GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting: Caverntown

[Steven Marsh]

Originally Posted by Pseudonym

Just posting it here before I forget.
Small typo on p. 37, on the 4th bullet in the aside. "rotherhood."

Thanks for finding that! I've sent it to our errata coordinator. I can't promise when we'll get a fixed version of this — we're all knee-deep in keeping other bits of the GURPS train moving — but I'm hoping it'll be in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, if any other errata pops up with this, feel free to let me know or email it to our errata coordinator directly!

[Humabout]

I've bumped this supplement to the top of my to-get pile. I already have an idea of where I'd plop this into a setting. And even the non-fluff bits sound really useful, too. I hope I can grab this soon.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Pseudonym

Just posting it here before I forget.
Small typo on p. 37, on the 4th bullet in the aside. "rotherhood."

That must have happened late in the layout process . . . it wasn't in my review PDF. Sorry about that!

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Dalin

Ok, I've geeked out on this more than usual. I created a Google spreadsheet that does all the dome math for different radiuses and heights. It even produces a graph that approximates the shape of the dome. (Though, the graph scale needs to be tweaked if you adjust the radius.) The default radius of 1600 matches Kromm's details and I've put 1400 yards as the starting height. You can edit the values to adjust. If you want to mess with the rest of the sheet, feel free to make a copy. Here it is:

Caverntown Dome Calculator

That's matching up with what I'm getting out of Blender (I'm also using 1400 yards as the height). When you add in the walls, even at a generous 60 feet / 20 yards plus some more for the crenelations on top of the wall, it really hits home how... tiny flat caverntown is compared to the Dome.

I should have a rough sketch of a view from one of the Gates towards the Barricade gate tonight; it's a view from the side so I can handwave the street layout and just have random buildings poking over the wall.

I'm still struggling on how best to populate the city's buildings without having to hand place every single one, but still reflect the 8 spoke roads and the Perimeter road and the 9 major courtyards. Technical cheats are great and everything, but it's amazing how much planning you need to put into being lazy.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Bruno

it really hits home how... tiny flat caverntown is compared to the Dome.

Yep. The idea is that the Great Cavern is so freakin' huge that it's basically the sky. Down at ant level, with all that godly sunlight beating down, it's probably impossible to be sure that you're not outdoors under a slightly hazy sky that diffuses the light. The cavern ceiling isn't really meant to be close overhead, though you can drop it as much as you want to trigger PCs with Claustrophobia.

[cbower]

This was a great book. The setting is really useful. Anyone want to sit Hellsgate in the next big cavern over?

[Dustin]

That's a nice little town you've got there. Sure would be a shame if something ... happened to it.

Seriously, as beautifully as this fits the niche for The Dungeon Town, I find myself thinking that the overrun ruins of Caverntown would themselves be an epic adventure setting.

A) +1 week. "Fort Caverntown sent a courier. Some sort of zombie plague hit the town, and we need you to find out what happened and if anybody survived. On the assumption that the Mayor is dead, we've appointed Countess Plotpointe here the new Mayor. Get her to the great golems so she can activate them, and figure it out from there."

B) +10 years. "The disputed royal succession and the ensuing civil war set the various factions and power centers in Caverntown against each other. When the coleopterans invaded, they weren't prepared, and the town fell. But the beetles haven't looted the town like humans or goblins would - there are reports that some shops are almost untouched if you can sneak or fight your way past the bugs."

C) +800 years. "I'm telling you, I think we can get out this way. There are stories of a dwarven cave-town that traded with the surface, inside a huge hemispherical cave created by a demonic invasion. Look at the geometry of this place and tell me I'm wrong. Somewhere over that barricade wall is a way to the surface."

[SolemnGolem]

Zombies: Day One would be a nice supplement to run that concept!

[Empada]

Originally Posted by Bruno

That's matching up with what I'm getting out of Blender (I'm also using 1400 yards as the height). When you add in the walls, even at a generous 60 feet / 20 yards plus some more for the crenelations on top of the wall, it really hits home how... tiny flat caverntown is compared to the Dome.

I should have a rough sketch of a view from one of the Gates towards the Barricade gate tonight; it's a view from the side so I can handwave the street layout and just have random buildings poking over the wall.

I'm still struggling on how best to populate the city's buildings without having to hand place every single one, but still reflect the 8 spoke roads and the Perimeter road and the 9 major courtyards. Technical cheats are great and everything, but it's amazing how much planning you need to put into being lazy.

there is a tutorial of Blender Guru aboult how to make a city landscape using basic modeling and particles system.

it will make your work easy

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Empada

there is a tutorial of Blender Guru aboult how to make a city landscape using basic modeling and particles system.

it will make your work easy

I've got that, and it's very helpful, but it doesn't work quite so simply for streets on a sort of squashed pie shaped layout instead of a grid. Caverntown naturally is a squashed pie.