Real Tomb Maps for Your Gaming Enjoyment

Tomb KV08 - Pharoh Merenptah
Copyright American Research Center in Egypt
(ACRE) used with permission under Fair Use

 I came across a wonderful resource for all of you grave robbing murder hobos out there.  The Theban Mapping Project has been creating vertical and horizontal plans as well as 3D images of the tombs in the world's most famous necropolis - Egypt's Valley of the Kings!

If you need a quick tomb to explore or if you are running a Cthulhu Gaslight campaign or anything else you can think of, you can find these wonderful images here.

The Theban Mapping Project Plans

Forced March - Accelerating Cross Country Game Play in RPGs

Feb 2023 Blog Carnival
@Plastic Polyhedra

     I spent last Saturday night rolling dice, as the party moved across the grasslands from the human kingdom to the elven forest.  Every day has the players, in order around the table, rolling dice to determine if a random encounter had occurred, morning, (after)noon and night.  Standard procedure from the beginning of gaming, right?

     True, but I've had time to wonder as I awaited my turn to roll, why?  I know that random encounters use resources and provide variety from the adventure path - but in my decades of experience I've rarely seen them be more than one more combat in the evening.  Mechanically they slow gameplay twice, once as the players roll and then again as the DM looks up the monster and stats it out.  Let's see how we can accelerate this if we stop asking the dice if an encounter has occurred and start asking them when the next encounter occurs.

     First, please raise your hand if you always follow the encounter times in the DMG, yeah that's what I thought.  Actually game play has simplified the table to using the 'Plains' distribution more often than not.  So three chances per day, at (in Wilderness) a 10% chance of an encounter occurring.  (My current DM uses 25%, but that just changes numbers within the calculations.)  So, on average we can expect 3 encounters every 10 days; but that's the same as one encounter every 3.3333 days.  Let's round that down to one encounter every three days.

     Now, when play begins have the player roll two d6/2, to give you the number of days until the next encounter and the time of day the encounter occurs.  Make sure the group has given you their standard watch rotations and marching order before they roll; and don't let them change that after the dice have fallen.  Now play is jumping from scene to scene without the repetitive dice rolling with negative results.

    Obviously, for you purists who never deviated from the DMG, you can adapt this to any encounter check frequency you need.  If you have the prep time, you can even pre-generate the encounters themselves so you don't need to stat them out during play.

 

Scarab of Protection - Hathor

    Igenius laid the small carving down on the table glinting blue and green in the sunlight.  

    The old lady on the other side, quietly studied it for a moment, then picked it up with a pair of  wooden rods and turned it over without, he noticed, ever touching it with her fingers.  

    "And how did you feel when you first picked it up?"

    "Warm", Igenius responded, "like I'd just come into my mothers kitchen on a winter's day."

    "Ah, it appears to be an amulet of the goddess Hathor, mother and protector.  It will be of use to you in your delvings, more would require me to cast a spell and you to provide me with means and further payment for my efforts."

  These small carvings were once common in Egypt, their protective properties have scattered them across the multiverse.  Consisting of a small image of a woman in a headdress, with long hair and cows ears, they provide protection against magic and disease to the wearer.

    The material of the amulet is a sure guide to it's strength.  The most common are made of ceramic, usually with a faience glaze or copper.  When worn these provide +1 on saves vs magic or disease.

The next types are carved from semi-precious stones or made of silver, they provide +2 protection when worn.

Gold amulets are rare, but those who wear them receive a +3 bonus to their saves vs magic and disease.

Rarest of all are the ones carved from precious gems, which provide a +4 bonus on saves vs magic and make the wearer immune to disease

    Hathor is a goddess of destruction as well as protection.  1 in 20 of these reflect the other side of her nature and act like a Sword of Cursed Berserking!  In each combat the wearer must save vs magic or go on an unstoppable rampage until slain, knocked unconscious or dead.  The only way to remove one of these cursed scarabs is for the wearer to imbibe a flagon of mixed blood and milk.

Inspiration from Dominic Perry's History of Egypt Podcast  It's well worth a listen.

Feudal Wilderlands: Cultures V - the emigrants

       The Wilderlands around the City State of the Invincible Overlord has settlers and inhabitants from a number of external cultures drawn by trade, raids or personal avarice.   

Amazon 

    The Amazons are female barbarians living far south and west of the City State. Relatively rare in the Wilderlands, when they appear they are respected for their reputation as warriors. They are armed in traditional Greek manner and like their wine mixed with water and spices. Amazon characters are all female, the male members of their society are sequestered and do not adventure. If you want to make a case that yours does - call me.

    Amazon also refers the language of the southern Amazon tribe. People with this background receive Common as a free language, although if they have an Intelligence penalty or are unable to learn more than one language, they really speak a horrible patois. Amazons tend to be thinner than normal, they receive a -1 Modifier on all Weight rolls.

Amazons generally try not to laugh at the pretensions of the male 'warriors' and 'fighters' in the City State, but it's hard. Within the City State and it's environs, they are almost legendary female warriors, whose reproductive proclivities are the subject of prurient speculation.

Amazon Culture Background Physical Appearance Distribution

Roll	Hair Color	Roll	Skin Color	Roll	Eye Color
01-15	Black/Sable	01-10	Pale White	01-15	Light Blue
16-20	Brunette	11-25	Fair	11-15	Blue
21-25	Brown	26-40	Bronze	16-30	Gray
26-30	Chestnut	41-55	Olive	31-35	Gray-Green
31-36	Auburn	55-60	Yellow	36-40	Green
37-51	Red	61-65	Light Brown	41-45	Green-Brown
60-66	Strawberry Blonde	66-70	Red	46-50	Hazel
67-81	Blonde	71-75	Brown	51-55	Dark Brown
82-96	Platinum Blonde	75-80	Dark Brown	56-70	Amber
97-98	White/Gray	81-95	Ebony	76-90	Violet
99-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*	91-100	Exotic*

* Roll on the Exotic Hair, Skin or Eye Color Table

Antillian 

    Antil is the largest trade city on the Romilian Sea. The people are proud and insular, treating the citizens of both the World Empire and City State as almost the equals of the inhabitants of their small city. Their trade makes their city - and most of them - rich, that’s usually why they appear in the CIty State. They swagger like a Spanish hidalgo.

    Antillian is the trade language of the southern seas. People with this background receive Common as a free language, although if they have an Intelligence penalty or are unable to learn more than one language, they really speak a horrible patois. Antillians tend to be smaller and thinner than normal, receiving a -1 modifier on all height and weight rolls.

    Antillians know they are the Masters of the Romilian Sea and Traders Supreme, who grace these foreign lands with their presence, In the City State, you will be warned that if you count your fingers after dealing with them, they'll pick your pocket before you finish.
        

Antillian Culture Background Physical Appearance Distribution

Roll	Hair Color	Roll	Skin Color	Roll	Eye Color
01-10	Black/Sable	01-02	Pale White	01-05	Light Blue
11-25	Brunette	03-07	Fair	05-10	Blue
26-35	Brown	08-17	Bronze	11-15	Gray
36-50	Chestnut	18-37	Olive	16-20	Gray-Green
51-60	Auburn	38-47	Yellow	21-30	Green
61-70	Red	48-57	Light Brown	31-45	Green-Brown
71-75	Strawberry Blonde	58-60	Red	46-60	Hazel
76-85	Blonde	61-75	Brown	61-80	Dark Brown
86-89	Platinum Blonde	75-85	Dark Brown	81-90	Amber
90-95	White/Gray	86-95	Ebony	91-95	Violet
96-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*

* Roll on the Exotic Hair, Skin or Eye Color Table

Skandik

    The Wilderland version of the Vikings. Their leader has recently been granted the Jarldom of Skandry on the coast of the Winedark Sea in an effort to reign in his people’s piracy - much as Rollo and his Vikings were granted Normandy in France.

    Skandik is spoken by the Overlord himself and the raiders of the Pagan Coast around Ossary. People with this background receive Common as a free language, although if they have an Intelligence penalty or are unable to learn more than one language, they really speak a horrible patois. Skandiks tend to be much taller and heavier than normal, they receive a +2 to all height and weight rolls. 

    Skandiks see themselves as unparalleled warriors, seamen and conquerors.  They walk with a swagger and are quick to take offense when they do not receive the deference due their might.  Others see them as cut throats and sea brigands, with no culture except arson, pillage and looting - Overlord Balanega Ingifastsson is obviously an exception to this whenever one of his spies might hear you.

Skandik Culture Background Physical Appearance Distribution

Roll	Hair Color	Roll	Skin Color	Roll	Eye Color
01-05	Black/Sable	01-10	Pale White	01-10	Light Blue
06-10	Brunette	11-30	Fair	11-25	Blue
11-15	Brown	31-45	Bronze	26-45	Gray
16-20	Chestnut	46-55	Olive	46-60	Gray-Green
21-25	Auburn	56-60	Yellow	61-70	Green
26-35	Red	61-70	Light Brown	71-74	Green-Brown
36-45	Strawberry Blonde	71-80	Red	75-82	Hazel
46-75	Blonde	81-85	Brown	83-87	Dark Brown
76-85	Platinum Blonde	86-90	Dark Brown	88-91	Amber
86-95	White/Gray	91-95	Ebony	92-95	Violet
96-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*

* Roll on the Exotic Hair, Skin or Eye Color Table

This concludes the series on the cultures of the Feudal Wilderlands.

Feudal Wilderlands Index

Feudal Wilderlands: Cultures IV - the minor cultures

 

     The Wilderlands around the City State of the Invincible Overlord includes in the minor cultures of the Orichalan's, who claim to be the earliest humans along the Roglaroon, and the clans of Duneal Rangers in the Dearthwood.

Duneal 

The culture of the foresters of Dearthwood, strongly influenced by Elven culture.  They are consummate woodsmen, organized on clan lines.  Most of the clan chieftains have been granted minor titles of nobility by the Overlord.  The culture is flavored as Gaelic.

Duneal is the elven dialect spoken by the foresters of Dearthwood.  People with this background receive Common as a free language, although if they have an Intelligence penalty or are unable to learn more than one language, they really speak a horrible patois.  Duneal characters tend to be smaller and thinner than normal, receiving a -1 modifier on all height and weight rolls.

The Duneal know they are a people of great warriors, wisdom and songs. Others see them as crazy humans who choose to live next to the Orcs of the Purple Claw in the Dearthwood, and who are led by witches and druids of great power. They will agree that Duneal bards are favorites in the City State.

Duneal Culture Background Physical Appearance Distribution

Roll	Hair Color	Roll	Skin Color	Roll	Eye Color
01-10	Black/Sable	01-05	Pale White	01-05	Light Blue
11-25	Brunette	06-15	Fair	06-15	Blue
26-40	Brown	16-30	Bronze	16-30	Gray
41-53	Chestnut	31-45	Olive	31-50	Gray-Green
54-60	Auburn	46-50	Yellow	51-65	Green
61-67	Red	51-65	Light Brown	66-75	Green-Brown
68-74	Strawberry Blonde	66-80	Red	76-80	Hazel
75-81	Blonde	81-85	Brown	81-85	Dark Brown
82-86	Platinum Blonde	86-90	Dark Brown	86-90	Amber
87-95	White/Gray	91-95	Ebony	91-95	Violet
96-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*

* Roll on the Exotic Hair, Skin or Eye Color Table

Orichalan 

The remnants of the original human tribes living east of the Majestic Mountains and north of the Roglaroon,  They now wander the area in small family groups, hunting and gathering while trading for minor items - and are often accused of being thieves, much like Gypsies. 

Orichalan is the language of the nomads of the Moonraker Moors.  People with this background receive Common as a free language, although if they have an Intelligence penalty or are unable to learn more than one language, they really speak a horrible patois.  Orichalans tend to be smaller and thinner than normal, they receive a -2 modifier on all height and weight rolls.

Orichalans will say their ancestors saw the Tharbians sneaking in from the West and the Altanians pushing up from the South, always forcing the First People out of the Good Lands. Now they live in scattered migrant families, mostly north of the Roglaroon, travelling back to the Moonraker Moors to meet each other, exchanging news and arranging marriages every three to five years - 'when the stars are in the right places.' Others take little or notice of them, except to make sure they have left the village by nightfall, known thieves that they are.

Duneal Culture Background Physical Appearance Distribution

Roll	Hair Color	Roll	Skin Color	Roll	Eye Color
01-60	Black/Sable	01-20	Pale White	01-10	Light Blue
61-70	Brunette	21-30	Fair	11-25	Blue
71-80	Brown	31-35	Bronze	26-40	Gray
81-85	Chestnut	36-40	Olive	41-45	Gray-Green
86-88	Auburn	41-55	Yellow	46-53	Green
89-90	Red	56-60	Light Brown	54-61	Green-Brown
91-92	Strawberry Blonde	61-65	Red	62-69	Hazel
93-94	Blonde	66-70	Brown	70-74	Dark Brown
95-96	Platinum Blonde	71-80	Dark Brown	75-89	Amber
97-98	White/Gray	81-95	Ebony	90-97	Violet
99-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*	98-100	Exotic*

* Roll on the Exotic Hair, Skin or Eye Color Table

Feudal Wilderlands Index

Random Generators

 Alex Schroeder, over at RPG Planet asked for any random generators that people have built, well here's my contributions.  You can also find the links under 'Utilities' on the sidebar at Alesmiter.

Hex Crawl Encounter Generator - monster lists based on 3e and earlier.  Background posts

NPC Description Generator - create names, descriptions and mannerisms for NPCs.  Names are Latin-ish, Greek-ish and Old German-ish to support my Roman Republic 'Epirus Nova' setting.  Creating the maps for the settings are here.  Background on the generator is here and here

Runequest Classic Monster Generator - includes a RQ stat blocs for some non-RQ monsters too.

Urban Ruins - create descriptions of decayed urban sites, based on RQ ruin levels and the Big Rubble.  Background post.

All of the generators are javascript.  I found that Blogger has some page size limits, so moved a lot of the javascript out to github to support the word logic behind them.

Feudal Wilderlands: Culture III - Viridians, self declared lords of creation

 Viridian 

Viridian Nobleman 

Descendants of the original colonists of the World Empire and still maintaining ties to their relations in that decadent state, many of the higher nobles claim Viridian ancestry and true or not maintain Viridian law and customs on their estate.  Like the law of the Roman Empire, Viridian law makes the male head of the family the absolute authority within it, although it does allow for female succession to lands and title as independent holders.  Landowners are expected to represent themselves in a court or hire another member of the nobility to represent them.  Inferiors are expected to influence their lords to represent them.

Viridian is one of the three languages that Common developed out of and the language of the City State of the World Emperor and the founding colonists of the City State of the Invincible Overlord.  People with this background receive Common as a free language, although if they have an Intelligence penalty or are unable to learn more than one language, they really speak a horrible patois.  Viridians tend to be smaller and heavier than normal, they receive a -1 modifier to all height rolls and a +1 modifier to all weight rolls. Over the centuries they have bred with or adopted creatures of almost every race, resulting in a wide distribution of appearance.

Viridians see themselves as lords of all, even a humble farmer claiming Viridian descent believes themselves superior to the jumped up barbarians advanced above them.  Others see Viridians as stuck up, arrogant prigs at best and as debauched demon loving monsters in stories.

Viridian Culture Background Physical Appearance Distribution

Roll	Hair Color	Roll	Skin Color	Roll	Eye Color
01-10	Black/Sable	01-15	Pale White	01-10	Light Blue
11-20	Brunette	16-20	Fair	11-15	Blue
21-30	Brown	21-25	Bronze	16-30	Gray
31-40	Chestnut	26-30	Olive	31-35	Gray-Green
41-50	Auburn	31-40	Yellow	36-40	Green
51-59	Red	41-50	Light Brown	41-45	Green-Brown
60-67	Strawberry Blonde	51-60	Red	46-50	Hazel
68-75	Blonde	61-65	Brown	51-55	Dark Brown
76-83	Platinum Blonde	66-70	Dark Brown	56-75	Amber
84-92	White/Gray	71-80	Ebony	76-90	Violet
93-100	Exotic*	81-100	Exotic*	91-100	Exotic*

* Roll on the Exotic Hair, Skin or Eye Color Table

Feudal Wilderlands Index

Feudal Wilderlands: Cultures II - Altanian & Tharbian

The two cultures which have contributed the most to the 'Common' culture of the City State of the Invincible Overlord 

Altanian 

The barbarians living in the plains and jungles south of the Roglaroon. They tend to be taller and heavier than normal. Many of them still live as nomadic tribesmen, many others have been (rather forcibly) made into serfs and peasants for the nobility who have been granted the lands by the Overlord. They tend to favor things like trial by combat. Think of them along the lines of German tribes across the Rhine from the Romans.

The Altanian language is one of the three languages that Common developed out of.People with this background culture receive Common as a free language. Altanians tend to be taller and larger than normal, therefore they receive a +1 on all rolls to determine height and weight. They tend towards dark hair, ruddyskin and brown eyes. Rather xenophobic, they show slightly fewer traces of intermingling with other races than most cultures.

Altanian Culture Background Physical Appearance Distribution

Roll	Hair Color	Roll	Skin Color	Roll	Eye Color
01-60	Black/Sable	01-02	Pale White	01-05	Light Blue
61-70	Brunette	03-05	Fair	06-15	Blue
71-80	Brown	06-10	Bronze	16-25	Gray
81-85	Chestnut	11-15	Olive	26-30	Gray-Green
86-88	Auburn	16-17	Yellow	31-40	Green
89-90	Red	18-22	Light Brown	41-45	Green-Brown
91-92	Strawberry Blonde	23-82	Red	46-65	Hazel
93-94	Blonde	83-87	Brown	66-80	Dark Brown
95-96	Platinum Blonde	88-92	Dark Brown	81-90	Amber
97-98	White/Gray	93-95	Ebony	91-95	Violet
99-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*

* Roll on the Exotic Hair, Skin or Eye Color Table

Tharbian 

The culture of the bulk of the commoners in the City State and many of the nobles.  It has many superficial similarities to Viridian through long association with the conquerors, yet the culture is quite distinct and most Tharbians would resent being mistaken for Viridians.

Tharbian is one of the three languages that Common developed out of, spoken by the peasantry north of the Roglaroon and east of WItches Court Marshes, along with their hillmen cousins in the area.  People with this background receive Common as a free language.  Tharbians tend to be thinner than normal and receive a -1 on all weight rolls. They tend to have brownish hair, bronze or olive skin tomes and green or brown eyes.

Tharbian Culture Background Physical Appearance Distribution

Roll	Hair Color	Roll	Skin Color	Roll	Eye Color
01-10	Black/Sable	01-05	Pale White	01-05	Light Blue
11-25	Brunette	06-20	Fair	06-10	Blue
26-40	Brown	21-35	Bronze	11-15	Gray
41-55	Chestnut	36-50	Olive	16-30	Gray-Green
56-70	Auburn	51-55	Yellow	31-45	Green
71-74	Red	56-70	Light Brown	46-60	Green-Brown
75-78	Strawberry Blonde	71-80	Red	61-75	Hazel
79-84	Blonde	81-85	Brown	76-85	Dark Brown
85-88	Platinum Blonde	86-90	Dark Brown	86-90	Amber
89-94	White/Gray	91-95	Ebony	91-95	Violet
95-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*	96-100	Exotic*

* Roll on the Exotic Hair, Skin or Eye Color Table

Feudal Wilderlands Index

Character Context & Feudal Wilderlands 'Common' Cultural Background

      Where did the adventurer come from?  What's their background, peasant lad, goldsmith's daughter?  What skills and languages did they pick up in their childhood? What do they look like?  Who is the ruler of their home town?  Who is their guildmaster or feudal overlord?

     These questions exist at the intersection of the character and the setting.  And, I'll admit, are usually irrelevant in game play, but fascinating to me as both a player and a DM.  Exploring them is one of the seductions of world building for me.  Inspired by an aside in the Chivalry and Sorcery Red Book, "In the designers' own wargaming group, an elaborate set of tables was designed by a member which can locate a character literally within miles of a particular town in France..." which I have wanted to replicate since 1977; I'm embarking on an effort to give my players answers to those questions within the Feudal Wilderlands setting I've documented over the last few years. 

     In this series of posts, I'll be defining the various 'civilized' human cultures within the Feudal Wilderlands, which have co-mingled to form what sages refer to as the Common culture of the Roglaroon Estuary.  People born in this culture are a plurality within the City State, where migration from the hinterlands keeps them from becoming an outright majority; they are the majority culture in Brythange, Difrios, Losthaine and Severnais.  They are frequently encountered in all other demenses, except for Gwalion. 

     Characters born in the Common culture are ... average.  They are of average height, have no marked tendencies in skin, hair or eye colors.  They learn to speak Common at home and have no Bonus Languages.   The Common culture is a mixture of the older indigenous cultures of the Tharbian peasants to the north and the Altanean barbarians living south of the Roglaroon; overlain by the culture of the Viridian Empire which conquered, colonized and then receded from these lands.   Disputes are resolved in the courts, while the Invincible Overlord has banned lawyers, 'Litigation Tricksters' may be employed to help you argue your case.  

     A generic fantasy culture in many ways, I conceptualize them as being at the level of England during Henry VII, with lots of lumps in the cultural melting pot.

Common Culture Background Physical Appearance Distribution

Roll	Hair Color	Roll	Skin Color	Roll	Eye Color
01-25	Black/Sable	01-07	Pale White	01-07	Light Blue
26-36	Brunette	08-16	Fair	08-15	Blue
37-47	Brown	17-25	Bronze	16-26	Gray
48-57	Chestnut	26-34	Olive	27-35	Gray-Green
58-66	Auburn	35-40	Yellow	36-45	Green
67-71	Red	41-50	Light Brown	46-53	Green-Brown
72-76	Strawberry Blonde	51-74	Red	54-65	Hazel
77-83	Blonde	75-80	Brown	66-74	Dark Brown
84-88	Platinum Blonde	81-86	Dark Brown	75-85	Amber
89-94	White/Gray	87-92	Ebony	86-93	Violet
95-100	Exotic*	93-100	Exotic*	94-100	Exotic*

* Roll on the Exotic Hair, Skin or Eye Color Table

Previous Posts in this Series

Wilderlands Trade Radius

Wilderlands Market Areas

Wilderlands Where the Barbarians Roam

Wilderlands Baronies

Wilderlands Baronies, Further Considerations

Wilderlands The Roglaroon

Feudal Wilderlands Part I

Feudal Wilderlands Part II - The Heartlands

Feudal Wilderlands Part III - The Restless North

Feudal Wilderlands Part IV - The Imperial West

Feudal Wilderlands Part V - The Changing South

Feudal Wilderlands: Fiefs - Severnais

Feudal Wilderlands Part VI - Notes on Towns and Villages

Feudal Wilderlands: Part VII - Elves

Feudal Wilderlands: Severnais Random Encounters