Chitty Realm Sample Map

I made this tonight from the chitty realm tool. Note that you don't have to line the chits up in neat rows -- you can be a little more organic in placing them.

 

Kha's Post-Apocalyptic Chitty Realm

Kha sent me a link to a me-inspired set of chits he made for a post-apocalypse world. It's here on his blog. Cuidado! Hombres cucaracha! Love it!

Chitty Realm Worldbuilding Tool

Like Chitty City, but scaled to the size of a large fantasy realm. Cut, arrange, paste, doodle, or just read each chit and steal any idea that appeals to you.

 

Chitty City Map

Here's a map I made using the Chitty City tool I posted the other day. 

I drew the chits randomly, but placed them deliberately so that they made some sense in relation to one another. I'm looking at this map now as a PC would, wondering why there's a colossal unfinished statue on the prison island. Are the prisoners forced to labor on a huge statue of the city ruler, or perhaps of a god that will come to life when the statue is complete? Maybe the colossus IS the prison, like some huge Wicker Man full of criminals. And why is the city center an abandoned killing field? Is it accursed? Plagued by undead? Whose tower is that? Zenopus? Maybe it's Porttown from the Holmes sample dungeon!
Once I'd placed all the chits I wanted, I took a Sharpie marker and drew a shoreline and a few rudimentary geographical features -- no artistic ability needed for this sort of exercise.
I could add as much detail as I wanted from this point: bridges, plazas, city walls, entrances to the inevitable underworld beneath the city. And plenty of space to make notes directly on the map in each section. If you try one on your own, make sure you send me a link!

[Worldbuilding Fun-Time] Chitty City

Print, cut and glue into an instant city.

 

OSR Dungeon in 3D

My OSR Dungeon.

Blank Mixing Board -- Add Your Own Sliders

By request, the same fantasy realm mixing board, but with the sliders removed, so you can add your own. Please post your own versions!

 

Fantasy Realm Mixing Board

Where would your campaign's sliders be set?

 

Genre RPGs Made to Order in 30 Minutes: Pirates!

2004 for Atlas Games.

In my free fantasy RPG, Dungeonteller, your PC doesn't have stats, he has ten actions: Battle, Magic, Make, Muscle, Notice, Resist, Shoot, Sneak, Stunt, and Talk. My intent was to replace the STR/DEX/CON/INT/WIS/CHA abstract-ability-score-metaphor with a list of the actions your character is most likely to use. Bye-bye ability scores, bye-bye skills.
Early on, I figured out that you could revise the action list to create a game for a different genre, but using the same mechanics pretty easily.
Let's pick a genre -- instead of dungeon explorers, the PCs are going to be pirates. This is going to be a game with lots of fighting, so let's parse that out into at least two actions, or what about these three: Brawl, Duel, and Shoot. This is a low-magic or no-magic game, so Magic's right out. Muscle, Notice, Sneak, Stunt, and Talk all seem genre-appropriate, but let's pick a new action that really speaks to the game's flavor: my nomination is Flash, which you roll to inspire, ingratiate, or impress other pirates.
The final action list for "Pirateteller":

Brawl
Duel
Flash
Muscle
Notice
Sneak
Shoot
Stunt
Talk

Some possible character classes:
The Brute:  Brawl 5, Flash 1, Muscle 6, Notice 1, Sneak 1, Shoot 1, Stunt 1, Talk 1
The Captain: Duel 3, Flash 5, Muscle 2, Notice 2, Shoot 2, Stunt 2, Talk 4
The Scalawag: Brawl 2, Flash 2, Muscle 2, Notice 4, Sneak 5, Shoot 2, Stunt 3, Talk 4
The Swashbuckler: Brawl 1, Duel 5, Flash 4, Muscle 2, Notice 2, Sneak 2, Stunt 3, Talk 2.

Compare to a typical pirate crewmember:
Brawl 2, Muscle 3, Notice 3, Sneak 2, Shoot 2, Stunt 2, Talk 1.

Have at it, matey!
 

 

Yoink! Nausicaa in Large Format Paperbacks

Ordered these from my fave local comics store a few weeks ago and picked them up yesterday. This is Miyazaki's most fully-realized world, and one that would make an incredible RPG setting. The new editions come with fold-out color maps and posters. It's clear from the loving details of the political and military maps that Miyazaki loved the world-building aspects as much as the storytelling. There are even color drawings of the life cycles of the flora of the toxic jungle. If you've never read Nausicaa or seen the film, I can't recommend them highly enough to you as inspiration.

The complete saga in seven deluxe volumes.

Detail of color insert.

30-minute Template Dungeon

Here's a scan of a dungeon I drew in about 30 minutes using the template I posted the other night. I came up with an evil boss who was a duergar artificer building a "dark iron golem" into which he planned to transfer his spirit before going forth to wreak havoc on the surface world. His bane is the imaginatively named "iron-bane wand" which can corrode the magical ore his slaves are digging up to smelt into the metal he needs to make the golem. I think it was left there as a fail-safe by the goodly gnomes who first discovered the ore.
I plan to run this as a one- or two- shot Dungeonteller adventure for kids and parents. I'll let you know how it went.

 

Dungeon Design Template

Think of this as a "Mad-Lib" approach to dungeon design.

Happy Independence Day!

Firebrand prestige class, Northern Crown, 2004.

Oh, great, now I have a Facebook page.

This. For those of you who like my stuff but don't read blogs.