Nerd Pride Radio

I'm gonna use this thread to drop stuff I've been playing around with. Rather than have a new thread for each thing, I'll just resurrect the thread, as needed.

Feel free to comment or ask questions, if you wish.

First up, for D&D 5e (though chunks are adaptable to other things) that I've been playing around with off and on and I finally have enough of a rough draft to show. It's historical fantasy, light on the historical. It takes place in Britain during Alfred the Great. It's low magic, high fantasy. I haven't add time to add a bunch of flavor text so it's a tad dry and terse. A lot less spell chucking but other types of magical things.

My favorite part is the fates, which give a bonus and a flaw tied together.

Next up, my son wants to do a ship based adventure. I'm thinking this would be a great setup for a sandbox campaign. My recent re-exposure to Traveller and my long time love of tables made it obvious that I needed tables to generate a series of islands, modelled after Traveller's subsector generator. I opted for hexes 30 miles across so a ship could typically travel 2 hexes/day and I could fudge and say you can see land if it's in adjacent hexes. The islands are supposed to be infrequent enough to have stretches with no islands visible.

I'm going for a sparse approach, intending to let the DM add detail that fits the situation. I was also planning on making a 1200 mile by 1200 mile map with ~160 islands, thinking about a fifth of them will be used. I've now reduced it to 960 miles by 900 miles, roughly 96 islands (12 subsectors instead of 20).

There's a and an The Excel has the tables and the pdf tells you how to use them. They're crudely formatted but workable. Excel also has a thing to roll island size and presence for a subsector (hit F9 to refresh and get a new subsector). You get something like this.



Here's an example area/subsector that matches the image:

0903 3 sq. miles, no water, 1 Hydra, deposits. Rains have exposed amethysts.

1005 0.4 sq. miles, lake, 30 humans, feudal, medieval tech, no feature. They have a knarr that they use to fish and occasional runs to other islands. Chief is semi-independent vassal to a leader in 1009.

1009 350 sq. miles, 1 spring, 5000 humans, balkanized, early bronze tech, no feature. A dispute in crown inheritance has split the island into three factions. One is loyal to the son, one is loyal to the daughter, and one wants to join the republic in 1108.

1108, 50 sq. miles, 1 spring, 1000 humans, republic, late bronze tech, wildlife. Native giant lizards are used as draft animals.

1201, 50 sq. miles, lake, 30 harpies, colony, stone age tech, shipwreck. When a ship approaches, 2d6 harpies will be nearby to lure the ship to wreck in the shallows, calling more of their sisters if a large group of survivors make it ashore. There are multiple shipwrecks, with unknown surviving cargo and treasure. The harpies give half of the treasure that they collect to an unknown dark entity.

1202 1 sq. mile, lake, 15 minotaurs, king, dark ages tech, no feature. The minotaurs have eaten most of the large game on their island. They have a smallish rowed vessel that holds 8 minotaurs and they occasionally travel north to the harpy island, timing their journey to arrive at night. They hunt under the cover of darkness so the harpies will not harass them and scavenge any new shipwrecks. If they come upon a ship on the ocean, they will attempt to ram and board it.

1304, 3 s. miles, 2 lakes, uninhabited, deposits. There are gold and copper veins that have never been mined.

1508, 0.3 sq. miles, no fresh water, 8 gnomes, colony, magic tech, wildlife. The gnomes are wives to satyrs, given to them in exchange for magical aid to the larger gnome island elsewhere and for magic instruction. Most of the gnomes are sorcerers, warlocks, or bards. There is a stone shrine on the island. Casting a 1st level spell at it allows you to gain the effects of a different first level spell. Satyrs can activate it once per day without a spell. This is used to create water.

1509 Whirlpool. Above the whirlpool, at would be sea level if not for the spinning abyss beneath it, is an island over half a mile across. It’s not visible unless a ship gets close enough to have to deal with the whirlpool. It requires the ability to get through the whirlpool and then fly hundreds of yards to reach the whirlpool. This is a good location to drop a mid to high level adventure.

1605 50 square miles, 2 lakes, 120 elves, no government, magic tech, underwater feature. Most of the elves wield magic of some level. The Good Golem does most chores and simple work. Most other things are crafted with magic. Under the water off the coast is a mithril deposit. Mithril and elven magic items are for sale to those who have the money.

My son and I were brainstorming today about mecha like things for fantasy.

1. Imagine a typical fantasy world. Portals start opening and giants pour out, intent on conquest. They have ogre servants. They also have trained war pets such as dinosaurs and other huge creatures.

2. To deal with this, a new technique has been invented to entirely encase someone in a 15'-20' tall golem's body. They are preserved within the trunk. They can now sense through the golem's body. In some ways, this is a pretty crappy thing to have happen and the person retains their mind so you don't want to force someone and have an angry golem running around. Most volunteers have been maimed by war or are frail with age and near death.

3. To work as spotters and assistants, each golem has a rider. A seat behind the head is permanently attached. These riders are usually spellcasters but can be missile specialists.

4. Golems don't really feel pain. They can be semi-permanently modified with attachments. They might have a ballista mounted on their head, spiked shin guards to wade through smaller troops, magic staffs on their forearms, extra armor plates, etc. The basic idea is to have several slots and several options per slot. Initially, players won't have much money, but can save up to make improvements over time.

5. Through training and maybe build as well, there is some specialization in golems. They might be grapplers who also have big feet than can shake the earth and cause smaller creatures to fall. They might be gladiators with big melee weapons. They might specialize in huge bows or spears. Or they might be good at activating magic items. Their skill improves over time.

5. Each player controls a rider/golem pair. There would be a lot of smashing big monsters. But their might be other adventures where golems won't fit so the riders will have to function on their own.

I could do this in D&D, starting riders at about 5th level. Or maybe savage worlds, also advancing the riders.

Thoughts, advice?