Thursday, June 22, 2017

Random Terrain Generation for HexCrawl type games

Sorry it's been a while. I was distracted by 5th Edition D&D and tinkering with Miss Peregrine's game in Cypher system.


One of my pet projects since I started playing the game. Has been random terrain generation. The tables in the 1e DMG, are ok. Not exactly what I was looking for, but they do exist. There are tons of random map generators online, most of them are for dungeons. The few that exist for terrain generation are sortaokmaybenotsomuch. They are missing something vital to outdoor exploration. Most of them, that I have found, lack any sort of table that will give you terrain features or items of note. Northing for an intrepid band of adventures (or a random generation crazy DM/GM) would find out in the wild.

Hence my latest project…

First task was to define all the different terrain types that I would be using. I did a basic google search that yielded the usual grunchtun of results, and after perusing a few of the lists I settled on 20 items for terrain types.

Terrain Type Table

1 Arctic

2 Tundra

3 Scrub Forest

4 Conifer/Evergreen Forest

5 Boreal Forest

6 Mixed Forest

7 Broadleaf/Deciduous Forest

8 Grasslands

9 Plains

10 Prairie

11 Marsh

12 Swamp

13 Wetland Forest

14 Tropical Forest

15 Jungle

16 Savanna

17 Desert

18 Rift/Crevasse or River

19 Sink Hole or Lake

20 Hills or Mountains or Ocean

The original plan was to just roll a 20 sider and generate terrain…. Yeah ok, stop laughing. I probably rolled 10 to 15 times. Had I used that map, one would have thought Mother Nature was smoking an elicit substance… For the life of me, I’ve never heard of an arctic swamp.

So I sat down and tried to figure out some way to even out the results. What I finally came up seemed to work a bit better.

D12 roll         Effect

1                                 Water Feature

2                                 Transition Up

3                                 Stays the same (feature)

4-9            Stays the same (empty)

10              Stays the same (feature)

11              Transition Down

12              Terrain Feature

You start off by picking a starting terrain type. Then roll a d12. These are prompts so the aspiring cartographer can create a basic framework for overland terrain. Water feature means there is something of note in that hex. Same terrain, just add a water feature. River, stream, lake, pond, just something. Transition Up/Down means you a roll a d20 note that terrain from the terrain type table, and work your way to that new terrain type. If you roll an 18,19, or 20 just add that particular feature to the hex you a currently in like a rift. Or add some cliffs or a beach and start and ocean. Keep in mind this whole thing is to give you prompts, not do the work for you. If a result doesn’t make sense, reroll it. I only start off a map using this method, eventually as I get some of the hexes laid out, I will abandon these tables and just lay out what I think makes for an interesting area of the world.

For the “Stays the same (Feature)” entries on the table I came up with a list of features.

Items                                                              Descriptors

Well                                                                Abandoned

Sm Tower                                                     Forest

Sm Keep                                                        Arctic

Lg Tower                                                       Desert

Fortress                                                         Ruined

Castle

Village

Walled Town

City

Shrine

Cairn

Tomb

Graveyard

Necropolis

Dungeon

Sm Church/Temple

Lg Church/Temple

Stone Circle

Fairy Ring

This is where Google image search is your friend. Take an item, add one or two descriptors in the search bar, and Bob’s yer uncle, you got a feature now. Again, and I can’t stress this enough… These tables are meant as prompts only. If you get it into your head that you’ll be able to roll up a complete wilderness map with these tables, you’d be wrong. It’s merely meant to make it a little easier. Feel free to alter them to suit your own style of world building.
 
Happy Gaming!
EDIT:  A MUCH IMPROVED LIGHTER FLUFFIER SYSTEM HERE.

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