It's been quiet here blogside as of
late, real world business, writing and gaming (ironically) have
conspired to delay my triumphant return into regular blogging. (But
really how much is there to say about a hobby?)
Besides the Reavers of the Weird
miniatures campaign which launched this week with six players, the
weekly Hill Cantons game has been going in some interesting
directions in the new explore/clear/colonize the Feral Shore
sideline. In other words doing domain-level play several levels before "name level" and firmly shaking out the notion that it is some kind of end-game retirement phase.
A thriving (if squalid) little
Jamestown-like fort settlement has sprung up and the players have
already accomplished some rather heroic (for their general murderhobo
scumbaggery) feats such as freeing an old pagan god chained to a
lakefloor (who they think is the Cantons version of the Slavic god
Veles), finding a book of a god, clearing a massive dam made wholly
of human bones, exploring the Valley of Grot and its temple, etc.
As the foothold in the Weird expands, I
find myself adapting many of the collection of subsystems designed
for the two Domain Game experiments and the Borderlands (yeah, yeah
eventually). Here is one of the ones I am currently using to set out
what kind of broke-in-the-head people would be attracted to a muddy
little clearing in the howling wilderness.
Settler Rules
Colonists can recruited to the
settlement by the promise of free or cheap land. Colonists will only
begin to arrive when the following conditions are met:
1. A two-mile hex and it's surrounding
hexes have been rigorously explored and cleared of threats.
2. The players have set twice a week
patrols of all six of those hexes.
3. The passage from the coast to the
settlement is also explored, cleared, and patrolled.
Every three months a call can be issued
back home in the Cantons. With each seasonal call, the player can
grant and settle up a square miles of arable land in the settlement
hex. Each hex is assumed to have four square miles of potentially
grantable land.
Colonists work their own land and
provide their own means, thus the players have no direct obligation
to house, feed, and pay them as they do for their retainers,
hirelings, and followers. They do however come under the obligation
of paying taxes, tithes, fees, tariffs and obeying the rules set by
the players within reason. An average rate of taxation—1 gold sun
per family per month--will tend to not produce riotous conditions.
Roll on the following two tables for
each seasonal settlement (or if a special campaign event calls for
it).
Interesting Immigrants Table
Roll d20
| 1 | Crazy old coot |
| 2 | Village idiot |
| 3 | Local gossip (also practices some kind of trade) |
| 4 | 1d3 wanton harlots or strutting gigolos |
| 5 | Slave trader/Indentured Servant dealer or other scum bag, 1d3 slimy henchmen |
| 6 | Tavern/Wine den/Hallucinogen parlor keeper |
| 7 | Smelly kozak horse caravanserai and trade herd |
| 8 | Evening or Morning Star society heretic (also craftsmen) |
| 9 | Starry Void mystic (also craftsmen) |
| 10 | Silent God rebbe or Old Pahr pagan (also vinter, metalsmith, or sage) |
| 11 | Feral Dwarf hill scout |
| 12 | Half-Ogre goon |
| 13 | Black Hobbit professional maker of trouble |
| 14 | Fishing boatkeeper and family (or hunter if not on navigable water) |
| 15 | Recovering (perhaps) bandit/outlaw/poacher |
| 16 | Kezmaroki shabby gentily family (extravagant title but destitute) |
| 17 | 1d3 defaulted Bonders (mercs) from Kezmarok (come with armor and weapons) |
| 18 | Guild of Condoterrie, Linkboys and Scalawags member (owes back dues) |
| 19 | Non-inimical monster from the Weird |
| 20 | Something truly fucked up (GM's discretion). |
Boring Immigrants Table
Roll d10
| 1 | none |
| 2-3 | 16 families of tenant farmers |
| 4-5 | 14 families of tenant farmers, 2 families of freeholders (80 suns for sale of land) |
| 6 | 12 tenant farmers, 4 freeholders (160 suns sale) |
| 7 | 12 tenant farmers, 4 military colonists |
| 8 | 10 tenant farmers, 2 freeholder (80 suns sale), 1 boyar (160 suns) |
| 9 | 10 tenant farmers, 2 military colonists (160suns sale), 1 boyar (160 suns) |
| 10 | 8 tenant farmers, 4 freeholder (160suns sale), 1 boyar (160 suns) |
*Any emigrating family can be
substituted for a family of tenant farmer if desired.
Tenant Farmers
Free farming family that works a leased
grant of 40 acres in exchange for farming work, militia service, and
taxes. Typical family will be five with three working bodies that are
available to work the landowner's seeding and harvest. The household
will provide one unarmored combatant with club, dagger, or other
makeshift weapon.
Freeholders
Free farming family of five that works
a purchased grant of 40 acres. In an emergency situation, the
household will provide one combatant with leather armor and a long
bow or spear/shield.
Military colonists
Family headed by former mercenaries,
landsknechts or Kezmaroki bonders that works a leased grant of 40
acres in exchange for militia service. The household will provide one
combatant with half plate, short sword and a pike or crossbow.
Boyars
Wealthy, but not titled landholder that
purchases 120 acres. One family of five with 12 servants. In an
emergency situation, the household will provide one mounted warrior
with half plate, shield, sword and lance and three unarmored
combatants with club, dagger, or other makeshift weapon.
