d66 Unusual Vantage Points

When running hexcrawls, I tend to pack my hexes pretty dense. This means there's usually multiple points of interest to choose between in an individual hex. For this reason, I generally assume the party is able to find some kind of vantage point to get basic info on all points of interest that aren't specifically hidden. However, I find my mind frequently returning to the easiest answers. In the plains? You find a lone hillock. In the forest? Big-ass tree. You get the idea. This is fine, that's going to be most of the vantage points one would realistically encounter, but I still want to shake it up and provide vantage points that create their own set of complications from time to time.

Below are 36 unusual vantage points and possible complications to scaling them, 6 for each basic terrain type. I've tried to make it so each requires some kind of risk or expenditure for the party to weigh against the time cost of looking for another spot (I'd probably go with 1 watch). You can roll (or pick) from the terrain in question, or roll a d66 on the table at large. Though the results fit best with their associated terrain, few would be more than a little out of place in others.

Gagarin Class Survey Vehicle

In looking for ships to inhabit my Northwest Passage subsector, I've been doing a lot of flipping through 2300AD material. I love the ship designs in 2300 and will be using a lot of the larger designs as is. However, it lacks tailsitters, crafts in which the decks are stacked to take advantage of the ship's own thrust to simulate gravity. This makes sense, the chemical rockets in 2300 can't burn constantly for that continuous thrust, so tailsitters aren't practical in 2300. This isn't so for Northwest Passage, which uses fusion torch drives similar to (though a bit more modest than) the Epstein Drive from The Expanse, so tailsitters are the norm for ships too small for spinning habitation drums. I particularly liked the design of the ISV-2 Independent Scout from 2300 and decided to redesign it as a tailsitter for my own purposes.

I mean come on, the thing is just begging for it with that cylindrical design and naturally seperated deck sections the perfect width to be decks of their own if flipped on their side.

A Couple of Planets for Traveller

Hello. I've been quite busy for some time now, but things are finally cooling down enough that I can begin dedicating some time to this blog again. Here's a few planets that I've rolled up in Classic Traveller (with some extra tables and tools from Traveller 5 and the Worldbuilder's Handbook) that I thought I'd share.

The assumed setting is a bit on the harder sci-fi end than the OTU. TL12 is the maximum for human space, and grav tech doesn't exist at all, but cheap and efficient fusion is commonplace enough to make 1G constant thrust gravity achievable, a la the Epstein drive from The Expanse. It's near enough into the future that present-day cultures from Earth are still largely recognizable, but the area being described is far enough away that it lies at the very edge of any meaningful political influence from Earth. All of this can be changed relatively easily, and it can be used in any system, but I've included UWPs in case you wish to use them for Traveller.

I'll probably be posting planets in this area, which I'm calling the Northwest Passage Subsector, occasionally, but not on any regular schedule like I tried to do with my hex a week posts. On the subject of those, I'm unfortunately a bit burnt out on early modern Spain. I may return to the setting in time, but I no longer have any intention to flesh out a hex each week. It was a fun challenge, but ultimately not one I could keep up with, and especially not one that I can now.

Taking a Break

Going to be taking a break from posting for a while. New job, you know how it is.

Weapon Subtype Tables for Random Equipment Generation Part 2: The Two-Handers

When I started these posts, they came as a result of my adolescent fascination with the many varieties of polearms presented in certain editions of D&D. It is perhaps fitting, then, that the wall my enthusiasm has collided into is made of those same polearms. I had some idea going into this that names for polearms aren't exactly very specific, and that many of the differences are practically trivial. I did not anticipate just how bad it really is.

This is an incomplete chart of polearm head types.
Credit: Bashford Dean

Ashes to ashes, pikes to pikes, I suppose. With all that in mind, I have tried my best to list categories with mostly recognizable names and non-trivial differences in use, even if it has led to some incorrect titling of weapons. I've also had to class axe-bladed polearms, such as halberds, together with battleaxes to fill out both groups into a full table.

A Hex a Week: Week 8

This week, I've been focusing in on a stretch of countryside on the road to the more populated coast. For the next few weeks, I think I'll look North into the Pyrenees proper and leave these foothills and lowlands I've been detailing for next month.

A Hex a Week: Week 6/7

Lately, I've been a bit burnt out after rushing to finish a project, so I took a break from this blog for a week. As for the project, you may have noticed there's now an itch.io link in my sidebar, where you can find Pythion of the Mad Oracle, my submission to the Jennell Jaquays Memorial Game Jam. It was a lot of fun to write, but combined with my weekly games it meant a lot of RPG time for a couple weeks there, so I've been resting since.

This week, I've focused in on the area around a fabled wizard's coveted tower, with some nearby Germans to pantomime through a language barrier at.