for work on a sandbox module

[hengest]

Probably people have done lots better than I could, but hey, why shouldn't I make a thread, too?

This was inspired by a post on another thread (I'll find the link later and link it in). (Edit: It was this.)

I'd like at least to make plans for a non-railroad sandbox module.  Maybe just a couple pages, who cares?  Does it need to be a hundred pages? No!

You all are welcome to reply or contribute to anything on this thread.

Ideas and questions to follow.

[hengest]

What would be a cool mini-module that isn't a railroad at all?

Almost anything can be riffed on, but maybe the minimum for a mini-module that will feel at least a little like a module is that it should be a place with some variation inside it.  A populated area of some kind, an abandoned mountain mine, even an area of land. A number of "things" that are contained in this place and help to define its character.

There should be potential for interaction between the "places" and "things" within the place.

There should be a mix of certainty (to define the place) and obvious/not so obvious uncertainty (to encourage any ref or reader to get sucked in and make the place their own).  We could also call this a mix of triviality (always riffable) and obvious mystery.

There should be room to add things entirely of your own design, as well. The place should not be so over-defined that it won't fit with anything else. In fact, regardless of my own flavor and preferences, I think that I would do best to bear the "kitchen sink" principle in mind -- even if the module doesn't look like "kitchen sink," it should be able to contribute to a kitchen sink setting if it's used in one!

[El Borak]

Jan 7, 2022 22:59:57 GMT -5 hengest said:

What would be a cool mini-module that isn't a railroad at all?

Almost anything can be riffed on, but maybe the minimum for a mini-module that will feel at least a little like a module is that it should be a place with some variation inside it.  A populated area of some kind, an abandoned mountain mine, even an area of land. A number of "things" that are contained in this place and help to define its character.

There should be potential for interaction between the "places" and "things" within the place.

There should be a mix of certainty (to define the place) and obvious/not so obvious uncertainty (to encourage any ref or reader to get sucked in and make the place their own).  We could also call this a mix of triviality (always riffable) and obvious mystery.

There should be room to add things entirely of your own design, as well. The place should not be so over-defined that it won't fit with anything else. In fact, regardless of my own flavor and preferences, I think that I would do best to bear the "kitchen sink" principle in mind -- even if the module doesn't look like "kitchen sink," it should be able to contribute to a kitchen sink setting if it's used in one!

To me the area should have more than one way in and out. Parts of it may have only one egress, but as a whole it should not be that restricted. It should not be a, "if you don't find the thing or get the clue in this area, it is impossible to continue" type of setup. Now it can be things that will blend with almost any world, or it could be something really weird, odd and out there. I think there should be multiple places and things and several mini-hooks, variety if the players choose to engage the area.

That would have been the great thing about the early days when you were running dozens of people in many different small groups through many of the same areas, something three groups ignored, three other groups were interested in.

[hengest]

Jan 8, 2022 17:44:55 GMT -5 El Borak said:

Jan 7, 2022 22:59:57 GMT -5 hengest said:

Yes, I agree, it should not be a "cul de sac" at all.  I wasn't even thinking along those lines but that is a good thing to say aloud.

And I long for the early days that I wasn't even there for.    

[hengest]

So...

-avoiding the "village" format for now.

-something that fits easily almost anywhere, could be adjacent to or in a populated area or simply out in the middle of the wilderness

-is strange at a glance but but inviting, not terrifying

-seems like a cousin to, rather than a parody of, something moderately familiar

I have the idea and am calling it Hagling Market. I will try to start posting it when I can.

[hengest]

Hagling Market

(description and flavor text)

In a valley or on the outskirts of a town, anywhere trees are in sight but not all around, Hagling Market may appear. Every day is the last day for Hagling Market. Even at noon, it is always sundown. The place is never closed but always about to knock off. When you breathe at Hagling Market, you can taste the night coming.

Four great mushrooms stand high above the ground, one notably shorter that the others. Their caps are round and full and everything nearby feels as if it is in their shade. Around each stem are a few stalls. Gloves, boots, cloaks. Bread, beer, stew. Beads, rings, and stars.

A girl went to market to look for a ring cut from a single gem just the color of her eyes. She found the ring but had to go away with the market to keep the ring because the price was too high.

The market folk are of your race but are of varied look and manner. Some you can hardly understand and some look just like someone you know.

-------

You cannot quite choose where to end up at the market. The stall at which you find yourself seems to have been chosen for you. If you step away, you may see what is at the next stall, or you may find that the market is packing up and no one will speak to you as they tote their packs into the night.

4d12 to generate a stall (or, of course, make your own). More stable aspects of the market will be detailed in later posts.


Stall Attended by
1 old woman
2 young woman with a comb of bone
3 strong man
4 a cat empowered to make sales
5 a prince, eager to please
6 you
7 a musician who speaks with reluctance but mostly plays
8 a woman wasting away
9 a retired thief
10 a miner
11 a woodcutter
12 roll again, plus the owner rolled cannot bear to part with their wares

Kind of Wares

1-4: clothing
5-8: food
9-10: beauty
11: bizarre
12: ancient but like new

The Wares

1 are better than usual
2 are nothing once taken from market
3 are normal
4 make you age
5 make you yearn for travel
6 give you second sight
7 draw nobles to you
8 cause you to forget your friends
9 take your breath away
10 give you another chance
11 there are more inside the stem of the mushroom, step in
12 are for someone else, you remember someone who needs this

Information
1 seems to be about another world
2 seems to be about another time
3 is directly relevant to your interests
4 is incoherent but suggestive of something relevant to your interests
5 is about how to find a hidden path
6 tells you of a well-known place nearby that you have never heard of, but it turns out it is there
7 tells you confusedly of a mirror-town under the ground
8 tells you about a threat 
9 is about speaker's personal history and an item of some value
10 really encourages you and your friends to go with the market, "at least for a while"
11 seems to be about your recent history, but garbled by transmission, almost mythicized
12 regards another "mountaintop" market

[hengest]

Quick sample:

4d12: 1, 6, 4, 5

The woman is extremely but not impossibly old. She looks rail-thin and wind-blown but seems more than hale enough to tend the bubbling cauldron. The stew she stirs has a sweet but musty scent and seems to be very much like her, or perhaps she seems like it. A bit of talk with the woman may get you information about how to see and walk the hidden path not far from here, no, not far, it leads to the end, but the end is not far, not far, but you must walk the path, the one that goes between the other places, when you are on the path your feet will walk sure even if your mind wanders, and it will, it will wander, but when your feet reach the end, sure your mind will come back and you will see...

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Jan 10, 2022 11:15:32 GMT -5 hengest said:

Hagling Market

(description and flavor text)

In a valley or on the outskirts of a town, anywhere trees are in sight but not all around, Hagling Market may appear. Every day is the last day for Hagling Market. Even at noon, it is always sundown. The place is never closed but always about to knock off. When you breathe at Hagling Market, you can taste the night coming.

Four great mushrooms stand high above the ground, one notably shorter that the others. Their caps are round and full and everything nearby feels as if it is in their shade. Around each stem are a few stalls. Gloves, boots, cloaks. Bread, beer, stew. Beads, rings, and stars.

A girl went to market to look for a ring cut from a single gem just the color of her eyes. She found the ring but had to go away with the market to keep the ring because the price was too high.

The market folk are of your race but are of varied look and manner. Some you can hardly understand and some look just like someone you know.

-------

You cannot quite choose where to end up at the market. The stall at which you find yourself seems to have been chosen for you. If you step away, you may see what is at the next stall, or you may find that the market is packing up and no one will speak to you as they tote their packs into the night.

4d12 to generate a stall (or, of course, make your own). More stable aspects of the market will be detailed in later posts.


Stall Attended by
1 old woman
2 young woman with a comb of bone
3 strong man
4 a cat empowered to make sales
5 a prince, eager to please
6 you
7 a musician who speaks with reluctance but mostly plays
8 a woman wasting away
9 a retired thief
10 a miner
11 a woodcutter
12 roll again, plus the owner rolled cannot bear to part with their wares

Kind of Wares

1-4: clothing
5-8: food
9-10: beauty
11: bizarre
12: ancient but like new

The Wares

1 are better than usual
2 are nothing once taken from market
3 are normal
4 make you age
5 make you yearn for travel
6 give you second sight
7 draw nobles to you
8 cause you to forget your friends
9 take your breath away
10 give you another chance
11 there are more inside the stem of the mushroom, step in
12 are for someone else, you remember someone who needs this

Information
1 seems to be about another world
2 seems to be about another time
3 is directly relevant to your interests
4 is incoherent but suggestive of something relevant to your interests
5 is about how to find a hidden path
6 tells you of a well-known place nearby that you have never heard of, but it turns out it is there
7 tells you confusedly of a mirror-town under the ground
8 tells you about a threat 
9 is about speaker's personal history and an item of some value
10 really encourages you and your friends to go with the market, "at least for a while"
11 seems to be about your recent history, but garbled by transmission, almost mythicized
12 regards another "mountaintop" market

I love this, have an Exalt!

[hengest]

Thanks, The Perilous Dreamer! I tried to make a module and it turned out to be another of my generators...but I do hope to add a few elements that could be more "stable" and make it feel like a...well, not really a module. But a modular place without railroad elements.

[El Borak]

Jan 10, 2022 18:59:36 GMT -5 hengest said:

Thanks, The Perilous Dreamer ! I tried to make a module and it turned out to be another of my generators...but I do hope to add a few elements that could be more "stable" and make it feel like a...well, not really a module. But a modular place without railroad elements.

You get enough generators together and you have a pdf to sell on RPGNOW. Also the above is an article for the fanzine, complete as is.

[True Black Raven]

Jan 11, 2022 0:43:51 GMT -5 El Borak said:

Jan 10, 2022 18:59:36 GMT -5 hengest said:

Thanks, The Perilous Dreamer ! I tried to make a module and it turned out to be another of my generators...but I do hope to add a few elements that could be more "stable" and make it feel like a...well, not really a module. But a modular place without railroad elements.

You get enough generators together and you have a pdf to sell on RPGNOW. Also the above is an article for the fanzine, complete as is.

I agree with this, about a dozen of these and you have a product to sell. Main thing besides that would be some play testing which might lead to a few tweaks to make sure none of the results are nonsensical.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Jan 10, 2022 18:59:36 GMT -5 hengest said:

Thanks, The Perilous Dreamer ! I tried to make a module and it turned out to be another of my generators...but I do hope to add a few elements that could be more "stable" and make it feel like a...well, not really a module. But a modular place without railroad elements.

I like your generators and I echo other comments about them. I am looking forward to seeing your modular places without railroad elements.