Week 2 of The Gygax75 Challenge! After compiling a pitch and list of inspirations last week, let’s see what we have in store.
Gyagax75 Challenge Week 2 Tasks
This week is a focus on building the “Surrounding Area” with a focus on the central feature of the map being the major town and dungeon entrance. 1 Mile hexes are recommended.
Get a sheet of Hex paper
One Settlement of Significant Size
Two other Settlements
One Major Terrain Feature
One Main Dungeon Entrance
Extra Credit: Create Random Encounters Tables
Extra Credit: Pimp Your Map
Well, this is going to be interesting. So I already have a basic map of the Vitebsk system with each planet and moon having some Traveller-esque Planetary Profiles and SWN Tags. Seeing as this next campaign is going to focus on the “Outer worlds”, I’m going to focus in on creating the maps for the main settlements of the worlds of Xochitl(Pink) and Ifreann(Blue) and the areas around them.
My Mapping System
So my basic mapping techniques are modified from Traveller 5.10. One of the things I have fought really hard for in my mapping system is to have NO PARTIAL HEXES. Everything tiles together as perfectly as I can. Does this mean exact distances sometimes get squashed and stretched? Yes! I usually write off the difference as the consequence of trying to adapt a spherical 3d object to 2d, which will never be perfect anyways.
Going down in scale you have
1. The Sector: This is what Traveller would call a subsector. In my system it consists of a 7×9 grid where planets reside. This is the largest scale and is outside the context of what my players will be messing with until (likely) at least “Phase 4”.
2. The System: All the things orbiting a star. There is a lot of variation but the basics of it is that outside of the central star everything falls into one of 16 orbits, notated with a hexadecimal number(0-F). The inner Orbits (0-4) cover the orbits within the Sol systems asteroid belt. The Outer orbits (5-9) Cover those systems from the asteroid belt out to the end of Sols planets. The Remote Orbits (A-F) cover everything past Neptune to the edge of the Oort Cloud. Each planet in each orbit has up to 16 orbits, denoted the same way for their moons.
You’ll note that when i rolled up my system I got something a bit fun. A dual Star system with one of the stars out at the edges of the “Oort cloud” with it’s own gas giant which has it’s own moons. Is this possible from a physics standpoint? I’m not sure. I couldn’t find anything in Atomic Rockets to indicate otherwise so I hope so.
3. The Planet: Planets come in a variety of different sizes. The way this gets handled is that each world consists of 20 “World triangles” in 4 rows of 5. these interlock in such a way that if they were folded properly the world would be shaped like a d20. There is an additional “Pole” world “hex” at the top and the bottom of the world. Each world triangle consists of a number of 1000km World Hexes dependent on the World Size.
This is the only time I accept half hexes, just to make it possible for worlds of odd sizes. I treat the split hexes as one hex for the purposes of mapping.
4. Planet Hexes: I have hexes of varying sizes, each consisting of a nest of 75 smaller hexes each a 10th the size of the larger. 1000km World Hexes -> 100km Terrain Hexes -> 10km (6 Mile) Local Hexes -> 1km Single Hexes -> 1 Hectare Plot Hexes. In order to make these tile, I had to give up perfectly even sides for these hexes, but I find the tradeoff worth it, as crossing from one side of a hex to another is consistent and it tiles perfectly.
Given that the Gygax challenge asks for us to map with 1 mile hexes, I’m going to have to choose between filling in a Terrain hex or a Local Hex. Given the OSR communities communities propensity for using 6mile hexes, and the fact that in a sci-fi setting players will be able to travel much faster than is typical in a fantasy setting, I’m going to elect to fill in the Terrain hex for the project as the sub hexes are 10km across. Next Time! Terrain and a Map!
Per Magical Industrial Revolution. Once a year, roll a 1d6 against the current status of the innovation. Roll higher than the innovation and the innovation progresses to the next stage. While not necessary to introduce to your players immediately, by the time the innovation hits stage 4, the effects it’s having on the city should be noticeable to the players. The Tempo represents the pace of life and innovation and is equal to the lowest state of all current innovations -1 ( Tempo is at least 1). A campaign should generally have no more than 8 of these.
Volmaakt Oost-Bhenjiku Bedrijf
He was a scallywag, a chancer, a ruthless fighter and a dangerous driver of bargains over the speed limit. Since it was a bit of a mouthful, he was referred to as a successful businessman, since that more or less amounted to the same thing.
– Terry Pratchett, Snuff
There have always been those whose power derives from their ability to accumulate and hoard vast wealth. The way most have done this is through acquiring, legally or otherwise some form of Monopoly. A monopoly can be in a variety of forms, but one who has one has the ability to acquire one will soon acquire riches. One who has acquired such wealth by such means will take any action necessary to defend it.
Frits de Hoot was the leader of a small fleet of privateers. in the closing months of the War against the Lion Crown, he managed to capture an intact merchant vessel loaded with spices. While the Spices sold well back in Zuidersdam, the sudden abundance of them drove the prices down. While the spices were valuable, Frits had found something worth more than the shipload of spices. He managed to stop the captured merchant captain from burning his rutter, containing the navigational secrets to finding and acquiring spices directly from the Spice Islands of Bhenjiku. And so, just after the signing of the Peace of Lions, He took his privateers turned spice merchants, formed an official company to raise money for the voyage, and then sailed for Bhenjiku, returning two years later with holds full of spice.
1. Initial innovation
While praying in his cabin on the return trip from Bhenjiku, Frits de Hoot, pious man that he is, manages to communicate with the soul of his company. Upon his arrival in Zuidersdam, he successfully takes up a legal suit that demands the company not be dissolved, as dissolving the company would starve and destroy the spirit. He reorganizes the company under the name Volmaakt Oost-Bhenjiku Bedrijf (Holy East Bhenjiku Company).
This new organization, in which shareholders are given dividends based on their ownership in the company, rather than based on their funding for any particular voyage. These shareholders form a council who would decide how the company was run. Frits de Hoot applies for and recieves a government charter that empowers the company to build forts, maintain armies, and conclude treaties, in keeping with Mr. De Hoots privateer background and for the expansion of the Republics foreign trade.
The company makes a profitable and steady trade with the Spice islands. Shares cost 1 G. Shares return a 5% dividend every year to shareholders for the value of the held stock. One share is valued at 1G. The price of fine Spices drop by 10% and their availability increases from Royal to Noble.
2. Public Introduction
The Spirit of the company demands that not only it’s market share be increased but also it’s beneficiaries. The VOBB opens the purchase of stock to the public. The influx of cash allows the venture to acquire most of it’s competitors and build a swanky new head office/temple “The VOBB Hus”. The companies charter is modified to grant it a “legal” monopoly over Bhenjiku trade. The VOBB begins to regularly minor privateering activity against it’s foreign competitors. It acquires a single trade port in Bhenjiku, and begins funding exploratory expeditions to discover new lands and new goods to trade.
Shares return a 10% dividend after a year. Share value increases from 1G to 10G per Share.The price of fine Spices drop to a net 20% and their availability increases from Noble to Wealthy.
3. Widespread Adoption
Using the same legal and theological arguments, several other Zuiderdam companies apply for and receive legal protection from “market and legal execution”, Issuing their own shares and paying their own dividends.
The VOBB establishes trading posts across the Bhenjiku Spice Islands and in other lands, designating factor-governors to manage the foreign posts. Its expeditions established near exclusive trade with the Northern Wheat producing countries, as well as with the isolationist country of [Name Redacted]. The VOBB Hus is lavishly ornamented and has a church to the spirit of the company built across the street. The success of the VOBB does not go unnoticed and several other countries establish companies with similar structure and powers, albeit without the recognition of the divine personhood of the company. Of note is Endon’s “East-Icku Company”(EIC) who has similar economic success.
VOBB Shares return a 20% dividend after a year. VOBB Share value increases from 10G to 100G per Share.The price of fine Spices drop to a net 30% and their availability increases from Wealthy to Well-Off.
From this point on, most companies issue stock and pay dividends. Most stocks are valued at 1G*Tempo and dividends are 5% value * Tempo.
True believers in the spirit of the company begin to hold regular meetings in the cathedral and actively promote it in the local newspapers of their own accord.
4. Scope Alteration
The Spirit of the company is legally declared to be a person with all the rights and legal protections thereof. The spirit of the company “acquires” a position on the city council, citing a vague passage from the Theurgia. It’s Lawyer-Priests make it nearly impossible for anyone to win a civil suit against the company. Other companies seek to follow suit but are “legislated out” by said Lawyer priests.
The Church across from the VOBB Hus is upgraded to a Cathedral and churches to the spirit of the company spread across the city. Believers in the company begin to evangelize on street corners and missionaries are sent to the rapidly expanding colonies which now trade in everything from ceramics to people, exerting more control over their trading “partners” then the partners own governments.
VOBB Shares return a 50% dividend after a year. VOBB Share value increases from 100G to 1000G per Share.The price of fine Spices drop to a net 50% and their availability increases from Well-Off to Common.
The company worshipers outnumber the Klyonics.
5. Height of Ambition
Construction begins on an appropriately lavish corporeal form for the Spirit of the Company. Laws are passed granting the company immunity from prosecution on grounds of religious freedom and autonomy. The State declares the VOBB “Too big to fail”.
VOBB Shares return a 100% dividend after a year. VOBB Share value increases from 1000G to 10000G per Share.The price of fine Spices drop to a net 90% and their availability increases from Common to Anyone.
The company worshipers outnumber the Radahnant churches.
6. Terminal Events
The Company is incarnated and takes direct control of the VOBB’s assets. It declares itself above the laws of men as harm to it would also harm everyone, and not just one person. It is king and god in all but name. It very rapidly “acquires” the whole of the republic through various hostile “Hostile Takeovers”. It declares an official state of war on any country that threatens to limit it’s trade and on anyone who it wishes to acquire more trade from.
Anyone with less than a 5% stake in the company has their shares invalidated. Those with more than a 5% stake are granted the status of High Priests and are welcomed as part of the new ruling Theocratic-Plutocracy. Anyone who doesn’t worship the Spirit of the Company is declared a FUD spreader and persecuted.
Averting the Apocalypse
Recognize the dangers of Regulatory Capture, Corporate Personhood, Monopolies, corporate consolidation, and Market Speculation. Find ways to limit the companies power by crashing the market, out-competing the company, acquire enough political allies to remove the companies charter. Acquire enough stock to be a leader in the new world order.
Round 2 of Secret Jackalope. Fear not Phlox! You have called and I shall answer. The following rules are Mosaic Strict.
What qualifies as a giant?
Giants are creatures large enough that they can be climbed on by human sized characters, an who are normally highly resistant (if not immune) to regular damage sources by nature of their tough or magical exterior. Giants include but are not limited to titans, massive dragons, krakens, and mecha.
How do Giants Fight?
Giants have a variety of ways to kill the things that bother it. While these methods vary we refer to the action of utilizing these methods as Squashing the Vermin and they are usually all very lethal. Giants have a 5 out of 6 chance to immediately kill whatever they decide to within the targeted area of their specific method. This chance can be reduced by the targets to a minimum of 1 in 6 by benefiting from: Concealing Cover(-1), Protective Cover(-2), Siege Cover(-3),A significant distraction (-1 or -2), Damage that’s just been dealt(-3), Hindering The Beast(-1) or Immobilizing The Beast (-2), Improved 2D Mobility(-1), Improved 3D Mobility(-2).
How does one damage and kill a Giant?
Giants are not invincible. Giants have highly specific “Weak Points” (WP) on its body somewhere, usually 1, 3, or 4 although more is possible. One must inflict enough damage to kill a human with whatever weapon is normally capable of killing humans in your setting to each WP before a Giant will go down. Generally, weapons capable of destroying buildings in your setting is also significant enough to reduce a giants WP by 1 (to a minimum of 1). Any weapon capable of doing so will usually be immediately prioritized for destruction by the Giant.
Weak points are very rarely at ground level. Thus people must either Scale the Beast or Aim Carefully in order to strike a Weak Point and deal Damage.
Attempts to Scale the Beast generally have a 1 in 6 chance of succeeding. These odds can be improved up to a maximum of 5 in 6 by: Using Appropriate Climbing Gear +1, Mounting From an Elevated Position (+2), Hindering the Beast(+1) or Immobilizing The Beast (+2), Scaling Unnoticed (+2).
Attempts to Aim Carefully has a 1 in 6 chance of succeeding. These odds can be improved up to a maximum of 5 in 6 by: Using a Static mounted Weapon +1, Aiming From an Elevated Position (+2), Hindering The Beast(+1) or Immobilizing The Beast (+2), Attacking from Stealth(+2).
Attempting either of these two things takes time, enough time that the giant may attempt to Squash the Vermin. If the Giant fails to do so, then damage is dealt automatically.
Kaiju Fight Club
If one Giant fights another Giant, they deal damage to each other as per whatever regular combat resolution methods you utilise for human on human violence. If a Character is Scaling the Beast while the two are locked in combat, they must deal with 1 attempt to Squash the Vermin. Either the Giants are striking each other and one has to avoid friendly fire, or the Giant you are scaling will attempt to deal with you in a spare moment.
Lethality
The rules here are very lethal. For more heroic games, have attacks not instantly kill but instead instantly down someone, or allow chances for Squash the Vermin, Scale the Beast, and Aim Carefully to be improved/reduced to 6 out of 6 and/or 0 out of 6.
For the OSR Servers 2022 Secret Jackalope I have been paired with SherlockHole. My prompt is “Interesting things to see, places to go and shops to visit in a high-magic city inspired by 17th century Amsterdam (& London to a lesser degree)”. I am setting this generally in the same “universe” as Magical Industrial Revolution. While I personally run Human only games, Zuiderdam could easily be populated primarily by Halflings or Halfling equivalents.
The Great Shift
Centuries before Valentine Sims revolutionized arcane magic with her publication of the Principia Arcana, divine magic was democratized thanks to the translation of the continents foundational religious texts of Divine Magic, “The Dogmas and Pacts of the Theurges” AKA The Theurgia, into common vernaculars. The history of how this came to be are complex and mostly irrelevant except to note that this was generally opposed by the existent priesthood and most every monarch. While the effects of this are yet to be fully played out there have been two undeniable effects of these translations. First, the histories and teachings of dealing with the divine were made much more widely available, enabling the common man to practice theurgy on a more personal 1-to-1 basis. The second major effect was the undermining of the authority of divinely appointed monarchs, of the traditional priesthood of the church, as well as the orthodoxies they espoused. Those who deviated from the orthodoxies of the church became known collectively as the Radahnant (the Readers) and formed their own cults known collectively as the Radahnant Churches as opposed to the traditionalist Klyonics (Listeners) and the Klyonic Church.
Secrets of the Soul
Everything named has a soul. A person, a dog, a fly, a bacterium, a ship, a rock, sunshine, kindness… everything. There are big souls like Humankind and The Forest and small souls like “Jim from down the lane” and “This particular birch tree I carved a heart and our initials into”. Every soul is intelligent and can be communicated with if one knows how to get it’s attention. The risk with communicating with a souls is that in exchange for you being able to influence a soul is that said soul is able to influence you. This communication is not necessarily verbal in nature but rather a communication between souls. It’s not talking and it’s not telepathy.
One of the key parts of communicating with a soul is knowing it’s name. Names have power and the closer a name comes to describing the true nature of a thing the more power it gives the namer over the named. Moloch has little power, Red Flame Eater of Children has more. Larger or more powerful souls tend to have longer names. Names can change over time as the nature of the thing changes. A thing who’s true name is revealed is referred to as a “known” thing.
Souls generally only have power over whatever physical vessel they currently occupy and the vessel they occupy limits what they can do. A soul can be empowered to have power that extends beyond it’s original vessel through sacrifice. Sacrifice can be as small as a little bit of time devoted them or something much more valuable depending on what the soul wants in exchange for it’s service. A powerful enough soul can create supernatural effects of it’s own volition although the more powerful and the more divergent the effect is from its nature the more difficult it is.
Rituals are practices that enable one unpracticed in the ways of the soul to communicate and perform sacrifice to a soul. These can be as simple as a verbal prayer and as elaborate as a multi-day ceremony. While there are universal rituals, most souls have rituals that are preferred.
Pacts are accords made between souls which enable more consistent influence between them outside of focused communication.
It is possible to increase the power of ones own soul via a process of cultivation. The effectiveness of the various methods of cultivation are dependent on the souls understanding of itself, thus many a soul has sought to divine one’s own true name. While it is recorded and possible for one to cultivates one soul to the point where one can manifest supernatural abilities this is incredibly difficult and rare. The common term for one who reaches that level is saint although that can also refer to someone who embodies the virtues of a community (who typically come to achieve that level as a result of cultivation).
Souls without a corporeal form are spirits. Spirits follow the same rules as souls except that they tend to be more limited in their power due to lacking and easily manipulate-able corporeal form. Working with spirits is risky and has historically been frowned upon.
The largest, most powerful, and most knowledgeable soul is referred to by the Theurgia as simply GOD. Everyone worships GOD even if only in name. While GOD can do anything, he acts very rarely. One of the major schisms caused by the great shift were arguments about the nature and worship of GOD. Klyonics generally forbid any sort of Theurgy with anyone other than GOD. Radahnants vary greatly in their tolerance from absolute tolerance, to diapproval to outright witch burnings.
* From the perspective of the Theurgia, the Klyonics and most sects of the Radahnt, Wizards are witless, unethical fools playing with forces they do not understand. Before the Principia Arcana (The time period covered here) they were just dabblers in natural philosophy who made occasional misguided divergences into dealing with the divine outside of the bounds established by the Church. Post Principia Arcana they are viewed more like farmers or hunters. Working with low level souls and spirits; capturing, domesticating, and breeding them. The ethics of this are hotly debated similar to arguments about animal rights.
Birth of The Flower Republic
The kingdoms that came to compose the Flower Republic used to be a group of small provinces occupying a series of low lying deltas under the rule of foreign monarchy of the Kingdom of the Lion Crown. These smaller kingdoms were taxed heavily but were able to pay them due to being a significant trade hub and were generally left to self govern. Due to minor conflicts between the growing populations of local Erasmites (a sub-sect of the Radahnants founded by Calvin Erasmis ) and the Klyonics, the Lion Kingdom sent it’s Inquisition to extinguish the Erasmites and more firmly establish the Lions law. This sparked a rebellion and civil war that lasted nearly 40 years. At the end of the civil war the northern provinces reorganized themselves into the tolerant Flower Republic and massive numbers of Erasmites migrated away from the territories of the Lion Crown, boosting the power and economy of Zuiderdam into the most prominent city in the region. The signing of the Peace of Lions 2 years ago made the Flower republic and by extension Zuiderdam the first city in the world to make a Radhanant Church (The Erasmite Church) the official state religion while tolerating other Radhanant faiths and to legally and socially tolerate extra-ecclesiastical practice of Theurgy. Klyonics are forbidden from participation in government.
Dr Van Hooks Marvelous Animalcules
One year after the signing of the Peace of Lions, a student by the name of Anton Van Hook at the Romusan School of Zuiderdam made an important discovery. In an attempt to impress his lens-maker parents, he brought a series of “known” lenses into his schools labs. On examination of a corvid’s blood he found many small wiggling things therein. After communing with his lenses he was able to divine the creatures true names. Their souls were extraordinarily difficult to locate but on naming them as a colony of the particular creature, he was able to establish communication. Within a month he had discovered they required incredibly small but highly specific sacrifices to manipulate the creatures as he wished, even unto death. On sharing his discoveries with his classmates, one Athens Kurcher recognized the significance of this discovery and theorized that these creatures were the causes of disease. When the great plague rolled through Zuiderdam a year later, The two students donned raven masks and large cloaks and began anonymously treating people. After several high profile cures they were “convinced” by the Patrician of Zuiderdam to share their cure more widely. Within another week a veritable flock of raven masked doctors descended upon the city and the plague was driven out at a fraction of the cost of regular sacrifices to the god of disease. The two students were raised to full doctors and given publically funded labs to conduct their research in, much to the consternation of the Romusan School. Worship of the god of disease declined as the cult of the raven became the de-facto doctors for the city, and Zuiderdam became the world center of medical and biological study.
Things to See
Kargadoors: The Bridges in Zuiderdam are very steep and not at all fun to just walk across. Kargadoors used to pull people in little handcarts across the bridges. Now a pair of Kargadoors herd handcarts like cattle. Each cart has it’s name burnt on it’s side and at the beck and call of the Kargadoors they carry people across the bridges. Occasionally you’ll see a Kargadoor herding his fleet through the streets to their parking spots where they perform the rituals and sacrifices to feed and care for them. Look out for handcart jams on your way to work.
The Rattleman: Wanders the city streets at night with a sword, rattle and lantern announcing the time and keeping a lookout for troublemakers. He can be paid a penny a day to wake you up at a certain time by knocking at your door. The children fear them and their parents tell them to sleep lest the Rattleman comes. Hope you do not meet the god of the Rattleman wandering the streets for he is exactly what the children fear him to be.
The Stentor: Found standing on a corner, a jewel in an ear using symbols or drums to gain attention. He is the local newspaper, gazette and advertising agency. The guild of Stentors is in fierce competition with the new printing presses. People whispers that the jewels do all the reporting and that the jewels whisper to one another, explaining how news arrived faster than any ship, coach or letter could arrive. The presses claim that Stentors are puppets of the jewels having “Nasty 5C (Carat) blue teeth jammed in their ears”.
The Cornelmolen**: Invented by Cornelius Cornel, these special wind powered mills can be spotted atop every hill, at the top of every tower, and all throughout the lands surrounding the city. Windmills have been around since ancient times but Cornelius was the first to take the circular motion of the turning wheel and convert it to a back-and-forth motion. This has lead to increased production of textiles, lumber and many other products.
The Zuiderzee Pulders**: The people of the Flower Republic might have rebelled against the Lion Crown, but their true enemy is the sea. While the Klyonic Priesthood has generally been willing to assist in the infrastructure projects designed to reclaim land, they have generally been slow to respond and required much prodding and bribery. Since the great shift nearly all of the previously held up Pulders have been completed. With an excess of skilled labor, the Patrician announced a series of massive new land reclamation projects, collectively known as the Zuiderzee Polders. These massive constructions of rock and stone, topped with Windmills and swarming with workers coming and going, have come to dominate the view of the Zee.
Kleermaker Museum: Built behind the home of the richest cloth merchant in the city(Jonathan Kleermaker) this museum hosts many important pieces of art both donated to and commisioned by Mr. Kleermaker. Since Kleermaker’s death, his helpful spirit has inhabited the museum, assisting anyone who pays a small fee with conversing with the spirit of the art and sometimes with the spirit of the Artist. Death of the author? Not on Kleermakers watch!
Places to go
The Raaf Instituut**: Encompassing the lab of Doctors Van Hook and Kurcher, the public clinic, the anatomical theater, and the lens-crafter’s hall; this offshoot of the Romusan School is the center of innovation for the city. Anyone can receive free medical diagnosis and basic patch jobs from students in the clinic, and recieve specialised medicines and rituals for a fee. Students commonly view anatomical instruction via autopsies and surgeries performed in the anatomical theater. The Lenscrafters hall and the labs are highly guarded. Appointments with van Hook or Kurcher are rare and if obtained are never held inside the Institute. Students whisper of the wonders they’ve seen inside of the lab. The brightest among them may become assistants to the doctors.
Gasthus: Combination tavern, inn, old folks home, and poorhouse. It offers the cheapest rates in the city and is often frequented by pilgrims. Outside are a large number of small boxes with special locks. Empty boxes are opened by performing the proper ritual (posted on a placard in several languages) with the sacrifice, pulling out the “one-time key”, and whispering a personal passphrase. When the key is reinserted and the password said the door unlocks. Re-locking it requires a repetition of the ritual and sacrifice. There is a bounty of 20 Guilders for anyone clever enough to fit a “bug” inside or remove a “bug” from of one of these boxes without opening it. Many a Wizard has tried and failed.
Lamp Lighters Central: Used to be that lamp lighters used to go around lighting all of the candles of the cities streetlights by hand. Now every Evening people hear a crack, catch a whiff of ozone, see a flash of light, and the city lanterns are all lit. Rumor has it the lamplighters are performing some sort of ritual in their increasingly elaborate central storage house. While it is constantly under construction it appears to be morphing from a simple warehouse to a grand cathedral with a massive spire. The light show that appears around lamplighters central each evening is a spectacle. Many street vendors hawk their wares in the plaza every evening. The local Radahnant Churches are nervous and the Klyonics are calling for it to be stopped immediately.
The Neukerk: The Radhanant’s new church issued for the internment of the dead. The outside graveyard is separated into separate sections for the “Miserables” and the poor. The wealthy and powerful are buried beneath the floors of the church itself. For a small fee the Radahnant priests help those of true intent to communicate with those in the poor yards, while for a larger fee to communicate with those beneath the churches floor although you are always free to attempt contact without the priests guidance. Communicating with the “Miserables” requires a letter of warrant from either someone high in government or from a particularly noteworthy priest as The Miserables plot contains the executed, the heretics, and the suicides. The miserables plot is a popular spot for youths, wastrals and other less occupied sorts to hang out. Talk to Adalwolfabout placing bets.
The Dolhuis – There are many reasons one may go mad. Failed cultivation, learning one’s true name unexpectedly, lead in the pipes, spirits possessing ones soul. All of these are kept and cared for at the Dolhuis. Individuals confined at the Dolhuis are kept under varying degrees of voluntary confinement. The public are permitted to come and view the less dangerously mad through one way windows as a type of freak show. Other “Dols” are too dangerous for public viewing. Some claim that under the Dolhuis is the inverted tower of the ancient Romusan wizard Ozharius the Legion.
The Oost-Bhenjiku Hus **: Anyone looking for work should consider the Oost-Bhenjiku Company (OBC). They are always looking for new recruits. This multi-winged complex manages the intricate bureaucracy of the republics wealthiest and most powerful trading company. With a monopoly charter that empowers the company to build forts, maintain armies, and conclude treaties, the Oost-Bhenjiku house is always a center of important, lucrative, and often violent action. While the public can buy shares of the company at the Beurs van Patricier, those seeking an edge often make inquiries at the Oost-Bhenjiku Hus to acquire inside knowledge.
Shops to Visit
Beurs van Patricier **: Hosting the snobbiest forms of gambling, the Beurs van Patricier is the first of it’s kind. Instead of purchasing goods or services here one can purchase partial ownership (a share) in a company, high interest debts (bonds), promises of goods to be delivered at a future date at a set price (futures), and many other promises of future gains for cash now. The Beurs van Patricier has ruined just as many people as it has sprung into marvelous wealth. Many a prayer has been given to the God of the Beurs, but no-one has established contact or derived its true name and any who make serious attempts to divine it are rapidly found in the river, dead.
Colade Huizen van Halen: When Colade was first introduced to Zuiderdam it was not very popular due to it’s high costs. Thanks to the OBC, the Prices of Colade have dropped and Colade Huizen sprung up all around the city. Each one has their own particular mixture and flavors that they add to the Colade. The most famous of these Huizen is the one owned by Vincent Van Halen where the Patrician himself patronizes. If you visit, ask about the Suikerwafel. Mr Van Halen never appears in his shop and inquiries about Mr. Van Halen are met with a deadpan “He’s still with us”.
The Market of Flowers**: While official medicines and diagnoses are given out by the Cult of Raaf, many find it difficult to acquire medicine for chronic issues. For this, the apothecaries of the city have formed an informal guild (not yet recognized by the city) and secondhand market whereby they turn specific species of flowers into medicines. The merchants of the city, in an effort to export these medicines, created the Market of Flowers, a massive brilliantly colored open air market where flowers are traded at a furious pace and apothecaries line the streets. generally speaking the medicines from the Raaf Institut tend to be of higher quality, the medicines from the Market of Flowers is much cheaper.
Mrs Strong’s Fire and Water Shop: Sells detergent, soap, hot water, and hot coals. She never seems to cart in fuel or any raw materials leaving many to speculate where the soap and coals come from.
Jason Cats’ Book Printer. No books on shelves rather books are printed custom, although one can read the densely written title pages. Common books include Stories of Travel that include maps and cultural guides, Sermons describing the speakers own divination and how you can do it too. Jason is a renowned writer whose emblem books (The Emblemata) are said to be of human sentience and full of folksy wisdom.
Dick Wolff’s Bakery: It is no longer good enough to merely bake bread. Master bakers are in touch with their ovens, fires, and baking utensils. Not only is their bread extra delicious, for an extra fee they can often get you very close to the particular breads true name. Dick Wolff is the only baker in the city who is trusted enough by the guild to not require a controller to check the breads weight to be sure he’s not shortchanging customers. He gets around the guild restrictions on baking things besides bread by having his sons each run a biscuit shop, a pastry shop, and a pie shop of similar quality, each under a different guild, all right next door to one another.
The following is a compilation of a very interesting bit of world building collectively built in the Worlds Without Number discord server. I record it here for posterity with a few small additions of my own. Credit will be given to the participants at the end.
The Nekrakademia of Atlantis
“While the bureaucracy and a military led by an appointed Strategos form the two most obvious branches of Atlantean government, the sages of the Nekrakademia have great importance as well. Revered as a “school of the dead”, secrets imparted by the Predecessants are taught to modern diviners here. The forty-three different types of occult divination they perform provide great amounts of information to the Prior Crown and allow the bureaucracy to respond with surprising swiftness to developing crises. Nekrademics hold no official rank outside of their office in the school, but few care to meddle with them.
Kevin Crawfords preview of The Atlas of the Latter Earth
The 42nd school of the Nekrakademia practices a form of occult divination known as “The Steady Stream of Un-Thought”. it is widely understood they are all necromancers of some description although the methods by which they produce these prophecies is unknown to the general public, seeing as the dead would be knowledgeable about the past but not the future. Only those who pledge their life and un-life to this school are permitted to know “the secrets of the Chorus” and given the tools to navigate the index.
The first thing one sees upon entry to the school are the guards. Clad in ancient armor and wielding arcane weapons of terrifying design, the Athanatoi are an ancient order of undead warriors whose chief duty is to protect the Chorus and by extension the Nekrakademia. The origins of their order are shrouded in mystery but it is believed that they were some of the most elite troops of the Terran Mandate, locked into eternal servitude at some point in the past. No one has ever defeated one and managed to keep the corpse long enough to get past the armors arcane seals and reveal what lies within. The Athanatoi guard their number and nothing will prevent them from retrieving their own. Ποτέ μην ξεχνάτε τους πιστούς
The second thing one notices upon entering the school is that the whole place is a library of massive scale. Scrolls, Codices, the place is littered with paper. Each record is marked with a name, date and time. The prophecies of the school of The Steady Stream of Un-Thought are organized according to some chronology, not subject matter like most libraries, making it impossible for the uninitiated to find anything of value.
One seeking assistance navigating the library is told to either consult the index or to seek the council of a senior Nekrademics. Both are incredibly expensive.
Secrets of the 42nd school
Students of the school know the following:
As the subject of any particular prophecy is unknown and could refer to anything, the only meaningful method of cataloguing this information is by when it was uttered and by whom. The only way to make this usable is to have these prophecies stored chronologically and have an index of every word. The maintenance and expansion of this index is the primary duty of acolytes to the order. The acolytes whisper that the hooded men who are seen hunched over carts of scrolls and codices are what remains of the more talented fugitives and Nekrademics who fail to get Tenure and that they are cursed to forever mindlessly index.
Full blown Nekrademics spend their time utilising vast quantities of corkboard, pins and red string to attempt to piece together a coherent useful and actionable prophecy for the empire. Often this is complicated by the loss of records, meaning they have to resort to digging up quotes in others commentaries. This is further complicated because these are often in languages no longer spoken and by the occasional Nekrademics who chose to be flowery with his language rather than direct.
Nekrademics Who believe they have a case where they have found a coherent useful and actionable prophecy for the empire may present their case to a panel of Senior Nekrademics. If they are given the go ahead they are permitted to present their case in a private session to the relevant Atlantean Minister. They must consecutively and successfully do this 3 times to be given Tenure. Those who do so 8 times are elevated to higher ranks. Where they learn the TRUTH.
The Truth
The only good precog is a dead precog. Which is why we keep several on hand at all times. We don’t trust them if they can think for themselves. They might get ideas.
Proteus the High Minded, Sobran the Artificer
The Chorus of the Nekrakademia is an ancient magical working which produces a steady stream of disorganized prophecy. The source of these prophecies are the dead and mostly gone, a collection of ancient members of Royalty whose spirits have mostly but not entirely passed one. Their corpses consciousnesses straddle the line between life and death and the powerful chronomatic magicks of the working ensure their shades stay that way. It is said that the oldest precogs have been there since the days of the Terran Mandate. The members of the chorus sing and rant about topics from a strange, 3rd person omniscient perspective. They seem to know all, but hold no regard for people asking them anything, speaking as they please. When they speak, they speak as if someone was reading a book but skipping the dialogue.
“By one theory, free will dictates that the words chosen by an individual cannot be perfectly predicted. But the existence of the Chorus indicates that Fate is a real, measurable phenomenon. In this way, we show that individuals always move toward a single predetermined outcome, though they may utilize their free will to pick the path they take to–”
–13th surviving fragment from the Philosophae the Infinite Codex (edited by Sobran the Artificer)
The work is tiresome, dull and generally unpleasant so it is the solemn joy of a particular breed of Nekrademics to sit and record every utterance, even into undeath. It is believed that some among this group are Liches of terrifying power who must never be interrupted lest their attention should wander into less fruitful tasks.
The master of the 42nd school has access to the Index, a small subset of the Chorus who may be asked questions in an archaic form in order to produce a rapid search of the entire database. Unfortunately, once the Index starts to reply it doesn’t cease until it is done. Rebooting a semi-aware shade trapped in magic crystal is no easy task. It is recorded that one particularly foolish master once asked the Index a looping question and it didn’t cease to speak for 50 years.
“Index, give me all references to ‘the Unconquerable Crown,’ from the Third Era to the present year. Once you hit the present day start again.”
– [Redacted] Master [Redacted] – [Redacted]
Every King of Atlantis, sooner or later, makes a visit to the 42nd school. On his visit he uses the Prior Crown to access the core of the Chorus. On doing so he refreshes the Chorus. The king is able to ask the chorus a single question while doing so and receive a plain intelligible answer. The last king to do this went mad so every king since has been warned not to ask anything.
Adventure Ideas:
We believe this tomb to contain the remains of King [Redacted]. Please go and clear it of any dangers so that we can undertake a study. Break No Bones!
We require vast quantities of corkboard and red string but it our shipments never arrive. Our records indicate that it’s most likely pirates. Go deal with them. Don’t return without a shipload of cork and red string. (It’s very important that it’s the string is this particular shade of red and the cork must be from this tree).
We need you to recover a fugitive student. They haven’t finished the obligations they signed up for and we need them back oh so dearly. Oh, but don’t believe anything they say. They’re quite mad.
One of our books make mention of a set of 6 special polyhedral crystals which could be used to determine a mans fate in conjunction with the manuscript. Bring them to use and we will give you access to the manuscript for one hour. We believe you’ll find it most enlightening. (The manuscript is a copy of Worlds Without Number: Deluxe Edition.)
Credit to: 112nugohs, Sobran, Brutus the Aurelian, Proteus
In preparation for the upcoming OSR Discords “Secret Jackalope 2022” event I thought it’d be useful to take down the specific probability distributions for Into the Odd’s equipment table. Now why go to the trouble of doing this? Honestly it’s mostly for the neat visual and an idea of how to organize your content on a similar table. Chris McDowell has already explained what you need to know about creating entries over at Bastionland Blog so I won’t repeat him.
The basics of the System is thus. In “Into The Odd” (ItO) standard characters are generated by rolling a 3d6 for each of the three stats. You roll a 1d6 for your HP and then you look up your equipment on a big table by comparing your highest attribute to your HP. The table groups stats of 3-9 together for convenience as the probabilities of having you highest attribute in that range is ridiculously low as we’ll see shortly so dividing it up is mostly a wasted effort for little gain. This creates a neat distribution where weaker characters can be given stronger Equipment to compensate. Thus the table looks like
1HP
2HP
3HP
4HP
5HP
6HP
3-9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
total of 30 different packages
When determining the probabilities the hard part was determining what the probabilities were for the highest attribute to be each number. after some tinkering I think I got Anydice.com to make the appropriate distribution.
Thusly by dividing each of the probabilities by 6 we can create the probabilities for each item on the table.
Highest Attribute\HP
1HP
2HP
3HP
4HP
5HP
6HP
3-9
0.33%
0.33%
0.33%
0.33%
0.33%
0.33%
10
0.71%
0.71%
0.71%
0.71%
0.71%
0.71%
11
0.71%
0.71%
0.71%
0.71%
0.71%
0.71%
12
2.48%
2.48%
2.48%
2.48%
2.48%
2.48%
13
3.2%
3.2%
3.2%
3.2%
3.2%
3.2%
14
3.08%
3.08%
3.08%
3.08%
3.08%
3.08%
15
2.49%
2.49%
2.49%
2.49%
2.49%
2.49%
16
1.68%
1.68%
1.68%
1.68%
1.68%
1.68%
17
0.90%
0.90%
0.90%
0.90%
0.90%
0.90%
18
0.31%
0.31%
0.31%
0.31%
0.31%
0.31%
total of 30 different packages
Fancy. Some of these get Arcanum, magical items in the vein of the portable hole and the Immovable Rod. The table you roll on to determine which Arcana you get is a d66 table so an even chance (2.8%) of getting any of the 36 Items.
As a Bonus here are the tables for the Alternative Character Groups. First up are the Mutants. They roll 1d20 for stats instead of 3d6 like regular Bastionites.
Highest Attribute\HP
1-2 HP
3-4 HP
5-6HP
3-10
2.08%
2.08%
2.08%
11-13
3.87%
3.87%
3.87%
14-15
2.30%
2.30%
2.30%
16-17
3.43%
3.43%
3.43%
18-19
9.75%
9.75%
9.75%
20
3.09%
3.09%
3.09%
What a neat stat distribution. The probabilities of getting any one of these packages goes up and down and up and down. Of course the power balancing remains similar due to the actual design of the packages fitting in with the appropriate level of power but the variety of characters you’ll see is neat.
The Mutant table distribution is weird. Too weird for this sinful hateful world. I hear Krakoa is nice this time of year. But at least the mutations are mostly helpful and every mutant gets at least one from a d100 table. I even spot some of the x-men on this table.
Next are Simple Folk, people from the Deep Country where brawn matters for a lot more. This table only goes off of what your strength score is instead of what your best score is, but you get to roll 1d12+6 for your strength. is that better than 3d6? Looks like generally yes. your chances of a higher score are much better under this system.
And your chances are a flat 1.38% chance of getting any one of the 33 results on the table. Kind of boring but also straightforward, Just like the characters. you only roll 2d6 for WILL as a Simple Folk. Ouch.
In addition to the standard equipment packages all the simple Folk get at least one sometimes more trinkets of a basic d100 table. Most of it is mundane but flavorful. Who wouldn’t want to roll a character who starts with Rolls Dice A bag of really heavy rocks?
As part of the Secret Jackalope I also mentioned a bonus for also giving me failed careers in the vein of Electric Bastionland. Each career gets some items just for having the career and then some additional items based on what they rolled for their HP and starting money (Each is a 1d6 table). in addition they each have sample names, a flavorful concept and a description of who the group is in debt to if that characters player is the youngest. It’s a lot of extra material. I would be very surprised to get this but just in case, here’s the probability table for you. It’s a total of 94 entries determined by matching your lowest and highest ability scores. 3d6 for each of the three. This one was a bit of a pain to calculate. Here’s the formula I used but the long list of tables this spits out is too long for inclusion here. Here’s the link to try it yourself. I think transpose view is the clearest way of viewing the output for this.
H\L
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12+
9-
0.04
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.36
0.37
0.23
X
X
X
10
0.08
0.23
0.43
0.64
0.79
0.82
0.63
0.38
X
X
11
0.17
0.48
0.91
1.35
1.67
1.73
1.34
0.81
0.38
X
12
0.27
0.8
1.49
2.22
2.75
2.85
2.2
1.34
0.63
0.23
13
0.35
1.03
1.93
2.87
3.55
3.69
2.85
1.73
0.82
0.36
14
0.34
0.99
1.86
2.76
3.42
3.55
2.75
1.67
0.79
0.36
15
0.27
0.80
1.50
2.23
2.76
2.87
2.22
1.35
0.64
0.34
16
0.19
0.54
1.01
1.50
1.86
1.93
1.49
0.91
0.43
0.20
17
0.10
0.29
0.54
0.80
0.99
1.03
0.80
0.48
0.23
0.10
18
0.03
0.10
0.19
0.27
0.34
0.35
0.27
0.17
0.08
0.04
Considering this is basically a fancy d100 list, a little over 1% should be considered “Average” For the Sake of getting this to fit I’ve left off the Percentage signs.