[E-Tools] Tables & Towns

[WanderingMonster]

Okay, as an exercise in table-making, I decided to try and make a town generator (yes, I know Jamis Buck has the definitive utility in town generation, but that's not my beef). You're limited to values of three digits when you make a table. So what do you do when you want a specific range for population (i.e. 901-2000)?

Any help or suggestions are welcome.

 

[Chaz]

Ive been working on a town gen table. If I follow you right you are wondering how to set the values to check for size of the town? This is what I have.. not sure if this is what you were asking about.. but if so here is my example. If not sorry for giving the wrong info. In either case good luck


Roll 1d100
Random Town Generation Table 4-40 DMG 137

1 Town Size - Thorp Population - 20-80 GP Limit - 40 GP (1-10);
1 Town Size - Hamlet Population - 81-400 GP Limit - 100 GP (11-30);
1 Town Size - Village Population - 401-900 GP Limit - 200 GP (31-50);
1 Town Size - Small Town Population - 901-2,000 GP Limit - 800 GP (51-70);
1 Town Size - Large Town Population - 2,001-5,000 GP Limit - 3,000 GP (71-85);
1 Town Size - Small City Population - 5,001-12,000 GP Limit - 15,000 GP (86-95);
1 Town Size - Large City Population - 12,001-25,000 GP Limit - 40,000 GP (96-99);
1 Town Size - Metropolis Population - 25,001 + GP Limit - 100,000 GP (100).

 

[Chaz]

I guess I should have said that the above info is from the table stat block in the ET table maker, not something I just typed in. It rolls the random town size and delivers the answer. The numbers at the end of each line in ( ) are the die 100% rolls to achieve that entry. Again hope this helps.


Just as an example here is the statblock listing of the table ran in the generator. I ran it appended 50 times to see what ratio of town sizes I might expect. In this example the numbers in the ( ) at the end are the # of times out of the 50 this size town came up.


Town Size - Hamlet Population - 81-400 GP Limit - 100 GP (10)
Town Size - Large City Population - 12,001-25,000 GP Limit - 40,000 GP (3)
Town Size - Large Town Population - 2,001-5,000 GP Limit - 3,000 GP (13)
Town Size - Metropolis Population - 25,001 + GP Limit - 100,000 GP (2)
Town Size - Small Town Population - 901-2,000 GP Limit - 800 GP (12)
Town Size - Thorp Population - 20-80 GP Limit - 40 GP (2)
Town Size - Village Population - 401-900 GP Limit - 200 GP (8)


The ratio looks pretty good to me. You can adjust the # of towns needed by how big a country is. For my test of 50 communities I think it worked out pretty good. Looks like the table in the DMG worked out pretty good.

Anyone else working along these lines?

 

[WanderingMonster]

Here's the problem: I want it to generate a population within the given range, but it caps off any results at 999.

For example, here's my entry for Small Town (my input is in italics):

Roll: 1 d100 + 0
Test: Range 51 - 70
Count: Range 901 - 999

The actual value of the bold number should have been 2000, but E-Tools won't let me put in a number greater than 999. If there is a way, I'd love to hear it.

 

[Klangg]

E-Tools and the 999 limit

Here's the problem: I want it to generate a population within the given range, but it caps off any results at 999.

This is only sort of related. I use the old 1st Ed. DMG ages for the elves in my campaign. When I went to enter the first of them (the gray elves) I found the maximum age I could set is 999. Has anyone else found a place in ET where you are limited to 999?

 

[bitz]

This is how to do it, although it may be a bit kludgy.

You wanted 2000, but can only get 999?

Then make 2 or 3 entries.

51 - 70 (Test) Count 900
51 - 70 (Test) Count 900
51 - 70 (Test) Count 200

So you have your 2000, but it uses up three lines; the only caveat being that it will print the result 3 times too. But, if you're sneaky with the text, you can get it to look OK.

So your text can be:

"<space>Your town population is:"
"Plus: "
"Plus: "

 

[Chaz]

So it wont work the way I have it? If you are just trying to get a printout of results in a range thats higher than 999 just set your values to a die roll check range as I did and use the text feature to print out the results you want. As you notice in my example I am getting towns of all the sizes from thorp to metropolis ( pop-20 through pop-25001 + ).
The same thing should work for the elves age.

Here specificaly is what I did on the towns. You can get any text result you want. So the elves age should work the same way.

roll- 1d100 +0
Test range- 1 to 10 value- 1
object- text Town Size - Thorp Population - 20-80 GP Limit - 40 GP

<click> ADD

roll- 1d100 +0
Test range- 11 to 30 value- 1
Object- Text Town Size - Hamlet Population - 81-400 GP Limit - 100 GP

<click> ADD

etc.

etc. through...

roll- 1d100 +0
Test Value - 100 value- 1
Object- Text Town Size - Metropolis Population - 25,001 + GP Limit - 100,000 GP


<click> ADD

This will give you the printout of a random town size of population 20 - 25001+ and show the text description of the town all based on a D100 roll.

Age thing can be the same. decide what die roll is needed and set up text output with the correct answer in it for the diferent age catagorys. Since you are only checking the die roll and printing the correct age info as text, the age can be any number.

 

[Chaz]

This is how to do it, although it may be a bit kludgy.

You wanted 2000, but can only get 999?

Then make 2 or 3 entries.

51 - 70 (Test) Count 900
51 - 70 (Test) Count 900
51 - 70 (Test) Count 200

So you have your 2000, but it uses up three lines; the only caveat being that it will print the result 3 times too. But, if you're sneaky with the text, you can get it to look OK.

So your text can be:

"<space>Your town population is:"
"Plus: "
"Plus: "

Ouch, definitely not. My printouts above are from the actual statblock and shows the correct town size and gold value without having to do any weird text that sais add this and that etc.
Unless ive missunderstood from the start what he wanted, the thing he wants is just what ive printed out. Town size from thorp to metroplolis and GP limit value. Its realy as easy as ive shown.

 

[Chaz]

In case you ( or anyone else ) is interested I have my random town generator rolling up Town type name ( ie. thorp - metropolis ), size range of population, GP limit, Power center types, power center alignments. I plan to add more from the DMG as well as random name generation eventualy.

Here is an example of the results from the table:

Power Center - Conventional (1)
Power Center Alignment - Lawful Good (1)
Town Size - Village > Population - 401-900 GP Limit - 200 GP (1)

Shown is the powercenter(s) type(s) and alignment(s) , Town size and type ( thorp,village etc. ) , Population range for this size community , And GP Limit.

Note that for larger Citys( Small city, Large city, Metropolis ) There are more power centers than just one. In the generation output be sure and take note of the number listed in ( ) after the power center and Power center alignment listings. They might show more than one of the same type based on the random die roll.

Example: Notice below there are a total of 4 power centers in this metropolis. Also shown are 4 Alignments. Notice there are 2 each of two types of power centers listed ( 2 diferent of each one for total of 4 ), but 3 diferent alignments ( 2ea LG, 1ea of LN & TN ).

Power Center - Magical (2)
Power Center - Conventional (2)
Power Center Alignment - Lawful Good (2)
Power Center Alignment - Lawful Neutral (1)
Power Center Alignment - True Neutral (1)
Town Size - Metropolis > Population - 25,001 + GP Limit - 100,000 GP (1)


Anyone find this interesting or usefull? If so I can look for a place to put it so its available. Cant upload it here due to file type restrictions for uploading.

 

[WanderingMonster]

Originally posted by Chaz
Unless ive missunderstood from the start what he wanted, the thing he wants is just what ive printed out. Town size from thorp to metroplolis and GP limit value. Its realy as easy as ive shown.

Okay...I'm not communicating this very well. I should have said, "How do I generate a random number between 901-2000?"

or 2001-5000
or 5001-12000
or 12001-25000?

wether it's population, an elf's age, or the hairs on an ogre's buttocks, is there a way to generate numbers higher than three digits on E-Tools?

Phew. I'm just a tad irked with the tool at the moment. I generally like it okay, there are just some tasks it should do that it doesn't.