I’ve been preparing for the second session of Bloodstone, and have been thinking about the trip from Valls to Bloodstone. The region has fallen into anarchy as the Kingdom of Vaasa continues to exert control over the shattered remains of the Kingdom of Damara.
During the second session, the players are almost certainly going to be encountering numerous villages along the way. In fact, since they left without supplies, I’m assuming they’ll be scrounging and begging at each of the villages.
I figured I’d up a platform to generate villages during wartime. So at lunch, I started thinking about various attributes of a fantasy gaming village during wartime.
To determine the village size, roll 1d6 × 1d6 × 30. Of those villagers, (1d6 + 4) x 10% are capable of defending the village (50% to 100%); In the case of 100%, assume that the village has sent the children, elderly, and infirm away.
In addition to the village size, I wanted some other random attributes: physical condition, mental condition, current supplies, most recent raid, who’s in charge, and an associated random event/hook.
| 1d6 | Physical Condition |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ruins |
| 2 | Partial Ruins |
| 3 | No Defenses |
| 4 | Manor House |
| 5 | Light Village-wide Fortification |
| 6 | Heavy Village-wide Fortification |
| 1d6 | Mental Condition |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sympathetic to the enemy |
| 2 | Preparing to evacuate |
| 3 | Paranoid |
| 4 | Indifferent |
| 5 | Inviting |
| 6 | Defiant |
| 1d6 | Current Supplies |
|---|---|
| 1 | Almost depleted |
| 2 | Starvation rations |
| 3 | Carefully rationed |
| 4 | Enough…for now |
| 5 | Enough for the season |
| 6 | Enough for the year |
| 1d6 | Most Recent Raid |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 hour ago |
| 2 | 1 day ago |
| 3 | 1 week ago |
| 4 | 1 month ago |
| 5 | 1 year ago |
| 6 | never |
| 1d6 | Who's in Charge |
|---|---|
| 1 | Village Council |
| 2 | Lord of the Manor |
| 3 | Lady of the Manor |
| 4 | Elected Mayor |
| 5 | Charismatic Villager |
| 6 | An Outsider |
I need to dig up the expanded table I have for this. The 3d6 results are boring. I’d rather have d8+d12 range.
| 3d6 | Random Event |
|---|---|
| 3 | Some nefarious abomination has seized control of the village. |
| 4 | Garrisoned with oppositional force (Soldiers of Vaasa) |
| 5 | A contagious disease is beginning to take hold |
| 6 | Mercenary troop now controls the village |
| 7 | Lord has been killed |
| 8 | Village has taken to raiding other neighboring villages |
| 9 | Holding a neighboring lord ransom |
| 10 | Sleeper agents (1d6-2, minimum of 1) is amongst the public |
| 11 | Overwhelming number of injured militia |
| 12 | Lord is being held for ransom |
| 13 | Roll 2 more times on this table |
| 14 | Currently sheltering an entire neighboring village |
| 15 | Garrisoned with sympathetic force (Soldiers of Damara) |
| 16 | A sorcerer has moved into town and is offering protection |
| 17 | A small group of heroes have been enlisted to defend the village. |
| 18 | A local god has manifested to "protect" the village |