks Sneak Attack +1d6
--------------------
STATISTICS
--------------------
Str +1,  Dex +2,  Con 0,  Int 0,  Wis 0,  Cha 0
Skills Climb +5, Disable Device +7, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +4, Knowledge (Local) +4, Knowledge (Nature) +1, Perception +4, Ride +6, Sense Motive +4, Stealth +10
Feats Improved Initiative
Equipment Backpack (empty), Belt Pouch (empty), Caltrops, Dagger, Dagger, Flint and Steel, Sack (empty), Sack (empty), Shortbow, Studded Leather, Thieves' Tools, Waterskin
--------------------
ECOLOGY
--------------------
Environment Temperate forest and plains (usually coastal regions)
Organization Gang (4-9), warband (10-16 with goblin dog mounts), or tribe (17+ plus 100% noncombatants; 1 sergeant of 3rd level per 20 adults; 1 or 2 lieutenants of 4th or 5th level; 1 leader of 6th-8th level; and 10-40 goblin dogs, wolves, or worgs)
Treasure NPC gear (leather armor, light wooden shield, short sword, short bow with 20 arrows, other treasure)
--------------------
SPECIAL ABILITIES
--------------------
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark up to 60 feet. This works like normal vision, but it's only in shades of gray.
Sneak Attack +1d6 +1d6 damage if you flank your target or your target is flat-footed.
Trapfinding +1 +1 to find or disable traps.

Hero Lab® and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC®, and are used under license.

This rocks! Now, I must play a PFBB campaign!

TB

Home...

Home at last, though I thought I would get alot of blogging done while on my business trip, it never came to fruition. Now, I hope, I can delve off into some PFBB ramblings...

TB

Pathfinder Beginner Box and D&D Red Box

I had blogged about getting the Pathfinder Beginner Box (PFBB) a while ago, but I just picked up the D&D Red Box too. Which, I swore I wouldn't get, but I found it on sale for $9.50

Talk about totally different attempts at what, I think, was meant to be the same thing; an introduction to 'the' game.

The PFBB was a trip down memory lane. I really enjoyed the solo adventure and all the way through to page 53 of the Hero's Handbook. That is where the crunch began under the heading of "Combat"... I stomached through to the end because it was only an additional ten pages that covered only first through fifth level (the sweat spot for me personally).

The PFBB Game Master's Guide had a nice mini-adventure and, though it was tailored to new GMs, was an enjoyable read.

In short, the whole PFBB screamed quality.

The D&D Red Box (RB), on the other hand, whimpered. From the box and booklet quality, to a Player's  Handbook that was 39 pages of solo-adventure ONLY! I did like how they had you develop you character sheet throughout the adventure, but this did not make up for my less than gloomy first impression.

The D&D RB Dungeon Master Book had me crying before I even finished it, which I did not do. The rules where like reading a 60+ page boardgame instruction manual...

Now to admit, I currently play D&D 4e with a great group, and the GM handles it very old school. So I know it is possible, but if I had to start a group with this thing, it probably would never happen.

PFBB on the other hand has me compelled to start a new campaign, should I find the players.

To answer a few questions directed to me from the last post by Erin:

"....looks friendly enough and I'm sorely tempted to pick it up, but is it good enough to launch a whole new campaign..." ~ Absolutely. It is solid, and much more of what I wanted out of PF 3.5 than what it has become. I could totally see repeat playability just by staying in the 1st to 5th level that the box set covers. I must admit that I have always liked the idea of a E6 style game anyway. This scratches my itch!

"...or is it just reference material I can use in my existing game?" ~ I think it can do that too, to a lesser extent. It has an 'old school vibe' to it, but it is obviously a d20 product. It introduces Sandpoint and the neighboring region and gives out a few plot hooks to expound on for sure, but it is an 'introduction' to the game.

"Is it "stand-alone" or will I have to go down the Pathfinder rabbit hole?" ~ it suggests going to the PF Core rulebook, but it is 100% stand-alone. I do not see myself investing in anything other than perhaps the setting book, where I will run a plethora of PBB adventures, should I find an interested group! So, no, no rabbit hole in my future! But I like the setting, so might get the one other book to 'expand' it some.

"I await your judgement..." ~ I recommend it, surprisingly. I honestly didn't expect to like it as much as I do. I wish the entire PF line was like this though. The D&D RB on the other hand... was a waste of my money even at the 'bargain' price. I enjoy my D&D 4e group and game, I do, but reading what I was able to of the box set, well, was torture. I hoped it would have been different, because I do enjoy my face-to-face 4e group game, and assumed, wrongly that perhaps the reviews were not fair or I might like it because I had prior experience... not the case! I thought I might one day want to even GM a 4e game/campaign, but realize I don't have the chops that my current 4e GM has to make it 'old school'.

In closing, get the PFBB, I don't think you will regret it,


TB

Monitary Mapping

Over on Telecanter's Receding Rules, Telecanter spoke of The Pre-Mapped Dungeon and its effect on game play.

Introducing pre-mapped dungeons in the form of Player handout maps is an interesting topic for discussion. But past; whether it should be done, how accurate they should be, and the effects to game play, I had to wonder, 'Where do they get them?'

It would be assumed that either; the map is completely fraudulent (source had never been there), or if accurate, that the dungeon had been plundered by the cartographer at, or before, the time of the map's creation. Both could be circumstances that could lead to in-game disappointment for the Characters, and to a lesser extent the Players.

But what really got me was, "How did they get such a map?" One would assume that it was made for profit, as making a personally plundered map for oneself seems cost prohibitive unless it was used to extricate oneself from same.

So, assuming it was made for profit to be sold to others, how much would it be worth? Why don't Players ever try to sell their maps? Why don't big-wig NPCs hire Characters to map locations, even their regional terrain? And, if this was prevalent, should Characters receive experience for a successful cartography exploration?

A myriad of questions I must ponder upon!

Happy mapping,
TB

Village Of Nickime

A quick post to show the Large Village of Nickime that I created from the "It's All About The Quarters" post I did yesterday. Again I want to thank Talysman, for the motivation/inspiration. I haven't gotten into digesting his response on the last post, but soon will.

*Edit: Roger, over at Roles, Rules, and Rolls, took creating settlements with coins even further with several interesting twist!*

Without further ado, here is the map of Nickime:

A Keep was placed for the quarter, and merchant/craftsmen got a larger building. Then I just added ten houses per fifty cent piece. Here is what the original map looked like, if you missed it:

I was initially worried about the placement of the Church/Shrine, but when I did the rough map I think it turned out okay.

Best,
TB

Making A Pocketmod Book

While I sat and ruminated on my last post I considered how I was going to release it. I really like Pocketmods, but for a book, even a small one, more than one would be required. How would I break down the data? Some folks have released four to five Pocketmods, each with its own topic. For example; one for character creation, one for Divine Spells, one for Arcane Spells, one for Monsters, etc.

Looking at my computer desk... I would lose 'em! Sure they are easy to print out, cut, fold, and enjoy, but I wanted something all-in-one. Then I found this:

Instructions can be found HERE. Which utilizes four individual Pocketmods bound with kite string into a single book. That might just work for what I have in mind! That is thirty-two pages of Microlite20 goodness right there. Depending on font, it could work, if legible.

Then I found this from the same author, icspots:

Yep, that is 50+ pages! Her instructions for this little beauty can be found HERE.

What say you?

TB

I Am Truly Torn...

About what I should/want to be doing. I just got done watching an... 'interesting' movie, The Lost Future. Surprisingly, it wasn't terrible, but I digress. At the moment, I am considering whether to go play Oblivion, Blog about how I want to implement Microlite20, or read the latest version of Beacon (release 5, as of this post).

Life seems to answer many of my questions for me as I procrastinate; the living room (where the Xbox is) is full of kids watching T.V., and though I need to read Beacon before my pending play-test, I don't want it's greatness to influence my first decision on how I want to tweak the system to give the setting its own feel.

So to get started, for those that aren't familiar with Microlite20, "it is a trimmed-down, subminiature version of the Primary Fantasy SRD rules (see license for more info) that has been designed to be quick and easy to play. The goal was to create a simpler game, but one where all of the resources of Primary Fantasy SRD (monsters, spells, adventures and equipment) could be used without conversion."" ~ Microlite20 Purest Essence.

Basic Microlite20 kicks things off with Stats. It only uses three of the six 'common' stats you would find in other fantasy role-playing games, and its source SRD; Strength, Dexterity, and Mind. Charisma is a commonly house-ruled stat, though I am somewhat torn on its use myself. But, I am not sure that I want to use any of them for this incarnation of the system to represent adventurers in Humanity's Reign & Ruin (referred to as simply HR&R from here onward).

My intention for HR&R is for it to be gritty and low magic. How can I reflect this through the rules even now, as I approach "putting pen to paper"? Stats. Perhaps, rather than be conventional, I can convey the gritty feel now. As I skim the basic rules, something caught my eye. Something that always catches my eye, "Note that there are no “saving throws” in this game; use Physical + STR or DEX bonus for Fortitude and Reflex saves. Saving against magic (Will save) is usually MIND bonus + your level."

Everyday in HR&R should be a day to save versus something, so why not just use these commonly removed items for stats? Perhaps I should just use; Fortitude, Reflex, and Will, instead or Strength, Dexterity, and Mind. If players have a preconceived notion of this verbiage being associated with 'saving their proverbial bacon', then could having them as stats convey the gritty life threatening nature of the setting I want to produce? Or, as I fear (1), this would be too large a step away from the conventional?

Well that is the first small stumbling block in my path to getting underway, getting what is in my head and in a small mound of written notes, into a congealed setting and rules set.

I would love to hear some thoughts on this.

Best,
TB

(1) Thought on Fear as I wrote the above post: How to project it into the game, by implementing some mechanic that makes sense?

Pocket Encounters...

Digging this... A modifiable Pocketmod of Telecanter's silhouettes, for encounter booklets!

Sorry, just wanted to give this a quick 'shout out'. Probably gonna post more tonight about Microlite20, so if you like that kind of thing, stay tuned.

TB

Why do I think...

...Mounted characters are cooler? Case in point: Dwarven Warrior, or this?!  (Note: all images used without permission and I will gladly remove them at the request of the artist.)

Or even this?

Place a character on a mount and they get infinitely cooler in my book, for some reason. Maybe it is the added power the mount gives them, though I have never professed to be a min/max power gamer. Past that basic observation, the rationalization of the epic awesomeness - that is mounted characters - eludes me.

My take on the best mount for some of the fantasy staples include;

Dwarves on Dire Bears
Orc on Dire Boars
Goblins on Worgs
Halflings on Raptors (Wolves/Dogs are alright, but come on, Halflings really need something epic IMHO)
Gnomes on Ostriches or Mountain Goats (terrain dependent)

Thoughts?

Another must, in my book, is pets. I know where this philosophical predisposition comes from though. From an image I can't seem to find on the webs, that I saw when I first got interested in D&D, of either an Orc or Hobgoblin (Shaman I think) with a staff and two Dire Rats on chains, as pets. Then there was a module that had an image of a man in studded leather loosing his two war dogs. Think he was a warehouse guard or something...

Am I alone in this? Or, as suspected, I have finally lost it?

TB