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.

FATE triangle table

Gullerbutry on RPG.net apparently came up with a "triangle" table that is absolutely one of the coolest things I have ever seen.




I have been trying to figure out a "FATE-like" way of doing a set of random exploration tables, and this just might be the trick I was looking for (laying out the results on a standard -4 to +4 doesn't have enough slots and yields wonky results). This, possibly taking his suggestion to include blanks instead of ignore them, is freaking awesome. I like this Gullerbutry guy.

You can read the thread here and grab a form-fillable PDF here to take a look for yourself.

EDIT: Swiped a probability chart from Glyptodont: