The Random Adventure Giannirator (cont'd)

After imaginos' improvements, now it is my friend Greg's turn to drastically improve the 'Giannirator'.

Greg's improvements are noteworthy in that:
a) he expands the Giannirator to add a Campbellian feel to it, and
b) he restricts it to Glorantha.

My initial and quite haphazard design born out of the boredom of an autumnal night, and initally destined to be yet another quirky curiosity in the long list of online OSR gaming aids, has now become a fully-fledged adventure generator.

Actually, rather than a mere advenure generator, it has become a campaign generator. And it is consistent with Joseph Campbell's monomyth, which is one of the fundaments of Greg Stafford's work on Glorantha.
The steps of the Giannirator are now to be rolled in the order outlined by J Campbell, viz:

1) The mundane world. Choose a Character or an Event.
2) The Call to Adventure. Choose a Character or an Event.
3) Refusal of the Call. Choose a Character or an Event.
4) Supernatural Aid. Choose a Character.
5) The Crossing of the First Threshold. Choose a Place.
6a) Allies. Choose a Character.
6b) Enemies. Choose a Character.
7) Belly of The Whale. Choose a Place.
8) The Road of Trials. Choose a Character or an Event.
9) The Ultimate Boon. Choose a Character or an Event.
10) Return. Choose a Character or an Event.
11) Resurrection. Roll 1D10.
12) Return. Choose an Event.

The above are just a brief summary of Greg's improved Campbellian Giannirator. Please give it a try, even if it's in French (an on-line translating tool may help).

Yog-Blosoth

I follow hundreds of blogs, but Yog-Blosoth is one that I follow enthusiastically. Not only is it updated regularly (almost daily), but the pictures are terrific and very inspirational — for your Call of Cthulhu games, of course, but even if you're running a dark and gritty frp game.

Today's picture, for instance, is very much a Timinit for me.

Seasons in Umathela

This post can be considered as an addition to my earlier Umathelan calendar post.

As already written, the Gloranthan year comprises five two-month seasons, followed by the two-week Sacred Time. For reasons that go back to Glorantha's distant past, each season is heavily influenced by one of the elemental runes. Sacred Time, however, is devoted to the Gods, and no single element holds sway on it.

The first season is the Sea season
In Umathela, it is a dry and chilly season.This is the time of traders and travellers.

The second season is the Fire season
In Umathela, it is a time of warm weather, with long rains. Harvest takes place at the end of this season.

The third season is the Earth season
In Umathela, it is a time of hot weather, with short rains. This is a time of activity for all Plant-Men. Fishermen have their best catches during this season.

The fourth season is the Dark season
In Umathela, it is cloudy and humid, but with little precipitation. The temperature is warm to cold. Trolls are most active during this time, whilst Brown Elves sleep.

The fifth season is the Storm season
In coastal Umathela, this means frequent hurricanes. In landlocked areas, heavy snow. Everywhere else, constant wind. The weather is overall cold.

During Sacred Time, no element is prominent, and the weather is calm and mild. This is when Umathings plant and bless their crops. Theist people are busy praying. Spirits are particularly active during this period of the year.

The Random Adventure Giannirator

My Bookshelf-Based Random Adventure Generator has met with unexpected success. My friends have even rechristened it 'the Giannirator', because of my Christian name.

One of my friends has brought about quite an improvement by adding a further D20 random roll to determine the core action of the adventure — in the basic version of the Giannirator, it was always sort of 'go fetch me this or that' from the PCs' mentor/patron/whatever.

So before you roll the six die rolls mentioned in the original post, do a random roll on a D20 to determine the central action of the adventure. Use the following table or devise your own:

D20 roll ‒ core action
1 ‒ retrieve (fetch, kidnap...)
2 ‒ transport (move, deliver...)
3 ‒ free, succour
4 ‒ survive to, escape from,...
5 ‒ go to, enter, penetrate
6 ‒ explore, discover
7 ‒ enquire, solve a mystery
8 ‒ exact revenge on, avenge
9 ‒ sell, barter, trade, get rid of
10 ‒ humiliate
11 ‒ defend, protect, escort, guard
12 ‒ persuade, proselytise, convert, recruit
13 ‒ create, build
14 ‒ dissimulate, hide, plant
15 ‒ blackmail
16 ‒ terminate, kill, destroy
17 ‒ deceive
18 ‒ sacrifice oneself for
19 ‒ conquer, invade, vanquish
20 ‒ other, or re-roll, or GM fiat

So in the end, the updated blueprint shall take the following into account:

ROLL D20 → CORE_ACTION
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → NPC1
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → LOCATION1
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → PERSON/OBJECT
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → NPC2
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → LOCATION2
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → MISC

and look like this:
The Player Characters start their adventure in their home town/hex/current location in the campaign. {NPC1} asks the PCs to go to {LOCATION1} to {CORE_ACTION} {PERSON/OBJECT}. The PCs will end up fighting against {NPC2} in {LOCATION2}. During the course of the adventure, {MISC} will feature prominently.

Edit: Obviously I had to try the new table out. I've recently realised I probably had as many gaming stuff in (legal) PDF form as I had in dead tree, so I've decided to roll on my PDFshelf rather than on my bookshelf. Here are the results:
D20: 2 - transport/move/deliver
NPC1: Rule One Magazine issue No.14 - p13 - an Alchemist
LOCATION1: Religions of Ancient China, Herbert A Giles - p50 - the court of the Emperor
PERSON/OBJECT: Fantastic Fables, Ambrose Bierce - p175 - a lion's skin
NPC2: Temple of the Fool God - p31 - a Dwarf named Rocky
LOCATION2: Le meraviglie del Duemila, Emilio Salgari - p13 - New York
MISC: RuneQuest 6 - p112 - disease and poison

Hence the following text:

The Player Characters start their adventure in their home town/hex/current location in the campaign. An alchemist asks the PCs to deliver a lion's skin to the court of the Emperor. The PCs will end up fighting against a Dwarf named Rocky in New York. During the course of the adventure, disease and poison will feature prominently.

Frankly, except for the odd 'New York', that's quite an uncanny scenario seed!

Forest's Guardian

(dedicated to Hervé Carteau)

The Forest's Guardian is a large, animal-like plant construct magically animated by the Great Tree of a given Aldryami Forest for purposes of self-defence in times of danger, typically to confront invaders. The Forest's Guardian will remain in the vicinity of the Great Tree to make sure it is unharmed.

 Sometimes, the Great Tree of an Aldryami Forest becomes mad. In this case, the Forest's Guardian may be created for nefarious, rather than defensive, purposes, and it may hunt down any sentient species it encounters, including elves, irrespective of their actual behaviour towards the Great Tree.

Despite its size, the Forest's Guardian moves at incredible speed through the forest.

HQ Characteristics
Large 5Ш
Fast 5Ш
Devouring maw 3Ш2
Liana attack 5Ш2
Lacks central nervous system 8Ш
Lacks Man Rune 8Ш

T&T Characteristics
MR 350
Combat dice 36D + 175
Special: 9/Ensnare - Lvl 5 SR against DEX or be ensnared within the creature (see picture above); Lvl 5 SR against STR to break free.

BRP/RQ Characteristics
STR 6D6 (21)
CON 6D6 (21)
DEX 4D6 (14)
SIZ 3D6+20 (30-31)
INT 2D6 (7)
POW 4D6 (14)
CHA 5
Move: 12
Hit points: 26
Damage Bonus: +2D6
Armour: 5 points
Attacks:

• Maw 55%, 1D10+dmg bonus
• Liana (×2) 75%, 1D8+dmg bonus. Any victim hit must roll his DEX vs the creature's DEX on the Resistance Table. Failure means the victim is ensnared within the Guardian (see picture above). Every following round, the victim may try and break free by roll his STR vs the creature's STR on the Resistance Table.

Special abilities:

• Life Sense
• The Forest's Guardian is attuned to the Forest's Song and hence can never be surprised, always know where its foes are, etc.

Magic: Plant Rune. Depending on his system of choice, the GM should devise plant-based spells.
Special defence: The Guardian lacks the Man Rune and is hence immune to spells such as Harmonise, and to any mind-affecting spells or powers (Befuddle, etc.)
Hit Location Table: Since the Guardian does not have a central nervous sytem, and since it immediately regrows (or rather re-sprouts) any lost limb, it is assumed to have but a single hit location.
Should the Guardian have ensnared one or more victims, then any damage to the Guardian may actually affect the ensnared victim.
For 1 victim, roll 1D20: on a roll of 1-2, the victim is hit; 3-20, the Guardian is hit.
For 2 victims, roll 1D20: on a roll of 1-2, the 1st victim is hit; on a roll of 3-4, the 2nd victim is hit; 5-20, the Guardian is hit.
And so on...

LotFP Characteristics
Armour as leather + shield.
Move as unencumbered man.
HD 8. #AT 3: maw/liana/liana, D 1D10/1D8+ensnarement/1D8+ensnarement.
Ensnarement:
Save vs Paralyse or be ensnared.
To break free: use the Wrestling rules. Consider that the Guardian has STR and DEX 18.

Bookshelf-Based Random Adventure Generator

This post has been inspired by the recent "bookshelf meme", and by Zak's Bookshelf Roulette post.

my bookshelf — RPGs

Using but a few dice, your bookshelf, and the blueprint below, you will be able to design/improvise a fully-fledged role-playing adventure. Here's how.

First, get hold of 1D6, 1D30, and 1D100. Each adventure seed is based upon SIX books from your bookshelf, and information from within those books randomly extracted using the results of the dice rolls.

THE RANDOM ADVENTURE GENERATOR
For each one of those six books, roll five dice, in the following order:

1. Roll 1D6. Check the results of the roll: 1-3: use the top shelf; 4-6: use the bottom shelf. Of course if you have more than two shelves use a different die.
2. Roll 1D6. Check the results of the roll: 1-3: start counting from the left; 4-6: start counting from the right.
3. Roll 1D30. Count as many books from either the left or the right, depending on the previous die roll.
4. Roll 1D6. Check the results of the roll: 1-3: start from the beginning; 4-6: start from the end. Ignore covers, indices, empty pages, etc.
5. Roll 1D100. Count as many pages. Using the guidelines from the blueprint, choose the relevant element from within the page.

1. From within BOOK ONE, choose an NPC (person, sentient creature, god...).
2. From within BOOK TWO, choose a LOCATION (city, hex, place, building, planet...).
3. From within BOOK THREE, choose a PERSON or an OBJECT.
4. From within BOOK FOUR, choose an NPC.
5. From within BOOK FIVE, choose a LOCATION.
6. From within BOOK SIX, pick up something interesting (this is the 'freer' choice you get): a situation, a political party, a magical item, a cult, a disease, weather type... anything!

Then using the SIX elements from the above list, fill in the following blueprint:

The Player Characters start their adventure in their home town/hex/current location in the campaign. __________ asks the PCs to go to __________ to retrieve __________. The PCs will end up fighting against __________ in __________. During the course of the adventure, __________ will feature prominently.

OK, let's get started...

Let's use this system to draw up two adventure seeds. We will see that the first one will end up having the potential for a fully-fledged campaign!

ADVENTURE SEED No.1
(no cheating, genuine rolls!)


Book ONE
a: 6- bottom shelf
b: 5- start from right
c: 12- book No.12: The Complete Dreamlands (Chaosium)
d: 4- start from end
e: 94- p.94 from the end, i.e., p91
Guardians of the Crystallizers of Dreams (Lesser Servitor Race)  — see the picture above.

Book TWO
a: 6- bottom shelf
b: 6- start from right
c: 5- book No.5: Borderlands & Beyond (Moon Design)
d: 4- start from end
e: 20- p.20 from the end, i.e., p278
New Pavis.

Book THREE
a: 2- top shelf
b: 5- start from right
c: 18- book No.18: Blood Over Gold (Moon Design)
d: 2- start from beginning
e: 61- p.61
Bishop Jestocos the Stern of the Rokari Church.

Book FOUR
a: 3- top shelf
b: 5- start from right
c: 20- book No.20: Imperial Lunar Handbook, Vol. One (Issaries)
d: 2- start from beginning
e: 65- p.65
The Senvaros League (a Lunar merchant guild based in Virindum, Peloria).

Book FIVE
Dorastor, Land of Doom (Avalon Hill)
p53
Dokat's Ruins.

Book SIX
Tirant Lo Blanc (Joc Internacional)
p88
Paraula Màgica (=spoken magic).

So here's the full text:
The Player Characters start their adventure in their home town/hex/current location in the campaign. A Guardian of the Crystallizers of Dreams asks the PCs to go to New Pavis to retrieve Bishop Jestocos the Stern. The PCs will end up fighting against the Senvaros League in Dokat's ruins. During the course of the adventure, spoken magic will feature prominently.

Now this is very, very Gloranthan, and has already given me a thousand ideas for a long game set in Third Age Glorantha, using the RuneQuest or HeroQuest rules!

ADVENTURE SEED No.2

To widen up the scope of the adventure, I will add more bookshelves (most of the books I'm currently using are focused on Glorantha). I'll be using 12 bookshelves (incl. comics and history books), and hence a D12.

Book ONE
Dinosauri (Stratelibri)
Cynognathus. Now this a non-sentient creature, so I'll swap it with the results from Book Four.

Book TWO
Atlas du Christianisme, p174
L'intérieur des églises (=within a church).

Book THREE
Breve storia di Venezia, p118
opere d'arte, libri e documenti (=works of art, books, and documents).

Book FOUR
Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol.I
Harry Osborn

Book FIVE
Waldo's Bar (a French graphic novel)
a jazz joint

Book SIX
Powerless
Wolverine

Wow! Quite a difference with the previous one... Here's the full text of the second adventure seed (remember I am swapping books One and Four):
The Player Characters start their adventure in their home town/hex/current location in the campaign. Harry Osborn asks the PCs to go into a church to retrieve works of art, books, and documents. The PCs will end up fighting against cynognathus in a jazz joint. During the course of the adventure, Wolverine will feature prominently.