More about Encounters

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Louise Bourgeois

Last time on TOILET WORLD we talked about encounters and making an encounter based on apex predators and said I might follow it up with
"
Show an example with lots more variety

Maybe do one with something other than an alpha predator

Or even building it around something that isn't part of the food chain (directly) like rogue golems, or wandering bands of undead
"

then a bunch of time passed

AND NOw

I will try those things.

The first my idea is just make sure every encounter refers to other encounter
3 variations
 a and b both aware
a is aware of b but not b of a
b is aware of a but not a of b

participants

monkey
crocodile
bone stealer machine

1. Crocodile is about to burst out and eat monkey
2. Monkey is quiet and scuttering around tree
3. Monkey is screaming and chattering and throwing sticks in water

4 bone stealer machine has recently left area and left behind monkey skin and meat sack
5 monkey is fleeing area, bone stealer machine in that area
6 bone stealer machine is lured up a tree too small for it and it's about to collapse , entangling it
the monkey will stay too long to tease it and risk getting bone-plucked

7 crocodile drifting through water being a log near bone stealer machine, will attack things fleeing machine
8. Bone stealer machine is crouched in shadows,  has a bone plucked pig hanging of a branch , crocodile drifting towards it
9 Bone stealer machine is on bank with one hook in crocodile but the other is battered off , crocodile attempting to pull bone stealer machine into the water to disable it
10 roll again, whoever not in encounter will show up .
Monkey will tease crocodile, Bone plucker will go for largest bones, Crocodile will go for easy meat

(I wrote all this  maybe a week or go and now trying to finish it but I can't quite remember where I was going with it all, and from this point things got vague )

Here is another idea with generating some encounters that link up to other encounters.:

SQUAGGLE MERE:
a dreary misty land of tight copse , fens and erratic boggage.
We have 6 inhabitants in Squaggle Mere

1 Axebeak (single predator)
2 Madhermit of the bog (single neutral)
3 Stilt squid (large herbivore)
4 Shaggy pilgrims (group neutral)
5 Bog Wight (single dangerous)
6 Murderers (group dangerous)


Predators will only be a hostile if they think they can get a meal, dangerous are always hostile, herbivores will have to provoked, and neutral will be useful or hazardous depending on context and conversations.




Then roll a d6 for each of them to generate another inhabitant to have an encounter with.
If we roll the same number twice , then we treat that as a single inhabitant encounter.
Or an additional single inhabitant encounter , if we include both multi-inhabitants on the encounter table as well as single.
We rolled:
.Axebeak + mad hermit
Mad hermit + murderers
 Stilt squid + Bog Wight
Shaggy pilgrims + axebeak
 Bog Wight + stilt squid
Murderers

So Murderers have an additional chance to run into them

Then from here we could include the single encounters as well or just have more complicated multi- encounters , giving us 12 or 6.

If we want to have roughly in the range of 1/3 chance of getting an encounter then using a d20 kinda works for 6 encounters, and a d30 for 12 encounters.
If you don't have a d30 you can just make d100 encounter table  and give each encounter 3 numbers.

I'm getting increasingly far away from anything I said at the start of the post but I'm just going to keep going.
If you are making a d100 table and starting with 12 encounters , you could then make each encounter have 3 versions
1 : a is aware of b
2 b is aware of a
3 both b and a are aware of each other.

(or make this d6 table to roll on  other getting the encounter.)

This expansion of course doesn't make sense for single encounters. One that does is this one:
(also you could do the awareness thing with perception checks)


1 About to happen ( if single encounter , hearing distance away)
2 Happening  (if single encounter , visual distance / 1-2 rounds)
3 Happened   (tracks or spore, 5 minutes away)


And again it could be a d6 addition roll instead.


Okay that's some ideas about encounters I had that I expanded on, sorry it's been so long since posts. A lot going on at the moment with life , work , art , rpg creations and poor old blog posts keep missing out.

gender roll, thoughts on encounters and blogging

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So I read this comic
and I started thinking about all the lady presentations* it missed out and making a table here to include them, But then I started thinking about how basically the majority of them would be localized to the last ten years and in the western world and then only certain parts of it. And would it be an interesting or awkward anachronism to put them in a fantasy world?
*my favourite is monster drag

Considering all the forms underground gay culture takes (link, another link, , also fuck madonna and watch Paris is Burning asap, and shit one lesbian link what is with that?)
(feel free to share better more informative links in the comments oh mysterious audience peoples)
And consider "other" genders and the awkward/colonist attempts to make them fit in the current modern western way of thinking of gender identity. Anyway my point is people are big and weird and diverse and horrid and cruel and small.
Also that drag/gender performance/ sexual identity/ gender impersonation for career advancement  blur .

Anyway here is some gender rolls/identitys that attempt to be not modern concepts awkwardly shoehorned into different worlds  but mostly still are and also some actually historical influence.

(by male / female I am meaning that which is commonly thought of as male /female in the society with the conventionally anatomy that usually implies )

(also I don't think there is not a single gender identity which isn't someone else restrictive stereotype that they have spent their life fighting against. So if these concepts feel like they are mocking you, that wasn't there intention but I will listen to any grievance you have thoughtfully)

(also it might seem that I'm implying that all the societies mentioned below marginalize or objectify even when they supposedly celebrate an other gender , using a mythologizing process to contain a gender deviance like cyst or a pearl , so it does not spread further. Okay that is exactly what I am doing because I am fucking cynical and bitter.

This is not an analysis of other cultures other genders however because that is an extraordinary difficult and loaded proposition


Audarana:
doomed but noble hyper performative.

Audarana (singular and plural) dress as their "opposite" gender in an exaggerated way. The exaggeration is in an earnest  way rather than a satirical way. For example a male role Audarana will have a elaborate beard , a epic swagger and a ringing hearty laugh. A female role Audarana will have long long plaited hair , the daintiest of bearing, and the softest disposition. An Audarana will be the most noble fairy tale version of their gender role, yet it is still obvious to the society around them that they are something else. The male role Audarana's hearty laugh will be too melodic for a man, the female role Audarana too boastful in her dutifulness and providence. The path society sees for them in tale and song is that of the doomed romantic, a
Don Quixote whose attempts to be the archetypical lead them to destruction. Audaranas themselves maybe naively unaware of the patronizing patronage of the culture around or they may slyly manipulate to their advantage.

Pronoun : as their presented gender

Drull:

androgynous troubleshooters

Drull are from a culture that is very into a pantheon of man spirits and woman spirits, with extensive protocol to do with all activities. Most protocol involves gaining the spirits approval. Society believe that when you die the pure bit of your soul goes to the after life and then all the bits that were to do with society hang around as spirits and help guide and strengthen people.

This society (let's call the Da-Pu-Und  ) however is pragmatic to understand that there is situations that come up that are,  or can be best dealt with by being, outside of the protocol. These are the realms of the Outside spirits.
The Outside spirits however are extremely disinclined to be helpful and only the Drull may talk to them and try and get their favour.

Anyone in the Da-Pu-Und who does not live up to their expected gender will quietly and pointedly shuffled in the category of Drull, which is more or less Androgynous. They are ignored and pitied but also tolerated for their perceived ability to find solutions and compromise where all else has failed. They face scorn however if they are perceived as being too manly or too womanly. Most of them leave Da-Pu-Und , especially the ones who would happily be a woman or man but can't stand the absoluteness of the roles in Da-Pu-Und. Some Drull however enjoy the weird social mobility they have and/or find it hard living outside Da-Pu-Und where other cultures don't recognize their "inbetween" gender.

Pronoun: Their or It. Often awkwardly in the 3rd person.
( "awkward 3rd person" is fair translation of Drull actually.)

okay this is taking too long, which brings me to this thing about blogging;
my interest is more lying towards working on bigger more elaborate projects rather than opening a blank page here and seeing what I am going to type today.
That's when I have the most fun here, the numerous posts that I had no idea what the content was going to be and discovered it as I typed it. The post that kinda grind are the ones where I have a clear idea and then am having to try and explain it. Not a fan of explain myself as you can prob tell.
This post is falling under the second category, like I have been chipping away it for awhile and I could of used the crucial and rare"hey I can be bothered sitting in front of the computer and actually concentrating on one thing" time on something else bigger and ongoing.

So what I am saying is I can never be bothered to do reviews and if I just occasionally update with the skeleton of an idea it is because I am working on something totally sweet.

Here is more gender skeletons that if I fleshed out this post would be delayed another week or two

Barren Mothers:

scarred truth tellers

Weapon Birthers

mothers to munitions

Indollers:

father christmases chaste saint

Wolf whores

as long as they do not have language they can live beyond manners

Gruz:

SAS gaylords (SPARTTAAAAA!!)

ENCOUNTERs

keep changing my mind on the numbers here but I'm thinking , when exploring a large area atleast, 1-2: monster 3-4: plot hook, location or evidence of wider machinations happening in the area 5-6 : "nothing" but use this as a chance to have a quick description of the local environment, or signs of the resident monsters or a false alert encounter. So if you start describing the environment the players can't immediately assume its roll initiative time

things that are random other than dice, encounters, boxes containing boxes, the bones of fish, the mysterys of teeth

Print PDF Say you have a 1d100 table with various things on it having greater or lesser percentages than each other.
Like a encounter table for a city where 14-19 is a lobotomized child and 20-21 is a street shark and 22-35 is a an overdressed candy boiler. If you suddenly needed to adjust the percentages of  everything on the table you would have to rewrite the table (say candy is illegal or lobotomized children are being sent to the moon or what have you).
BUT
if you have a hat or small bag or whatever , and are determining a random result by drawing a token or bead or marble you can adjust the percentages fairly easily by just adding more tokens of that type.

Like say if you wanted to do your random encounters for an island using scrabble tiles (or SpellingSquares as it is known here in Aotearoa ). All the E's are Electric lemur , the K's are Killer Beetles etc. Each time something is encountered and rendered unencountable you remove that tile.

Or encounters in a buffer zone between two waring factions. Each time events dictate a faction is increasing its presence you add more of their tokens into the bag.

Though up this when I was trying to think of new , easy ways to have dynamic systems modeled before me as I g.m. I'm getting  increasingly uninspired towards dungeons and hex maps (actually I've never liked hex maps. I find them kinda fiddly and ugly looking and too contained) .

I want the "life" of an area to be immediately graspable to me when I'm looking at my notes. What scavengers will be drawn to a kill ,  who will notice a noise, how the situation is already changing even before the p.cs blunder into it.

Attempted a few cluster fuck encounter table flow chart timeline hybrids (down the chart is the progression of time) that weren't even remotely plausible.

I ran a game recently where I sectioned off the map into various territories of the creatures and had the encounter table being something like this:

1,2 Local
3,4. Ubiquitous local
5 Colour
6.  Wandering

Local being an encounter with whoever's territory they were in , with some locals having the trait "ubiquitous", which meant they were more likely to be encounter. Locals were ubiquitous if 2 or more these traits would apply to them : zealous, numerous , restless, perceptive.

If ubiquitous local was rolled in a territory were the local weren't ubiquitous , then it was treated as colour encounter or a no result.

Colour encounters were stuff like the weather , semi harmless wildlife, natural recourse, or just a chance to quickly remind everyone that they were drudging through a bog or whatever. If the party/players were in a rush a colour encounter would just be skipped.

Wandering was a short table of wandering encounters.,  monsters and npcs that could show up anywhere.
Neighbouring locals would be on this table, the exact purpose of their trespasses to be decided in the moment.

(actually I think the encounter table for the game I had neighbour in the first table and not a wandering result. But now that I have thought of this way, I like it this way).

You'll have a chance to use these notes for yourself as the whole island I did for this game got cleaned up a bit and submitted to an upcoming OSR package type deal. If it doesn't get used , I will upload it here instead.


Anyway I felt like I had a better grip on the islands denizens having their territory in front of me like this.
And I really like having stuff integrated like  weather and ecology and descriptions in with encounters. These however risk being a "too many empty rooms" if you don't read the players interest's right and start giving them more information than they need about what this fucking blue rabbit is doing or whatever..

But yeah it's part of the ever leaning process of being a g.m , fine-tuning your notes and presentations and information systems. Do you like immediately knowing who is charge in a city or do you want a table of obstacles and obfuscations to use in the city? Do want instant dungeons or instant schemes? Etc etc.
Don't mistake me here , not saying that any of the above are binarys. Blah blah blah.

Ideally I want to feel of the place at a glance, the forces driving it (ecological , political, mercantile etc) , its day to dayness , its history and what there is to actually do there and what is going make that different from this other place in the world.


/\/\/\/\/\/\/\//\\/\/\/\/\/\//\
 CURIOUS TRAP
This Crate contains a
1. sack
2. urn
3.chest
4.bundle
5.basket
6.bag

Sack contains a
1.crate
2.Urn
3. Chest
4. bundle
5. basket
6.bag

Urn contains a
1. sack
2.crate
3.chest
4.bundle
5.basket
6.bag

Chest contains a
1. sack
2. urn
3.crate
4.bundle
5.basket
6.bag

Bundle contains a  
1. sack
2. urn
3.chest
4.crate
5.basket
6.bag

Basket contains a 
1. sack
2. urn
3.chest
4.bundle
5.crate
6.bag

Bag contains a
1. sack
2. urn
3.chest
4.bundle
5.basket
6.1d100 wraiths



 /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Bones of Strange Fishes formed these things

1. Discrete pick, can pick one word out of some ones throat, this word they can never say again
2. Clever Awl, makes tiny holes , but only in one direction
3.Subtle Hook, will ensnare only those smarter than you
4.Diplomats Jaw, when fixed in your throat will allow you to say two things at once , each heard by a different listener of your discretion
5. Malign Barb, a tiny misshaped shard , that will cause slow but ruinous infections to those it wounds absent mindedly
6. Ocular ring , all waters will be of the purest transparency to you. From a boat you can see deep deep into the abyss. But everything you see can see you just as keenly.


/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Link

Inside this tooth is concealed

1. A ghouls egg
2.Dungeon seeds
3.Far too many wasps
4. Congealed Misery
5.Wee dancing men
6. A black steel centipede
7. A ghosts memory
8. an antidote for the poison in the other tooth
9. A tusk which can impossibly spiral out to the length of a sword
10.A bell which causes pain to the undead
11. a bone louse
12.delayed blast fireball