(A) Cairn – setting building with pointcrawl map
This is archival material from previous blog
Okay, so some time ago while talking on NSR discord about PrismaticWasteland hexcrawl post https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/hexcrawl-checklist-part-two user @Naeolin https://widdershinswanderings.bearblog.dev/blog/ told me about Yochai Gal’s project https://cairnrpg.com/wip/2e/setting/ of pointcrawl setting creation. And I got hooked. So let me present my experiment.
I’d say upfront – I usually don’t like random world/region/map generators. I find they usually require too much editing and personalisation than I’d like and sometimes give very weird results. But this one is very good. Let me get show you my process.
You start with setting the basic information about your setting. These few questions. I chose something in a whim, not minding it since it’s just an exercise to me.
How does magic work? – Magic is fueled by the power of ancestry coming from one of few groups of mythical creatures.
What level of technology do the denizens have? – Probably around ancient Greek/Roman. Bronze and iron tools, no crossbows, writing is rather new tech.
How does religion function? Do gods walk the lands, and do the people know it? – There are a few alignments in general conflict, each act through avatars, demigods and saints. Religions usually prey for one of them.
Who are the PCs in the setting? What is their position with respect to those in power? – They are nobles, potential rulers of the land, explorers and warriors reclaiming world from monsters.
What species & backgrounds exist, and are they playable by PCs? – There are probably some mythic species but they are largely inhuman and live where people cannot What linguistic and cultural flavor exists in the setting? – Generic epic fantasy Greek/Roman thing.
First is the Heart – settlement rich in history somewhere in the middle of a Province. Just put a dot somewhere on the page. Then you make points around and connect them according to instructions. Then you have to roll on the type of terrain – which is not set in stone, each time you choose from three types like forest/jungle/swamp – so you won’t roll Jungle in your frozen wasteland and you may decide which option finds you best – even when you decide to change these tables you are encouraged to allow yourself some choice.
As you can see there are a lot of flooded and swampy places. I like it. It reminds me of Fortress town from Heroes of Might and Magic III, and is cool. Maybe lizardfolk live here, gnolls, dragonflies and wyverns. It even sticks to the Greek/Roman setting idea.
Then you have to roll for each dot – Detail – the type and specification of it. So check if it’s a settlement, landmark or other interesting… detail. And so I rolled a little in this regard. The results are different and evocative enough so I could adjust them if needed – like changing colossal hive into some other type of monster house. But I like my hives – I can see those monstrous dragonflies and mosquitos being huge obstacle in moving around.
Each Detail also gets some more details. I have put my in a table – I haven’t had as much fun in world generation in a long time. Chill and joy. With every Detail I had a lot of ideas what to do with them. What are these ruins and what is hidden there? Town is lacking resources – probably because of the hive nearby cutting it off the settlements in the woods. In the forest I rolled Landmark – Endless Sinkholes – it is probably treacherous path between trees and roots grown over chasms. Local communities probably marked safe passage – but what if someone sabotages it? And Boiling Liquid in a forest? Why would it be connected, seems like nothing is there. But maybe there is. Forest has some rare resources, something valuable – enough so people go there risking being struck by geysers and temporary boiling springs?
And then what’s left are Factions. Each settlement has at least one Faction, bonus for Ruins or Lairs. I rolled a Lair – Faction Hideout so it was easy choice for me. What is interesting are the… details XD. (on previous image two settlements are named “Village” but in the meantime Yochai changed this option to Outpost) And so I got my factions, their resources, agendas and obstacles. And it’s also wonderful crapshow. So the Heart of the province – flooded outpost in the middle – is taken over some foreign force. Government hides in hills to the South – which can be fun story, considering the only city (also flooded) is taken over by Commoners. What happened here? How is the government separate from commoners? Religious faction rules over city which is lacking resources. And weird group of Academics has made their lair in forest – and they’re agenda is DOMINATION. ARE THESE SOME CRAZY GEOLOGISTS PLANNING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD?
I think for me that’s the end of the exercise. If at any point I’d need this province I will gladly fill in the blanks and make something out of it or roll something new. I kind of felt it was like playing Dwarf Fortress – looking at the events and thinking what happened in the background for the result to happen. I like it.