New shiny random exploration tables!

I have completed completely revising and rethinking the random exploration tables, and this is the result. I like them so much better than the previous ones. They may actually be suitable for random generation of modern cities with some modifications. These are going to be really awesome to use once I start a game (which is hopefully going to be shortly).

I just can't leave well enough alone (Exploration, part 2)

So I've been chewing and chewing on my tables, trying to reduce the number of tables and make things flow the way I want them to. I crunched a whole bunch of data on land use from various cities to come up with something that looks and feels about right. It led me to scrap the tables I had previously and come up with a single table subtypes.

The new table uses 5DF instead of 4DF because it's more granular and breaks down easily into the blocks that I need. I wanted to stay with 4DF as a nod to staying "standardized" but the dice for the tables aren't read in the standard fashion so I figured it isn't that bad.

Here's what the first table looks like so far:

There will be sub tables for each to get the specific building type. The table structure sacrifices leanness of the types of areas for having to roll on fewer tables (2 instead of 3 or more) and gives more freedom from the setup I had before.

EDIT: Here's the first of the subtables. Took me 20 minutes to throw together. I've decided to color code the areas so that it's easier to tell which labels belongs to which

Exploration

With the help of the wonderful Fate triangle tables, I was able to bang out some random tables for exploration. I'm pretty happy with the results, but I likely will tweak them once I actually use them. The tables were written with some specific ideas in mind:

• They are for post-modern, post-apocalypse settings.
• They are intended to be general, instead of very specific.
• They are not a great big bucket list of buildings. There are plenty of other lists out there for other games such as Gamma World.
• They are meant to have some semblance of logic. That means no top secret research facilities in residential areas; it also means that (hopefully) buildings that are out of character for an area will be rare.
• The intention is to only roll as deep as you want. Sometimes all you need is a little kick in the noggin; sometimes you're just completely stuck. These tables should be an aid, not a crutch.

Before actually presenting the tables, some explanation is in order. The tables are predicated on an area for potential exploration being divided into five types:

• Residential: Self-explanatory. Primarily residential areas will include schools, churches, community centers, educational buildings, etc. May include some retail or commercial buildings. This is the only category that does not include Special buildings
• Retail: Primarily service-sector, restaurants, shopping malls, etc. May have some residential and commercial buildings mixed in.
• Commercial: Primarily warehousing, transportation, office buildings, and business parks, with some retail or industrial buildings.
• Industrial: Primarily manufacturing, milling, quarrying, etc. May include some commercial and the occasional retail building.
• Public: This means parks, reservations, and other undeveloped land. No table is provided for buildings for what should be obvious reasons.

For those unfamiliar with the triangle table concept, rolling 4DF, and then counting over for every "+" or down for every "-". The genereal area is either determined or rolled. Then the second table comes into play to determine the building category. Finally a specific table is referenced for the building type. That is all I have for now; at some point I will create some detailed building types.

Entries marked with a (+) or (-) denote adding an additional "+" or "-" result when rolling on the next table. The idea is that building categories different than the area's (like a Commercial building in a Residential area) are skewed more toward certain types of buildings. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep them, or even if I've distributed the results correctly for it to work.

Finally, without further adieu, the document containing the tables is here. Also, I may make a new set of...prettier tables.

Travel and zones, re-revisited

Over at RPG.net, Gullerbutry had a take on travel that I hadn't thought of before and looks pretty solid. Yes, it's adding even more stress tracks, but I'm not sure anymore whether or not you can actually have too many (or, at least, there is no reason a stress track of some flavor shouldn't be in play at all times).

The central concept I'd like to take on his post is the idea of using a stress track to represent progress while travelling. I'm surprised that I didn't think of it before. It very neatly segues into my previous post on Zones and Locations here.

The modification I'd make to the previous rules would be this: zones have a Distance stress track, with stress boxes per level equal to Terrain + Threat. Consequences represent encounters of some kind, or perhaps reaching specific Locations within the Zone. The Consequence only takes place if the first Stress box on that level is hit, otherwise they are ignored. Each roll represents travel for a time increment appropriate for the scale (for Vimary, that's one hour at Campaign Scale but for a larger campaign it might be a day). If the exact distance traveled is important, each rank in Terrain represents approximately 1 mile at Campaign Scale. So a Terrain 6, Threat 4 Campaign scale zone covers roughly 6 miles, with every 6-7 stress boxes representing a mile traveled. More threatening zones make travel more difficult. For large campaigns, the scale can be adjusted but it could just as easily be the same if more granularity is desired. A kingdom could then be composed of multiple zones instead of one large one for more variety.

When the characters travel, they "attack" the Stress track, making a roll with an appropriate Ability against a standard roll plus Terrain. The Ability used is dependent on the Scale - for Campaign Scale it's Endurance for characters or Physical for units; Scene Scale either Agility or Reasoning, and Personal Scale uses Agility. Obviously various Advantages and Aspects may be used to modify the roll. If the roll is failed, the character or group makes no progress for that time increment and must make a roll versus Threat or take Stress. Borders are reworked to be an additional roll that must be succeeded in order to cross the border, taking an attack from the Zone's Threat if they fail.

The beauty of this is that it can be used to represent personal scale movement in conflicts. Hurray for the Fate fractal! Overall I think it is a very, very cool setup. Once I get done with some exploration rules I'm working on, I'll work on detailing Vimary's Campaign scale zones. Kudos to Gullerbutry!

Vimary zone map, part 2

I've gone through and redone the zone map. It has some notations that are going to go along with the write-ups of each Zone. The nutshell version is:

Size: Represents how large the zone is. At campaign scale, this equates to the number of hours it takes to travel through the Zone to another Zone at a good pace.

Resources: The difficulty of scavenging to find Resources in the Zone. This number is added to the difficulty of any scavenging rolls.

Threat: How innately dangerous the Zone is. Every full day spent in the zone requires a standard roll plus Threat vs. an appropriate Ability (typically Perception or Agility). The amount the roll fails is the stress the character(s) take.

Finally, there are little circles with arrows and a number. This is the border cost to leave or enter the Zone. The short explanation is that under normal travel, it simply adds to the time taken to travel. Depending on the type of Border and any Specialty Aspect it has, crossing the border may be more complicated.

Finally, each of these values can (and should) have a Specialty Aspect to further define them.

I'll be doing a more detailed write-up of how this all works very, very soon.