In the last post I mentioned a new thing I was playing with, a system of random tables to generate a setting for a fantasy campaign. Rough draft is now complete and available here. Here's an example of what it can create:
The region where this hypothetical campaign is set is the western half of a continent, with two large islands close enough to be part of the same region. The climate is hot and dry, with little seasonal variation. Despite that, much of the region is dense with plants that have evolved to live with minimal water. A long range of low hills separates it from the rest of the continent. Two major rivers do flow from the hills down to the coast, and there are two lakes as well - most of the plant life is probably concentrated around there, but there could be patches that spread out well past where one might expect. Up in the hills, at the sources for the rivers, it's surprisingly cold, and the rivers are even icy in places.
[if I was actually going to run a campaign here then this would be the part where I draw a map, but I don't feel like spending the extra time on that just for this blog post]
Magic is rarer in this setting than in the default for whatever game system we might be playing. Using magic requires a physical implement - right now I'm thinking stones with runes carved in them sounds like a good default, but different styles of magic might have their own preferences.
"Civilization" has only begun in the past few generations [author note - taken together with everything else we've rolled so far, I'm getting heavy Ur/Sumer vibes, so that would be something to lean on later - but let's see what else the dice give us]. At this point there is one cultural group that has developed to be the major power in the region; if I was putting them on the map they would almost definitely be on the coast, with their capital at the mouth of one of the two big rivers. There are also three minor powers to place on the map. Given this setup, most of it will probably still be unclaimed wilderness.
If I was planning a real campaign I would probably do some rolls to define all four of the states that I've placed, but for this example I'm only going to roll up the one major power. The process for the minor powers would be the same, some things just might be interpreted differently to keep in mind the relative power levels. Anyway, for our one major player, they have the one large capital city, no other cities of note, and two large wilderness zones within their claimed borders. It was established when rival tribes along the coast were forced to pool their resources to get through a particularly difficult year, and recognized the possibilities if they continued this way instead of splitting up again. It is ruled by a parliament in which each member chooses their own successor before retiring. Let's call it the Council of Masters, and say it's 50 members who each serve for however long they want (with 5-10 years being average) and an expectation that they will return to their original line of work afterward. At this moment, the Council is not perfect but they are mostly focused on benefiting the whole country. Or at least benefiting their city and also trying to keep the more distant settlements safe. However, only a couple decades ago the Council tended to be a lot more selfish, keeping more resources for the city (or for themselves) and slowing development further out.
Technological development is about the same in this country as in the rest of the region. Most neighborhoods in the city have a variety of workers who complement each other; originally this was an organic development, but more recently the Council has been incorporating this into city planning as they strive to maximize worker efficiency. Manpower and raw materials are plentiful, particularly clay and stone for building. There is no central institution for knowledge or culture; that's probably been a non-issue for most of the country's brief history so far, but they're now getting to a point where people are starting to feel it.
The culture is fairly homogeneous. They're not hostile to outsiders, there just aren't many people traveling the continent right now (although traders sailing along the coast would certainly be a thing). They value hard work and religious observance, and for the most part they're not fond of people trying too hard to be clever. Their religion is animistic. Most of the magic that anyone here knows how to do (and there aren't many who know how to do it) involves bargaining with spirits. Contact with certain spirits is strongly discouraged, based on legends passed down from early tribal history; whether or not those spirits are actually as dangerous as everyone is told remains to be seen.
There are three factions of note in this country:
- The burgeoning class of professional warriors, looking for ways to keep a comfortable income flowing when there is no war at the moment
- Several pirate gangs disrupting coastal trade and fighting with each other as well - one of them is clearly in the lead and working to put down the rest
- Descendants of one of the old tribes who argue that they are underrepresented on the Council
At present, the Council of Masters does not look too kindly on either the warriors or the pirates, but does not consider either faction to be a serious problem just yet. They are sympathetic to the one tribal group, and several Council members have been actively working with them on identifying suitable candidates. However, some members of that tribal group have also worked their way into both the warrior class and the leading pirate gang, looking to use either (or both) as leverage if they feel it's needed. And the warriors and pirates seem suspiciously okay with each other...
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Okay, yeah, I could definitely run a campaign of something or other in this setting. I should also point out that not everything presented here is in the order that I rolled it; some information got moved around based on where it fit better in the narrative. But all of it does come from the random tables, with me just adding a few details here and there to turn the prompts into something coherent.
So that's that for now. I'm giving it some time for people to review the draft and maybe suggest more content, and then eventually I'll pretty it up and post it on DriveThru and/or Itch. I'm in no rush for that though.
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