I’m going to run through the region creation process that forms the heart of Issue 04. We are going to be generating a region of Vaarn’s Great Wall that will hopefully be ripe for adventuring. Without further ado, let’s get started, and hope I can follow my own instructions.
1
Take a sheet of A4 paper or equivalent size. Divide the paper equally into three horizontal rows. The top-most third of the page is the Upper Wall. The middle section is the Mid-Wall. The lower third of the page is the Low Wall.
Nothing too challenging here. The top of the page is ‘up’ and the bottom is ‘down’.
2
Drop a handful of dice onto the page, noting where they land. I suggest using five or six dice, but there is no upper limit. The more dice you drop, the more locations you will create. You may use any size of dice up to d20, but be aware that using smaller dice sizes will constrain the results.
Consider it done. I’m using a darker set of dice as I can’t find my 80s-looking Vaarn set.
3
Draw circles around the dice where they fell, and note the number showing on the dice. Consult the Location Type table opposite to find what kind of location has been created. Note that the three strata of the Wall have different columns. Use the d20 tables on the appropriate page to fill out the locations.
Nothing too complex here. We’ve got a decent spread of locations: a Beetle Ranch and Needle Ship Port to act as safe areas, then a Crash Site, Lair, Sky Pirate Den, and a Krypteia Prison to act as dangerous adventure locales.
I’m not going to fill out the d20 tables quite yet, just to keep the map nice and simple at this stage.
4
Some locations have special properties that affect the space above, below, or level with them. These location types are marked with an asterisk. Their special effects are as follows:
Giant Tree – the tree grows upwards, and all Locations directly above the tree are entangled by its trunk and branches.
Hanging Jungle – the jungle spreads voraciously in both directions. Locations horizontally adjacent to the jungle’s origin point are also jungles, as well as containing a second Location type.
Weep – both pale and sable ikor weeps affect all locations below them, flooding them with ikor (see p.xx for details).
I sort of went ahead and did this step already; as you can see above, the Pale Ikor weep is spilling downwards and creates an Ikorlake at the bottom of the Wall.
5
Now that you have a rough map of the region, sketch out the routes between Locations. Even-numbered Locations connect to all their neighbouring Locations via known routes. Roll 1d6 to determine the base travel time in days (climbing takes double the base time, see p.26). Two odd-numbered locations do not connect via known climbing routes.
We have our known travel routes. The travel time is halved when descending, so climbing down from the Needle Ship Port to the Crash Site only takes two days on foot. Climbing up, however, will take eight days.
6
The following locations will always connect to an ikor vein, an alternate method of transport through the Wall: Beetle Ranch, Needle Ship Port, Low Wall Settlement, Sargattean Fort, Monastery, Way Station, Upper Wall Settlement, and Weep (Both). Connect them with dotted lines to indicate the vein routes. A needle-ship can sail between two locations within hours.
We have our ikorvein! This one flows with Pale Ikor, which is safe to drink. We can see that it connects the Beetle Ranch and Needle Ship Port, as well as the Weep (which is a large leak in the vein). So now we have a way to fast-travel between the two safe zones (assuming you have access to a Needle Ship, of course).
7
Populate the region with encounter tables. The Wall’s ecology changes as one climbs through its strata, so it may be worth creating multiple smaller encounter tables for each layer. Examples can be found on page xx.
I’m actually a bit out of synch with my own instructions here, but for good reason. I wanted the travel routes on the map to be clear to everyone before I started writing notes all over it.
I’m not going to be making monster encounter tables from scratch, as the zine already has a quite extensive one. Instead I’m going to use the dice tables for each location to fill out our region. I went from the top down.
The Krypteia Prison is a looming structure, which imprisons Hegemony spies and accused assassins. The guards are hired cacklemaw and a sadistic lithling. The prisoners are subjected to sensory and sleep deprivation. This feels like somewhere the PCs might be hired to break into.
The Sky Pirate Den is smoky, and the pirates fear the ground. They have a spherical craft, with a hold full of morose captives. The top of this region seems full of potential for rescue missions.
The Needle Ship Port is overcrowded and mouldy, although you will be entertained by psychedelic cocktails and performing fire eaters. Amongst those looking for transport are Quantum Daemon worshippers and disguised Levellers. The port is ruled by a weak Harpy Roost, which we will have to generate some details on later.
More details on the other locations.
The Harpy family who rule the Needle Ship Port are known as the Ururu Roost. Their home is battle-scarred and spiralling. Their sigil is an Eclipse, their reputation is for poor fashion sense, and they have recently stolen another Roost’s eggs. This lot seem like they’re always getting into trouble; I wonder if they have bitten off more than they can chew with the egg theft?
The Crash Site is the final resting place of floating fortress that was carrying pack beetles. The fort crashed due to the treachery of its crew, and the crash itself is often sung about.
The Beetle Ranch is located within a mass of pipes. The beetle are agile and mad, and the staff paranoid. Despite this, the ranch reputation is respectable.
The Lair that lies between the Crash Site and Ranch is home to two Vantablack Panthers. I imagine they often hunt around the lake of pale ikor that pools beneath their home.
8
Look at any settlements or outposts in the region, and attach a few NPCs to them. Use the table on page xx if you get stuck.
I rolled up two NPCs – a quiet Planeyman who craves drink and is secretly a Leveller, and an extravagant Mycomorph who is looking for their lost family, and doesn’t really care about the Wall’s politics. The Planeyman seems like they belong to the Needle Ship Port. I don’t know where the Mycomorph fits in, but I can imagine meeting them in the Port or at the Ranch, depending on where the players go first. I think their family member needs to be a captive of the Sky Pirates or the Krypteia.
This seems like the time to think about the region as a whole, and the connections between locations. I think the Krypteia Prison guards and Sky Pirates have to know about one another, as they’re both lurking up at the top there. I think they’re definitely rivals.
I also think the pirates have some connection to the crashed flying fortress at the bottom of the Wall. I think their spherical craft is a lifeboat that escaped the fortress as it was sabotaged, and they either are the treacherous crew or their descendents. The wreck of the fortress itself is actually a good seed for a fully-fledged dungeon for the PCs to delve.
The Port is a powder keg, with a weak Harpy Roost in control and some Daemon-worshippers and Levellers skulking around in the shadows. I would do a bit more brainstorming about what these three factions want and invent representatives of each to approach the PCs.
I can imagine the Beetle Ranch being pretty upset about two Vantablack Panthers lairing so close to their valuable stock. They would be looking for adventurers to clear out that lair.
9
Finally, name the major settlements and landmarks on the map. You can get some inspiration from the table opposite.
The observant will notice I already did this. We have the Caepearwalk Sky Pirate Den, the Touki Needle Ship Port, and the Farasai Ranch. These can be place names or the names of the family who own them or whatever you like really.
I think this is ready to go! I would start the PCs off in Port Touki, and see where their nose for adventure takes them. They can overthrow or aid the Ururu Roost, or get involved in a rescue mission involving either the sky pirates, the Krypteia prison, or both! There’s also a potential dungeon just two day’s climb below them, awaiting some explorers.
VAULTS OF VAARN 