Bushido had a good method of identifying City Levels. It may expand well for use here.
Not sure if you would use it like Starport or Planet Type.
I was thinking Starport as the entire map would be "walkable" not just something that was used more as a measure of distance.
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I quite liked Drifter I'm afraid.

Quote from: Balbinus;223032I quite liked Drifter I'm afraid.

In a nautical themed game, Drifter gets extra points.

I'd be inclined to look at events like "Cast Away" so you can have a character spend a term on a deserted island.  Hmm.  Prisoner might be an interesting option as well - particularly if you spent a term as a pirate.

OK, I've changed 'Outlaw' to 'Drifter'.

Would it make sense to combine the 'Skills' and 'Resources' tables?

Quote from: Age of Fable;223078Would it make sense to combine the 'Skills' and 'Resources' tables?

I like them separately... but I could see how they'd work well together as well.

Not to drag other discussions over here (seriously) but I think if you want to use Helmsman/woman instead of just Helmsman, then I'd switch to another term like Pilot (or "Ship's Pilot") instead.

Armour:

There are three types of armour that characters may buy:

Shields cost 50 shells.

Helmets cost 100 shells.

A pair of greaves (armour which protects the lower leg) costs 100 shells.

A character's Armour is a number from 0 to 3, and represents the number of items of armour they're wearing (greaves count as 1, not 2).

Note that if a character is attacked from behind, neither a shield nor greaves will be of any use.

There's also provision in the rules for 'military armour'. This consists of a much higher-quality version of the shields, helmets and greaves available to player characters, as well as a breastplate. Players aren't able to buy military armour before play. If they do manage to find anyone selling it (almost always illegally), it should cost at least 2,000 shells. Wearing this armour will have a severe effect on the reception a character gets in more settled places - much like a person carrying a rocket launcher through a suburban shopping centre.

[note that this doesn't look much like Traveller, but it is actually a close translation: 1 piece of armour = Jack, 2 pieces = Mesh, 3 pieces = Cloth, military armour = Combat Armour. The three types of armour are from Mazes & Minotaurs]

Places, Cities:
===
Class A - City
Population: 2D2 x 100,000
Castle:
Temples: 2D6+6
Shrines: 2D6+6
Schools: 2D10+5
Gambling Halls: 2D10
Tax Revenue: 10D10 x 100 Koku

===
Class B - City
Population: 2D3 x 50,000
Castle: Level 1+2d3
Temples: 2D6
Shrines: 2D6
Schools: 2D10
Gambling Halls: 3D6
Tax Revenue: 6D10 x 100 Koku

===
Class C - City
Population: 2D6 x 5,000
Castle: Level 2D3
Temples: 2D3
Shrines: 2D3
Schools: 2D6
Gambling Halls: 2D6
Tax Revenue: 6D10 x 10 Koku

===
Class D - City
Population: 2D6 x 1,000
Castle: Level 1D3+1
Temples: 1D3+1
Shrines: 1D3+1
Schools: 1D6+1
Gambling Halls: 1D6
Tax Revenue: 6D10 x 10 Koku

===
Class E - Village
Population: 2D3 x 75
Castle: 10% chance of Level 1
Temples: 20% chance of 1
Shrines: 20% chance of 1
Schools: 5% chance of 1
Gambling Halls: 60% chance of gambling at an Inn
Tea Houses: 20% chance of 1
Tax Revenue:

===
Class F - Village
Population: 1D6 x 30
Castle: none
Temples: 5% chance of 1
Shrines: 5% chance of 1
Schools: none
Gambling Halls: 2D10
Tea Houses: if an Inn is present
Tax Revenue:

*from Bushido
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Thanks for this.

There seems to be quite a jump between cities and villages?

Quote from: Greentongue;223182Places, Cities:
===
Class A - City
Population: 2D2 x 100,000
Castle:
Temples: 2D6+6
Shrines: 2D6+6
Schools: 2D10+5
Gambling Halls: 2D10
Tax Revenue: 10D10 x 100 Koku...

Quote

What if the 'Drifter/Outlaw/Other' was called the 'Traveller'?

Quote from: Age of Fable;223412There seems to be quite a jump between cities and villages?

Looks like.
I believe there would be far more villages than cities. High population cities are very difficult to support in the low tech setting.
Can't see how there would be a lot of them.

The Bushido rules have breakdowns for temples, shrines, schools, etc... and their distrubition.
Not sure how much direct uploading of rule specifics is a good idea / needed.
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Here's another system - mostly for novelty/recognition value, although it seems actually workable if a bit long-winded.

1) Generate nearby resources.

For any given area, first roll to see what natural resources are in the area.

There are four types of land that can produce various resources: grasslands, hills, mountains, and forests.

Roll 2 dice and subtract 2 for each of them, except for grasslands - for grasslands, roll 4 dice and subtract 4.

2) Is the area suitable for settlement?

Roll 1 dice, and compare the result to both the forests and hills scores. If the dice roll is higher than either score, the area isn't suitable for settlement (it's too expensive to get the bricks and wood required to build a road).

This means that there will be no more than isolated homes, nomads etc in the area. Forests, hills and mountains might be home to bandits.

If the area is suitable for settlement, subtract the number you rolled from both the forests and hills score, and move on to step 3.

3) Port?

There is at least a village in the area.

If you already know whether or not the village is near the sea or a major river, assign a value. Otherwise, roll 1 dice. A 1-3 indicates that the village is indeed suitably situated to be a port.

If the village is a port, roll to see what the people who come to trade will be after:

1-3 they will trade all commodities

4-6 they're mainly after one commodity - roll again: (1- corn, 2- wool, 3- bricks, 4 - ore, 5 - wood 6 - roll again).

Regardless of the results in this step, move on to step 4.

4) Land Use?

Roll 1 dice, and split up the 'grasslands' score as follows:

1 the entire score is turned into a 'sheep' score.
2- one-third of the score goes to a 'corn' score, the other two-thirds to a 'sheep' score.
3-4 the score is divided evenly between 'sheep' and 'corn'.
5 - one-third to 'sheep', two-thirds to 'corn'.
6 - the entire score is turned into a 'corn' score.

This may result in one or both scores being fractions.

Then go to step 5.

5) Town?

You now roll to see if the village grows into a town.

Roll one dice.

Compare the result to all scores except 'ore' - that is, sheep, corn, hills and forests.

If the result is less than or equal to all these scores, the village grows to a town without the need for trade. Reduce all four scores by the amount you rolled, and go to step 6.

If the result is higher than any of these scores, the village isn't able to grow into a town without trade. Go to step 5a.

5a) Trade?

The village can 're-arrange' its scores - this represents trade.

Any village, regardless of whether it has a port, can trade any of its resources at 4:1 - that is, it can lose x points in one score to gain x/4 points in another.

In addition, a port will allow trade at a better price:

If the people who come to the port are interested in any commodity, the village can trade as above, but using a 3:1 ratio instead of 4:1.

If the people who come to the port are interested in a specific commodity, the village can trade that commodity only, but at a 2:1 ratio.

(Bricks are extracted from hills, wood from forests, and wool from sheep)

Remember that the 'mountains' score can also be 'traded' (representing the result of mining), but the village at this stage will only trade to increase the other four scores.

If there's more than one way to get high enough scores to become a town, choose the one with the most advantageous trade ratio. If there's still a tie, trade away the resource with the highest score. If there's still a tie, randomise.

If the village can trade its way into becoming a town, go to step 6. If not, go to step 7.

6) City?

Roll two dice. This is the necessary 'corn' score. Roll a single dice, and add it to this score. This is the necessary 'mountain' score.

This works exactly as for becoming a town - if the settlement doesn't have enough raw resources, it will trade using the ratios listed in step 5a.

Once this step is resolved, go to step 6.

6) Further Development?

Roll 1 dice. Compare this result to all of the 'sheep', 'corn', and 'mountains' scores.

Again, settlements will maximise their scores through trade. However this time, if further development does result, compare the scores again, and again until the settlement can't gain any further development.

For each 'lot' of further development (if any), roll on the table below.

1-2 soldiers.
3 chapel.
4 school.
5 government centre.
6 market.

Results 3-6 can only be gained once. 'Soldiers' can be gained any number of times, which further results indicating a larger and more important military base.


What sorts of people are likely to be encountered in the settlement will depend on the ORIGINAL rolls for resources, whether any trade occured during this process, and any 'development' features.

A high roll for forests will increase the number of hunters, woodcutters, foresters etc.

A high roll for 'grasslands' will increase the number of farmers (the split between 'corn' and 'sheep' will indicate what kinds).

A high roll for hills and mountains will increase the number of miners.

Trade, and/or a market, will indicate merchants and craftsmen (the nature of their craft will depend on the original resource rolls).

Ports will likewise indicate merchants, as well as fishermen and sailors.

Merchants, soldiers and sailors will indicate various forms of 'vice' - gambling, prostitution, theft, and so on. This will be more common in towns than in villages, and more common still in cities.

Finally a university, chapel or government centre will indicate scholars and students, priests, and government officials respectively.

Very Travellerish!

Do you roll to determine if it's a water hex, or do you draw in all the oceans, lakes and rivers ahead of time?

Quote from: Stuart;223527Very Travellerish!

Do you roll to determine if it's a water hex, or do you draw in all the oceans, lakes and rivers ahead of time?

You roll if you want to, or you can assign a value if you already know.

It's based on Settlers of Catan - but yeah, it does have a 'lifepath' kind of feel to it.

Well, looking over the Mongoose Traveller SRD, even a cursory inspection reveals that writing a free-standing game based on the old Traveller will prove problematic.  Specifically, the rules for generating characteristic stats and the table for characteistic modifiers have been left out of the open content.  So, Wanderer: Book 1 (or, in my case, Mariner: Book 1) seemingly needs to refer to the Mongoose Trav core book for basic character creation rules.  You can make your own career tables and all, though.

Hmph.  I'm less than satisfied with this.  Anyone see a work-around in the making?

!i!