Hundred Kingdom Generator (PEACH)

[habitableexoplanet]

I'm thinking of running a game in the Hundred Kingdoms. To help me come up with suitably diverse kingdoms, I made a tool to randomly generate basic information about a kingdom - I like using random tables as a starting point to generate ideas.

I figure people on this forum would either enjoy trying it out, or would enjoy telling me that it's bad because the probabilities are wrong and I left off many crucial options. Either is fine.

You use it by rolling a government type and a leader, who represents either the official leader or the real power behind the throne. For additional flavor, you roll two Abilities that the leader is more skilled in than average (so a king who is better at Survival than the average king might have only 2 dots, but enjoy hunting, while a sorcerer-prince with more Occult than the average sorcerer-prince has 4 dots, or maybe even 5) and one special feature the kingdom is known for. For additional complexity, roll an additional leader - a potential challenger to the current leader or countervailing influence.

Government type (d20):

1. Monarchy (Stable)
2. Monarchy (1st generation)
3. Monarchy (2nd generation)
4. Dictatorship (pure might)
5. Dictatorship (subtler influence)
6. Dual monarchy (roll two leaders)
7. Oligarchy (aristocratic)
8. Oligarchy (economic)
9. Oligarchy (multiple power centers)
10. Republic (dominated by the rich)
11. Republic (both rich and poor have influence)
12. Democracy/Commune/Rule by the people (urban)
13. Democracy/Commune/Rule by the people (agrarian)
14. Theocracy (close-by gods)
15. Theocracy (distant gods / philosophies)
16. Rule by the greatest [one of leader's qualities]
17. Rule by all the [one of leader's qualities]
18-20. Roll twice and combine

Leader type (d20):

1. Exalt (roll a d10, 1-9 Outcaste Dragonblooded, 10 roll on non-DB Exalt table) 2. Blooded (Roll on the blooded table)
3. Mortal Sorcerer
4. Non-mortal (Roll on the non-mortal table)
5. Partner of the Guild
6. Friend of Three Forks
7. Ally of Lookshy
8. Minion of a powerful Exalt (pick one)
9. Accomplice of Vaneha
10-11. Wealthy mortal
12. Intelligent mortal
13. Wise mortal
14. Charismatic mortal
15. Beautiful mortal
16. Cunning mortal
17. Strong mortal
18-20. Roll twice - either one leader is both or the two are close allies

Exalt table (non-DB) (d20) 1. Solar 2. Solar
3. Solar
4. Abyssal
5. Abyssal
6. Infernal
7. Sidereal
8. Sidereal
9. Lunar
10. Lunar
11. Lunar
12. Lunar
13. Lunar
14. Lunar
15. Lunar
16. Lunar
17. Exigent
18. Exigent
19. Exigent
20. Exigent


Non-mortal table (d25):
1-10: God
11: Air Elemental
12: Earth Elemental
13: Fire Elemental
14: Water Elemental
15: Wood Elemental
16-18: Demon
19-21: Ghost
22-25: Fair Folk

Blooded table (d6):
1-3: Godblooded
4: Ghostblooded
5: Moon-touched
6: Elemental blooded

Abilities table (d25):

1. Archery
2. Athletics
3. Awareness
4. Brawl / Martial Arts
5. Bureaucracy
6. Craft
7. Dodge
8. Integrity
9. Investigation
10. Larceny
11. Linguistics
12. Lore
13. Medicine
14. Melee
15. Occult
16. Performance
17. Presence
18. Resistance
19. Ride
20. Sail
21. Socialize
22. Stealth
23. Survival
24. Thrown
25. War

Special Feature (d10):

1. Known for their music / dance
2. Known for their art
3. Known for their architecture / famous buildings
4. Known for their literature / stories
5. Known for their sports / games
6. Known for their manufactured goods
7. Known for their natural resource
8. Known for their natural beauty
9. Known for their lingering magical effects (sorcerous working, manse, ...)
10. Roll twice and combine

[Jutlander]

Maybe add tables about main types of export, quirky traditions, landmarks, and national dishes.

Consider getting the pdf Renegade Crowns for WHFRP. It is a great resource for this type of thing. Among other things, it has tables for figuring out how leaders of different countries feel about each other and why.

Plus, the framework for creating ancient ruins might me nudged for use in Exalted.

[Accelerator]

Well, there's an ancient ruin generator in the conan the barbarian rpg, so that's that.

[Baaldam]

Well, there's an ancient ruin generator in the conan the barbarian rpg, so that's that.

You mean Ruins of Hyboria from the D20 edition or something else, just out of curiosity?

[Accelerator]

You mean Ruins of Hyboria from the D20 edition or something else, just out of curiosity?

.... Wow, yes.

[Baaldam]

.... Wow, yes.

Have that one, good book.
Must admit i never thought of using the random tables on a ruin's backstory and how its doom came to be as active plotline creators for a still existing place.
Such an amazingly simple thing in retrospect, but then that's make it an inspired touch, imho.

[Accelerator]

Have that one, good book.
Must admit i never thought of using the random tables on a ruin's backstory and how its doom came to be as active plotline creators for a still existing place.
Such an amazingly simple thing in retrospect, but then that's make it an inspired touch, imho.

Yeah.

I wish I read it more, but work and life's own issues came up and forced me to do other stuff. Now that I have the time, maybe it's time to crack up the old book....

[Colin_Fredericks]

You want a website for this? I can throw one together in a few hours, though it might take me a week to get the hours together.

[joshopotamus]

If you're talking about a website do you mean just an autogenerator that you click a button and a kingdom is generated? Cause if that's what you're proposing I'm down

[Accelerator]

Adding to the ruins thing, shouldn't there be a thing for supernatural and dangerous things?

The danger can range from small things like a minor bandit problem or several hungry tigers forced there by deforestation, to tyrant lizards or even a behemoth that's slowly awakening.

Also, you can have rolls for magical things. Things like an abandoned 1st age or shogunate factory. Or a demense which is uncapped. Or even a long-hidden manse (camouflage). Or a secret archive. Rolls even for finding out the magic thing even exists. More rolls for how hard it is to get to it and what traps there are.

[habitableexoplanet]

Maybe add tables about main types of export, quirky traditions, landmarks, and national dishes.

This is an interesting idea but I worry it could get repetitive as compared to having a table saying which one of those is particularly notable (I guess I should put "national dish" on) and coming up with it from pure thought.

How long are you imagining such a table being?

Consider getting the pdf Renegade Crowns for WHFRP. It is a great resource for this type of thing. Among other things, it has tables for figuring out how leaders of different countries feel about each other and why.

Plus, the framework for creating ancient ruins might me nudged for use in Exalted.

Cool, thanks for the suggestions!

Well, there's an ancient ruin generator in the conan the barbarian rpg, so that's that.

Same, thanks for the suggestion!

[Kyeudo]

If you are trying to generate a kingdom, one of the big elements is cultural details. Probably add a table for primary crops, as food is a huge facet of culture, major natural resources like iron or hardwoods, and I'd also recommend a table for attitudes about warfare and other major areas of life.

[Accelerator]

If you are trying to generate a kingdom, one of the big elements is cultural details. Probably add a table for primary crops, as food is a huge facet of culture, major natural resources like iron or hardwoods, and I'd also recommend a table for attitudes about warfare and other major areas of life.

And one more thing.

The weather. Climate. Are the floodwaters regular like the Nile? Or chaotic like Mesopotamia? Wet? Dry? Windy?

What's the geography? Flat plains? Mountains? Hills? Valleys? Marsh?

[habitableexoplanet]

You want a website for this? I can throw one together in a few hours, though it might take me a week to get the hours together.

Thanks!

I'm not sure how to respond to this because (1) that would be really fun and cool, but (2), I don't need it, and I don't know if it makes sense to build it now because I might come up with updates after using it a bit more.

So do what you want! Or maybe joshopotamus already cast sufficient votes for you to make it...

[habitableexoplanet]

A lot of these ideas sound cool but I'm probably not going to make the tables just because I probably wouldn't want to randomly generate those aspects. But if you're interested you should feel free to! The tables I made weren't exactly hard to come up with - I kind of just came up with a few ideas, thought about different aspects of the Exalted setting that could be relevant, and guessed what the frequencies might be.

Adding to the ruins thing, shouldn't there be a thing for supernatural and dangerous things?

The danger can range from small things like a minor bandit problem or several hungry tigers forced there by deforestation, to tyrant lizards or even a behemoth that's slowly awakening.

This seems hard to make because these are on drastically different levels of difficulty, so what makes a good table might depend on what level of difficulty is appropriate for your player characters. (It's also good to roughly alternate between harder and easier fights, unless the story demands it.)

Also, you can have rolls for magical things. Things like an abandoned 1st age or shogunate factory. Or a demense which is uncapped. Or even a long-hidden manse (camouflage). Or a secret archive. Rolls even for finding out the magic thing even exists. More rolls for how hard it is to get to it and what traps there are.

I don't think I could make a table that provides better results than just coming up with stuff by hand. But maybe you could!

If you are trying to generate a kingdom, one of the big elements is cultural details. Probably add a table for primary crops, as food is a huge facet of culture, major natural resources like iron or hardwoods, and I'd also recommend a table for attitudes about warfare and other major areas of life.

What kind of stuff would be on these tables? In the Hundred Kingdoms region specifically I would imagine most kingdoms would have similar crops - I imagine the climate is fairly similar between adjacent kingdoms. Do you know if the books have established stable crops for there (or other regions of Creation)?

Attitudes of warfare sounds like something I would want to choose based on the scenario - a kingdom that forms a natural ally for the PCs could have a negative attitude to warfare, but not be completely pacifist, so the PCs would find it challenging to convince them to muster troops for some cause, but not completely impossible.

A table for natural resources sounds fun - in particular, to reason out how various combinations work, like what the iron mines in a Wyld-tainted kingdom would look like.

And one more thing.

The weather. Climate. Are the floodwaters regular like the Nile? Or chaotic like Mesopotamia? Wet? Dry? Windy?

What's the geography? Flat plains? Mountains? Hills? Valleys? Marsh?

Some of these kingdoms will be quite close together, so I imagine the weather is pretty similar. According to the book, the Hundred Kingdoms are characterized by mountains, forests, steep river valleys, marshes, and heaths, so I was thinking about putting a bunch of those on the map, trying to follow a little bit of geographical logic, match themes of kingdoms (a merchant republic is probably on a large river, while a Fair Folk-led kingdom will have more wilderness), and create interesting scenarios (a place the players will want to get to might have particularly tricky barriers protecting it). But I could certainly roll for some of these also.