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| Nick Eggenhofer |
OVERLAND MOVEMENT
A party's travel speed ('TS') is their encounter movement rate divided by 5. Mounted parties have 8 TS. Sure their mounts can move faster, but only in short bursts (e.g., during encounters). Those travelling on land vehicles like carts or wagons have 6 TS. Parties on boats have 12 TS.
Wilderness experts like Rangers, Wood Elves etc. can allow the party to move through a single hex without spending any TS, once per day. Doesn't stack with additional characters. This ability could be abused to quickly move through very difficult hexes or ford a tributary (which is intentional).
THE REDRIVER
Costs 1 TS to travel downstream or 2 TS to travel upstream. It flows fast and wide North to South (i.e. downwards on the hex map). Cannot be forded without a bridge (or swimming).
TRIBUTARIES
Cost 2 TS to travel downstream or 3 TS to travel upstream. It's possible to ford tributaries, costs 6 TS. Tributaries use the random encounter chance and table of their parent hex.
ROADS
Ignore parent hex, always costs 1 TS to travel. All vehicles can traverse.
FARMLANDS, FOREST, HILLS AND PLAINS
Cost 2 TS to traverse. All vehicles can traverse.
FORESTED HILLS AND HEAVY FOREST
Cost 3 TS to traverse. Wagons cannot enter, but carts can.
WETLANDS
Cost 4 TS to traverse. No vehicles allowed. Non-amphibian mounts cannot be ridden. Canoes can traverse marshes, at the cost of 3 TS. Larger boats will get mired, and must follow rivers.
MOUNTAINS
Impassable terrain. Find a mountain pass or go around.
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
Random encounters in the Bloody Marches are tested once per day. It's GM fiat exactly when the encounter occurs. If you want a rule of thumb, it's halfway through a given journey.
Encounters are also tested during the night. Determine who was on watch when it triggered. Everyone else is asleep, unarmed and automatically surprised. Not lighting a campfire stops you healing any HP from resting, but reduces chances of an encounter by 1-in-6.
FARMLAND
The land around Fort Southfur is free of monsters, but gets occasionally attacked by bandits or monstermen. Most communities focus around windmills or waterwheels, whose stone walls double as fortifications to hide inside of. There's a 4-in-6 chance of an encounter. Roll a D20:
2: Briarcoat Patrol, half the usual size and mounted on Wooly Dragonboars (CC1).
3: Briarcoats Patrol, supervising 3D6 Convicts (OSE as Bandit or Orc) building something.
4: The Black Thorns, mounted on Thracian Mares (OSE as Warhorse) and on an important assignment. 2-in-6 chance of guarding Rion Bloodsmock.
5: 5D4 Normal Humans and 2D6 Sheep Dogs herding 3D10 Cattle and Sheep (OSE).
7: 2D6 Veterans (OSE) with matchlocks and axes, militia patrolling farms.
8: 3D6 Traders (OSE) and 4D6 Mules laden with wool, leather, cheese, nails etc.
9: 2D4 Escaped Convicts (OSE as Bandit or Orc), hoping to join the Fatharvest Gang.
10: 3D10 Cattle and Sheep, escaped livestock.
11: 3D6 Wild Dogs (OSE Adv), looking for an easy meal.
12: 3D6 Fat Grubs (OSE as Goblin) on Wild Dogs, rustling 3D10 Cattle and Sheep.
16: Bone Flute, harassing civilians and squatting on farmland.
17: ADVENTURERS returning with loot or leaving on an expedition.
18: ADVENTURERS returning with loot or leaving on an expedition..
19: LOCAL ENCOUNTER.
20: LOCAL ENCOUNTER.
THE REDRIVER
The main trunk of the Redriver is empty of most threats and valuable fur-bearing animals, thanks to frequent river traffic. There's a 2-in-6 chance of random encounters. Roll a D12:
1: 3D10 Water Buffalo (OSE as Large Herd Animal) wallowing in mud.
2: D4 Large Crocodiles (OSE), pretending to be logs.
3: D12 Diprotodons (OSE as Rhino), drinking from the riverbank.
4: 2D4 Giant Piranhas (OSE), jumping out of the water. Often get stranded on boat decks.
5: D3 Electric Eels (OSE Adv), zapping anything in the water. Harmless against boats, but can electrocute people through oars or river poles.
6: By day, D3 Giant Magpies (OSE as Small Roc), looking for travellers to rob. By night, D3 Boatbreaker Death Bats (CC1), looking for vessels to capsize.
7: Perahu with 5D4 Islanders (OSE as Buccaneer) led by Fighter of Level D3+1. Looking to trade, carry D4x1,000 GP to exchange for pelts.
8: Karakoa with 10D4 Islanders (OSE as Buccaneer) led by Sulawei the Cleric. Looking to trade, carry 2D6x1,000 GP to exchange for pelts. 2-in-6 chance Athanasius the Saltman is aboard with his wares.
9: ADVENTURERS on boats.
10: ADVENTURERS on boats.
11: KEYED ENCOUNTER on the riverbank.
12: KEYED ENCOUNTER on the riverbank.
The marshes, wetlands and swamps of the Bloody Marches are overflowing with life in all its myriad forms. There's a 3-in-6 chance of random encounters. Roll a D20:
1: 3D10 Water Buffalo (OSE), wallowing in mud.
2: 4D10 Devil Monkeys (CC2), munching watergrass.
3: D4 Large Crocodiles (OSE), pretending to be logs.
4: 2D4 Giant Piranhas (OSE), jumping out of the water. Often get stranded on boat decks.
5: D3 Electric Eels (OSE Adv), zapping anything in the water. Harmless against boats, but can electrocute people through oars or river poles.
6: D3 Constrictor Snakes (OSE), hunting for prey. Envelop canoes or slither onto larger ships.
7: D4 Warp Beasts (OSE), stalking prey. Surprisingly strong swimmers.
8: D4 Giant Otter (OSE as Giant Weasel, D3 random spell scrolls), gathering river stones.
10: D8 Giant Platypuses (OSE as Giant Weasel, claw attacks as Ghoul) patrolling waterways. 3-in-6 chance of a Giant Otter (ibid).
11: 3D6 Blue-Tongues (CC1 as Skinkman), foraging for loot. 2D4 poison globules between them.
12: Ten Water Centaurs (CC1 as Cyprian Centaur) and Lamia, wrangling 3D10 Water Buffalo.
13: D4 Weretoads (Carcass Crawler 5) and 2D4 Giant Toads (OSE) trying to drag people off boats. They drown those wearing metal armour and capture the rest by swallowing them.
14: 2D4 Voormi (OSE as Troglodyte), manhunting. Their leader (OSE as Ghast) rides a Sniger (CC2) and carries a pain rifle. Capture anyone they paralyse.
15: By day, D3 Giant Magpies (OSE as Small Roc), looking for travellers to rob. By night, D3 Boatbreaker Death Bats (CC1), looking for vessels to capsize.
19: LOCAL ENCOUNTER.
20: LOCAL ENCOUNTER.
FORESTS / GRASSLANDS / HILLS
2: 4D10 Devil Monkeys (CC1), hopping along and munching grass.
3: D12 Diprotodons (OSE as Rhino), grazing tussocks.
4: 3D6 Wild Dogs (OSE Adv), hunting as a pack.
5: 2D6 Blink Dogs (OSE), playing and chasing small game.
6: D4 Demonbears (CC2), munching berry bushes or hiding in trees.
7: D4 Warp Beasts (OSE), stalking prey.
8: A Flail Snail (OSE Adv), pulverising and eating undergrowth.
9: A Bone Warden (OSE as undead Mastodon), gathering and transporting skeletons.
11: The Fatharvest Gang, hunting game and robbing travellers.
12: D4 Weretigers (OSE) with spears and a Sabretooth Tiger, hunting. Kill any people they infect.
20: LOCAL ENCOUNTER.
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| Edwin Carton Booth |
THE MAKING OF
These rules are heavily inspired from Necrotic Gnome's Dolmenwood.
I've renamed Pelts for XP's region to "the Bloody Marches". The glades moniker was a placeholder, and doesn't make sense given the area is mostly dense forest and wetlands. It also allows for the fun linguistic corruption of the "Bloody Marshes".
Now that the project is approaching its conclusion, I'll be going through and cleaning the whole thing up. Thinking of revamping my random encounter posts, separating them out into adventuring parties and mercenary gangs the PCs can hire for jobs (in lieu of generic hirelings).
Though I've completed the map, I've only stocked half the hexes through these blogposts. I'm not sure whether I'll exhaustively include every bit of content on this blog. I might do a series of "quickfire" posts where we roundup the remaining hexes.
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