Dragons as dungeons and titan diving

My post at the House this week got a bit out of hand, trying to cover just a little too much. I did manage an approach to going inside the big kits, a look at character infection as a way to offset combat, and the idea of living delves and spaces.

But I had a lot more, so as a start on it, here are three related tables, for weird infections to replace more ordinary ones, for living landscapes, and for wargaming inside creatures.

Zone-age Rumours (1d30)

If you've read Roadside Picnic or seen Stalker, you know how inspirational they can be.

John at Fate SF is running a creative project, open to all: add a Zone-inspired work to the gaming canon, for any system. Just write it up and post - maybe using the funky image by Hereticwerks up top - and leave the link at John's, to go into the master table.

Here's my starting point, for narrative skirmish and tactical roleplaying especially: a d30 table of rumours from a Zone-struck world, for some context and large-scale campaign seeds. Feed them into a weird, modern or near-future setting or use them for inspiration.

Quick ruinedcitycrawls - and Conan on Necromunda?

For a little background for this post, go read this one at The Tears of Isstvan then this one at Hill Cantons. It's aimed at tactical roleplaying, but you can find an introductory ruleset for that here.

It's all about managing the complexity of a ruined cityscape that's occupied and prowled, and the key elements are the map, faction territories, depth, locations and activity.

                                                                                                                              

200 grimdarkling personal features, minor mutations, gifts, devices, body mods and stylings (arms /1,000)

Yet more entries for the character detail project, which is an open project to produce a large range of options for figures in a grimdarkling world like 40K's. The whole thing was set off a couple of weeks back by Lasgunpacker's random warband creator for Inquisitor.

Since my last batch, Lasgunpacker has posted 200 each for bling and equipment, to make 700. With zhu bajiee's 60 minor mutations and my first batch we have around 950.

This is my next batch of 200 then, this time for the arms, which gets us to around 1,150.

If you don't have a d20 and/or d10, just roll 1d6: on a 1-3, roll for 1-100 as described in the fifth paragraph here; on a 4-6 roll for 101-200 the same way, adding 100 to the result.

To decide which arm it is, assuming two, roll 1d6: on a 1-3 it's the left, on a 4-6 the right.

Beware: there's some weirdness, a fairy tale-bad dream darkness and light body horror.
 

200 grimdarkling personal features, minor mutations, gifts, devices, body mods and stylings (head, /1000)

More entries for the character detail project, for individuals in a grimdarkling world like 40K's, set in motion last week by Lasgunpacker's random warband creator for Inquisitor.

Since my first batch, Lasgunpacker has posted 100 each for bionics, weapons and clothing. With zhu bajiee's 60 minor mutations that gets us to about 450 non-duplicates.

We're running parallel tables, aiming for 1,000 each to start and avoiding any overlap as far as possible, with the idea of combining them later. If anyone wants to join in, they're very welcome. Lasgunpacker's plan is here and I'm provisionally thinking the following:

• 200 for the head, including the face and neck

• 200 for the arms, including the shoulders and hands

• 200 for the thorax, i.e. the chest and upper back

• 200 for the abdomen, i.e. the belly and lower back

• 200 for the legs, including the feet

So here's the second 100 for the head, combined with the first 100 to make a list of 200.

If you don't have a d20 and/or d10, just roll 1d6: on a 1-3, roll for 1-100 as described in the fifth paragraph here; on a 4-6 roll for 101-200 the same way, adding 100 to the result.

Beware: there's some weirdness, a fairy tale-bad dream darkness and light body horror.
 

100 grimdarkling personal features, minor mutations, gifts, devices, body mods and stylings (head, /1000)

I may not be fond of using tables in play, especially in tactical roleplaying, but I still like big, baroque tables, most of all for prep. This is a fairly big one, and baroque in content.

It was inspired by Lasgunpacker's random warband generator for Inquisitor and the idea of crowdsourcing a d1000 table, but helped along by the recent musing re John Blanche.

Put simply, Inquisitor is a 'narrative wargame' published by Games Workshop in 2001, a blend of skirmish game and RPG set in the 41st millennium. Officially it uses 54mm miniatures, but actual play looks to be heavily 28mm (see INQ28). Inquisitor may be the loftiest crag in GW's modern history, the magical moment when it all came together and the nature of the drop became clear. But that's an argument for another day.

I'm game for a d1000 table whether or not anyone else is, and this is a first 100 entries, for the head only. They're personal features, minor mutations, gifts, devices, body mods and stylings for characters in a grimdarkling world - like 40K's - but system-free. They assume a human, or standard humanoid at least, but the list shouldn't be hard to adapt.

It's a d100 table, which usually means rolling 1d10 twice, once for the tens and once for the units. If you don't have a d10 but have a d6, you can use the method described here.

Beware: there's some weirdness, a fairy tale-bad dream darkness and light body horror.
 

A simple architect builder

The machineries didn't get going so I missed the deadline for that Hill Cantons stronghold contest.

As a form of compensation, and an outlet for my interest in it, here's an architect builder, for when your character needs to know who's available to build a stronghold, or who they've gone and hired.

It's aimed at rules-light roleplaying, but it could also be used to inspire modelled terrain pieces for wargaming: did battle ruin all those buildings?

Ten wizard's towers

Greg Gorgonmilk's last post reminded me just how unwizardly wizard towers can be. For now, warming up for a possible community project, here's a table with some ideas. They might not be easy to model as wargames terrain, but for tactical roleplaying they're fine.

The wizard's tower is... (1d10)

1. anchored along sunbeams in a shaft of unusually vivid light and accessible only by means of a reconfigured spell for illumination adjusted to the given wavelength.
2. zipped up in a dimensional hollow; the hollow and/or the owner may be a braner.
3. strung taut up into the heavens, space elevator-like; the wizard may import/export offworld and/or keep a personal space fleet, or be luring someone else's from afar.
4. inside an exceptionally dense orbital introid (a large mass orbiting within a world's atmosphere), accessible using convection currents, maybe Mary Poppins-style.
5. tightly woven from thick silver cord and suspended somewhere on an astral plane.
6. built upside down into the ground, the foundations showing flush with the surface.
7. compressed into a pointed hat (I thought Jason had done this, but I can't find it..).
8. one fractal scale further down, easily mistaken for the wizard's intricately carven staff - just as the wizard in turn is easily mistaken for a woodworm while inside it.
9. the original inspiration for the old British police box; often imitated, never bettered.
10. sewn of the outer skins of gas giants, bobbing like a cork on a lost sea of stars.

There's a chance ambition got the better of the wizard and it's unfinished. If so, roll here.

Words for worlds (2) - getting on top of falling stars; tabletop curvature, troid warfare and the sphericrawl

Back in November I made a suggestion regarding the classification of celestial bodies, coining the term troid to group the many terms for objects of lower mass than the newly-minted dwarf planet.

Beyond the pressing and practical concerns, the meteor that broke up over Russia last week poses a supplementary question in this context: can the related terms 'meteoroid', 'meteor' and 'meteorite' be rolled into an expanded solution? We know they can be confusing, and the past few days have been a reminder.

So how about this then - a possible 1d3 table to go with the two 1d4s in the earlier post.

1. troid     2. introid     3. postintroid

It's fairly clear I imagine. The first is the term for a troid outside of an atmosphere, the second while inside but still in motion and the third when in contact with the other body or an immediately adjacent entity, e.g. held by one of us, or on a display cabinet shelf.

Forget the 'stalactite' / 'stalgamite' trouble of 'meteor' / 'meteorite': it's now 'in-', or 'in-' and 'post-'. The Greek-derived root for the whole is altered by the Latin prefixes. Seems apt.

It also leaves an opening for the preintroid, as well as the intriguing idea of an extroid...

You could see this is a form of Newspeak of course, but it needn't be. If science wants all of our minds, and if English is a lingua franca for scientific discourse which non-native speakers have to learn, and if clarity of construction helps young minds comprehend, and if these terms supplement existing terms in the language rather than replace them, enriching the language rather as borrowings from other languages do, we only gain by it.

Build-your-own braner

Last week I posted a weird new monster, alien or supernatural being that references M-theory - the noö-braner. If you missed it, the basic braner is essentially a trans-Euclidean lifeform able to slip more or less freely across various dimensions.

It could be the basis of a Lovecraftian horror, or an alternative to a warp entity for 40K, or a very different tactical challenge for adventurers and armies, the kind of thing you might find in Call of Cthulhu, sword and sorcery or a wargame like this, maybe a demiurge...

The original post has a few more suggestions too, thanks to John Till and garrisonjames.

I want to generalise the concept through a simple tool, so below is a table for six general braner aspects for mixing and matching. The noö-braner is now a 'waker-weaver-wisher'.

A random approach to making your own could be rolling 1d6 for the number of aspects it has and 1d6 on the table for each, treating duplicates as greater intensity in that aspect.

      Braner aspects (1d6)

1. Waker - The osmotic or conductive structure of this braner allows the absorption, mingling or transfer of material among those regions currently located adjacent to it, enabling the formation of a reservoir or conduit for transdimensional interaction.
2. Weaver - Highly elongated or filamentary, this braner binds manifolds, perhaps forming a basis for a reality by bracing its fundamental particles, macrostructures or universal shell; its loss, transformation or relocation may lead to local collapse.
3. Whiler - Whether hibernating, pupating or paralysed, perhaps lying in wait, this braner is more or less inactive, representing a temporary hindrance to travel via the region and gifting its current transdimensional location a misleading stability.
4. Whisker - This braner hooks, envelops or dislodges elements of nearby regions, stretching or carrying them out across a dimensional horizon, perhaps shifting, telescoping or inverting the local form; they may be returned, irrevocably altered.
5. Winder - The tension, mass or construction of this braner warps the coils of the dimensions it spans or crosses, thereby spontaneously reordering, separating or fusing these dimensions and sparking sudden shifts in reality for the inhabitants.
6. Wisher - Possessed of a morphic structure - perhaps plasmatic, gelatinous or nanitic - or capable of transdimensional lensing, this braner is able to generate, modify or mimic any or all of the elements of a region, including the inhabitants.

They're building blocks only of course, for you to decide the wider nature and the detail of the manifestations. For general mechanics, assuming they'd apply, you could look at the ideas in the first post. For less usual contexts, the possible new genres might be a good start, especially body noir, glossed world, retro time travel and sword and reinette.
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Words for worlds (1) - working past dwarves in space

Many people are likely aware of the IAU decision a few years back to create the new classification of dwarf planet, which reduced the 'full' planets in the solar system to eight and added five dwarves: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris. Not everyone was happy, not least with the definition going beyond intrinsics to cover orbital clearing.

Beyond this issue, there's also the problem of division into comets and asteroids, bodies at Lagrangian points, the extra terms like 'minor planet', 'trojan' and 'centaur', transitions from gas giant to star and the challenge of reflecting relative size of moons and planets.

If there are more large worlds in the outermost reaches of our system and billions around other stars or travelling between them, these problems in classification could get worse.

To see if it can be helped based on existing terms, here's a simple two-term approach to core body type. The first word covers construction, the second mass. Here 'dwarf' shows only intrinsic aspects: its mass and hydrostatic equilibrium. Two words are coined: troid, from 'asteroid' and 'planetoid', for bodies of a mass below a dwarf, and mid, for stars and planets between the extremes, which seems fair but not too prosaic, has long roots and could be a nod to our geo- and heliocentric exceptionalism. The word 'planet' is optional.

1. ice / icy          1. troid
2. rock / rocky       2. dwarf
3. gas / gaseous      3. mid  
4. stellar            4. giant

As far as I can tell, it covers the core forms. Gamers will see immediately it's set up like two 1d4 tables so it could at least be used to generate locations for gaming. One or two purely conceptual results could make for interesting sci-fi experiments, like 'stellar troid'.

I think it's clear how it works. Using this approach, rather than teach children that Earth, Mars and Pluto have one or more 'moons', we'd say Earth is a mid with a dwarf, Mars is a mid with two troids and Pluto is a dwarf with five troids. It's still simplified, but less so.

With it our system gains lots of secondary dwarves, and if we're talking status that feels fair to worlds like Titan that may be home to terrestrial life's nearest neighbours. It sees our system become, as far as we know, one stellar mid, two gas giants, two ice giants, four rocky mids, I think 24 mainly rocky dwarves, and the oceans of ice and rock troids.

Various more extrinsic elements can be shown as extra terms, the most obvious being:

1. [primary / secondary / tertiary etc.]   1. [orbital / eccentric [dominant]]

                      2. Langrangian

                       3. interstellar

Halley's Comet then becomes a primary ice troid, or - more fully - a primary, eccentric, dominant ice troid. The adjective 'interstellar' still covers those so-called 'rogue' planets.

Who can see the problems with it?

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Where does a Maelstrom go?

Hereticwerks recently looked at the Maelstrom in gaming, with ideas for treating it as a monster or hazard to navigation, a basis for a terrain piece.

They also suggested it could be a gateway, maybe to a strange sea, or even a Weak Point between the worlds, possibly one of the more final Ends.

I'll definitely add this take on it to the Ends list, but it would be good to explore the idea and get some options, maybe a table to roll on for each descent.

That could be used in roleplaying for an encounter, or in weird wargaming for a campaign event, maybe as a way to move a long-term game to a new setting or transform it. In fiction overall it could be a good source of inspiration.

As an example destination, the original post gives the fluidic space of Voyager's species 8472, and I suggest it could be somewhere a flood washes up, like the Deadly Desert in Return to Oz, or that a traveller could become a water baby, as in the novel or 1978 film.

Like the portals list and the Ends itself, it's a good subject to crowdsource. If you have a suggestion, leave a comment. I'll expand the table and credit you with a link.

     The descent into the Maelstrom... (1d8)

1. ... carries the traveller into fluidic space. (Hereticwerks)
2. ... washes the traveller up in the Deadly Desert.
3. ... transforms the traveller into a water baby.
4. ... becomes a water chute pouring into a cavern holding a galleon, an Inferno.
5. ... with a hideous pause on the very threshold of bearability gives way to a cataract of surging, turgid unseen green waters cascading with a mighty roar into the heart of a fog-bound estuary just on the very verge of visibility. Some place long abandoned. Deserted. But very much alive. (garrisonjames)
6. ... wakes the traveller - who is afloat and wired up in a sensory deprivation tank.
7. ... fades to calm as the traveller emerges from a long-overgrown spawning pool.
8. ... builds to a convulsion, ejecting the traveller either into or from a bodily cavity.

There's more inspiration in the original post, and the first for the Ends could also help.

Update: Entries 4+ are being added now, as per this post. 

Update: All done - it's now one of the Ends.

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Table - OSRs

This is a revised version of the table I posted at The Other Side, for terms that could be making up the acronym OSR. I'll be linking back to it whenever a definition might help.

Roll 1D30 per letter. For example, 5, 4 and 15 give the usual Old School Renaissance.

100 items lost or found on the Rogue Spacer

This is for a slightly wacky Rogue Space setting, but could work for a lot of sci-fi roleplaying with a few tweaks. It overlaps with the Empyre setting.

Roll if checking pockets, packs, gloveboxes etc., or before character creation for a hint of who the character might be. The referee has the final word on exact nature. Or a roll could stand in for character creation, with the various stats and so on flowing from play.

1. 2D6 adhesive sigils
2. 1D3 anti-grav strips
3. assorted in-flight meal wrappers with scribbled notes to self
4. an augmented reality contact lens case
5. an auto-biographer
6. an autonomous arachnoid bodyvac
7. a ball of gelatinous plasma with a light coating of fluff
8. a biomonitor pendant with apparently erroneous readings
9. a bodily waste cycler
10. a can of landing foam, well out of date
11. a change of clothes, dehydro-packed
12. a clump of smart synthetic lint
13. a coil of quantum solder
14. a compression flask, overfilled
15. a cracked vial leaking a transparent being
16. 3D6 crystallised memory grains
17. a dark matter filter
18. a docking permit
19. a dowsing drill with filter pipe
20. 1D6 eggs, close to hatching
21. an emergency beacon, activated
22. an EM sample cone projector
23. an exoskeletal sander
24. an extensive holograph collection
25. a foil comfort blanket, torn
26. a fragment of a sacred text
27. a fugitive nanite colony
28. a furled solar cell, heavily creased
29. a hive node, damaged during extraction
30. a holographic skyway sign, stolen
31. a hormone jammer
32. 1D6 hotspots, unstable
33. a hydraulic doorwedge, prone to seizing
34. an ichor-stained rag
35. an imaginator, on the blink
36. an inertial leash, snapped
37. an inflatable sleep pod, unaired
38. 1D6 ion sump mushrooms
39. an IOU in the currency of a dead planet
40. a length of root, highly pungent
41. a light saver
42. a long-life fumer
43. 1D6 low-grade clarity tabs
44. a lucky rivet
45. a lump of vacwax, sweaty
46. a maxed-out credit tag
47. a memento of an extinct species
48. a micro-G sickbag, quite possibly used
49. a mind plug with an extensive playlist
50. 2D6 miscellaneous electronic components
51. a modular body part, poorly preserved
52. a motorised combi-utensil
53. a multifuel pocket turbine, squeaky
54. 1D3 organ regen capsules, 1 in 3 of which have been incorrectly stored
55. 1D6 over-the-counter brain faders
56. a pair of partially dissolved tweezers
57. a personal furcare product
58. a personal wormhole, either 1) collapsed or 2) prolapsing
59. a planar positioning device
60. a pocket hunter-nuker drone, claustrophobic and increasingly intransigent
61. a portable mess harness
62. a power finger
63. a receipt for an off-the-peg body
64. a recreational gene pool with applicator
65. a reel of servotape
66. a refundable intoxicant container
67. a roll of programmable laminate
68. 1D6 sachets of discolourant
69. a save point
70. a self-embalming kit
71. a set of 'how to' cartridges
72. a shard of crystal, pulsating
73. a shed skin
74. a sheet of psionic paper, partially corrupted
75. a shipspotters' guide, missing one volume
76. a shock test result
77. a small creature in an otherwise empty flare case
78. a souvenir replica of a wonder of known space
79. a spare psylamp bulb
80. a spinal floss generator
81. 1D3 spray-on IDs, unfortunately all cloned
82. a starliner ticket
83. 1D6 sticks of ruminoflubber
84. 2D6 stimulant flakes, 1 in 6 of which are contaminated
85. a subcutaneous picochip
86. a SupaVita bar, nibbled
87. a superluminet directory
88. a telescopic 10' probe
89. a tooth organ with amplifier, clearly untuned
90. a tracking thread, fraying
91. an ultrasonic gillpick
92. 2D6 uncashed entertainment complex tokens
93. a universal adaptor
94. an unpaid fine, long overdue
95. an unpublished oeuvre
96. a herbal infusion cube, slightly overgrown
97. a utility fog travel pillow
98. a vapourware inhaler with 1D3 empty cans
99. a zapdrive key
100. a zoink ball, initialled

If Fenway5 likes the idea, I'll expand it for Rogue Transmissions #2, but group it in line with the material on equipment in RT#1, and for use with a D6 only, rather than a D100.

If you haven't seen it yet, Hereticwerks posted a Rogue Space adventure last week, and Jay at EXONAUTS! has 20 mission ideas for another rules-light game, X-plorers.

Rogue Space downloads - Rogue Space news

RS@Hereticwerks - @Swords & Stitchery - @Mik's Minis - @TheFairlyUnkempt - @the Expanse

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Table - Stray thoughts

Another old school table I've never seen done, to go with the failed dungeons and rumour accuracy. It's for what the adventurers' minds might be getting up to during a pause or in a quiet moment. The idea is to supply musings the GM and players can weave into the action, and maybe encourage backstory and narrative arcs. It takes a D20 then a D6.

1. Captivated by 1) apparently insignificant detail / 2) motion, perhaps inexplicable / 3) glimpse of unearthly beauty / 4) immensity of it all / 5) own genius / 6) death
2. Craving 1) specific beverage, food or similar / 2) simple comfort / 3) a little respect / 4) love / 5) blood, ichor, lifeforce, mana or other energy / 6) absolute power
3. Trying not to 1) think about it too deeply / 2) say something in any way unworthy / 3) give self or another away / 4) suffer same fate / 5) fall asleep / 6) wake up
4. Fighting 1) urge / 2) demon / 3) panic / 4) bodily function / 5) combat / 6) fantasy
5. Struggling with 1) knowledge, quite possibly forbidden / 2) unacknowledged or newfound desire / 3) role / 4) identity / 5) destiny / 6) impossibly catchy tune
6. Wondering 1) what that thing could be... / 2) what if / 3) if really pawn of higher power / 4) if in any way responsible / 5) how it came to this / 6) how best to put it
7. Hoping 1) no one heard it / 2) beyond all hope / 3) for divine or other intervention / 4) open/closed it properly / 5) all that been forgotten by now / 6) not yet too late
8. 1) Desire / 2) Jealousy / 3) Anger / 4) Tears / 5) Mirth / 6) Creativity welling up
9. Trying to recall 1) name / 2) face or equivalent / 3) number or sequence / 4) where left relevant item / 5) fleeting sensation / 6) why all seems so very familiar...
10. Reliving 1) youth / 2) success / 3) failure / 4) last night / 5) freedom / 6) past lives
11. Regretting 1) missed opportunity / 2) youthful indiscretion / 3) recent indiscretion / 4) recent meal or equivalent / 5) pact made or unmade / 6) what it is about to do
12. Feeling 1) younger / 2) age / 3) insecure / 4) overlooked / 5) close / 6) empty
13. Feeling sorry for 1) self / 2) last victim / 3) next victim / 4) one or more others in party, conceivably entire expedition / 5) childhood friend / 6) imaginary friend
14. Calculating 1) distance / 2) dimension / 3) angle / 4) number left / 5) bill / 6) odds
15. Drafting 1) epitaph / 2) ode / 3) love letter / 4) claim 5) / shopping list / 6) IOU
16. Making 1) mental note / 2) best of it / 3) hay / 4) concession / 5) excuse / 6) out
17. Running through 1) relevant but unfamiliar process / 2) route taken so far / 3) life to date / 4) words of wisdom / 5) enigmatic last words / 6) ABCs or equivalent
18. Losing 1) faith / 2) feeling in extremity / 3) way / 4) track / 5) hope / 6) control
19. Struck by 1) absurdity / 2) horror / 3) terror / 4) ennui / 5) remorse / 6) indecision
20. Nothing 1) at all, in the usual sense... / 2) very much / 3) you need worry about / 4) can prevent it now anyway / 5) but unending pain down the ages / 6) -ness

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Table - Rumour accuracy

Another random table for old school roleplaying, partly inspired by the experiences of the GW fanbase in getting info on future releases, especially given the rumoured new policy.

I've aimed to keep the truth of the rumour itself unclear, but suggest the nature of this truth may in fact be more complex. Roll 1D30 as many times as you like per rumour.

1. The rumour builds on earlier rumours, 1) with / 2) without references.
2. The rumour has been heard before, but its time is said to have come.
3. This rumour is a venerable work and its repetition a mysterious ritual.
4. The source is a known rumourmonger; the first other person asked gives accuracy as 2D12-2x10%, this then 1D3x10 points 1) higher / 2) lower.
   
5. The rumour contains one 1) truly astounding claim / 2) patent falsehood.
6. The rumour is accompanied by an advertisement for a related product.
7. Local chips in: source recognised as linked to the subject of the rumour.
8. Guard dropped: source appears to be in the pay of a figure in the rumour.
9. The source incorporates an angry rant about the subject of the rumour.
10. The source is 1) reading / 2) being prompted / 3) channelling the rumour.
11. The source has fingers crossed or 1) known / 2) unknown equivalent.
12. The source makes mention of a particular quantity of salt, or comparable figurative substance, perhaps repeatedly - is this a code of some kind?
13. Could the source be trying to communicate something else altogether?
14. The source appears to be highly intoxicated, possibly on own power.
15. The rumour of the rumour is drawing a large crowd, many speculating.
16. A listener-in flashes what may be 1) a knowing look / 2) a secret sign.
17. Nearby people look nervous and keep their distance from the source.
18. Abrupt change: 1) a hush falls; 2) lightning strikes; 3) a band strikes up.
19. Has subject changed policy? Demand for this rumour is 1) high / 2) low.
20. This rumour has already gone viral and spawned a whole new trope.
21. This rumour has a peculiar attraction to one or more of those hearing it.
22. Manner and content suggest this rumour may express a private desire.
23. The last rumour but one heard by this party is said to have been false.
24. The next rumour but one heard by this party is prophesied to be true.
25. This rumour seems to be confirmed by all seen hereafter, if not thus far.
26. The rumour is so vaguely worded that the party begin to doubt reality.
27. If attention is paid, or the rumour written down, it is seen to be gibberish.
28. The source is fictitious, but appears entirely unaware of the fact.
29. Midflow the source 1) changes narrative point of view / 2) refers to self by surprising name / 3) stops and wonders aloud what the point of it all is.
30. The source claims to have plenty more where this one came from.

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Table - Failed dungeons

It seems strange the word 'dungeon' is used as often as it is for a roleplaying adventure site, given it's rarely actually a dungeon at all. But that's beyond the scope of this post.

This is a D36 list of reasons for a site not working out or even existing. I'm hoping jasons at the enjoyable The Dungeon Dozen hasn't already written a table on the same theme.

1. Unbuilt: 1) conceptually unobtainable; 2) just a dream, hallucination or fantasy; 3) successfully foreseen and terminated at source; 4) all supplications rejected; 5) creator suffering self-doubt; 6) sketched on back of envelope, but then sent
2. Unvisited: 1) wording of rumour alienates most or all adventurers; 2) local NPCs not consulted by creator and withholding recognition; 3) disguised too cunningly; 4) ahead of its time; 5) buried in sandbox; 6) DM has that strange glint in eye...
3. Inaccessible: 1) non-existent pocket universe; 2) built out from within, entrance never added; 3) arcane means of entry lost or forgotten early on in development; 4) not at scale of landscape; 5) too few dimensions; 6) statted for wrong system
4. Unbalanced: 1) unexpected evolution of one or more occupants; 2) emptied by surprisingly effective trap; 3) entirely filled by fast-spreading mould; 4) grew to encompass all of reality; 5) trapped in temporal loop; 6) cleared by playtesters
5. Repurposed: 1) creator rethought alignment; 2) creation not having any of that; 3) revolution launched by occupants; 4) repossessed by backers and put to more profitable use; 5) domineering collaborator, aggressive editor and/or proofreader with ulterior motives; 6) exploited by malwayre infection from external netwyrk
6. Destroyed: 1) mortar or equivalent lost in unanticipated interaction; 2) collapsed under weight of treasure; 3) consumed by magical chain reaction; 4) demolished by higher authority for breach of terms; 5) killed creator's grandfather; 6) victim of generational change, hoping for old school renaissance with little fresh thinking

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... how does your garden grow?

Here's that second loosely-linked post, with some ideas for parks, gardens and farms.

This post at John's Toy Soldiers and the Lost Gardens of Heligan probably crystallised the thinking, around dinosaurs thanks to those photos. They give off a classic Doctor Who vibe too. I realised we don't see this kind of space much in gaming. Why not?

Parks and gardens can and do feature as house and castle grounds, or public or palace land in cities, and why not open-air courtyards deep inside dungeons? The same in more sci-fi-oriented settings, but here the greenery could be in sealed pulp-style domes, out in space or as a preserved landscape like those in Silent Running - mentioned here too - or in the TNG episode "The Survivors", or part of a dedicated agricultural world.

The various associations make for more interest, like raised terraces and labyrinths, ponds and lakes, tool stores, potting sheds and hothouses, lawns, patios and parties.

And thinking about circumstances, drainage and irrigation ditches could be flooded and animals free to wander, maybe released accidentally, maybe deliberately for confusion.

Directionality seems important too. There might be a difference in the difficulty of moving in a copse and a plantation based on axis taken, something I think Epic once covered.

Maps are easily put together, physical terrain less so, but the nature of a tabletop could be marked impressionistically with elements like this converted agri-world truck for 40K at Tales from the Maelstrom. Linked with this and the looting theme in the first post, Winter of '79 has a tractor playing a key role in a game in their alternative UK history.

Whole new creatures could also be created. Check out the barkrunner at A Field Guide To Doomsday, one of the best yet. There's also the spookier Abyss Monster at I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters... which is more damp. Maybe the gardens are decaying?

I had a go at adapting creatures with the Fat Frog entry Up the Gordian Path, and plan to return when Stokasis is ready. If you're looking for ideas for a weird green space, feel free to lift them from here. Besides the creatures, you could probably tweak some of the encounters and upland events, and the weather roll, for an overgrown or alien landscape.

Here it is again - click to zoom. I tried to get a sense of a natural order running ever on, and that seems to me key to this kind of landscape, the interactions between elements.

For something a bit more down to earth, I thought I might start with what for many of us could have been a literary seed. Here's a table inspired by The Secret Garden, a first 15 of the features met, in order. It's for DM Muse, and since gardens come up in a lot of children's books, I'll likely add new influences over time. It's a living table so open to all.

1. A pair of gates rises here.
2. This dark vault of trees runs on ahead.
3. A stone court stands before a long low house.
4. Here a door opens in a wall of shrubbery.
5. A wide lawn spreads, wound about with walks of clipped borders.
6. Trees and flowerbeds fill this space.
7. Evergreens stand here, clipped into unusual shapes.
8. A large pool is home to a weathered and grey fountain.
9. This long ivy-cloaked wall is set with a green door.
10. This entrance opens into a walled garden, from which another doorway leads.
11. This enclosed garden has frames over beds and fruit trees trained to a wall.
12. A figure bearing an implement enters this space, and appears startled.
13. A closed grassy space, this orchard has no other exits.
14. Treetops rise beyond this wall, but no entrance is to be found.
15. A small winged creature in the crown of a tree bursts into voice.

I've tried to keep them mysterious, and general to work in more fantastical settings. As ever, they're now in at DM Muse so the table should be live soon, ready for any more.

Back in reality, Jedediah gives advice for urban gardening at Book Scorpion's Lair.

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Oooh, pretty... - Living table (3) - Entries 11-20

If you've ever wanted to see particular ideas used for a hollow Earth, Venus or Mercury setting, ArmChairGeneral is gathering suggestions for the next When the Navy Walked supplements.

The hollow Earth in the WtNW universe is called Earthin, and the descriptions out so far had me pretty excited. The mood's back now, so here are some more rock and crystal ideas to go with it.

Some are likely inspired by Mr Pratchett's thinking - hardly surprising - and one or two might aspire to be entries in the wild Barrier Trappings table up now at NetherWerks.

1. This crystal has the consistency of a diffuse gas and flows within its outline.
2. This pellucid crystal refracts white light into new and strange colours.
3. This opaque crystal acts as a lens, magnifying images not real but imagined.
4. This rock is so dense that small amounts exert a perceptible gravitational pull.
5. This porous rock is run through with fine channels used for respiration.
6. These nodules emit a warmth or cool in opposition to prevailing conditions.
7. This structure vibrates delicately to shocks distant in space or time.
8. This formation is in fact a small creature.
9. This formation appears to be the fossilised remains of a vast primordial creature.
10. This complex material is drawn to a kin separated from it at the formation of the world; it moves toward that other, as a stalagmite, a stalactite or a worked item.

The first batch went up here a couple of weeks ago, and they're also listed in the living table at DM Muse, which anyone can add to. The idea of the table is to offer inspiration for fiction, especially gaming, and be randomly determined too if that's what's needed.

The post following yesterday's will be along at some point soon. I just got distracted.

Update: Cursed13 at The Dark Workshop explains how to build crystal terrain pieces.

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Oooh, pretty... - Living table (3) - Entries 1-10

I don't know if these crystal cave pics are doing the rounds. If you haven't seen them, they're well worth a look for the wonder as well as inspiration.

The shapes remind me a little of obelisks, most likely because I still have in mind the Obelisk at Dawn scenario for Risus at engine of thwaak and that fallen obelisk terrain tile at NetherWerks.

It got me inspired enough to think about a cave contents table for DM Muse, like Small Creatures and Bodies of Water, but again NetherWerks are on it with their own Cave & Tunnel Hazards.

Then I thought of a table of rocks and crystals, maybe weird ones. Greg's totems for Novarium, explained here, and the post on the jeweller up at the moment at The Tao of D&D have that covered in part, but there's always scope for strange new types.

The idea ties in with the mines posts here too, the intro and nascent list of fictional mines and resources. The material might have effects of some sort, desirable or not, and if mined could impact the local community and area, later the wider world.

Needles deals with the subject in science fantasy with the Fuel Traders of Nimbus IV, maybe as satire. That theme of exploitation is also there in Moon too I remember now, a good film. A Field Guide to Doomsday also posted the borer blimp recently, not to mention back in February the very imaginative quarilla, an organic crystalline blend.

Thinking about those crystals then, here are some ideas to start off a living table.

1. These formations bleed a palpable energy into the surrounding space.
2. These formations absorb energies of all kinds, but whither do they go?
3. These formations are soft to the touch, flexible and strong.
4. These crystals sparkle, but to the rhythm of no light that falls upon them.
5. These crystals leak - no, whisper - the knowledge of aeons.
6. These crystals are hollow, the larger forming the passages of a strange network.
7. These structures are growing visibly, branching and filling the space.
8. The structures seem to convey something - are they a vast communications grid?
9. These structures extend filaments into rock and flesh alike, growing on within.
10. The pillars here support the world, perhaps even... Yes, even the fabric of reality...

I've just added all of these to DM Muse and they should be up soon. It's a living table, which means anyone can add new entries - if you have a good idea, don't hold back.

Update: How about treating that crack on Talysman's latest geomorph as a crystal?

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