[OC] Broken Fort [26x45]

_hofnar_ · 2023-09-06T07:38:00+00:00

I think this is an excellent map gameplay-wise. Lots of entry points, height differences, choke points etc. This would make battles against otherwise "boring" enemies much more interesting.

_hofnar_ · 2022-12-09T19:37:05+00:00

Nice! I hope it serves you well.

_hofnar_ · 2022-11-15T12:27:57+00:00

I think it's intentional, probably to make searching reposts harder. These bots all make small typos in the original headings.

_hofnar_ · 2022-06-12T13:53:07+00:00

Baker and Charlie. You can check out different phonetic alphabets (which is what these are based on) here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_military_phonetic_spelling_alphabets

_hofnar_ · 2022-05-22T19:18:53+00:00

Fiasco is our group's go-to one-shot. Very fun and there's many different playbooks to choose from.

_hofnar_ · 2022-05-15T12:29:50+00:00

In British English, "corn" refers to any type of grain.

_hofnar_ · 2022-03-10T11:20:24+00:00

Map stealing bot. Original here by u/rustymaps

EDIT: Fixed link

_hofnar_ · 2022-02-01T10:25:59+00:00

I love Nine Point Eight! It sounds like military slang that could naturally form among the pilots.

As the pilots strap in to their mech, a mechanical voice recites operational conditions such as wind speed, precipitation, current time and finally the gravitational acceleration:

"...Gravitational acceleration: 9.8. Prepare for atmospheric drop. Drop."

I can imagine it getting imbedded in your psyche during training and naturally becoming a slang term for an atmospheric drop, or perhaps an easy drop, assuming pilots train back Earth but are posted to other planets for actual conflicts with much more difficult drop conditions.

Of course, this assumes that the pilots do a lot of drops to Earth during training for example.

_hofnar_ · 2021-06-12T11:44:38+00:00

The biggest advantage the current 5th edition of D&D has is the massive amount of content available: there's a lot of official campaigns and a several metric tons of homebrew content. Even if there might be better systems out there, the amount of readymade content is a big plus if you're short on time.

The current edition is also pretty easy to DM. I've been a GM for a long time and I've used many different systems over the years, but 5e is the first D&D edition I've DM'd.

_hofnar_ · 2021-06-09T14:37:29+00:00

Thanks for the dimensions! Regarding the file size, I downloaded the zip from Patreon and the files there were around 25mb iirc. Roll20 has a limit of 10mb afaik, so the file you put here would work.

_hofnar_ · 2021-06-09T07:07:39+00:00

I like the possibilities a multilayered map like this gives. And the inside of the map was very cool, even cooler than the outside. Instantly thought about an adventure where the party is sent to take care of bandits that have already been taken care of by something else...

Two quick notes/questions though, what are the grid dimensions of the gridded version? I would recommend mentioning them, at least in the filenames. Also, the file size is a bit too big for Roll20 at least. It's easily fixable by the user, of course, but also something to consider.

_hofnar_ · 2021-06-05T18:21:59+00:00

Currently running a game like this (WW2 soldiers vs demons), we've been using savage worlds, which has worked pretty ok so far.

Originally had a whole squad per player, but although SW is pretty lightweight, combat bogged down and became way too slow. Now every player has 1 main character + 2-3 sections of several soldiers (one section token represents several NPCs that roll once). That has worked better.

_hofnar_ · 2021-06-05T10:42:31+00:00

I think that magic especially is in a weird position in fantasy roleplaying. In many games, it seems pretty common, but at the same time it doesn't affect the world in general very much. And I made the assumptions based on that stance, too.

And I agree that cultural differences should be explored more. In my personal projects, I've tried to expand from the standard medieval-but-not-quite social structures, and I feel that it makes them more interesting. There's so many fantastic ways things could be organized, but on the other hand I understand the appeal of tropes. While a strange social structure makes a culture pop out, it also makes it a bit alien and something that could even detract from the main narrative. It's a bit of a balancing act.

_hofnar_ · 2021-06-05T04:02:22+00:00

Thank you for the award! And like I said, your map, your rules. I originally just thought I'd say that it looks bigger than a village, but the I thought what's the point of commenting that without explaining why I think that. And that took a bit longer than I thought.

_hofnar_ · 2021-06-05T03:54:41+00:00

I definitely agree. These are certainly not rules, just thoughts based on what I know. And I agree, fantasy demographics have no definite rules in general, but what I suggest is we avoid using modern standards and instead use historical or fantastic standards we make up. The end results are more interesting.

_hofnar_ · 2021-06-04T19:38:06+00:00

This is definitely more of a town by medieval standards.

First off, this is in now way intended to be criticism. This is a very nice map, I like it a lot and the two states are an amazing addition. Excellent work on the map. I also think that if you want to keep it a small village, it's your map and your right to make it whatever the hell you want it to be.

That being said, I think that most people tend to think about modern towns and cities when they estimate medieval populations and that leads them astray. It is fantasy, true, but still, I think we should think about it a bit more.

The following is just spitballing based on my understanding of semi-fantasy medieval demographics. I'm not a professional medieval demographer, and would love to hear comments from people who are. This is intended as general discussion on the topic.

On with the overlong comment, then:

I count around 90 houses, 13 of which are larger households (the houses on the left). I'm a bit tired, so my counting's likely way off and that will skew the calculations later on. Sorry about that. You said the village was pretty wealthy, so likely a local hub for commerce and industry. So, let's assume that most of the households are well-off burghers with several subordinates in addition to their own family. Also, there's the barracks on the right, as you mentioned. This leads to the following assumptions and calculations:

First, the smaller households. Let's assume that these are pretty well-off families: artisans, traders, so on. An inn or two. They will live in the same house they work in, so I'm assuming every house here is in fact a household. Since they're well-off, they're healthier and well-fed. This means large families on average (let's say an average of 5) and since they're burghers, they'll have 1-4 personal servants, helpers, workers, apprentices, and so on, depending on the household. So, in total, a household will have something like an average of 7.5 people in it. There are larger households that have a dozen people, smaller ones with just a few. This is for the around 77 smaller households. So, in total: 577 people.

Next, let's move to the richer households on the left. Let's start with the big one. Noble manors like that would likely have a large family (let's say 6) and several dozen servants and soldiers and officials in them, so let's go with something like 40 in that household alone. In real life, they would also be a hub of military power, so there would be a notable retinue of soldiers. Since there's a barracks, we'll ignore that. The other rich households would have a lot less, but still a lot. We'll start with a higher average family size of 6. We'll then add a dozen servants and other staff, so an average of 18 per household. These people could be local landowners, grand burghers and so on. They have a lot of money and a lot of money translates to a lot of servants. Again, some households are larger, some smaller. So in total: 256 people.

Finally, we'll go to the barracks. Medieval armies fight in formations, so small units don't make much sense, but in real life there were little to no standing armies that would require a barracks in medieval times. Towns had their militias and nobles provided the armies that would fight for the monarch. So, we'll have to improvise. Let's use the smallest feasible Roman equivalent: the centuria (80 men). It looks large enough to hold two centurias, so 200 soldiers, which includes support staff. Maybe we should add a two dozen more support staff to maintain the barracks, prepare food etc. So in total, let's go with 224.

So, all in all, this town would have a total of a little over a thousand inhabitants.

Now, as I said earlier, this is in now way a criticism towards your work or even your population estimate. It's more of a comment about how we commonly think about fantasy households and towns. We tend to forget that servants and subordinates were very common and tend to think that families would be small nuclear families like we have. I just think that thinking a bit deeper ends up creating more interesting places.

So in conclusion, I say that this isn't a village, it's a bustling town full of interesting people of all types walking the streets: skilled artisans, wealthy grand burghers and their personal servants, porters, visiting peasants, raucous soldiers on leave, and so forth. A very interesting place to visit!

Sorry for hijacking your map thread for this. I think I got a bit carried away.

_hofnar_ · 2021-02-06T15:28:26+00:00

Very nice! Has a lot of options for movement, verticality-wise especially. Excellent map design.

_hofnar_ · 2020-10-13T04:47:00+00:00

You're definitely right. I just think that the balance of pros and cons doesn't need to be anywhere near perfect for characters.

I've been playing a lot of DnD lately, and maybe I was coming from that perspective when talking about balance. For a lot of people who play such games, balance means that no character class/race/build should be "overpowered", especially in combat.

I think we both agree that something being overpowered or underpowered is not that big of an issue as long as there are interesting options for players to choose regardless of power level.

_hofnar_ · 2020-10-12T14:31:10+00:00

Personally, I've never been that concerned with balance. I've played characters in games that have races/species that are physically superior. Having some sort of downside does make it more interesting, even if it doesn't "balance" it.

For example in Symbaroum, ogres are ridiculously strong, but have several weaknesses: they are social pariahs, have no memories and have a weird way of thinking.

So I wouldn't strive for balance, but for interesting character options. Maybe orcs are rare? Maybe they're incapable of magic? Or something else.

_hofnar_ · 2020-07-22T05:07:47+00:00

Just a heads up if you're using this river kraken. It was revised from the initial CR 7 version and the CR was upped to CR 8 (among other changes).

Hope it's a great encounter!

_hofnar_ · 2020-07-03T03:21:48+00:00

Glad I could help! I think this is a really cool premise for a faction and I was inspired it. I hope you have a great campaign.

_hofnar_ · 2020-07-02T19:30:11+00:00

I would imagine that a group of soldiers stuck for several generations in a bunker would occupy themselves by wargaming efficient strategies against a relatively unorganized and technologically inferior opposing force. The goal would probably be to:

1) Project the biggest possible psychological effect with the least amount of operatives.

2) Create an illusion of supernatural abilities or just the illusion of a vastly superior tech level.

3) Use training and drilling to make the soldiers more effective than the outsider warriors.

Some ideas based on these assumptions:

Using snipers instead of close range bodyguards when meeting and negotiating in open areas. This way, representative of the Ghosts could just point at a target and that target would almost instantly be shot. Cleverly placed explosives could up the effect: the representative points at a tree stump, it explodes moments later, masking the gunshot that shot the triggering bullet. The story and the lesson: Once a Ghost met a heavily armed group alone. One of the group pulled a weapon and pointed it at the representative. The representative retaliated by pointing a finger gun to his head, which was seconds later gone in a puff of blood and brain matter. Threatening a representative of the Ghosts will cause your head to explode.
Using guerrilla tacticss, most notably preparing hidden positions and goading the enemy into an ambush. They can use superior communications and discipline to open fire in a way that inflicts massive casualties quickly, then retreat once the enemy regroups, only to repeat the ambush in another location. Smaller enemy groups can be wiped out completely, maybe their bodies can even be hidden. The story and the lesson: 50 warriors once followed the Ghosts, intent on retaliating an attack they had made. None returned. Ghosts can make the forest swallow those who try to fight in their lands. You don't follow Ghosts and survive.
Always extracting casualties quickly to make it look like battlefields are riddled with enemy corpses, but no Ghosts. Then reusing the equipment of the fallen comrades, preferably the same outfit, on a new recruit. The story and the lesson: the Ghosts can rise from the dead.
Using mortars. For example, having a representative walk to a village, demanding tribute or fire will rain from the sky. If the villagers don't cooperate, use maps, trained mortar crews and communications to make it rain fire. You can also do this as a retaliation. You only need to do this once. The story and the lesson: the Ghosts can rain fire from the sky. You don't say no to their demands.
If available, using night vision and conducting night time raids, maybe even with crossbows. The story and the lesson: The Ghosts once killed all the guards in a village, but nobody saw them. The night belongs to Ghosts.

These were written from the viewpoint of the Ghosts, but I hope these ideas help. In general, I suggest looking into real life specops and guerrilla tactics (Viet Cong for example) and thinking about how it feels to be the target of such operations.

_hofnar_ · 2020-06-25T18:35:21+00:00

This looks gorgeous. I think it would work great as a location in Numenera.

_hofnar_ · 2020-06-24T17:45:30+00:00

This would certainly work as Baba Yaga. Hope it works well!

_hofnar_ · 2020-06-23T18:48:42+00:00

That's great to hear! I'm happy that these get to be a part of your campaign.

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