The Wilds

 

Setting:

The game is set in a frontier region on the edge of civilization. There’s a convenient fortified town that marked the farthest outpost of civilization and law, but beyond that is sketchy wilderness. All the PCs are would-be adventurers based in this town. Adventuring is not a common or safe profession, so the player characters are the only ones interested in risking their lives in the wilderness in hopes of making a fortune (NPCs adventurers are few and far between). Between sorties into the wilds PCs rest up, trade info and plan their next foray in the cheery taproom of the local tavern.

PCs get to explore anywhere they want, the only rule being that going back to civilization is off-limits — there are no adventures in the civilized lands, just peaceful retirement.

The environment is dangerous. Very dangerous. PCs have to work together or they are going to get creamed. They also have to think and pick their battles — since they can go anywhere, there is nothing stopping them from strolling into areas that will wipe them out. If they just strap on their swords and charge everything they see they are going to be rolling up new characters. Players learn to observe their environment and adapt — when they find owlbear tracks in the woods they give the area a wide berth (at least until they gain a few levels). When they stumble into the lair of a terrifying hydra they retreat and round up a huge posse to hunt it down.

make town safe and the wilds wild — Having the town be physically secure (walled or in some cases protected by natural features like rivers or mountains) is very useful for making a sharp “town = safe / wilderness = danger” distinction. Draconian law enforcement inside town, coupled with zero enforcement in the wilds outside town, also helps. Once you are outside the town you are on your own.

Here is where the procedural hexcrawl generator comes into play. The frontier itself is unexplored. No one knows what’s out there in the wilds. Including you operating as both the Referee and PCs of your game. My recommendation is to use the Wilderness Hexplore by Jed McClure. It is an invaluable tool.

https://pdfcoffee.com/wilderness-hexplore-revised-pdf-free.html

If you want a quick and dirty generator, go with Appendix B from the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide and the random encounter tables of whichever ruleset you’ve chosen.

Speaking of rulesets/game systems, go for something “rules-lite". I’ll most likely be using Old School Essentials (depending on a few die rolls). Necrotic Gnome has the original OSE Classic Fantasy for free on their website.

https://oldschoolessentials.necroticgnome.com/srd/index.php/Main_Page

Need random tables for OSE?

https://oldschoolessentials.necroticgnome.com/generators/

In the next post I’ll go over “Time" and how it will effect the game…


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