Who wants to talk about Bendwyn?

[Terquem]

Today I ported into AutoCad a PDF image of the village of Bendwyn (appendix B from the Game Master's Module of The Fantasy Trip, In The Labyrinth). I will now begin drawing over that image to create a custom map.

It got me thinking about Bendwyn, and how it was a great little starting village (along with the Duchy of Dran) for Grand Campaigns.

I would like to know if anyone would like to help me expand on Bendwyn, by populating it with all the folks who might need to be fleshed out with Names and Talents so that we might create a fully realized little village for the Player Characters to interact with.

[Skarg]

First thing I'd point out (for Steve, really) is that the Scale section is wrong and self-contradictory:

"Each hex on this map measures 20 meters from side to side, and is equivalent to 19 hexes on the labyrinth map, or 19 megahexes using the combat scale."

I took this to mean 20 meters, so 20 / 1.3 m/hex is about 15 combat hexes, which if you march it off in combat along a hexrow is 5 megahexes.

The approach for townfolk which I tended to use for my campaign (which started in and oft returned to Bendwyn, and expanded the world out in all directions around the Dran map) was to have a generic idea of what sorts of people and tradespeople and armed people and magic people were where, but to only detail a few of them and then have a large pool that I habitually made of pre-made characters that could be used if/when the campaign started to pay attention to someone for any reason. I also had a long list of pre-conjured names, and if the PCs met someone, I'd note down their name and anything I determined about that person so it could be consistent in later play, possibly attaching one of those pregen characters. Later I also worked up some typical templates for NPCs of different types, particularly typical stats for tradespeople of different types.

Several times I have tried detailing an entire village, but that gets really time consuming and usually ends up being less usable because it's so hard to remember all the details. Details generated during play tend to stick in my mind and be more accessible because they more and different context to stick to, at least in my memory.

As for Bendwyn, the most developed place was the most visited, which was Skarg's. It was a bit depraved and surreal. It's a big place. Mine has two main public rooms on the ground floor. The main bar is a Wizard map, with the shaded megahexes being two great tables for eating surrounded by stools, one map entrance being the main doors in/out, and the opposite entrance being stairs up to the rooms. Skarg has a three-hex counter in the megahex next to the stairs, with two open hexes behind it. Behind him are barrels of beer on tap. The stairs lead to an overlook of the main hall along the back wall. Skarg's typically has some level of violence break out every night, including armed & magical combats and frequent looting of the losers.

Skarg likes tips to keep his mouth shut, and expects people to pay for any damage done to the building & furniture, which happens fairly often, so he has a back-up public room for when the main one is being cleaned & repaired, which is a Melee map with a one-hex table in the middle of most megahexes, stools around them, and a bar and staircase like the in the larger public room.

There's a graveyard out back for all the people who die in all the duels and pointless fighting at Skarg's.

[CardDiceian]

Originally Posted by Terquem

I would like to know if anyone would like to help me expand on Bendwyn, by populating it with all the folks who might need to be fleshed out with Names and Talents so that we might create a fully realized little village for the Player Characters to interact with.

I've got my *New Town* - plans drawn out and currently tucked in the Bendwyn page, as I'm using that for reference at the moment.

I'm flashing it out with a load of characters - happy to share them with you if you're interested.

The most interesting characters so far are the owner of the main tavern, who is still a master physicker, but no longer goes out adventuring due to the loss of a leg.

The owner of the other tavern is an Orc lady, with a penchant for magic rings (she wears a couple of useful ones) - and has a missing finger, which is the result of putting one on which had less than desirable effects.

We have a nearby settlement of halflings that grow vegetables for the market, but also grow mushrooms (berserker & hallucinogenic) for the alchemist. - A group of elves running a protection racket and a fixed gambling table, a group of light fingered dwarves - along with a rag tag band of travellers intent on causing trouble.

[Terquem]

The map of Bendwyn was drawn at an approximate scale of 1:3600 (1 inch is 300 feet). The hexes on the map are approximately 7/32 inch measured side to side, showing a distance of 65.625 ft (at that scale, while it is mentioned they represent “about” 20 yards which would be 65.6168 ft.). The rest of the information about hex sizes based upon the combat map surface and Labyrinth map notation is a bit off.

My intention is to reproduce the map using “at scale” units, then print the map at a slightly different scale with a slightly large hex size overlaid on the map.

To determine the best “hex” size to place as an overlay over the Bendwyn map takes a bit of planning. I use 1.25 inch (side to side measure) hexes for my battle mats, and the scale is 1:48 (1 inch equals 48 inches, 1.25 inches equals 60 inches). So my standard MegaHex represents and area 180 inches across, or 15 feet. A Mega-MegaHex (a single hex on the “Labyrinth map), is nine single hexes across at its widest measurement and would be 45 feet across. At 1:3600 scale (the Bendwyn map scale) this “hex” would be too small, at .15 inches.

So how about a Mega-Mega-MegaHex (I’ll name these hexes later). This would be 27 single hexes across, or 135 feet across, at 1:3600 scale this single representation hex would be .45 inches. I like it because this is 11.43mm or almost the same as the old school 12mm map sheets available from Judges Guild

I am going to try to stat out everyone in the village. I know it seems daunting, but I really want to see how the system will work when picking talents for individuals who are not particularly heroic (though there may be some heroic individuals in the community, soldiers from previous wars, or retired adventurers). I’m also going to take a look at population diversity, and try to figure out how many demi-humans there might be in Bendwyn.

Skarg – I always felt Skarg’s was bit “too big” for a seedy tavern. It measure out as more like a substantial Inn. I intend to make it smaller, and will probably base it around a place like Sheehan’s in Dublin, Ireland.

CardDiceian – I am thinking of creating a breakdown list, in groups of five, to start identifying who needs details.

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by Terquem

Skarg – I always felt Skarg’s was bit “too big” for a seedy tavern. It measure out as more like a substantial Inn. I intend to make it smaller, and will probably base it around a place like Sheehan’s in Dublin, Ireland.

Well yes, it is huge for a tavern. That's how my vision of Skarg's includes two public drinking/eating/carousing/brawling spaces plus a huge inn/flophouse full of drunken seedy types, and a stable, store room with barrels, etc.