Testudis (Cataphracts Setting, Hexmap, Rules)

 In describing his logistics-based army game Cataphracts, Sam Sorensen had an interesting problem. It's hard to fully describe a game in which some of the rules, the entire map, and details of the characters and factions are supposed to be hidden information from the players. Being on something of a Cataphracts kick recently, I wanted to try out the method for designing a Cataphracts setting Sorensen describes in one of his design diaries and share how it went. Unfortunately, it was so fun to work on that I like to imagine one day I might run it, so I actually fell into the exact same problem as Sorensen did. Therefore, I made a second Cataphracts setting with the precommitment to share it. I made it as ready as possible for actual play, so that you could theoretically run it right away, even though by publishing it I've introduced a major obstacle, that future players in your game may have read this very blogpost.

So, if you're considering running a Cataphracts game, just consider this a very in-depth example : )

Overview

Three hundred years ago, the empire established a colony on the coast of this rocky, wooded, rain-soaked land, naming it Testudis after the locals' term for the greater island. The people here taught the colony the way to cultivate maize, beans, and squash; methods of gentle forestry; and ways to appease and befriend the many spirits of the land. The empire taught them new ways of carpentry and architecture, brought horses, and made literacy wide-spread.

Though it did not resemble the extermination either group feared, contact was seldom all-peaceful or all-happy. After famines, disease, and several wars both in Testudis and broaching the heart of the empire, it was decided to abandon the furthest colonies to reform the empire into a nimble, sustainable whole. But not everyone wants to go.

Quastor Sabellius leads the abandoned colony, the organized and militant Reliquium towards a goal of self-sustainability, aided by the earth spirit Suibhard engineers they brought from across the sea, as well as their local allies. The agile Pine People, who have never accepted the empire's foreign hordes, calls its confederacy around it to push them into the sea, assisted by legendary humanoids and even demanding the assistance of long-time friends of the colony, the  prosperous River People and the forest-dwelling Hound People. 

The people who rise to the top in this struggle, and the confederacies they form, will radically shape the great island of Testudis and, when contact is one day re-established, the rest of the world.

Faction Sheets

Reliquium

• Client Relationships: when other factions forage, torch, recruit, or pillage in your lands, +1-in-6 chance of rebellion against them. Revolts caused by your enemies are more willing to be bought off by you. 
• Lord of Embarkations: as long as the idol remains in the temple at Parentium, your armies get +1 Morale.
• Unique unit: Peltasts. Infantry. Can make battles take 2 extra days, during which the enemy can drive you back 1 hex (excluding assaults).
• Unique Unit: Clibanarii. As heavy cavalry, +2 to compared rolls after winning a battle.

Starting Commander: Quastor Aquina Sabellius (45. Honorable, Stubborn) The daughter of a River man and an equite of the Reliquium, you have risen through careful politics and officious merit. After the governor received orders to abandon the colony, you were the highest-ranking official to choose to remain. Knowing that your lifelong enemy, the Pine People, will use this chance to rile up the other nations of the Testudis, it's that there is no one left but you who can turn the colony into an independent and dominant state, even if it must be cut off from the empire. Your goals are to:

• Capture at least two strongholds and two towns on the Great River.
• Ensure that you and your allies retain control of the four colonial cities: Basti, Falerii Novi, Reimse, and Tir Gael.
• Ensure Mologa is torched to keep the River People more dependent on you than on outsiders.

Pine People

• Inherited Hunting Paths: Pine People forces have +1 detection distance in forests and can move wagons off-road.
• Dispersed Bands: upon losing a battle, Pine People scatter in all directions and reform unpredictably (including in rout), making it difficult for a pursuing army to locate and immediately attack them.
• Unique Unit: Thunders, golden-haired half-bird men. As skirmishers, but count double in an assault and ignore penalties from weather.
• Unique Unit: Stone Giants, the remnants of a great hero's destruction. As heavy cavalry, immune to disease.

Starting Commander: Warleader Gelelemend (58. Logistician, Brutal, Storyteller) The favorite of every lodge of sachems among the Pine People, respected both north and south, you have been selected as warleader to fulfill the hope of the last seven generations, that your land may be free of barbarian invaders. Once an excellent hunter, now an excellent warrior, are tasked with finally driving the invaders' colony into the sea. Your goals are to:

• Torch the cities of Basti and Falerii Novi
• Marry an important commander from the River People or the Hound People into your confederation.
• Reclaim the White Eagle Pipe from Reimse. As an ancestral artifact of your people, it cannot be allowed to remain in their hands.

Your friend, Chepi (35, Beloved) commands the muster of the Southern Pine People. You must decide what instructions to give him as he raises his forces in Khetottug.

Gelelemend raises his forces in Otoquos while Chepi does the same in Khetottug. The DM should graciously give Gelelemend's orders to Chepi at the start of the game rather than wait for the normal duration of a messenger's travel.

Suibhards

• Stone Spirits: Suibhards cannot ford rivers except in ships. They can build fortifications, bridges, roads, and other infrastructure. 
• Morbid Humor: your people have befriended the Puk-Sukok, a clan of magic pranksters and saboteurs with cruel natures, who can make themselves invisible to anyone they point at. At the start of the game, you have the use of ten Puk-Sukok you can assign to serve as spies or send on operations, and they get +1 to related rolls.
• Unique Unit: Fomors. Heavy infantry, counts quadruple in defensive sieges. One unit can build or disassemble a bridge in two weeks, fortify a camp in two (+2 to defenders), lay out a hex of road in three, or thwart a hex of road in five.

Starting Commander: Ri Ansugaizaz (26. Raider, Siege Engineer) You are the undisputed ruler of the Suibhard, spirits of the earth and the deep, those who who sniffed out iron for the empire, dug trenches, prepared walls, and all the time subtly prepared for the inevitable. Your nature is poisonous and cruel; you must seed the land with destruction, so that sorrow will anchor you and make you true spirits of Testudis, supernaturally revitalizing all the Suibhard. Your goals are to:

• Attain a dominant position over the humans of the Reliquium (your nominal allies), either diplomatically or by seizing Basti or Falerii Novi while retaining both of your cities.
• Feed 10,000 bodies to the Fomors.
• Capture two or more waterside strongholds.

Hound People

• Arrow of Peace: While your confederation is unified, -1-in-6 chance of revolt from overforaging or recruiting in regions you control.
• Looking Back the Long Path: Dead Hound People elders and officers can communicate and make reports, when within 1 hex.
• Unique Unit: Other People, as infantry, count double in forests. Can't be seen from more than 1 hex away.

Starting Commander: Sachem Matoaka (35. Guardian, Beloved) For over a century, your people have enjoyed the friendship and confidence of the colony. You have seen firsthand how they can be led from errant ways and towards dignity and respect for all things. Told by the petty sachems of the Hound People that war is inevitable, it is your remit to secure a place for the Hound People by keeping the Reliquium strong and affording your people access to the wider waterways. Your goals are to: 

• Possess, or be granted total right of travel by, the four forts on the road to Tir Gael.
• Prevent the Reliquium from losing any coastal territory and hold on to all of yours.
• Regain the Bow of Hoennag from Khetottug. Stolen long ago by the Southern Pine People, it is one of few of the original possessions of the first Hound Person.

River People

• Trade Privileges: your settlements and strongholds start with caches loot that you can use at will. 500 for strongholds, 1000 for cities, and 1500 for cities.
• Burn and Slash: gain half a hex's forage value when you torch it.
• Unique Unit: Neeshauog. Infantry, count double on coastline or along river.
• Unique Unit: Katawam Archers: cavalry, count quadruple in advantageous position or chosen battlefield.

Starting Commander: Sachem Callidamates Emeritus/Massasoit (44. Duelist, Ironsides) A trader of great renown, you have seen colonial estates and Pine People war camps in equal measure. Expecting a storm of violent confusion, you mean to leave your people in a good place by the time the fighting is done. The other sachems of the River People have elevated you in the hopes that you could best understand the way forward, and expect quick and decisive action. You more than anyone else in the land have the freedom to decide your friends and enemies. Your goals are to:

• Pay your warriors 20,000 loot over the course of the war to set them up to dominate trade when peace comes.
• Seize two Suibhard strongholds
• Regain the Pipe of Nikkohup from Reimse. As a divine item of your people's long history, it belongs with none other than you.

Army Sheets

Army sheets for each faction can be found here.  Each faction is considered to have raised a huge block of troops in one of their cities (Basti, Reimse, Apuwok Wikun, and Mologa), except the Pine People who start with two armies, one in Nisquan and one in Khetottug. In designing factions, I tried to focus on logistics and simple, practical expressions of each side's theme, especially with supernatural units and abilities. One note for when you're designing a faction's unique units: always consider how well their abilities work when they're just one part of a mixed army. If a unit doesn't check morale for running out of supply, for instance, what happens when it's in an army largely composed of infantry? Typically an army has a single morale score and tests it as a whole. One other thing I noticed was a funny thing about unit strength-- doubling a unit's effective strength sounds really strong, but keep in kind that doubling an entire army's strength only gives it a +1 bonus in a battle against an army of the same size.

Rules

Because some aspects of the current Cataphracts ruleset are hidden from players, some of these rules are my invention to give the DM a method of handling things like weather, disease, or death and dismemberment. A couple of these rules clarify ambiguities or add something specific to the milieu.

• Canoes: Canoes, like ships, can carry people upon water. Ten canoes can carry one empty wagon or as much as one ship, but can themselves be portaged overland. If attacked within a day of having been portaging, you are out of formation. Canoes move 18 miles a day upriver, or 24 miles a day downriver or on the coast. A "forced march" of rowing increases this by 6 miles.
• Operations: Each faction has a stable of five spies, relatively irreplaceable agents willing to do the very risky and disdained work of covert operations. Commanders can always send soldiers, noncombatants, or other officers to do this work, but as for professionals they have five.
• An operation costs at least 100 Loot, in which a spy can be sent to a location or attach themselves to a camp, and begin working towards their goal They move at the rate of infantry. An operation is resolved with an opposed 2d6 roll like a battle or assault, but with the following modifiers:
• The spy gets +1 for another spy's aid, or +2 as a cell of four or more spies. They get +1 if their goal is easy, like spreading rumors or keeping an ear out. They get -3 or more for a hard goal like assassination (which they only attempt against a commander if there's a special opening).
• The target gets +1 for each spy dedicated to counter-intelligence at the location. They get the location's fortification bonus, but the spy can spend weeks of preparation to reduce this bonus. If the populace has been mistreated by the occupying force, it's reduced twice as fast
• A location can't be infiltrated from outside while actively preparing against siege.
• Weather: Every two weeks, roll 1d6 to defermine which region (or none) is affected by rain, snow, erc. This lasts for a month, so it's possible that weather will afflict the same place twice, in which case make the weather more severe and dangerous. Improvise based on the season.
• Disease: Wherever there are lots of dead bodies, or people who can't get clean, there's a 50% chance per month of disease spreading. Roll a d6-1 for each force present, and assign penalties as though they've just lost a battle by that much. Extraordinary measures can give an army a morale test to avoid the worst of it.
• Battles of Three or More Sides: Have each side make its opposed roll against every other side, then take the worst result. For each battle lost beyond the first, just add 2 to the severity of the worst battle outcome.
• Death and Dismemberment: When you're deathed and dismembered, roll 1d6:
• 1-2 simply knocked out
• 3 bad scar and a week of recovery
• 4 lose a hand, eye, or etc. and spend three weeks in recovery
• 5 dying, 50% of being revived if tended to
• 6 stone dead

Maps

Main overland map. Dark green is forests, brown steep hills. Dark brown is typically impassible. Rivers can be forded, unless it has been raining.

Settlement score. Deep red 100, red-pink 80, pink 60, purple 40, blue 20. Surpassing the master, the blue is not the same blue as my water features. 

No place names labeled

Diagetic map. The design diary suggests the creation of such a thing above and beyond what you give each faction, but I'm not really sure why.

Region Details

Cataphracts is a game with a simple chassis. All that is needed for endless variation is the introduction of some simple terrain features, roads, strongholds, and towns. However, introducing little details and hidden sites can probably go a long way to keep players on their toes. By creating unique details for most regions, local guides remain useful, and players will learn that they can't take anything for granted. If you have 40 or 45 strongholds and therefore around that many regions, you can quickly detail each region so that you have 5-8 wizards, 5-8 ways for those wizards to learn new spells, 10+ hazards, 5+ hireable neutral groups, 5-10 unique or improved fortresses, quirks for your 5-10 cities, hidden resources, hidden byways, landmarks, religious sites, and so on.

A region's mustered ships are at rest in their port of call, even though units, canoes, and wagons are all getting mustered in each faction's main city.

Reliquium

Basti

• Muster: 1,300 troops. 800 heavy infantry, 500 Peltasts, 325 Clibanarii, 60 wagons, 5 ships. 
• Feature: Overdeveloped. The empire's firstfall and symbol of tenacity, the city of Basti features a sewer system that can fill the surrounding floodplain with sewage (1-in-6 chance per week of disease among besiegers, advantageous position). A hostile Reliquite or Suibhard can lead a force up through the sewer, trading the fortification bonus for rough terrain penalty.
• Feature: Quastor Sabellius has an inheritance of 1,000 loot stored here.

Matrica- Gandava

• Muster: 600 troops. 640 heavy infantry, 200 Peltasts, 150 Clibanarii, 30 wagons, 5 ships (four in Matrica, one in Gandava)
• Feature: Scorpion Nest. Matrica stronghold has four siege engines loaded on to four ships. Operating these ships within two hexes of Matrica is free (covered by the virtuoso genius of the local adjunct).

Noviomagus

• Muster: 1,200 troops. 800 heavy infantry, 400 Peltasts, 300 Clibanarii, 60 wagons, 2 ships.
• Feature: Lair of Anit— a cavern in the mountain descends into the den of an icy cannibal giant, effective strength 400, inflicts 5% greater casualties. Generally wicked but always repays good deeds. If fully redeemed, spits up his icy heart and turns back into a man.
• In the cave are strange etchings, which a wizard can study for three days to learn the spell Cold Snap, which freezes rivers and, from October to February, increases precipitation by one step. Lasts a week. Takes a week of study to recharge

Parentum- Tingi

• Muster: 1,800 troops. 1,200 heavy infantry, 400 Peltasts, 450 Clibanarii, 80 wagons.
• Feature: Idol of Epibaterius. As long as it is still in the stronghold's temple, the Requilium gets +1 morale for all its soldiers. News of its destruction removes the bonus.
• The prophet Numeria Pictor resides here, and can be convinced to join an army (67, wizard) if she thinks it will protect the Idol. She has scrolls of the spell Augury, which lets you know what an army's 2d6 roll will be if they battle tomorrow. Takes three weeks to recharge.

Abula Pass

• Muster: 1,000 troops. 600 heavy infantry, 400 Peltasts, 250 Clibanarii, 1 ship.
• Feature: When it rains and for a week after, battle and passage is effectively impossible along the river. Even without this, the stronghold and town have an advantageous position (+1).

Falerii Novi

• Muster: 1,400 troops. 800 heavy infantry, 400 Peltasts, 200 skirmishers, 340 Clibanarii, 70 wagons, 3 ships.
• Feature: Marshlands. Travel through the woods here has a 1-in-6 chance of causing disease. The city itself has impeccable baths that have a 50% chance of healing someone suffering from illness.

Berytus

• Muster: 800 troops. 400 heavy infantry, 200 Peltasts, 200 skirmishers.
• Feature: Secret tunnel. Garrison can emerge from a secret backway a hex northwest.

Pine People

Ontoquos- Nisquan

• Muster: 3600 troops. 2,500 infantry, 500 heavy infantry, 600 Thunders, 500 Stone Giants, 400 canoes, 180 wagons.
• Feature: Good wood. Forage here can also create canoes.
• Feature: The ancient Nisquan fortress Potowahoset built into the side of a cliff. Difficult terrain (-1 for attackers) and advantageous position (+1 for defenders).

Tannicke

• Muster: 1500 troops. 1,000 infantry, 500 Thunders, 180 canoes, 30 wagons.
• Feature: The Great Wood People. If the river is followed west, you come to a great dam operated by a tribe historically hostile both to the Pine People and the Reliquium. Their chief, Tummockquauog, could be bribed to join in the war. He has 3,500 infantry and 500 skirmishers, all with their own canoes.

Anshap

• Muster: 1,500 troops. 1,000 infantry, 500 Thunders, 300 Stone Giants, 100 canoes, 30 wagons.
• Feature: House of Father Fox, a medicine man of renown. Hater of the Reliquium and the River People, he would assent to battle either. (49, wizard). He has a scroll of the spell Animal Speech, which lets him ask questions of local wildlife as though they were guides. Recharges in two weeks.

Ottucke

• Muster: 1,100 troops. 800 infantry, 300 Thunders, 50 wagons.
• Feature: Hill of Heads. Flint arrowheads harvested here, and the hill provides advantageous terrain against attackers (+1).

Seaseap

• Muster: 3,700 troops. 3,000 infantry, 700 Thunders, 500 Stone Giants, 500 canoes, 185 wagons.
• Feature: Hidden rapids. 3-in-6 chance of sinking non-Pine People canoes and ships, killing 50% of all occupants.

Wboenuncke- Western Waacoh

• Muster: 4,800 troops. 4,000 infantry, 800 Thunders, 480 canoes.
• Feature: The True Men. A tribe due south on a great peninsula. Historical pacifists, their chief Blaknik could be convinced to lend support in supply, canoes, or noncombatants. If battle comes to them, they have an effective fighting force of about 1,000 infantry.

Pooke- Abamocho

• Muster: 2,400 troops. 2,000 infantry, 400 Thunders, 240 canoes.
• Feature: Golden Walls. The ruins of a city built long ago, before any who live here first came. It affords advantageous ground (+1), and contains etchings of an ancient spell a wizard could copy down in a week, Water from Stone. It allows the caster to squeeze and manipulate stone or wood as though it were soft white cheese for a day. Takes a week to recharge.

Khetottug- Eastern Waacoh

• Muster: 2,800 troops. 2,200 infantry, 600 Thunders, 400 Stone Giants, 300 canoes, 140 wagons
• Feature: Good wood. Forage here can also create canoes.
• Feature: Bow of Hoennag— an artifact of a local hero from the golden age, the Bow never fails to find quarry. Great for a hunter, and means a commander with the bow is never surprised by an oncoming army. The Bow is jealously guarded by the southern Pine People, who will not allow a commander from any other group to carry it.

Skesicos

• Muster: 500 troops. 500 infantry, 50 canoes.
• Feature: Waters guarded by a horned serpent. Intelligent, hungry, venal, she is the equivalent of 2,000 infantry or 10 ships for naval battles if recruited.

Suibhard

Reimse

• Muster: 1,200 troops. 700 heavy infantry, 500 Fomors, 60 wagons.
• Feature: Fomor nest— Both stronghold and city get +2 extra fortification bonus.
• Feature: Hidden Ways— road is underground and can only be accessed at a town or city. If an army approaches Reimse by the Hidden Ways, its fortification bonus is halved.

Domhan Orga

• Muster: 1,200 troops. 800 heavy infantry, 400 Fomors, 60 wagons.
• Feature:  Hidden Ways— road is underground and can only be accessed at a town or city.

Fhomhair- Na Ruin

• Muster: 1,300 troops. 800 heavy infantry, 500 Fomors, 65 wagons.
• Feature:  Hidden Ways— road is underground and can only be accessed at a town or city.
• The road intersects with Coboldine Archive, where among records and myths can be found a spell inscribed on a stone globe— Retching Plague. It sends a wave of disease in a straight line for two days, moving at forced march pace. Recharges in four weeks.

Chroabh

• Muster: 1,300 troops. 800 infantry, 500 Fomors, 65 wagons.
• Feature: Bandit nomads. Messages that pass through here only have a 4-in-6 chance of safe delivery. If an army recruits here, they get more skirmishers than normal.

Gan Smal- Meanfach

• Muster: 1,500 troops. 1,000 infantry, 500 Fomors, 75 wagons, 5 ships.
• Feature: Residence of Tuspaquin, an explorer and spirit-friend who has lived long among the Suibhard. For pay, can be hired to join an expedition. (36, wizard, moves as skirmisher). He has a scroll of the spell Change Size, which makes a heavy unit standard or a standard unit heavy for a week. Takes four weeks to recharge.

Maighdean- Tir Geal

• Muster: 1,400 troops. 800 infantry, 200 skirmishers, 400 Fomors, 70 wagons, 8 ships. Military stockpile of 500 loot.
• Feature: Oil of Mór-Ríoghain— stockpiled flammable fluid. Can coat a six-mile stretch of water in it and ignite it. Those slain do not fully die, but become half-dead. What is not known is that this essentially converts them into deadly draugr, witless (-3 tactics) but never routing and never needing food and never losing nerve (+2) and slowly deteriorating (5% casualties per week March-September)

Stoirmeach- Skeud

• Muster: 2,100 troops. 1,400 infantry, 700 Fomors, 100 wagons, 4 ships.
• Feature: The Ready People. Upriver off the map can be found a tribe of hunters and raiders. They traditionally view the Suibhard as evil spirits, but could be convinced to join in the fighting for loot or promises of land. They have 2,000 infantry, 1,000 heavy infantry, and 200 cavalry, as well as enough ships to carry them.

Hound People

Apuwok Wikun

• Muster: 3,300. 1,800 infantry, 1,000 Other People, 500 skirmishers, 800 cavalry, 160 wagons.
• Feature: Holy site. The city starts with +5 siege morale, and the stronghold is on a high hill, giving an advantageous position (+1).

Apukisuq

• Muster: 800 troops. 400 infantry, 200 skirmishers, 200 Other People. 200 cavalry, 40 wagons, 80 canoes.
• Feature: Ancient Totem. A revered landmark, the totem also encodes a spell which a wizard can copy down in a week. Walking Tree: allow a city, town, or stronghold to move up to one hex, as its occupants desire. Takes three weeks to recharge.

Poqah- Tayupahs

• Muster: 2,000 troops. 1,200 infantry, 400 Other People, 400 skirmishers, 500 cavalry, 100 wagons, 200 canoes.
• Feature: River Spirits— 1-in-6 chance of encountering mischievous miniature humanoids that can upset canoes (delay by 1 day) or multiply supply in their magic pot (double, then run off), based on whether the commander is upstanding and/or sporting.

Wuyitupohtam

• Muster: 800 troops. 300 infantry, 400 Other People, 300 skirmishers, 80 canoes.
• Feature: Good wood. Forage here can also create canoes.

Apuskok

• Muster: 600 troops. 400 infantry, 200 skirmishers.
• Feature: Imprisoned in a deep hole is Akkompoin, a surprisingly knowledgable raider from the Ready People of the north. If freed, will offer his services, though he is shifty and untrustworthy. (20, wizard) Knows the spell Cursed Land, which poisons the forage of a particular hex. Recharges in two weeks.

Yahshawok- Quercium

• Muster: 900 troops. 600 infantry, 300 heavy infantry.
• Feature: Cedar Groves. Pleasant and well-cultivated forests, no impediment to travel. Counts as road.

River People

Mologa- Mskikok

• Muster: 5,000 troops. 4,500 Neeshauog, 500 skirmishers, 1,250 Katawam Archers, 250 wagons.
• Feature: The People of Sunken Pools. To the north, scattered bands of people have always had occasional dealings with the River People, trading furs and grain. If appealed to, 800 skirmishers can be roused, with more available in time.

Nawajiwi

• Muster: 1,400 troops. 1,000 Neeshauog, 400 skirmishers, 350 Katawam Archers, 70 wagons, 180 canoes.
• Feature: Wood Slat Bridge— panels can be slid out from under the bridge to cut off travel along the river, requiring a force to take the town or stronghold, or a wide portage, to proceed.

Pakwaaki- Kokskisek

• Muster: 3,100 troops. 2,500 Neeshauog, 600 skirmishers, 700 Katawam Archers, 140 wagons, 310 canoes.
• Feature: At the northern tip of the grove of trees in the south of the region, there is a cave containing a magic scroll of the spell Golden Paddle. A wizard casting the spell sends a fleet of any number of ships or canoes airborn, allowing them to fly over land and sea both for a day. This can be used to leap over walls, but only in disarray. Takes three weeks to recharge.

Adalomamek

• Muster: 2,200 troops. 1,800 Neeshauog, 400 skirmishers, 500 Katawam Archers, 120 wagons, 240 canoes.
• Feature: Bog— spirits in the woods will give off poisonous marsh gas if there is a large number of improperly buried or unburied dead in the region, creating disease.

Nanawoboigamigok

• Muster: 1,700 troops. 1,300 Neeshauog, 400 skirmishers.
• Feature: Lair of Eataubana— the woods by the stronghold are home to a massive insect spirit (effective strength 500, +1 from chosen battlefield) that will attack if not placated. Can potentially be recruited (700 [10 for dueling], wizard) and knows the spell Counterspell, which cancels magic. Recharges in four weeks.

Nbowiponohodit

• Muster: 800 troops. 600 Infantry, 200 skirmishers.
• Feature: Hidden Tunnel— connects the town and stronghold.

Kinibogka

• Muster: 1,300 troops. 900 Infantry, 400 skirmishers.
• Feature: Thief Ghost— the spirit of death hangs out in the woods on the road to Pakwaaki. Plays macabre tricks on people who linger here, like twisting their feet so they are lamed or must walk backwards, or replacing medicine with poison.

The Better Parts of Earth for Hexmaps

For some reason, we all like to see real-life places covered in hexmaps. Because the six-mile hex can contain so much, it can be easy to assume that you can fit something like the USA or the continent of Europe in a large but reasonable-size hexmap. But if you've ever looked into this, you'll find that inclination is wrong. Six-mile hexes contain a lot, but the Earth has a lot a lot a lot of ground to cover, and if, like the dedicated Idraluna Archives you make hexmaps at this scale for much of the Earth, you'll find that a lot of regions are just vast swathes of hundreds of hexes of tundra or desert or something, not very dynamic or interesting.

So I'm taking the liberty of going through all Idraluna Archive's maps and pointing out the ones I think might be best inspiration for a hexmap for a campaign or wargame. The maps Thomas provides are all kind of low-resolution, so I think it's more likely you'd want to use them as direct and detailed inspiration for your own more gameplay-focused take with your own system's needs. Go 75% real-life topography, 25% Outdoor Survival chunkiness and contrived routing challenges.

So, without further ado, the maps I think have a pleasing mixture of terrain, routing choice, and inspiring beauty:

Africa

Nigeria, especially the southern half.

Upper Nile

West Africa

African Great Lakes

African Great Lakes. Look at those swirling biomes and convenient water routes.

Asia

Dzungaria (#1 for mountain pass-centric games)

Fertile Crescent, avoiding the swell of Arabia (which is always done dirty by hexmaps)

Manchura

honorable mention to Borneo for if you need a generic island hexmap.

Dzungaria. Plenty of choke points for a creative DM to put some dragon den or humanoid city in.

Europe

Iberia (#1 for generic European fantasy games)

South Central Europe

Anatolia

Iberia. Some hard barriers, some softer ones. Good mixture of wide homogenous zones with more varied ones.

North America

New England
Central Mexico
Great Plains (more homogenous but still has variety)

New England. Simple but pleasing. Mountains you can try to route around.

Oceania

Tasmania

Tasmania. There weren't a lot of maps for Oceania, but this one is okay.

Oceans

None

South America

South American Pampas

East Brazil

Mato Grosso (#1 for heavily forested games)

East Brazil. Lovely mix in the east there.

There it is, the cream of 118+ maps. If I had to pick one to run a game for, I might pick Iberia, especially if gameplay would only occur in a smaller section; or the African Great Lakes, especially if long-distance travel would come up a lot. Such realistic scales are unfortunately a bit too big for most campaign purposes, but you can always take the juiciest section from the quivering whole, or reproduce the whole map at a different scale. Thanks again to Idraluna Archives for going through the work of making hexmaps for so much of the Earth. Very interesting stuff.

Cataphracts Special Unit Generator

 To aid brainstorming for those who are considering running a Cataphracts game and want to give different factions unique units.

Thanks to Spwack for the list-to-html generator, and to Alex for running her excellent Cataphracts game.

d6 Treasure Maps

 I love treasure maps, that odd, often-eschewed item old D&D instructs you to periodically hand out in its magic item table. They're just so neat, and they have the pleasant effect of rewarding adventure with adventure. But they're hard to improvise, so I've put together six for you to enjoy. They're a bit more generic, and I'll give some advice about how to adapt them to your situation.

I made all these maps as physical artifacts, but of course you'll just have the images. I will comment briefly on the different methods I used in case they inspire you to make your own.

Map 1: folded in half four times, then refolded over and over, tore off the edges, distressed the edges while folded, crumpled up a couple times. Dipped briefly in tea cup, which accidentally split it along the over-mishandled first two folds, resulting in four quarters. For this map I wanted a small island that could be easy to plausibly place off any given coast. It mingles landmarks, cryptic warning symbols, a specific route, and a series of three circles indicating steps towards the treasure. As I said, my splitting of the map was accidental, but it works out that the PCs could work to complete the map as an adventure, starting with the bottom left, using another to cross-reference where the island is, and getting the other two in the process of learning how to get to the goods.

Map 2: poured tea onto a plate and laid the paper on it, flipped, removed to dry, tore the edges off, folded twice, then rolled up like a scroll, distressed and carried in my pocket for a while. The route suggested is pretty clear, but there's more obvious ambiguity about what might happen if you take an alternate route. The right-to-left puzzle in the notation is simple but should hopefully be satisfying.

Map 3:  pressed into the bottom of a wet sink, flipped and pressed on other side, allowed to dry, tore off edges, folded four times, notched hole in a corner (center of the page), distressed variously, tore fragment out. This one, centered on a river joining, uses the acquisition of necessary items (two keys) to ensure the journey has incident, and ends with the counting of paces, which I wanted to try out. This was also my first try at putting notes on the back. It's fun!

Map 4:  crumpled up into a ball, tore off edges, crumpled into a ball started with a different corner each time. Makes a lot of use of monster icons to attract and repel PCs.

Map 5: tore bottom section, utterly soaked in water, accidentally tore, left to dry, folded, rolled up into a scroll, distressed edges. Wanted to do a pirate map, ended up doing a whale city. Not the most original, but I think players would be excited by it.

Map 6: pressed into the bottom of a wet sink and flipped, left to dry, tore off edges, folded in half, then folded in thirds, then folded "road map style". This was my attempt at a smaller-scale map, with no real journeying, just getting to grips with one area.

In terms of how I designed each map, I figured that it should be pretty easy for the PCs to locate the area being charted based on landmarks or phrases. I wanted each map to have at least three steps so that it felt like a proper process, and used a combination of standard geographical marks and doodles to indicate landmarks and hazards. For inspiration, consider hazard symbols and dungeon signs and children's' drawings of monsters.

Treasure maps are an interesting departure from dungeons. While they both have risk and reward, treasure maps provide an intended solution. Counterbalance that by giving real hazards and problems on that intended route, and considering what interesting things might happen if players want to skip a step. Draw the occasional landmark outside this route to tempt them to explore. Traps should be treated as already foreshadowed if they're marked on the map (scary!), and the treasure should be a little extra juicy to "sell" the endeavor, and commensurate both to the danger of following the map and the situation in which the map was found. I'll suggest some for each map, but you should modulate the coinage and such to fit your needs.

Map 1 

At low tide, there is a point which is easily forded, from which someone following the map can come to a stream with a notable rock on the far side, crossing, and skirting between a woods and steep hills before wrapping around and climbing up a particular hill at a set of switchbacks. Once there, they can find a cave that leads to a chamber with three warrior statues, two of which wear swords but the middle one having only an empty scabbard. Filling the scabbard triggers the opening of a secret door, leading to a chamber with an ancient wheel mechanism and a collar with a chain running into the wall. If the wheel is turned, the chain retracts and, if someone or something is in the collar to prevent it from retracting into the wall, a hidden hatch in the ceiling opens and the treasure slowly descends to the floor.

Potential obstacles are many. The skulls and shipwreck are meant to indicate treacherous shoals that surround much of the island, and approaching from the wrong side can be costly. To the east of the hills reside three cyclopes (or other dangerous eye-themed resident) who are habitual cannibals. The woods themselves probably have some Gygaxian wildlife and therefore danger, but may have overgrown detritus that serves as a clue about the treasure's original owners. The secret doors in the cave can be found and forced open, but they are trapped-- the first with a vial of the deadly violet Dolorfetor gas (save vs death) that breaks if the door is opened without the scabbard's fulfillment, while the second drops a wight that would have been retracted if the door was opened in the proper way.

The broken tower may just be an old lighthouse, the entrance to a dungeon, or contain an omen about the cyclopes or forest inhabitants. It's hard to make out, but there's a drawing of a hut on the islet between the tower and the main island-- perhaps the residence of a sand witch or marooned sailor seeking the treasure. The northern coast has no apparent features, so it would be a good place to put and additions intended by the DM.

Suggested treasure: 5,000 silver pieces of eight, 3,200 gold dubloons, a masterfully crafted saber with turqoise inlays (worth 400 gold), rare manuscripts of mythology, ritual observances, and history that have survived a cultural purge (worth 1000 gold), a scroll of water breathing, and a helmet and leather shirt coated in basilisk scales.

Map 2

"City of the Birds" might be a famous nickname for any settlement convenient to the DM. The lines running past it might be a river or a road. Going five miles west will lead to a canyon running between two high cliffs. It is guarded by a vicious dragon-sized bugge with pale striations and many-segmented body (stats as umber hulk). Eventually coming to a larger river canyon, stepping stones hidden by the water allow an easy crossing, from which the party can climb ancient steps carved into the cliff towards ancient brick burial mounds. If the entrance stone of the leftmost stone is rolled away, the party can navigate through a series of tunnels (using the arrows indicated to select which of branching tunnels to take, reading right to left like with the text) to the treasure cache.

If the party wants to veer left to avoid the bugge, they will find an alternate canyon to travel through, where they will encounter a war party of nomadic archers who include these cliffs as being among their wide range. Happy to attack travelers, if instead befriended they can share scents they manufacture to repel the bugge. The bridge downriver is dilapidated and disused, and cover the lair of the bugge's offspring, which may ambush the unwary (stats as umber hulk, no confusion attack, -1 HD, -2 reaction, each turn attacking someone on the bridge has a 2-in-6 chance of collapsing it). The fort at the falls is home to a jackalwere and her squad of girlboss poachers and gold-hunters, sworn enemies of the archer nomads. Finally, if a wrong turn is taken in the tunnels under the brick mound, there's an equal chance of encountering a random dungeon monster, an ancient pit trap, or getting lost.

The people of the City of the Birds are unaware of the treasure, but must have some knowledge of the canyons and the nomads. It is possible that another party of treasure-hunters can be found here, about to start their own expedition. If the party veers right to avoid the bugge, they'll have to scale the cliffs, but if they do they might find an adobe fortress under siege from a dungeon below, howling whirlwinds that threaten to push them off the cliffs, or simply rough and jagged terrain. There is a second set of steps upriver that may be safe or not, and they are closer to another set of brick mounds, which may be simple tombs, conceal strange monsters, or be home to minor treasures of their own, or, of course, dungeon entrances.

Suggested treasure: gold jewelry worth 4,000 coins, an enchanted lacquered ceramic-bladed +1 axe, a quartz crystal amulet, and the cursed Gatestaff.

Map 3

There is no apparent reason to start in the hill where the first arrow originates, but if the party does so, they will find an old shack that conceals an old adventuring party's hideout dug into the hill, now long-abandoned. A search will reveal a fragment of paper, the missing section of the map!

While the party could try to skip to the very end with this, they will find it convenient to retrieve two keys. The first is kept by the guardian at the pawprint marker, either a werebear or perhaps a bear spirit. She agreed to keep it safe for the originators of the treasure map, and will probably assume anyone who has the map or knows the password is entitled to it, though she will ask after one of the old adventurers whom she grew attached to. From there, it's easy enough to head across the bridge to a town where, hidden under the roofing above the mayor's well, the other key can be found. From there, the party can head to the river across from the mill, where they will find a bell. If rung, the miller, an old river mage, will ferry them across but warn of the presence of ghosts and deadly monsters-- hydras and cockatrices and score-scores-- that infest the woods. Following the map should bring the party close enough to spot a tree with a very prominent branch, in fact another tree that has been grafted in to it to make a landmark. Following the map fragment, they then simply walk 800 paces away from the river, turn right and walk 800 more paces (for added challenge, seed that the person who made this map was a dwarf, meaning the distances should be less), then dig to find the corpse of an old wizard clutching a chest ensured with two enchanted locks. They easily accept the keys and give up their contents.

If the bear spirit is asked for a blessing, she will turn the querier into a bear. The built-out town downriver is suspicious of adventurers and criminals, and is home to a power-tripping sheriff who needs to distract people from his mishandling of a recent altercation between loggers. Camped at the point where the tributary feeds into the river is a devil of the crossroads, always looking to make a deal, especially when it relates to souls, lumber, fire, or dice. The river mage harbors an old envy for the treasure-hiders, and if told too much will do a full Scooby-Doo, using his spells of invisibility and ignition to drive the party away if he can get his hands on their map. If one enchanted lock is picked, the other stubbornly relocks itself. If someone attempts to force the chest open, it triggers a Rune of Cataclysm, sucking the chest and everything nearby (save resists) into a spooky otherworld.

There is a hut near the wooded home of the bear, home to a hermit who knows of (and disapproves of) the original adventurers and who knows (and holds a torch for) the bear, even keeping a mundane bear for her that once used to be a cleric of the Blind Army. The dam upriver doesn't have much going on, but is the meeting point for old hunters who can share rumors. The town with the well is home to some who remember the old adventurers fondly, and may know about adventure sites they never fully plundered or the final score they never came back from. The hills are probably full of orcs and owl women.

Suggested treasure: all the weird magic shit a wizard collects that his friends aren't sure are cursed or not. Six freaky coins (worth 23 gold), a vial of Naparmian Flame, a Ridan Steel dagger, a jar of Ziphos Nectar, an ivory scarab necklace, a viper skull cap, a Rod of Cancellation, a secret society symbol ring (2-in-6 chance of favorable notice by magic-users) and a tablet that serves as a scroll of Invisible Servant.

Map 4

This one is so damn wrinkled. For adaptation purposes, "south cliff temple" could be purely descriptive, it could be a name, whatever. In its cemetery, one of the headstones, belonging to someone with the name, surname, or epithet of "Red", is inscribed with an arrow showing the right bearing to take towards the river. Upon reaching the river, the party, passes up to the spring and through a tunnel to the other side, where they take a circuitous route to a prominent tree in an empty plain. From there, they go about halfway towards a prominent boulder and dig to find the treasure.

The bearing to reach the river is very specific; too far to the left and the party will encounter the river guardian, an eel-dragon (stats as amphibious giant squid), while too far to the right the party will encounter a conference of angry bugbears. While no apparent obstacle stands between the tunnel and the gnarled tree landmark, the flora of the plains conceals a giant dust beetle (stats as roc), liable to carry someone off and imprison them in a remote valley that serves as its nest. Off to the right of the map live a squad of centaurs, violent and murderous for drink but otherwise chill.

The south cliff temple probably doesn't know much about this treasure, but can provide hospitality and healing. Off to the left of the map in an acacia grove live several dozen elves, reasonable and skilled. They would be mad if you kill the river guardian. The notable stone that helps to triangulate the digging spot has a faint face in it, an ogre that was turned into stone. If freed, she will be a friend to her rescuer, and join them on adventures if allowed, blackmailing local artisans and hiring goblinoids on their behalf.

Suggested treasure: 9,500 silver coins, 6,200 gold coins, a Gift Card Maze containing a scroll of Flesh to Stone, a set of +1 rawhide leather armor, and Noah's Brush.

Map 5

Every morning, the rare Violet-Templed Gull visits Star Island. By following them back in the evening, one can find the enchanted Uncharted Isle which cannot be found save by those who have been to it before. On that island, a new constellation burns bright in the sky. By following the marked star in the sky for three days straight, (2-in-6 chance per day of a storm that threatens to throw off course, if the crew fails it goes inland toward the whirlpool or must backtrack to the isle after some minor damage) another unnamed island will be reached. Every three days, a pale whale with indigo patches around its eyes surfaces off the coast of this isle carrying a city on its back, its original inhabitants long ago slain by culture heroes and pirates. Braving the flotsam-drenched streets and a giant crab brings the party to the tallest tower, and descending that leads to a maze. By following the correct route given on the map, they will find the treasure.

Though unmarked on the map, there is a massive whirlpool that threatens the lives of all boats-- once you can see it, you're already too close. Absent a cool strategem, it's a save vs death or the boat is wrecked, and anyone who can survive getting sucked under, swimming away and up, and grabbing onto some wreckage will float miserably back to Star Island in 1d6 days (1-in-6 chance per day of attracting 1d3 sharks) The inhabitants of the Uncharted Isle are wary of outsiders, and if not confident in them may dispatch dìonachean to arrest and interrogate them in the palace. The whale will only stay floating for the three hours it needs to refill its lungs, and at that time will start to dive, fully getting under in just 10 minutes. If the wrong door is reached, the party will find a pile of twenty angry lacedons or the whale's blowhole chamber (save or get sucked in).

There is a fort on Star Island, and it is fed by some nearby town, but holds much interest in you if you're neither pirate nor privateer. The commander of the fort suspects the existence of the Uncharted Isle, and would pay for a guide to take them there. The unnamed island, in addition to having a cool volcano, could have some interesting ruins or signs of the civilization that settled on the whale's back.

Suggested treasure in a chest wrapped by a ligan-buoy to establish a continued claim according to maritime law: 4,800 gold coins, gems and precious stones (worth 1,700 gold), the Twisting Spit, an immaculate +1 fishbone spear that boils with intensity when underwater (as +1 flaming spear), and a Gust Jar.

Map 6

This map is of a smaller scale, covering a small but prosperous village which has just recently been left in ruin. It is actively been prowled by a T. Rex, or other dangerous but slow-witted monster. In the basement of the house marked "push your friends", there is a man cave with a banner reading "Trust to the gods, to your friends, and to perfectly aged wine." Behind the words "your friends" is a button that opens a secret door to a meandering tunnel under the thorp, heading directly to the treasure. However, the tunnel is trapped, and certain precautions must be taken. In another house's basement stands a custom shelf rack laden with wines from all over. Six of them, the driest, sit labeled in shelves that when all pulled out trigger a mechanism that disables a dart trap in the tunnel. (Those lacking wine knowledge can brut force it by pulling out all the shelves.) Another house has a wine window (like a milk door but for wine and in reverse), and if at least five pounds of weight are left in it, a falling ceiling trap in the tunnel is disarmed. In the church is a statue of a woman holding out her hand, which actually has a copper-coin-sized indent in it. If a copper coin is placed in the indent, it completes a circuit which disarms a lightning trap in the tunnel. Finally, the smithy's bellows, when worked, send hot air through pipes which banish the spores of the deadly Old Man Walking mushroom, preventing someone at the end of the tunnel from breathing them in. The party can then walk through the entire tunnel and find the treasure cache in a well-decorated hideaway.

Aside from the deadly traps and the T. Rex, there is a another danger, in the back entrance, a shack in the back end of a vineyard. A trio of wyverns have made their nest there, 1d3 sleeping at any given time.

Survivors from the town, now turned refugee, might be able to share rumors about the well-to-do but adroit wine-tasting club that hid this cache. Gods Grove (either God's or Gods', depending on the setting) and Still Lake are intended to help triangulate which town this is, but they might be notable locations in their own right.

Suggested treasure: fine vintages (worth 3,000 gold), bottle of Champagne of Levitation (4 servings), bottle of Merlot of Healing (2 servings), a Mindat war helm, a Deck of Many Things, and a Horn of the Barbarians.

d20 Armors

 (That's the equivalent of d12.45 Armours, for metric readers)

When I wrote my d30 Rings post, I put together a little random generator at the bottom that randomly selects from a list of almost every spell and item I've written for the blog, distributed according to a certain old-school table that prescribes a certain  proportion of swords, non-sword weapons, scrolls, and so on. In doing so, I noticed that I almost never wrote any amulets, cursed swords, or magical armors, and that stuck in the back of my head until I wrote a d20 amulets post, a cursed items and double-edged swords post, and now a d20 armors post. 

More often than I expected, when I want to place a magic armor, the type (leather/chain/plate/exc.) I find I already have a strong opinion of what it should be in the context where it is being generated. Therefore, unless implied by the armor's description, you can apply these effects to whatever baseline AC type you want, and give a magic +1 AC bonus about 2-in-6 of the time. If you want to determine it randomly, roll a d4 and on a 1 it's leather, on a 2 or 3 it's chain, and on a 4 it's plate.

d20 Armors

1. The visor, vents, and weakpoints are shrouded with whale bristles, kept vital by the craft of merfolk bartsmiths. This affords better visibility from within, and utterly keeps out swarming creatures which might otherwise find a narrow entry under the armor.

2. Copper-trimmed armor forged against a spirit of Venus. If laid out in the sunrise or sunset, it gains up to 3 Charge. The wearer can spend a charge to add 1d6 damage to an unarmed attack or gain an unbreakable clenching grip for a few seconds. They can spend all remaining charges to emit a thunderbolt in a 200' line, dealing [charges]d6 damage to all, save for half. Expending a charge feels like releasing a muscle you've never noticed before, and shooting thunder is like euphoric emesis.

3. Hydraulic legs. Cranking a dial roots you to the spot so nothing short of a giant's tyrannous strength can move you. Cranking it another way causes the legs to deliver a powerful califerous hop up to 20 feet.

4. Spidersilk. Weighs only as much as your undershirt, and cannot be stuck by webbing or glue.

5. Brimmed fox helm and immaculate gown. When out of sight, you can appear at another place within 30 feet that is also unobserved by others, leaving behind an object the DM deems most appropriate as "a gift". Some has-been scholars will recognize this as the costume of a culture hero whose reverence and observances were suppressed.

6. Stone Judge. Moss-covered granite suit of armor as +1 Plate, the uniform of a beloved now-extinct sect. The people of the Ochre Vale will trust you on sight. Habitual wearers gain old memories-- in the Ochre Vale, get +2-in-6 to Find Secret Doors rolls, and when you are told rumors in that land, you instead hear old lore which is approximately as helpful.

7. Orca-Faced Plate. Airtight when worn with matching leathers. The wearer can hold their breath for up to 20 minutes.

8. Quicksilver Plate. Repels werewolves. At will, turn into a motile pool of mercury for up to 1 minute/hour spent wearing the armor. Take minimum damage from piercing attacks while fluid, but splashing you apart hurts like a weapon does.

9. Rough-skinned Leather. Eat a ration of fresh meat to turn into a shark, or back again.

10. Baroque and insectile suit with a wicked, harpoon-like stinger jutting out of the knee. The wielder can deliver a knee-strike that automatically hits, dealing d10 damage to the target, then-- wrenching like a bone breaking off-- 10-[damage dealt to target] to the wearer. The stinger regrows in about a week.

11. Evil. Red and black, with random spikes jutting out of it. Deal d8 damage on a grapple. Once donned, she cannot be doffed before killing a person on the spikes. In addition to whatever normal penalties one might have for wearing armor indefinitely, after 24 straight hours in this thing, get -4 wisdom until you can remove it.

12. Put the full set on and turn into Ata, a warrior from the time before history. Her stats are as an ogre, but her personality is problematic for modern dungeoneering and you may have to make frequent saves vs culture-shock-induced-violence. Turn back when even a glove or helm is removed.

13. A cerulean gown. Elegant, pretty, and oddly protective.

14. Basilisk scale. Turns creatures with a good sense of smell, or any creature that comes out of a mirror.

15. Hook helm. Shoots a grapple javelin straight up, and mechanisms on the body pull you to whatever you embed it in. If you want to bow forward to shoot it as a projectile, make a ranged attack at -2 to-hit for 1d8 damage. Range 50'.

16. Sweating jumpsuit, eyeless helm. As long as you wear it, you animate and see through the eyes of a bronze construct. For each hour spent piloting the construct, save vs wands or suffer distracting hallucinations.

17. Onion-Vein. Armor is semitransparent and flexible. If you are dismembered, the missing member regrows in 10 minutes, but with a 2-in-6 chance of misalignment.

18. Sloshing Armor. Stores up to 8 pints of blood. Expend 1 pint/round to regain 1 HP. When less than full, the armor goes cold, and the next person it touches other than its wearer instantly loses 1 HP per missing pint and the armor is topped up.

19. Horned Helm of Glory. Adorned with the (1d6+1)-point antlers of an elk that was hanged for murder, I guess. Burn a point like a candle, and it will glow for 1 hour, during which time the helm will absorb any sounds you make and no one else can see the point-fire, but at the end of the hour the helm will flash and shriek, releasing all the stored up sound and light.

20. Clockwork Armor. +2 Strength. Shoulder-mounted miniature crossbow that can attack for free (1d4 damage) but takes a full round to reload. When hit by a critical attack, save vs paralysis or perform a random act on your next turn as per Confusing Gaze.

2d20 Alternate Selves

 Roll this when a PC is exposed to exotic Dimension Rays, thrown into the space between worlds, or reads aloud from a wizard's spellbook without first studying classical pronunciation.

Like with my d20 effects of exposure to vats of goo, I imagine this table may have perennial utility. We might imagine for instance:

• A room in a dungeon with a dimensional mirror that summons an alternate version of anyone reflected in it, charmed to protect a great treasure.
• A spell, Ally Across Time, that summons a random self for ten minutes.
• An item, the Diadem Alternate, that allows communication between alternate worlds and can expend extra charges to bridge the gap.

In general, you want some sanity checks on these duplicates. They should usually only be around for a limited time, or at least want to return to where they came from. When they leave this world, their cool magic items should too, or things may get out of hand.

Most of these entries have multiple alternatives because it would suck if your character was a cowboy and you rolled the "cowboy" entry. That's not very alternate. Therefore, pick from the alternates randomly, unless one is already the case, in which instance you go with another. Use your most hackish instincts. If Bob the fighter rolls the "Roman" entry, you better believe that self is named Robius and has a +1 Gladius of Disruption to compliment Bob's Mace of Disruption. Do not work hard to make alternate selves easy to get along with-- most adventurers are paranoid of dopplegangers showing up and asking for help, but if basically decent will give the benefit of the doubt for as long as it takes to repulse these gnolls that just showed up.

2d20 Alternate Selves

2. Crystaline/slime 3. Undead/dying 4. Gunhaver/Bronze Age 5. Mutant/animal person 6. Genius/Evil Genius 7. Romantic/nerd 8. Steampunk/goth 9. Teen/Elder 10. Punk/sellout corpo 11. Stereotypical 1E PC/stereotypical 4E PC 12. Swashbuckler/ninja 13. Roman/Greek 14. Stark Trek alien appearance: weird facial feature and non-human skin tone 15. Debutante thief/Gentleman investigator 16. Composite character with another PC 17. Viking/samurai 18. Different homeland 19. Sex and/or gender difference 20. Alternate alignment: Arthurian/merry men/Nazi/Mad Max 21. Roll twice and combine 22. Plain evil, mustache 23. Sad backstory, different fashion and haircut 24. Very similar, different color clothes 25. Like your own nemesis/total wimp 26. Conan/dandy 27. Raised by alternate dimension's equivalent of a notable, surprising NPC 28. Islamic Golden Age/Khanate 29. Vigilante/ruler 30. Never suffered most important loss/is a vengeful ghost 31. Way more successful/way less successful 32. Vampire/angel 33. Robot/caveman 34. Cowgirl/astronaut 35. Different class altogether 36. Soviet/painfully American 37. Spelljamming voyager/Darksun survivor 38. Werewolf/has a cursed weapon 39. Mobster/lobster 40. Bug person/ dino person