Map and World Making Tools Example: Kris-Tara
This week I thought I would put the tools I made into test with an example campaign, and world from the tables that were built. I also made a small map, feel free to use it in your own game campaign or give my tools a go. The link can be found here to the original article. https://www.matthewdavisprojects.com/thoughts/hex-crawl-campaign-amp-world-generation-tools
The Build
The Rolls
D4 - 4
D6 - 5
D8 - 4
D10 - 7
D% - 6
D12 - 6
D20 - 10
The Campaign Statement
The campaign genre is Post Apocalyptic. The PCs know each other because A Quest Giver Brought them together. A minor settlement with a few NPCs is where this all starts. Its local conflicts are The Leader of the starting reign is mistreating the locals of a certain type. Its regional conflicts are that a prophecy that has been known for ages has a new omen. The PCs main quest is to Explore the Region. The main interesting feature of the world/campaign is There are mystical plants that are a core part of the campaign experience. My world for the PCs to inhabit is called Kris-Tara.
More Detail
The way I see those rolls, we are set in a desert region where resources are scarce. Our local starting spot is a small encampment set up by a bunch of nomads who are trying to setup a new place, after a great displacement of the kingdoms in the modern history of the world. We can say that there was a Great War that ended recently between the mutated folks and the humans that typically live here. The local Truth-seeker who is a religious leader of this world, has brought the group together to go out and collect resources to bring back to the encampment in the hope to make it a proper village. This might start with bringing back legit starting resources, like sturdy timber, stone and clay; to finding a nourishment source like water and food; eventually this would get to negotiating trade routes with other small encampments. The Truth-seeker acts as the local quest giver for the group in the first few adventures, before the PCs grow to a size where they want to explore the map themselves. Exploration is core to the game, so a map is essential. In the mean time, the sub-plot to the exploration is that a group of post mutation folks have asked to join the settlement, and while they have been all accepted, the human leader is weary of them, and is hence treating them poorly. It is up to the PCs how they choose to engage, if they side with the leader or the mutated folks, or find another way to make peace. In the exploration of this world, the Truth-seeker tells the group of these plants that can be sourced from throughout the map, and give different effects to the PCs, wether that be magical effects, stat increases or simply nourishment. Later in the campaign, the PCs are told of a prophecy of a great leader of the Mutated folks will rise again, potentially reigniting the Great War. An omen of their coming has been seen, as the mountains in the region have begun spitting out irradiated clouds. What will the PCs do?
As this is system neutral, this will be handled mechanically differently in each system. But mechanics that should be focussed on are resource management, travel and mutation effects.
The Map
Kris-Tara’s Map
The description
I decided that the main terrain would be desert and the secondary is mountains. Exotic terrains are the grasslands and forests. I drew cards and rolled dice to determine where they would be, with the starting point in the centre. After a while I stopped rolling the dice and picked spots that made sense, which is always the way with these tools. I also jumped to the other side of the map if it made sense. You can see the rolls and card draws I did below. This of course would be the GM map, as I would only give the terrain the to players, with maybe the major settlements or just icons shown.
The card draws
7, A clubs - Cave of Karik
7, 8 hearts - Sillow’s Oasis
1, 6 spades - Sands of the Wyrm
5, 7 clubs - Ware site X724
5, 8 diamonds - The Bridge Point
2, 10 clubs - Mutant’s Mountains
2, 8 spades - Burials
6, 9 diamonds - Q’ Caravans
7, K diamonds - Pillar of Power
5, A diamonds - Cave of Shiva
2, Q hearts - Water of Pain
3, J clubs - The life giver
7, 4 spades
2, 3 clubs
2 hearts
Q diamond - Weapons of the War
J spades - Holy Harry’s
10 spades - King’s realm
Key
Red - Mountains
Yellow - Desert
Green - Grasslands
Blue - starting settlement
Cave - Dungeon
Tent - minor settlement
House - major settlement
Exclamation mark - secrets
Angry face - lair
Skull and cross bones - cures or disease
Water - resources and wellspring
Pillar - monument
Nothing - empty
Final Thoughts and Next Steps
I love this as a thought experiment and would actually be really excited to play this. My next steps would be due to bring this to a group and then start a session 0 for character creation. I would get them on side with being mostly humans, with maybe one or two mutants in the party if they really wanted. I would also make a mutation list and effects, and a list of magical plants that could be found in travel. A random encounter list for each of the terrain types would come next, and then just go with where the players explore! I would make it a little larger in the future, with some more blank hexes, to make the special ones more exciting, but still I am happy with this little adventure site.
