Tomes by Torchlight

Tonight (01/04/2019) was our first session of Mothership. Unfortunately, one of the players had an emergency and was unable to make it. He communicated with me via text while the other players created characters. The Red Sun Alpha, a planetary research vessel, is crewed by four: Pilot Elijah Dean (Teamster), Doctor McKraken (Scientist), AKT-0 (Android), and Private yet-to-be-named (Marine). They are traveling through hyperspace to their next research location when Elijah is stirred by the failsafe computer. As the tinnitus and temporary blindness from cryosleep wear off, Elijah is greeted by red, strobing lights and blaring sirens - a power failure. He crawls out of his cryochamber and stands, dizzy and disoriented. A silhouette is moving towards him. It’s eyes have a faint, cold glow. AKT-0 moves toward him from the doorway. Elijah sighs and heads for the cargo deck while AKT-0 recites crew policy stating that any crew members aware of damage or malfunction must alert the captain imme...

Terrain Generation for Hex Maps This terrain generation system is designed to create normally distributed terrain with realistic transitions in a simple and efficient way. Its product is one that can be easily adapted by the game’s referee to fit any preconceived ideas they may have about their terrain, as well as suggesting prominent terrain features and locations. One can expect to generate 30 hexes per minute. Generating Hexes To generate a hex, roll 3d6 on the Terrain Generation Table.  Whenever you generate terrain for a hex, add a modifier based on the hexes that surround it. Sum the modifier of each surrounding hex to determine the total modifier. For example. If a hex was surrounded by Mountains, Mountains, Plains, Marsh, and two empty hexes, you would only +3 once for the Mountains, +1 for the Plains, and -2 for the Marsh, giving you a total modifier of +2. Procedure To begin, roll 3d6 on the Terrain Generation Table to randomly...

After the many woes with which many referees are familiar, I started working on a different kind of campaign setting. Creating ream after ream of place-names, NPCs, demographics, and adventures that would never be used - that felt completely fabricated and inauthentic after pouring out hours of work. Creating races and monsters and magic and kingdoms and peoples that felt eternally bland and uninteresting compared to the real world despite their fantastic elements. Chasing the ever elusive rabbit of creating a world that appears to be an organic emergency, not a construct. Just creating a map that didn't look like an ink-blot test. All of those things nearly drove me insane until I realized the obvious: Nothing is more interesting than the real world. Designing a setting based on the real world removes all of the tedious busy-work of setting creation, and allows one to focus on the fun: magic and swords and kings and chivalry and faeries and devils. Thus, my Arthurian setti...