|||
I have been working on a tabletop roleplaying game with the working title “Crystal Realm,” which is inspired by the classic console games Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. These games are not niche and, like others, I find their minimal loop very compelling — go to town, it’s cursed, get strong, go to dungeon, lift curse. It’s a symmetrical five-act structure with a midpoint. Traversing this loop brings the same pleasure found in solitaire, knitting, and jigsaw puzzles. Along the way you meet a lot of weird little guys.
I’m also co-refereeing a game of Wolves Upon the Coast, and have been reading a lot of Luke Gearing’s commentary in order to understand how this massive setting was put together and what makes it tick.
The core hexfilling procedure is pretty simple; it can be found here. So I wrote a Python script to spit out hexfills.
But then I wrote 20 more Python scripts to generate random names, monster encounters, treasure hoards, details of the “Weird” table in the original procedure, town services based on demographics, etc. etc.. Here’s some unadulterated output of this program.
### 11.24 High Priest Lair
3 High Priests, MIRORTHAD, GOZUKITUSU, and MALIN, make their lair here, along with 44 Acolytes. There is treasure here (Temple II): 3000sp, 200sp worth of trade goods, 2 artefacts, and a magical miscellany.
### 12.24 TAKIUHU
TAKIUHU, a FORT of 109, is led by SETAMUKU. Notable because of being hostile or cursed, an Item Shop, and a Stable or Dock.
### 12.25 KAHEL
KAHEL, a VILLAGE of 26, is led by HAGTURHIR. Notable because of a relationship to a nearby hex, a natural resource (game), animal behaviour in this area (eating), a strange tutor, GANUB, its history (magical disaster), an Item Shop, and an Inn.This is not AI, it is just the time-honored tradition of rolling on some tables. It is hard for me to come up with this stuff off the dome, I need quite a bit of material to look at and sift through before I can start making connections and begin to write creatively. Here are some of the results.
Below are 5 edited hexfills from this region, which has 28 total. The full map has 290 hexfills.
Unedited output is in italics. Since I haven’t created all of the treasure, instead, placeholders like “2 magic potions” are rendered.
A hex map of the Azorn Steppe
Zossimi, a town of 196, is led in name by the Mayor Buzrulf, but Ranade also holds great sway as a faith leader. Most of Zossimi’s inhabitants follow the teachings of St. Eldar.
Buzrulf and Ranade’s rivalry has eclipsed all actual governance in the town. Recently, Ranade has employed a local “bandit” Ormim to kidnap Buzrulf’s daughter Zura. She is held in the tower at 22.20.
Notable because of an Item Shop, a Stable or Dock, an Inn, and a Smithy.
From on high in this mountain watchtower, all trade caravans can be observed coming and going into Zossimi.
Ormim (3HD) is chief among the 6 Acolytes of Ahriman who operate here. They are holding Zura prisoner, from 21.20 Zossimi. The tower is additionally guarded by 4 Watchers. Ormim desires to overturn both Buzrulf and Ranade’s leadership in Zossimi, and to slowly convert the religious populace to the worship of Ahriman. If he succeeds, he will secure his position as Confessor in Azorn’s largest settlement.
There is treasure here (Magic-user I): 200sp, 600sp worth of trade goods, a map to a Magic-user I hoard, and a magic armor.
From this central peak, all of the Azorn Steppe falls under Ahriman’s watchful eye. Beneath, its dungeons swell with traitors.
There is treasure here (Magic-user IV): 2000sp, 100sp worth of trade goods, 1 artefact, a map to a Magic-user IV hoard, a magic ring, 2 magic potions, 3 magical miscellanys, and 2 magic weapons.
All roads in Azorn once led to the town of Dolub, but caravans avoid it ever since Ahriman “gifted” the town to the Gigas Ahribel. Now it is an empty ruin and a reminder of the consequences of defiance.
Ahribel’s hoard is gathered in the town’s coliseum where he makes his home: 13000sp, 2000sp worth of trade goods, 1 artefact, a map to a Mythic hoard, magicite, 2 magic potions, and a magical miscellany.
Notable because a magical component, and a clue to nearby hex. Searches in the ruins succeed on a 4+.
Two Confessors, Facha and Asug, have been tasked by Ahriman with the raising of a great Lighthouse.
Confessor Facha oversees 34 volunteers who have chosen backbreaking labor over imprisonment in the bastille. Confessor Asug is a new arrival and leads 15 Acolytes in the defense of the construction. Two Watchers guard the route to the inland, but the approach by sea is unsecured.
There is treasure here (Temple II): 1000sp, 300sp worth of trade goods, and 2 artefacts.