To begin my solo-campaign chronicle Alone in the Forbidden Lands, there are a number of initial steps I need to undertake before we set off on our adventure. The first step is to develop the beginning village where our protagonist comes from, the village of Cogsmeet.
As with this entire process, I will be using the plethora of random tables found in the Forbidden Lands books. To create Cogsmeet I am using the village generation process beginning on page 168 of the Gamemaster's Guide.
So let us begin...
Size of Cogsmeet...I roll a d6 and get 2: Outpost, inhabitants 5-20. Let's say that Cogsmeet is on the upper scale of that with a whopping 18 inhabitants.
Age of Cogsmeet...I roll a d66 and get 54: During the Blood Mist 5-280 years ago. An outpost village such as Cogsmeet was founded near the end of the Blood Mist. A few families ventured forth from their home village and managed to somehow build this tiny settlement in daily stages. Unfortunately, many brave souls succumbed to the deadly Blood Mist in the process.
Ruling Cogsmeet...I roll a d66 and get 53: Cunning...I roll a d66 again and get 16: Despot. One of the families has come to see themselves as the rightful overlords of the outpost and thus manipulates the remaining people into doing their bidding. Halia sees herself as the unquestioned authority in Cogsmeet.
The problem of Cogsmeet...I roll a d66 and get 35: Undead. Those poor souls lost to the Blood Mist during its construction have recently begun to haunt Cogsmeet and the surrounding areas.
Cogsmeet is known for...I roll a d66 and get 16: Delicious Bread. One of the families of Cogsmeet makes truly amazing bread, a favorite part of any traveling rations.
Cogsmeet's oddity is...I roll a d66 and get 13: Eccentric Clothing. The people of Cogsmeet dress in bright tartan kilts to clearly signify which family they belong to.
Cogsmeet has a...I roll a d66 only once for the village size of "outpost" and get 55: Temple. The families of Cogsmeet take their religious devotions as serious as they take their bread.
With that process we have a quick yet interesting starting village from whence our (yet to be created) protagonist hails. But we don't have a geographic location yet. For that I will jump ahead to one of the steps in character creation using the Legends & Adventures booklet to roughly determine where in the Ravenlands Cogsmeet is located.
To determine the location I roll a d66 for the kin and then a d6 to find the homeland.
Kin is...I roll a d66 and get 21: Alderlander Human.
Homeland is...I roll a d6 and get 1: The edge of Arina Forest.
As you can see in the image above, the Arina Forest is quite central in the Ravenlands. Drilling down a bit further, you can see where I have decided to place Cogsmeet below.
This location will give the protagonist many interesting environments to explore. It is in relative close proximity to another village to the south-east. Most likely, this is the village from which the founding families of Cogsmeet came. We can also see forests, mountains, swamps, a few rivers and lakes, as well as some other marked (and rumored) points of interest.
But we're not quite done with Cogsmeet and its surrounding locations just yet. I will also use the Legends & Adventurers booklet to generate a local legend to serve as a bit of a catalyst to kick off this solo-campaign.
A long time ago...I roll d66 and get 12: Before the Shift (over 1,100 years ago).
...there was a...I roll a d66 and get 51: Jealous, and I roll a d66 again and get 26: Prince
...who sought...I roll a d66 and get 13: a weapon
...because of...I roll a d66 and get 64: greed
...and traveled to...I roll a d66 and get 53: a hill
...located...I roll a d6 and get 1: here
...in some...I roll a d66 and get 25: plains
...in the direction of...I roll a d6 and get 4: south-east
As the legend goes, it is said that he...I roll a d66 and get 66: still searches
...and that at the location there is...I roll a d66 and get 63: a dwarven artifact
...but also...I roll a d66 and get 46: starved, and I roll a d66 again and get 63: ogres
So when we look at the results of the legend generator we can see a story unfold which our protagonist will seek out.
Over a thousand years ago, a jealous prince ventured into the region just south-east of Cogsmeet in hill to find a great dwarven weapon. It is said that he never found what he sought and still roams the area (which could be an explanation for the undead troubling Cogsmeet). However, it is said that that area is home to starving ogres.
We now have our starting village, a location in the Ravenlands and a local legend to explore. In the next installment of Alone in the Forbidden Lands, we meet our protagonist and their companion. I am very curious to see where this journey, my first solo-RPG experience will take me and I hope you will join me on this adventure.
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