Realm Building and Exploration

[pogre]

Greetings!

I have an idea for a campaign and would like to ask for some help.

The PCs would be in the borderlands with "squatters rights" - those areas they can subdue and rule, they own.

A major component will be exploration and it will certainly be a "sandbox" type campaign.

It is my hope the PCs build up keeps and territories.

It will be a homebrew world and I have a gamesystem in mind.

What I need help on is this:

Do you know of any exploration charts that I could cannibilize for the contents of territories?

Any help is much appreciated.

- pogre

edit: I do own Magical Medieval by JB

 

[SiderisAnon]

When you ask about the contents of territories, do you mean the elements that would appear on a map or do you mean the resources that would be available?

If you mean the map, I would do some online searching for old maps, particularly with words like "territory" in them, trying to find maps from when people were exploring.

If you mean contents, then you may be better off having the players make a luck roll or some sort of skill-based roll to determine when they find resources. Certain resources they would have to have to settle, like fresh water and a supply of wood, but whether they find minerals or ores or salt or something might best be somewhat randomized.


If you like the idea of randomized and detailed, if you have a game like Civilization 2 where you can create random world maps where resources are created by the game, then you could create some maps and use pieces of them to generate the areas. Just convert the various resources it generates into something appropriate. (For instance, Ivory or Bannannas would not be appropriate to a European setting.) I say to use pieces because the terrain will be too varied for you to use it all since it represents an entire world.

You could get a similar effect by using the old TSR Worldbuilder Guidebook. At least I think that's the name. I seem to remember it has a system for hexes and what they contain, but I haven't read my copy in years so I'm not 100% positive.

 

[pogre]

Certain resources they would have to have to settle, like fresh water and a supply of wood, but whether they find minerals or ores or salt or something might best be somewhat randomized.

Right - I am looking for randomized charts to steal from. Ideally it would contain more than just resources, but also possible dangers (like lair of a powerful monster, etc.).

If you like the idea of randomized and detailed, if you have a game like Civilization 2 where you can create random world maps where resources are created by the game, then you could create some maps and use pieces of them to generate the areas. Just convert the various resources it generates into something appropriate. (For instance, Ivory or Bannannas would not be appropriate to a European setting.) I say to use pieces because the terrain will be too varied for you to use it all since it represents an entire world.

Not a bad idea, but I really want a chart. I do have the civ boardgame, which I have never played. I'll have to drag that out to see what it offers. It's a random tile system as I recall, but it's been a long time since I looked at it.

You could get a similar effect by using the old TSR Worldbuilder Guidebook. At least I think that's the name. I seem to remember it has a system for hexes and what they contain, but I haven't read my copy in years so I'm not 100% positive.

I'll try and check it out. I wondered if there were an old TSR book that might fit the bill.

Thanks for your efforts!

 

[Wik]

Yeah. The worldbuilder's guidebook is the way to go. Especially if you can find the original print, with the pad of design sheets! (Good luck with that).

Even without them, though, there's a lot of stuff you can use just for pure physical cartography.

 

[Tav_Behemoth]

The Avalon Hill boardgame is played on a map of the Middle East. Source of the Nile might have a hex-by-hex generation system, I hear, but I haven't played it.

The Judges Guild Wilderlands stuff is great for this, but out of print. A friend at NY Red Box has been making a procedural wilderness generator using those tables, and he might be able to share the source.

The Wilderness Architect thread at the OD&D boards (later reprinted in Fight On!) is also full of good advice and procedures.

Another thing to do would be to make your own - think about what kinds of things you want to show up and assign them probabilities on 2d6 (since eleven entries are easy to come up with).

 

[Bluenose]

Although it's not a D&D product, the was a supplement for WFRP that included a fairly random map generation system - the one that covered the Border Princes area. I am completely blanking on the name, and it didn't do the things I was looking for, but it seems to have some of what you need.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I believe you can find what you are looking for in the 1e DMG.

 

[pogre]

Although it's not a D&D product, the was a supplement for WFRP that included a fairly random map generation system - the one that covered the Border Princes area. I am completely blanking on the name, and it didn't do the things I was looking for, but it seems to have some of what you need.

HA! Renegade Crowns! I own it, I just have not read it yet. What a great resource. Maybe I should reas some of my books before opening my yapper! WFRP is the one game I am a completist - I have it all.

 

[pogre]

I believe you can find what you are looking for in the 1e DMG.

Another find right under my nose. Now where did I store that thing?