Tuesday 10 July 2018

Building blocks (that are in no way blocks for building)

 Guess who's a right ruddy doughnut then?!!.
(image from cooking light)

   Having a nice gentle kick about with the Sprinklings one lazy Sunday afternoon, i managed to do something akin to stepping forward slightly. I have stepped forward slightly a number of times in my life. I would go so far as to say i am quite adapt at doing so, i mean, i have performed far more tricky movements, sidestepping for example, or jogging on the spot, even the odd star jump when im feeling particularly sassy!. Stepping forward slightly if im honest i would have thought i had well and truly nailed. But no, the crunchy/poppy type sensation in my leg followed by the hopping and falling over and SEARING EFFING PAIN told me i was no longer the authority in stepping forward slightly i thought i was!. The upshot of not being an able stepping forward slightly type person is a torn calf muscle and a pair of crutches and.......wait for this one......several weeks of work in which i cant currently sit/stand at a table during to game!!!. Uurrrgghhhhhh!!!!!!! damn you not in any way complex or normally hazardous movement!!.

So its fair to say i'm board.

 I have polished off season 2 of Sons of Anarchy, Glen Cooks first 'Black Company' novel and almost worked on my mass battle rules. I have had loads of time to think about the games i want to play but cant and think about all the rebasing i am not doing!. But in the middle of all that i have had a little idea.

 Now i love writing narratives and back stories for factions and settings, it is one of the parts of this great thing we call 'the hobby' i like the best. However it can be hard to get a start sometimes. I also know that it is part of 'the hobby' a lot of people struggle with. So i thought it would be useful to create a way to randomly generate ideas for settings and forces to help along narratives. The idea is to make a loose 'nation generator' so people can roll up a start to a background to help them give a little character to their forces and to give a bit of context to a battle without having to go into too much detail. I have kept it simple and adaptable, only three tables long to provide just that small bit of seasoning to a campaign or one off game or to use when collecting an army to help form some identity for it.

So, here it is, Sprink's Underwhelmingbuthopefullyusefullpaitentedd8basednationalidetitygenerationsystem!!!!!!!!

  Right, this is split into three tables, roll 1d8 for each table to generate the nations SOCIAL TYPE,  TYPE OF RULER and MAJOR MOTIVATION. The hope is that these simple pieces of info will give character by themselves and a framework for the player to flesh out by working out how these things are represented in the army/nation.....we thats the theory anyhow!.

 So, pick up an 8 sided dice (or a 10 sided dice if your feeling that way and fancy ignoring the odd 9 or 0) and roll once on each of the following tables. Record the results and build ideas around them.

The tables are:


The table above is used to determine the nations social type and structure.
This one is purely used to select the method by which the nation is governed and by whom. 

The motivation of the ruler(s) determined above is the concern of this table, it is handy to use this one as it helps to determine the make up of the force and can be used to help with picking scenarios for the force to get involved in.

 So there you go, not very detailed but it is just to give a rough start and to create areas to flesh out with your own imagination. Hope it helps!.

 All thats left before i hobble off is to give a massive hello and welcome to Lalebrasil who clicked follow like a mad type person!. Feel free to say hello and introduce yourself in the comments and if you blog please put a link in there as its always great to see what your up to!. Right im off to feel sorry for myself, but first:


MORE DOUGHNUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.......'till next time.....

8 comments:

  1. Point the first - get well soon mate
    point the second - those tables are awesome 'City State of the Federation of Utter World Domination' sounds good to me...wait. I think I live there!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cheers mate, it could be worse, its fixed by sitting down!. And im sure 'City State of the Federation of Utter World Domination' is the last line of my address too!.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah yes Damaged Leg Syndrome - done that before. Bl**dy painful. Hope you feel better soon Mr Sprinks.
    Great fun tables; very Early RPGesque. How about "Trying to Get the Country Back to The State it was in During the Nineteenth Century Where Everyone Knew Their Place And Johnny Foreigner was Kept in His Place By Our Enormous Navy" as a Motivation?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cheers jack, I will be up and walking soon enough I'm sure. Good call with the motivation, is it OK if I shorten it to 'do you fellows have guns yet?, no, oh jolly good. Thomkins, fetch the flag...'

    ReplyDelete
  5. Injury from stepping? As I often step foward I´ll have to watch out it doesn´t happen to me ;-) Mind you...a couple of weeks off work?? Hmmmmm? Tip on how, despite injury you can still do stuff for the Hobby...Red Wine. The dosage is down to the individual but I suggest slowly sipping until the pain subsides into a dull glow. Problem can be that anything hobbywise that is undertaken whilst under These conditions does tend to look spiffing,,,only later, post redwine self medication, does the reality come to light.
    Hope you get better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great advice Paul, I may well follow this!. It won't effect the quality of the blog either judging by my normal standards!

    ReplyDelete