If you haven't seen the Hexographer software before, it lets you easily create hex maps. The icons scale nicely; a random terrain generator is included as well as a terrain wizard that lets you just sketch a little bit of terrain on a blank map and it fills in the rest; you can add roads, rivers, coastlines, and text labels; use hex numbers & customize them; customize the hexes; etc.

A cropped portion of a map made with the Hexographer software.

Several new features and bug fixes have been added to the core Hexographer software:

• The random terrain generator has been significantly reworked so the resulting terrain is less random.
• The random terrain generator is explained by clicking "Help" once you've opened the custom random terrain settings screen by clicking the "Custom Terrain" button on the start screen of the applet.
• A number of small usability fixes have been made, such as some customization screens getting close, apply, and save buttons.

Also the "Pro" version can now be ordered. For just $5 for a 1-year license of $25 for a lifetime license, the pro version allows you to:

• Run off-line: The pro version is downloaded to your computer so you don't need to be connected to the internet.
• Customize terrain and feature icons: Use any .png image for the terrain and feature icons. (Go to the map edit window's "Options" menu and choose "Customize Hexes.") Both the pro and non-pro versions allow you to change the background color of each terrain type, the sizes of terrain or feature icons, or whether to display icons or not.
• Expand an existing map: Add (or subtract) a number of hex rows or columns above, below, to the right or to the left of an existing map. (Go to the map edit window's "Options" menu and choose "Expand/Shrink Number of Hexes.")
• Add detailed notes to a hex: Any hex can now be described in detail with a freeform text field. Adding a note to a hex adds a small rectangular marker to the map. Clicking it will pop open the note for further editing or just to read it. (The note markers can be turned off using the map edit window's "Show/Hide" menu and selecting/deselecting the "Notes on Map" menu item.)

Pro version maps can be read and edited by the free version of Hexographer, but the extra features are not available for further editing. (However, custom icons added using the pro version will be displayed by the free version.)

Learn more and it out here: Hexographer Overview

Often, when a party gets to back into a reasonable sized town, they want to look for a wizard's shop (or similar) to see if there are any magic items they can trade or purchase.  Determining the shop's inventory can be tedious, but the Magic Item Shop Random Inventory Generator makes that easy.

(Note: I'm not advocating a "MagicMart" in every city.  If that fits your game world, great, but the Inventory Generator is just as valid for a city that might have just a few mages or priests that have small shops with just a few items each.  In fact, the inventory generator may cut down on the magic in your game because the vast majority of items will not interest the players/characters.  For example, how many fighters use a pick or trident?)

The Magic Item Shop Random Inventory Generator randomly creates a magic item shop's inventory based on your desired criteria (# minor potions, # medium potions, # major rings, # minor wondrous items, # minor weapons, etc.) using the SRD for 3.5 rules. (The results can usually be adjusted or some items dropped for other fantasy games/versions.) It is just simple Javascript, so most browsers should run it without needing any plugins. See it at: Magic Item Shop Random Inventory Generator

The generator doesn't include the costs for each item because that may vary widely based on your game-world, the city and the owner.  Further you'll only need to look up the costs of the items that interest a character.  A few additional features are planned, but the complete core of the program is in place.

If you haven't seen or tried the Hexographer hex-map creation/editing software, it is a web-based program that lets you quickly and easily make maps in the style of the D&D known world maps from the 1980's and early 1990's.

A new feature called the "Terrain Wizard" lets you roughly sketch out your map.  For example, you know you want an ocean on one side of the map, a big mountain range running through the middle of the map, a forest here, a small desert there, etc.  So you start with a map of blank hexes (click the "Solid Terrain" button on the setup screen and make sure "Blank" is selected in the "Select Solid Terrain:" selector) and draw a line of hexes for most of these, or maybe a small circle if you want just a small patch of hexes for that terrain.  Maybe something like this:

A rough map pre-Terrain Wizard.

The terrain wizard will then fill in the remaining blank hexes with whichever non-blank terrain is closest.  To use it, go to the "Options" menu and choose "Run Terrain Wizard." If there are two or more terrain hexes that are equally closest, the wizard will randomly pick one.  Note: if you want to have a very small area of one terrain (such as a small forest) it is more important to circle that terrain with the surrounding terrain than to make that area small.  For example, a single forest hex can lead to a large forest if all the other roughed-in terrain is far away.

The map above leads to something like this:

A filled in (post terrain wizard) map beased on the rough map below.

From there, it can be tweaked.  If a mountain range got a little two wide you can replace some of those mountain hexes.  if you need a volcano somewhere, place it where you want.  And so on. Then add features (cities, castles, etc.) and lines and text as desired.  However, if the map isn't close to what you wanted or a feature turned out way too large, you can undo it.  To undo the terrain wizard, go back to the "Options" menu and choose "Undo/Redo Terrain Wizard." The map will look like it did just before you ran the terrain wizard.  At this point you can tweak your rough map so that when you rerun the terrain wizard the resulting map will be closer to what you wanted.

Repeatedly clicking the "Undo/Redo Terrain Wizard" menu item will simply switch the map between how it looked when the terrain wizard was last run and the roughed map.  To rerun the terrain wizard, you need to choose "Run Terrain Wizard" again.

Although the Hexographer has always had a random terrain generator, this may be better because the map will be less random and it will be along the lines of what you wanted in the first place.  As Nazim at dragonsfoot.org posted when I first described the feature, "I never thought about it, but all the random generators were always just me looking for something to do most of the work for me. I always start by outlining the major features (big forests, coasts, mountains), and then tweak it, but I get lost in fleshing it out, the middle step. This takes care of that gruntwork."

The hexographer also gained a few new icons: monolith, monument, pyramid, shrine, star, statue and temple.

And a few usability/UI improvements were made including:

• A "preserve ratio" checkbox next to the resize hex spinners to the bottom right of the map.
• Better toolguide help. (The text at the very bottom of the map window that changes based on what button is selected.

A timeline or history of your world can add a great deal of depth that can have as much impact on your storylines as you like.  Timeline facts will often even suggest new story ideas.  "Building a history provides you with ancient ruins to scatter about the area, smoldering rivalries of legendary monsters or fearsome raiders, rumors of mad kings and sinister counselors, and lingering fires of patriotism or rebelliousness just waiting to be fanned once again into blazing warfare," states the World Builder's Guidebook.

As you begin to put together your timeline, start your focus on the current events at the time of your story.  Then build outwards in each direction. You may be less detailed and have fewer events as your branch out further from the time of your planned story. You may even want to add a few "ancient" time periods to your timeline.

Read more...

This month's RPG blog carnival topic is "The Future of Roleplaying" and it is hosted by Roleplaying Pro.  Naturally, I wrote an essay on April 29th (just before this blog carnival started) titled  "A Roleplaying Resurgence is on the Horizon." But I'd like to revisit that same topic and stick my main point (the end of the prior essay went on to related points) and expand that point into another direction which I hadn't considered.

If one thinks back to the 80's and 90's, we can see that as people age and get to the point where their kids are grown, they like to look back at what they enjoyed before they had kids and pursue those hobbies again.  Even for parents whose kids are pre-teen or teangers,  parents like to share the things they liked at that age with their children.  Two examples of this aer the popularity of baseball cards in the 80's and comic books in the late 80's and early 90's.

Given that RPGs took off in the 80's especially, many of those gamers who played them back then as teens are now ready to share them with their children or soon will be ready to share the experience.  Those who were in their 20s in the 80's or played as teenagers in the 70's may now have grown children and more time to play in groups not including their children.  Those who were older in the 70's or 80's are ready to retire and may be looking forward to returning to an old hobby or having more time to pursue hobbies.

The hobby needs to reach out to these demographics, which is something it hasn't been effective at doing if it has really tried at all.  Maybe that's a matter of promoting the "camaraderie" or "keeping the mind sharp" or "having an active imagination".  Marketers for the game companies need to put some thought into reaching and appealing to these groups.  Those of us who have continued playing RPGs need to reach out to old friends who once played and new friends who have tangential interests.

These returning RPG players will find no shortage of game options.  Maybe some will want the latest games that are actively supported by the larger game companies.  Others may dig up their old game books or simply borrow from a friend in the group and start out with the game they loved or played the most back in the day.  Some may gravitate to the retro-clone games that are designed to be in the spirit of the older games, but with more active support and even with more open licenses for others to build upon the games.

But the future of RPGs is even brighter due to another potential audience: those migrating from computer and massive multiplayer online RPGs.  (This is the part of the point I overlooked in my previous essay.)  While these games have their strengths, at some point many players will feel that these games have a limited number of options for players to pursue.  Although CRPGs and MMORPGs have improved and found ways through branching quests and such, they still can not be as dynamic as a game master.  The game master can react plausibly to a player's off-the-wall idea or the group's desire to go in an unplanned direction.  Computer games can only try to list more pre-designed options.

Don't get me wrong, CRPGs and MMORPGs will still be popular.  Many people may do a little of them and a little of traditional RPGs, as they have time vs. a group to play with.  But whereas until now most of the RPG players moved into CRPGs and MMORPGs, the door will now swing the other way.  Those who started out playing CRPGs and MMORPGs will want something different, something more interactive, something where their actions aren't as limited.

Furthermore due to online game tables such as RPTools, D&D online and others, players will be able to more easily find a group to play with or continue playing with a group even if a player has moved away.

So the audience for RPGs with increase. But what games will they play?  I can only make a couple of general predictions.  Because the audience will be expanding, things won't be a zero-sum game.  Some games may die, but there will be more actively supported games available.  Furthermore with a wider set of demographics, there will be more varied games in tone, genre and mechanics.

However, those games with more open fan policies and licenses may gain a greater following.  Because many players will have more time for the hobby in the future, they may want to tinker with their games and post their ideas for everyone.  Some may even want to publish (even just pdf/electroincally) their designs.  Game companies and systems that make this easy may be adopted by more players for two reasons: those who wish to make these changes or add-ons may only want to work with games that are open; and some of those changes and expansions may be so good that other players will want to play the game system because of the changes/expansions.

So if you're into RPGs (and if you're reading this, you must be) get excited!  In the near future there will be more games to play, more game systems to tinker with, and more fellow players to meet.

There have been several updates to my Hexographer software since I last wrote a blog entry about it:

• Users can change the orientation of the hexes on the map.  In other words, until now the hexes have always been stacked so the map has even columns but the rows of hexes zig-zag due to the angled sides.  Now a user can switch the map orientation so the rows are neatly ordered but the columns zig-zag.  Look for the "Map Orientation" drop-down on the Hexographer software's setup screen.
• The map orientation can also be switched as a user edits a map by going to the "Options" menu and choosing between the "Hex Orientation" options.  However, this should be avoided once lines (roads, coastlines, rivers, etc.) have been drawn on the map because the map will shift if the hex orientation changes.
• A "Pan" button was added to the bottom right corner.  This button puts the map in a mode so that dragging the map will move the map as the mouse moves.  A few other text buttons have changed to icon buttons.
• Users can customize the terrain hexes and features by accessing the "Options" menu and choosing "Customize Hexes."  In the web-based version of the Hexographer, users can change a hex's background color, whether that terrain/feature type should display its icon, and how big the icon is displayed as a percentage of the a hex's smaller dimension.  The stand-alone (downloaded) Pro version (coming soon) of the Hexographer will allow a user to swap in a different icon for any/each terrain or feature type.

A few months back I saw the Roleplaying City Map Generator mentioned on a forum, but the website hosting the application seemed to have disappeared.  Fortunately someone found a copy of the website (and the application) using the internet wayback machine which periodically archives websites of note.

That forum thread lead me to write my random dungeon generator reviews and was an early inspiration to me for the Hexographer application I'm writing.

Because the Roleplaying City Map Generator is noted as 100% Freeware, I'm hosting the download file on a page here at Inkwell Ideas.  The only two drawbacks to the application are: it only runs on Windows, and the source code isn't available for someone to pick up where it was left off.  (And if it is being actively improved by someone, please post.)

Rules Background

Many ioun stone types have been invented over time.  A long list is at d20source.com. However, most of these have only been printed in 1st and 2nd edition D&D sourcebooks.  Below are several new ioun stones updated to the "open" version of D&D.

Variants

Original Version

These crystalline stones always float in the air and must be within 3 feet of their owner to be of any use. When a character first acquires a stone, she must hold it and then release it, whereupon it takes up a circling orbit 1d3 feet from her head. Thereafter, a stone must be grasped or netted to separate it from its owner. The owner may voluntarily seize and stow a stone (to keep it safe while she is sleeping, for example), but she loses the benefits of the stone during that time. Ioun stones have AC 24, 10 hit points, and hardness 5.

Regeneration from the pearly white ioun stone works like a ring of regeneration. (It only cures damage taken while the character is using the stone.) The pale lavender and lavender and green stones work like a rod of absorption, but absorbing a spell requires a readied action, and these stones cannot be used to empower spells. Stored spells in the vibrant purple stone must be placed by a spellcaster but can be used by anyone (see ring of minor spell storing).

Moderate varied; CL 12th; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must be 12th level.

If you have constructive criticism (especially regarding the market prices and you have a similar item in mind for comparison) please post a comment.

[OGL Licensed. The above text uses OGL content, and all its conente is open.]

The list below covers a number of rule subsets that get forgotten in RPGs.  These groups of rules get overlooked or game masters feel they may bog down a game or for some other reason they are not enforced.  But using these rules (or not) can have an important effect on the game.  Sometimes that effect changes the game balance in favor of one race or class or creature type. In other cases an encounter may not be as challenging (and fun--because the best stories come from the more difficult trials) as it should be.

Most RPGs have rules that fit these categories, so this list is game system neutral. In no particular order:

Encumbrance: How does the party carry an extra couple of suits of armor, a pile of coins and several other mysterious finds along with their normal equipment?  Most of us know there are encumbrance rules, but rarely does a GM ask us to add up the weight of our possessions plus what has been found or looted.  If so, the party might have to make a couple of extra trips or be more selective regarding that the group takes.

Spell Components: Some believe magic users are more powerful, especially at higher levels.  (Some don't believe this premise.)  In any case if the GM wants to scale back the power of magic in a party, he would only need to ask the players of magic user types to track their spell components.  If there were good reason, he could make some spells un-castable by not making those spells' components available. (It wouldn't be fair to do this to players without a fair purpose.)

Weather Effects: Gamemasters often fail to remember that weather may impact a character.  A party going through a desert should be asked to keep careful track of the water supply.  A group travelling a high-mountian pass will need to be properly outfitted or suffer some penalties.  These weather effects are often considered at first, but then quickly forgotten.

Lighting: Running an encounter using a computer program really showed us how much our group glossed over the concept of lighting.  Some foes were able to attack without our party having a good chance to fight back by standing just outside of our lantern's range.  Another pair of allies ran into trouble because they didn't take a light source with them when they ran in pursuit.  Furthermore, our light source gave our position away to many adversaries.

Magical Side Effects: Did your mage just fireball the green dragon sitting on his treasure hoard?  Don't be surprised if after the encounter a good GM rolls a bunch of dice to see how much of that hoard was incinerated.  While magic items have higher chances to resist fire, acid, etc., there is still a chance some may be ruined.

Many GMs do enforce some of these rules, but it is rare for a GM to remember to enforce each of them.

The Hexographer software (a free web-based hex mapping program) has received a couple of updates:

• The user can change the color of the cosmic icons (planets, asteroids, etc.) as they are placed. (So for example not all the planets have to be white. They can vary in color to differentiate them.) This change was also applied to the settlement icons (capital, town, fort, castle, etc.) and other symbol icons (battle, whaling, mines, etc.)
• If the user is tracing an imported map, he can now turn off the background map he is tracing. Related to that change, all the options that show/hide something (like grid lines, hex numbers, political features, etc.) were moved out of the "Options" menu and to a new "Show/Hide" menu. The options menu only has two menu items now, but one of the next new features will add at least a third.

For those who haven't seen it before:
Over the past 2 months the Hexographer software was created and has been updated every few days.  It allows a user to create hex maps like those in Known World/Mystara/“The Voyage of the Princess Ark” Dragon magazine article series.

The software is web-based at: Hexographer

Below is a sample map and list of features:

• The software starts as an applet in a web page so many people won’t have to install anything. (You may need to install/upgrade Java, however.)
• You can choose to start with a map of random terrain or a map of all one terrain.
• You set the map’s width and height in hexes and the size of the hexes.
• You can customize the random terrain generator to give a different mix of land.
• Then your map opens in a pop-up window.
• There you can select terrain buttons then click on the map to change a hex into that terrain. You can also drag over hexes to change all of those hexes.
• You can select generic line and text buttons to draw lines or add labels and there are also preset line a text buttons that have settings appropriate for coastlines, rivers, roads, country borders, etc.
• You can optionally turn on/off hex borders, hex numbering, terrain icons.
• Hex numbering is very customizable: font name/style/size/color; rows then columns vs. columns then rows; set the separator character; what number to use to start the rows and columns.
• If you add text and lines and note if each is a political feature, natural feature or infrastructure, you can turn each of these on and off as if they are layers. (The preset road/river/boundary line and text buttons are set up for this.)
• You can save it to a native format for later editing and export it as a regular PNG image so it can be edited in an image editor or printed.
• It also includes some planet/star/asteroid/etc icons to create a starmap.
• You can also import a map to trace over it if you want to use an old map or part of a map as a guide.
• And of course a whole bunch more!