2018-12-21 Random tables

I wanted to work a bit on Hex Describe, and my tables just kept growing... And I wanted to write about it.

How it begins

I was looking at some *Hex Describe* output and noticed this:

“1102: Steep cliffs make progress practically impossible without climbing gear. At the foot of a small hill, Blue Rindle makes its appearance.”

Boring?

Let’s see where this comes from. Ah, the “mountains” table:

;mountain
1,The green valley up here has some sheep and a *kid* called [human kid] guarding them.
1,There is a cold pond up in this valley [cold lake].
1,The upper valley is rocky and bare. [hill giants]
1,Steep cliffs make progress practically impossible without climbing gear.
1,Nothing but gray rocks up here in the mountains.
1,High up on on a ridge is an old elven tower made of green glass, [green tower].
1,On one of the rock faces you can still see the markings of the old dwarf forge [dwarf forge]. [forge ruin]

I decided to add some sort of “secret”:

1,Steep cliffs make progress practically impossible without climbing gear. [mountain secret]

I started writing: “Way up, where the air is thin and cold, ...” and then I decided: no, I can put that into a table!

;mountain secret
1,[way up], [a secret mountain thing]

;way up
1,[up here], [where it is high up]

;up here
1,Way up
1,Up here
1,Above these cliffs
1,In the middle of a sheer cliff
1,Amidst the stars
1,Where they mountains touch the sky
1,Where the clouds don't reach

;where it is high up
1,where the air is thin and cold
1,where the ice king rules
1,only reachable by flight
1,where no bird dares to fly
1,where the barrier between the worlds is fickle

;a secret mountain thing
1,there is an inscription on the rocks, each letter higher than three men standing on top of each other, proclaiming the power and glory of [wight leader], as well as the riches and treasures of [ancient capital] [capital epithet].

The rule `[way up]` generates things like the following:

Amidst the stars, where no bird dares to fly
Where they mountains touch the sky, where the ice king rules
Where they mountains touch the sky, where the barrier between the worlds is fickle
Way up, where no bird dares to fly
Above these cliffs, where no bird dares to fly
Where they mountains touch the sky, where the air is thin and cold

Sure, a bit more variety would be great. But it do for now.

Names

I already had rules to generate wight rulers. But what about the name of capitals? I started a list.

;ancient capital
1,Agua
1,Bilach
1,Cheim
1,Iridiz
1,Jamala
1,Xarran
1,Ytilan
1,Zambosa

Then I figured, well, I could actually just assemble these names from syllables. So how about this:

;ancient capital
2,[ancient capital beginning][ancient capital end]
1,[ancient capital beginning][ancient capital middle][ancient capital end]

;ancient capital beginning
1,A
1,Bi
1,Chei
1,I
1,Ja
1,U
1,Va
1,Xa
1,Y
1,Zam

;ancient capital middle
1,bo
1,fa
1,fi
1,la
1,ma
1,na
1,ri
1,ti

;ancient capital end
1,gua
1,lach
1,nn
1,m
1,diz
1,la
1,lan
1,rran
1,sa

And now the generator produces names like the following for `[ancient capital]`:

Alach
Vann
Xalach
Binn
Amadiz
Xafinn
Jann
Jafirran
Zamdiz
Xala

Epithet

OK, so I need an epithet for an ancient capital. How about the following:

;capital epithet
1,the [capital adjective]
1,the twice [capital adjective]
1,of the [capital verb] [capital object]

;capital adjective
1,Glorious
1,Beautiful
1,Righteous
1,Powerful
1,Strong

;capital verb
1,Hanging
1,Shining
1,Towering

;capital object
1,Gardens
1,Fortress
1,Walls
1,Treasures
1,Trees

And if I combine the two, `[ancient capital] [capital epithet]` now results in the following:

Jadiz of the Hanging Walls
Zamdiz of the Towering Gardens
Zamm of the Shining Trees
Birran the Powerful
Cheim the Beautiful
Xala the twice Glorious
Ugua the twice Glorious
Zamrilach of the Hanging Fortress
Bilach of the Towering Trees

End result

And now the result for `[mountain secret]`:

Way up, only reachable by flight, there is an inscription on the rocks, each letter higher than three men standing on top of each other, proclaiming the power and glory of Queen Thyia of Quddu, as well as the riches and treasures of Ifalach the Powerful.
Way up, where no bird dares to fly, there is an inscription on the rocks, each letter higher than three men standing on top of each other, proclaiming the power and glory of Kali the Terrible of Merlen, as well as the riches and treasures of Ygua the twice Strong.
Amidst the stars, only reachable by flight, there is an inscription on the rocks, each letter higher than three men standing on top of each other, proclaiming the power and glory of King Eilif of Merlen, as well as the riches and treasures of Zamnasa of the Shining Fortress.
Where they mountains touch the sky, where the air is thin and cold, there is an inscription on the rocks, each letter higher than three men standing on top of each other, proclaiming the power and glory of King Kyran of Abilard, as well as the riches and treasures of Ifilach of the Shining Treasures.
Amidst the stars, where the air is thin and cold, there is an inscription on the rocks, each letter higher than three men standing on top of each other, proclaiming the power and glory of Eilif the Terrible of Pichuhiatl, as well as the riches and treasures of Ula of the Towering Treasures.

It’s a start! I need more secrets.

#RPG #Hex Describe

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⁂

And a bit later:

Where the mountains touch the sky, where the air is thin and cold, a pair of gryphons is nesting. Agents of the Confederacy of the Voids would pay 5000gp for their egg, they say.
In the middle of a sheer cliff, where the air is thin and cold, a pair of gryphons is nesting. Agents of the Enchanted Order of Preparers would pay 5000gp for their egg, they say.
Amidst the stars, where no bird dares to fly, there is an inscription on the rocks, each letter higher than three men standing on top of each other, proclaiming the power and glory of Kali the Terrible of Yzarria, as well as the riches and treasures of Vamam the twice Glorious.
In the middle of a sheer cliff, where the barrier between the worlds is fickle, there is an inscription on the rocks, each letter higher than three men standing on top of each other, proclaiming the power and glory of King Eilif of Trazadan, as well as the riches and treasures of Udiz of the Shining Fortress.
Way up, where the ice king rules, a cave leads into the lair of Bálint the Frozen, a banished ice devil, and his 2d6 four armed, white gorillas living in a large ice cave with a mount of bones as big as a house upon which the devil has built his throne of ice and steel.

– Alex Schroeder 2018-12-21 18:56 UTC