Mapping Away

More campaign map samples.  I got the borders in place for the holdings in the Hundred.

Still using symbol based terrain at this point. The map above is a screen clipping of the holdings of the various Lords of The Hundred (sans labels). The map show The Hundred and bordering territories. I got a lot of waterways on the map as they play a role in determining where borders are and where I'll eventually end up putting in keeps and villages.

Zoomed in a bit with filled in holdings. There is no significance to the fills in the image above they are simply used to make it easier to see the individual holdings. Some of the holdings are rather small with a handful being near a square mile, one much smaller.

I want the players to be able to have characters that are politically involved with estates and holdings of their own. Knowing where the various holdings actually are and what might be mentioned in a deed is the sort of thing I figure I'll need on a map.

More Campaign Map samples

Got some work in on the Riperia campaign map.

Above is a closer view of the general neighborhood of the campaign starting area. Changed the name of a Kingdom added a region label (most were there on the last map but not legible on the first sample). I did some work on the coastline of Fenardy and some icon geographical work done for The Hundred. (Hmm... just noticed the national border between two countries is missing in the sample shot.)

The map above is a zoom in to the geographic detail with iconographic symbols.  There is more river detail on this resolution of the map as well. For scale reference the coordinate grid (which I'll explain in a future post) is 16 miles across and an actual inch at 100% file resolution on the main file.  To come are the keeps and villages for 10 holdings, well thee were never actually a hundred but calling it The Hundred just sounded better than The Eighty Seven would have.  Next detail layer in the terrain will lose some of it's icons with hills and mountains shown as general changes in elevation and details will be exposed in the forests as well.

Campaign Prep and Sample Map

I've been prepping a new campaign and tuning house rules lately.  The training/loot-exp posts are part of that.  Here's the map of the grand overall campaign setting.

This is the continent of Aroa. The highlighted realm is Riperia. I've been playing with Riperia as campaign setting for a few years now and it's getting turned slightly and having the neighboring nations fleshed out a bit more.  The largest change beyond the overall expansion is the addition of the fey realms north of the Thornwall.  I've taking some place names from campaigns past and will be ressurecting pieces and shoving them in where they fit. No good reason to abandon over 35 years of campaign notes entirely.

Garforne, Gossland and Tridge survive from my earliest campaign map drawn in 1980 or so. Not sure if that map itself still exists. The Thornwall and nearby realms were initially worked up only a couple years ago. Some place names and associated histories will lurk form my late 80's/early 90's campaign.  The Talmyrian Empire is no more but it will be part of the history of thsi setting (I also have to dig out that map and revive a bunch of cities).

It is all in all a classical fantasy campaign with feudalism, quests, dragons and knights. This the only.human dominated portion of the world I'm likely to worry about for some time. Common Men share the world with Amazons, Valans, Brownies, Elves and Half-Elves (Light, Grey, and Dark), a variety of Hobs, Gnomes, A few types of Dwarves ( Hill, Dvarga, and Daro) , Gorans (Giant-kin), Beastmen of several kinds (Simbai-Felines, Vroo-Canines, Velch-Vultures,Aigossians-Goats, Pongar-Apes, Salamin-Reptiles) and wretched Trollkin. They are opposed by a wide variety of hostile folks including Bwgs, Trolls, Orcs, Giants, Dragons (both hive and solitary), Octons, Gargoyles. There will be little touches of sci-fantasy but it will not be an omnipresent sub-theme.

It's not all fun and games with the "friendly" races they don't even all have a homeland on the main campaign map but they are able to relate to men in a generally neutral if not friendly manner. Elves tend to want to be left alone. Hobs would rather tend to their own affairs as well but don't mind having a human over as a dinner guest. Dwarves are concerned more with the subsurface world but openly trade with humanity. The Goran are found worldwide but their ancestral homeland remains (mostly as old ruins in Gossland). Most of the beastmen hail form lands beyond the map but the Aigossians are native to Chalconia and Vroo to the wilds of Targoth.

Despite the presence of a few types of elves, dwarves, and halfling I want to avoid ren-fairia as much as possible. There will be no elven serving maids at the local pub and while people are aware the Simbai exist they may have difficulty dealing with one in the flesh. The Vroo actually have rather poor reputation as raiders and brigands within Cymria. Yeah it's an "almost europe".

Enough rambling for now. The map is going to change and have a lot of details added. The original map is a computer file 160 inches to 200 inches across at 16 miles to the inch.  With over 8,000,000 miles to fill I should be able to fit in a lot of stuff worth posting about for years to come.

Foes Defeateted Recently In Regular Game

A quick Roster of foes the PC's have defeated in my regular game over the past few months with a few notes, just for the heck of it.

1 Vampire, a vampire thief actually, players never saw that coming took a couple sessions to track down and lay low
4 Young Vampires, three very young as they were hirelings/help of PCs turned by the Vampire above.

1 Young Howlie. a Sasquatch
1 Disease Demon, the New Lands is an odd place diseases are often embodied by demons that latch onto mortals and must be battled on the astral plane to successfully cure disease.
over 54 Hillmen of the Snake Garter Nation.(well not all men about half were women and children)
1 Black Bear, poor thing was in wrong place really
1 Wood Spirit , a Dryad tricked but not slain
6 Dwights, Dwarven Wights
3 Crocigators, large crocodiles
1 Pestilence Spirit, A re-skinned Balrog (it killed 2 PCs)
2 Muck Ogres, re-skinned Hill Giants
2 Chimera, this mated pair left behind a nest of eggs the players never found (the pair killed 1 NPC)
1 Eight Headed Hydra

Rigors of the Crossing

My current campaign takes place in The New Lands far from the homelands of the PC's. Anyone traveling to The New Lands faces health threats from enduring the rigors of the crossing.

Rigors of the Crossing:
All occupants of a vessel that make a crossing of the Allatian Sea must make 1d4 saves per crossing or face a malady with each failed save.

Maladies for Men and Related Races
1 -1 STR, Rickets
2 -1 CON, Grippe
3 -1 DEX, The Shakes
4 -1 CHA, Gull-pox
5 -1 INT, Magnus' Palsy
6 -1 WIS, St. Germaine's Malaise
Each month on land without particular treatment allows a save to remove one ailment acquired during the crossing. Bed rest for a month provides a +4 bonus to that save. A months' bed rest is an expensive luxury in remote colonial settlements.

Beasts making the crossing may suffer even more than men do having to make 2-5 saves or suffer as follows on each failed save.

Maladies for Horses and other Beasts
1 lose 1d8 h.p. , Whimpering Whinnies
2 move reduced by 10', Pawrot
3 -2 to saves vs physical elements, Belly Ripples
4 -2 to save vs magic, Druid's Bane
5 -2 to morale, Whitemane
6 -2 to attack rolls, Smokey Eye's

If a beasts malady is not specifically cured within 3 months it is permanent.

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This chart serves 2 purposes it serves as a gross abstraction for how draining long sea voyages can be and it discourages frequent trips back and forth across the sea from colonies to homeland.

Map of The New Lands

The PCs in my regular Tuesday-night game having screwed up their homeland by unleashing an immense horde of undead a number of months back took passage on vessels leaving their homeland and continent before doom could descend on them and their likely to be upset neighbors and superiors.

Here's the map of The New Lands as known to them.

Vagabond Camps

The life of an adventurer is not always glorious and all men do not dwell within city walls or enjoy the spartan comforts of a peasant cottage, from time to time folks may find themselves in a vagabond camp.

Size of Camp
1-2 A Fire Circle
3-5 One Main Fire Circle and 1-3 small fires close-by
6-9 A scattering of 2-7 fire circles
10-11 A Hut with 1-3 small fire circles near-by
12 3-12 Huts

Population of Camp
2-5 rolls per fire circle or hut
1-3 rolls for a small fire

1-10.....Beggar
11-20...Drunken Craftsman
21-23...Escaped Serf
24-26...Escaped Slave
27-28...Blindman
29-31...Crippled Warrior
32-34...Run-away child/Orphan
35-36....Pimp/Procurer
37-40....Haggard Harlot
41-43....Widow with 1-6 children
44-45....Lone Peddler
46..........Self Professed Prophet (10% chance of being cleric level 1-8)
47-48...Madman
49-52...Down and Out Man-at-arms (0-level)
53-54...Lame Crofter
55-58...Leper
59-61...Cleric (level 1-6)
62.........Quixotic Knight
63-70....Wanted Outlaw
71-73....Bandit
74-76....Poacher
77-79....Thief (level 1-4)
80-81....Grave Robber
82-85.....Wandering Youth
86..........Noble Traveling Incognito
87-88....Run-away bride
89-92....Pregnant Young Woman
93-94....Bounty Hunter (Level 1-8)
95.........Old Pit-Fighter
96-97...Unsuccessful Prospector/Fur-Trapper/Treasure Hunter
98-100..Hapless Adventurer (NPC adventurer of level 1-3)

Shelter/Bedding (1d10 for hut, 1d12 for fire)
1-2 None
3 Pile of Rags
4-5 Flea-ridden Blanket
6 Good Cloak
7-9 Blanket
10 Good Bedroll
11 Simple Lean-to
12 Small Tent

Food
1-2....Rock Soup/None
3-4....Grass Soup
5-8....Pickings Stew
9........Fish
10-11..Stale Bread
12........Moldy Cheese


Encounters/Events
Roll once per day remote areas, twice per day in populous areas.

1-25...Nothing of Note
26-30...New Arrival
31-37...Vagabond Leaves
38-39...Vagabond Missing
40-43...Vagabond Takes Ill
44-45...Vagabond shows up with a jug of booze and shares
46...Drunken Fight
47...Murder, someone was stabbed to death or smothered in their sleep
48-52..Theft, someone has goods stolen but thief is unknown
53-57...Someone is accused of stealing from another in camp, guilty 1-2 in 6.
58-59...Thief! A thief is spied rooting through someone's belongings.
60...Death in the night, a vagabond in camp dies, folks may not notice for a while
61-63...Wild Dogs. 3-12 wild dogs harass the camp
64-65...Wolves 2-8 wolves raid the camp
66...Bear a black bear wanders into camp
67...Horse, a riderless horse wanders into camp, this could be trouble.
68...Weather Improves
69...Weather Worsens
70...Vagabonds return to camp with stolen food they share with others
71-78...Locals harass a vagabond
79-82...Locals attack a vagabond
83-84...Locals raid camp kicking out fires and knocking over shelters.
85-87...Authorities arrive to drive off vagabonds.
88-89...Kind souls donate food/clothing to those in camp.
90...Doppleganger
91.......Lycanthrope (1 of random type either raids or transforms in camp)
92-94....Bandits raid the camp to steal whatever meager goods and food they can.(3-18 bandits)
95-96....Orcs raid camp to murder and take slaves.(3-24 orcs)
97.........Slavers raid camp. (1-4 leveled slavers with 2-8 M@A)
98-99...Press Gang arrives to take able-bodied men. (1-3 L1 fighters with, 2-8 M@A)
100.....Ghouls arrive to feed. 1-20 ghouls


Rumors
Each day in camp there is a 33% chance of a rumor

Suggested Rumors (seldom true)
1 The king is dead
2 The local lord is dead
3 Giants are marching this way
4 A knight is challenging all-comers at the crossroads
5 A fire has swept a nearby community
6 Someone in camp is an evil witch
7 Someone in camp is a werewolf
8 Someone in camp has treasure map
9 Someone in camp is hiding food
10 A local dungeon is discovered
11 The locals are coming to raid the camp tomorrow
12 There is a church a few days away helping those in need.
13 An orc scout was seen.
14 Bandits are in the nearby wood.
15 There's a functional wishing well nearby
16 There's a body in a nearby thicket.
17 There's a witch in a cottage nearby
18 There's a generous cottage nearby
19 There's a woman who "likes the company of men"in a cottage nearby
20 a man with a sack full of (?) was seen skulking about not too far off.

Thieving Skills and who get's them?

In no particular order I offer a variety of thieving skills and the classes that get them I'm considering for my next campaign.

Fakery- Feigning of diseases, disorders, injuries, fits and madness so as to gain pity to profit begging, serve as disguise, serve to distract and to gain limited access to places and ways fit people may not be able to gain access to.

Crowd Dodging- ability to move quickly though a crowd and to lose those in pursuit.

Angling- the ability to steal items through windows and other openings through the use of hooked sticks and lines.

Prigging- ability to filch poultry and carry it off without being noticed or rousing the bird to make noise. (subtract -5% to 20% for multiple birds or exceptionally large ones).

Sleight of Hand- ability to filch small items out in the open, in an open pocket or even simple jewelry on ones person (-5% picking pockets, -20% stealing jewelry)

Shadowing- ability to follow one through occupied streets and neither lose them or alert them to ones presence.

Move silently- ability to move silently...

Hiding- ability to hide in shadows, secret oneself in little spaces, hide in a crowd or conceal oneself when casing an establishment.

Lock picking- ability to open or disable locks. Disabling a lock is easier but noisier.

Cutpurse- ability to remove an entire purse or open a slit to remove a few coins without the mark noticing.

Backstab- bonus to hit and damage when striking from behind.

Kosh- ability to render one unconscious through use of a kosh, sap, blackjack or other bludgeon.

Garrote- ability to render one unconscious through choking with an arm, cloak, belt, cane or garrote line.

Signaling- ability to pass a single to compatriots without alerting others

Disarm Traps- ability to remove, jam or disable mechanical traps.

Note Wards- ability to identify functional magical wards.

Bypass Wards- ability to pass areas protected by magical wards, runes and glyphs without being victim to their activation.

Hear noise- ability to note noises beyond doors and sounds the unwary may miss.

read scrolls- ability to read magic-user scrolls. 1st roll identifies the scroll. 2nd roll allows scroll to be used.

Withdraw from combat- ability to get out of melee contact without exposing oneself to a counter attack.

Dose- the ability to apply poison to a weapon, to mix it into food so it is unnoticeable or to covertly slip something into someone's drink.

Banter- the ability to distract or sway others opinions with a quick and able tongue.
This can allow a re-roll of an reaction check if successful. It can be used to distract a victim of an accomplice trying to waylay or steal from a victim.

Taunt- the ability to gain the attention of others to the detriment of other actions they may wish to be taking. This can be dangerous as it can be prone to invoke pursuit and violence.

Cheating- ability to improves ones odds in a game of chance by various cheating techniques.

Set Traps- ability to set traps to harm, capture and kill.

Forgery- ability to duplicate writings.

Coining- ability to make fake coins (at 1/5th normal price).

Clipping- ability to shave some metal from a coin without overtly marring the coin. A failed roll debases the value of the coin. 50 coins must be clipped to gain 1 coins worth of metal.

Keen Awareness- chance to avoid surprise.

Escape artist- ability to wiggle out of chains, ropes and bonds.

Avoid traps- ability to avoid a springing trap at the last moment. This roll acts as a saving throw that may be made before attack rolls or other saves are made.


Classes and their skills:
Burglar Skills
Angling
Move silently
Hiding
Lock picking
Signaling
Find Traps
Disarm Traps
Hear noise
Keen Awareness
Escape artist
Climb Walls

TombRobber skills
Lock picking
Find Traps
Disarm Traps
Note Wards
Bypass Wards
Read scrolls
Keen Awareness
Avoid traps
Climb Walls

Rake Skills
Shadowing
move silently
Backstab
Climb Walls
Withdraw from combat
Banter
Taunt
Cheating
Keen Awareness
Escape artist
Avoid traps

Footpad Skills
Crowd Dodging
Shadowing
move silently
Hiding
Cutpurse
Garrote
Signaling
Withdraw from combat

Scoundrel Skills
Fakery
Sleight of Hand
Shadowing
Kosh
Hear noise
Dose
Banter
Cheating
Forgery
Clipping
read scrolls

Urchin Skills
Fakery
Crowd Dodging
Angling
Prygging
Sleight of Hand
Hiding
Taunt
Escape artist
Withdraw from combat

Thug Skills
Shadowing
Backstab
Kosh
Garrote
Withdraw from combat
Taunt
Climb Walls
Keen Awareness
Avoid traps
Hear Noise
Move Silently
Hiding

Charltan
Fakery
Crowd Dodging
Sleight of Hand
Hiding
Signaling
Read scrolls
Banter
Taunt
Cheating
Forgery
Coining
Clipping

Building Encounter Tables for Riperia

I'm in the process of campaign development and one area I feel is important is encounter tables. The more encounter tabels are focused to the specific campaign the more they define the campaign and free up more time for the DM developing a campaign. It's certainly important to have set enocunters in certain spots but the development work is wasted if the DM doesn't or can't maneuver the players to the location of the set encounters. Working out what is to go on the encounter tables is important as it is indeed campaign defining.

Where are these encounter occurring. Defining the range of areas that will be covered by encounter tables will help establish expectations in players. Players will eventually be able to figure out likely encounters in different area/terrains (which is a good thing) and will notice if the range of encounters is the same in every terrain type or similar terrain types. So defining and narrowing down the encounter areas has becoem important to me for my Riperia campaign.

Encounter Areas I'm considering for the central campaign within Riperia:
Castle- the people and troubles of castle life.
Cultivated- the people and beasts in the fields and ways of manors
Village- the simple life of villages and their unique residents and offerings
Pastoral
Urban-Small Town
Urban-Market District
Urban-Dockside
Urban-Foreign Quarter
Urban-High Town
Urban-Low Town
Urban-College District
Urban-Thieves Quarter
Busy Riverside
Busy River-borne
Rural Riverside
Rural River-borne
Remote Riverside
Remote River-borne
Lakes, Ponds and pools
Maintained Forest
Wild Forest
Dark Forest
Sylvan Forest
Rugged Hills
Moors
Lonely Moors
Marsh
Trackless Marsh
Well Traveled Roads
Remote Routes
Coastal
Populated Mountains
Wild Mountains

Who or What is encountered. The people, creatures and events that populate these tables are of course very important and will be hugely important to a campaign. Her's how I'm defining that element for now:

Knights- patrolling knight, traveling knight, challenging knight, Legendary knights, Knights of renown, minor knights, Foreign knights, Knights on a personal mission, Questing Knights
Wizards- lords wizard, noted wizard, minor wizard, dastardly wizard, alien wizard
Holy Men- high clergy, local clergy, prophet/preacher, Witch hunter, pilgrims, strange cultists
Nobles- bachelor rand, dandies, lord, lady, foreign mission, local lord incognito, foreign nobles incognito
Burghers- town men, fops, craftsmen, academic
Peasants- lowly men, labourers, washwomen, children, wood cutters, herdsmen, farmers, serfs, milkmaids
Pariah class- lowest of the low and outlaws, charcoal burners, fortune teller, charmsman, banished, marked, beggar
Patrols- authorized militants, mounted patrol, foot patrol, combined patrol, peasant militia
Raiders- freebooters, brigands, foreign military
Domestic Beasts- in check or running amok
Wild Beasts- predators and prey
Merchants- caravans and peddlers
Visions/Sendings- omens, imps and cherubs
Supernatural- undead, demons and angels
Fey- elves, faeries and related
Horrors- terrible monsters, Dragons
Terrain- hazards and rewards of the specific terrain
Curiosity- something a little odd and out of place
Events- faires, tournaments and those getting ready for them.
Places- unmapped dwellings, camp,hogan, hut, cottage, great-house, tower, castle, farm, thorp, hamlet, ancient site, shrine, temple, graveyard, barrow, plinth, ruin, stall, door, shop
Horses and Hounds- events and annoyances with animals in PC party
Minions- events and annoyances with henchmen, hirelings and companions in PC party
Crime- witness or embroiled with Burglar, TombRobbers,Rakes, Footpads, scoundrels, urchins, thugs, bandits or Charlatans

What is the campaign/adventure reason for these encounters can be set in the tables and really aids me in play. Encounters can be:

Challenges- Decided risk and notable reward
Flavor- limited risk and no reward beyond information and establishing setting, possibly warning of future possible encounters.
Foils- limited risk and even more limited reward. a problem to be overcome that
usually results in it's own reward.
Boons- limited or no risk with some decided reward.

While the players are away on Tekumel

Been a busy DM of late getting a campaign ready that I plan to use for a few years.
I've gone a different route with campaign maps then is usual for me, I'm focusing on political features over terrain. Sure the rivers have a big impact on the political lay of the land so I'm not ignoring geography but I'm not making it the picky element of campaign development just yet.
I want the players to be aware of "the end game" early on and jump into it as much as they wish (with a little prodding from me) so politics are important.

I'm going for a fairly classical Fantasy RPG setting. I'm dumping the kitchen sink approach however and moving things that don't fit the main campaign to elsewhere. (That's why I did all those lunar encounter tables).

Here is my political map for Riperia as it exists to date:


Somewhere on this map I'll be placing Fomorgard and using that as the campaign's central dungeon focus. There will still be a number of smaller "dungeons" but the mega-dungeon will be Fomorgard (which is taking longer to develop then I planned).

What's on the boil for development-

Nailing down the house rules.
- Formalizing the combat variant
- Finishing up the Wizardly magic rules, along with spell lists.
-Finishing up the Clerical magic rules, along with spell lists and a host of divine entities to bargain with to gain spells.
- Getting the classes tweaked and created for the house rules to fit the campaign

Campaign Development
- Lot's of encounter tables. I'm a big fan of these I can't help myself. Planning on a host of encounter charts to cover a wide range of areas within the campaign. Batting about a lot of ideas currently. I'll bring this up on a future post.
- More detailed map(s), lot's of maps make for a detailed settign in my book.
- Describe what's on the maps. Simple detail that gives room to build as needed. Pages and pages on cities and baronies my PCs will never visit would be totally pointless.
- Fomorgard, needs more and more work.
- and much much more

All while the players in my group are wandering about a section of the dungeons under Jakalla.

Notes on the posted map:
Everything done in photohop so far. The posted image is an indexed gif but I have a working layered photo shop copy for editing and updating. I'll eventually get around to a more detailed map using illustrator but this will do for some time.