A (probably) short one today. I’ve done some tables used for the Artifacts field, I’m likely to do something about entity names, but another group comes to me.
Places. I feel like I want a way to randomly generator geography.
- Special Locations field was originally viewed as describing the nature of the locations. That might still be so, but like Artifacts it might be interesting to name them.
- Quests was originally viewed as identifying potential goals for quests. I’m likely to still do that, but as with Artifacts it might be good to provide ‘quest names’ instead.
- Realms, like the others, identify characteristics of realms of deities with the domain (long chain of connections there) but again could benefit from names instead.
- Legends probably are named, and I can imagine place names will come up there also.
I didn’t foresee the need for ‘place names’, but I’m pretty confident now that I’ll want a way to do this.
New Tables
This breaks down in my mind to two primary considerations: terrain (biomes, etc.) and landmarks (specific places of interest). Two tables at least, but let’s see if there are more.
Terrain Table
I suppose ‘islands’ is stretching things a bit, but I’ll take it. Peninsula, cape, and isthmus all are not ‘islands’, but they are landmasses largely surrounded by water, and that’s close enough for me tonight.
| d8 | Terrain | Roll | Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Forest | d10 | 1..2: forest, 3: chaparral, 4: copse, 5: glade, 6: grove, 7: jungle, 8: thicket, 9: wood, 10: woodland |
| 2 | Hills | d8 | 1..2: hill, 3: barrow, 4: cairn, 5: foothill, 6: hummock, 7: mound, 8: ridge |
| 3 | Inhospitable | d6 | 1: badland, 2: barrens, 3: desert, 4: desolation, 5: dunes, 6: wasteland |
| 4 | Island | d10 | 1: archipelago, 2: atoll, 3: cape, 4: island, 5: isle, 6: isthmus, 7: peninsula, 8: reef, 9: shoal: 10: spit |
| 5 | Mountains | d20 | 1..4: mountain, 5: bluff, 6: butte, 7: cliff, 8: crag, 9: foothill, 10: mesa, 11: mount, 12: peak, 13: pinnacle, 14: plateau, 15: precipice, 16: range, 17: spire, 18: value, 19: valley, 20: volcano |
| 6 | Plains | d10 | 1..2: plain, 3: glade, 4: grassland, 5: moor, 6: prairie, 7: field, 8: meadow, 9: savannah, 10: steppe |
| 7 | Swamp | d12 | 1..3: swamp, 4: bog, 5..6: fen, 7: marsh, 8: mire, 9: moor, 10: morass, 11: quagmire, 12: slough |
| 8 | Water | d20 | 1: abyss, 2: cascade, 3: cataract, 4: delta, 5: depth, 6: fjord, 7: geyser, 8: lagoon, 9: lake, 10: loch, 11: mere, 12: ocean, 13; rapids, 14: river, 15: sea, 16: spring, 17: stream, 18: tarn, 19: torrent, 20: waterfall |
Landmark Table
There must be more landmarks available. I’ve got several references that’ll help me flesh this out.
| d5 | Landmark | Roll | Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Military | d8 | 1: bailey, 2: castle, 3: citadel, 4: fort, 5: fortress, 6: keep, 7: stronghold, 8: tower |
| 2 | Monument | d20 | 1..4: monument, 5: cairn, 6: cromlech, 7: dolmen, 8: henge, 9: mastaba, 10: megalith, 11: menhir, 12: monolith, 13: obelisk, 14: pillar, 15: pillar, 16: pyramid, 17: statue, 18: stele, 19: vault, 20: ziggurat |
| 3 | Natural | d10 | 1: canyon, 2: cave, 3: cavern, 4: chasm, 5: crater, 6: crevasse, 7: fissure, 8: gulch, 9: ravine, 10: spire |
| 4 | Religious | d10 | 1: abbey, 2: basilica, 3: cathedral, 4: chantry, 5: chapel, 6: church, 7: fane, 8: mosque, 9: shrine, 10: temple |
| 5 | Tomb | d6 | 1: catacomb, 2: cenotaph, 3: crypt, 4: mausoleum, 5: sepulcher, 6: tomb |
Closing Comments
I’m pretty sure I can find more words over time for the terrain/biomes, and certain the list of landmarks will grow… but for a first cut, I’m pretty happy.