29 Comments
User's avatar
Grillo_Guy's avatar

Wow! This looks like a lot of fun to have at the table, especially if you make this activity in collaboration with the players.

Would you mind if I translated it into Portuguese?

I'd like to share it with the Brazilian ttrpg community.

Odinson's avatar

Please do! Share it far and wide.

OSRcampsite's avatar

This method of map creation is creatively simple, effective, and consistently replicable. It's a truly fantastic design philosophy! I've used a comparable approach for PC reputation and NPC followers homesickness design. Followers are reluctance to venture significantly beyond established borderlands without coin. In my campaigns, followers are valuable assets, though they are characterized more as opportunistic escorts than dedicated mercenaries.

Odinson's avatar

Oh! That's intriguing! I hadn't thought about liking the two, but it makes perfect sense.

G. G. Grimalkin's avatar

Love it! But I’m confused on one point - how does a roll of 3d12 map to the values of 9-12 for a capital?

Odinson's avatar

You use the same table, of course, but you could always roll 1-8 on a d12.

So your capital might be a farming community with a temple.

Mind ended up being livestock and a double temple, so I added some cows and a bull-headed god.

Marcolino's avatar

Absolutely amazing way of mapping a start region.

Odinson's avatar

Thanks! It starts to build on itself quickly, I find.

RobinPlays's avatar

Love this!

David Rollins's avatar

This is a great way to do it!

Odinson's avatar

I just keep making them now…

Woody's avatar

Excellent. Clean. Well-thought. Chef's kiss.

Odinson's avatar

Thanks!

Dave S's avatar

Simple, clean, easy to use... Great, great idea.

TheZebraCode's avatar

This is awesome, could become a fun little mapping game in its own right!

Odinson's avatar

It's starting to become that for me. Might need to expand.

TheZebraCode's avatar

I would love to play an expanded version if you ever make one! Really enjoyed Cartographer the map making game and could see this filling a similar space

Odinson's avatar

I think I'm blending that and Ex Novo

TheZebraCode's avatar

Ooh that's a new one for me but looks awesome - cheers for the rec haha! Good luck with your project sounds like it will be sick

LittleMe's avatar

I love this—and like all great ideas it seems so obvious.

Eidolon Dreams's avatar

Very cool.

Dawnfist Games's avatar

Love it! Elegance in simplicity is so underrated

Odinson's avatar

Right? You don't need much.

Cup Of Solo's avatar

This is amazing! Thanks for sharing this!

Drew K's avatar

This + Spark Tables or even some Mythic Bastionland location types (dwelling, blight, monument, etc.) could become dangerous (for my free time) real fast.

Great idea. If you expand, I’d love to see what form that takes.

David Torres's avatar

This is so cool. I liked the “whenever you roll the same number, double its importance” instead of re rolling it. May I translate this to Spanish and use in further posts? Of course with due credit 👍🏼

Six ov Swords's avatar

I've been discovering the "universal dungeon terrain" and, as a fan of mechanics/models that repeat themselves at different scales, this looks like it would be an *amazing* way to do the cartography for a game that foregrounds UDT and zone-based activity like Shadowdark or Deathbringer. This is beautiful, thank you!