If you should apply anything from this article, you must, like me, apologize for adding cruft to Chris’s elegant design. Shame, shame! Apologies also if you read this and find that the best idea in here was buried somewhere in the body of the blogpost. I kept it long so as to not deliver several small sandwiches but one OVERSIZED SCOOBY-SANDWICH that’s obviously inspired by Necropraxis’s Hazard System and the Overloaded Encounter Die. Also also, I’m not your mom, but you should run Mythic Bastionland as-written before this foundational level of tinkering. And with that, let’s tinker. As it stands, this is the table to roll on when roaming the Realm: Wilderness RollWhen ending a Phase in Wilderness, roll:
First change: the company always encounters the hex’s Landmark regardless of the Wilderness Roll result. The Landmark is the static element beneath the shifting wilds and establishes the backdrop of the action. Dot one of each of these additional Landmarks on your map of the Realm while you’re at it. Now with that change, 4, 5, and 6 are “only” “empty” results. I put those in quotes because these results are when you’re meant to evoke flavor and themes, indulge the senses, and reinforce what they’ve learned (pg. 16). And also, we know that “empty” rooms in terms of classic dungeon crawling are never empty. They contain small details, flavor, and discoverables! So what if you want to tweak these empty results? Give the referee more tactile prompts for what happens next? Give the company something to react to instead of just saying “that was a nice piece of prose... so what’s the next bit of adventure?” The goal is twofold: introduce more definitive results to the wilderness roll and further obfuscate the Myths. These definitive results make it easier to referee as you just have to stick to the items you selected to have hygienic procedures. And obfuscating the Myths injects uncertainty and tension: “Is this part of the Bat myth the Seer told us about? Or something else? Let’s investigate...” Aye, therein lies more adventure and more paths to tread. The preparation is simple: to overload the wilderness roll, pick up to three items below and slot them in the three remaining sides of the d6 roll (4, 5, and 6):
Let’s detail these! SHIFTEncounter a change in weather.Roll d6 below:
Weather Event
A short, nested weather table that strives for changing conditions that’re easy to describe. This way, the results can seem odd (”What? Frost in Harvest?!”) but aren’t due to GM fiat (”Nono, the frost is just flavor I wanted for this scene.”) This way you start with weather assumptions for the season and then conditions change as you travel, much as with real travel. But you may also have sudden shifts into disaster like torrential rains and winds. ECHOEncounter the Echo of a random Myth.Roll a random Myth (d72), then roll d6 to see which omen this encounter relates to. The company encounters the impact of that omen long after its passing. If you roll a Myth current to the Realm, the encounter is evidence that Myth happened before. Because who said myths can’t be cyclical? Example:
A lot of Echoes, like the Ruins landmark, point to the old happenings of the world. Just because the myths aren’t awake, doesn’t mean they leave without a trace. DEPLETIONEncounter the weariness of travel.Roll d6 and apply the results to everyone in the Company:
Because being out in wilderness or just travel more generally wears you down. Remember the last time you were at the airport? Did you feel like your own Vigour, Clarity, and Spirit were at their highest? Likewise, describe how the knights feel sore, or squint in the daylight, or get frustrated with their horses reins and other inconveniences. Even a slight stumble, slight backtracking, or a personal slight can bring their virtues down. SIGNEncounter the evidence of others.There are others in the world that leave their residue behind and this outcome imitates that. Signs can point to future encounters or just be some object or marking found in the wild, a non-sequitur. I’ve used the d100 table from Knave Second Edition and there are others out there. OBSTACLEEncounter a random travel obstacle.This usually comes in the form of a quick save or luck roll to see how the knights fare against things like scarce food and hidden nests and interpreting the accent of a passersby giving directions. I’ve been using the Travel Challenge Generator from Savvy Donkey Press. Free resource that calls for STR, DEX, and WIL saves which makes me think it was developed for ItO or Cairn, so some mapping onto MB’s virtues is required. It even uses d72 to determine the obstacle!
ENCOUNTEREncounter a random encounter.Roll 2d6 for the encounter and activity. Optionally, you can replace the Activity roll with the d72 State table in Mythic Bastionland (check the bottom of the Knight pages). This draws from Papers Pencils, where rolling a 12 is a Dragon (named and statted for you) and rolling a 2 is a wizard. But because this is Mythic Bastionland, replace ‘wizard’ with ‘seer’:
Now, to fully expand and stat these entries. To clarify, there is the number encountered and there is also a nested table in that entry. So when rolling d6 mythicals, you might roll a 5 for harpies and then roll again to see there’re 3 of them. 2- ONE SEER roll d72 in the book, accompanied by...
3- d6 MYTHICALS
4- d6 BEASTMEN
5- ONE WARBAND (pg 11)
6- d3 KNIGHTS roll d72 in the book. If you roll a knight in the company, it is instead a squire hoping to imitate that knight. 50% chance accompanied by d3 squires and attendants 7- d3 PEOPLE (pg 13)
8- d3 HORSES
9- d6 GIANT BEASTS
10- d6 GIANT INSECTS
11- d6 GIANT REPTILES
12- ONE DRAGON
DENIZENEncounter the next Omen from a random Denizen in this Realm.This is how to have a cast beyond the Myths. And conveniently, I’ve already created them for you. :) Check out the Dreaming Dragonslayer Denizens on itch!
And just so I’m not just straight SHILLING, here’s the alternative for denizens of the Realm: Encounter a random character seen before.Then the referee maintains a list of recurring NPCs that travel the wilderness from holdings or past omens and myths. This can even be how NPCs from Myths are encountered after their Myth is resolved. Weaving the mythic tapestry invites callbacks to old threads and themes. I’m mixing metaphors a bit, but you get it. NOW LET’S APPLY!So maybe you want more exploration and so your Wilderness Roll might look like this:
Or maybe you want more encounters and you opt for:
Or maybe some mix of the two? And who said you have to have the same wilderness roll every game? Switch it up between sessions or seasons or Realms. Be consistent, mind you, and never change it up during a session or fudge the roll! Be hygienic with your procedures! It’s a build-your-own-sandwich, but please, please keep the base of the 1-3 results of the Wilderness Roll. Don’t mess with the meaty myth math, just the condiments and toppings. Enjoy! Find more Mythic Bastionland greatness on the Syllabus!
Looking to add recurring NPC plot threads? Check out Mythic Denizens!
The Story Games Sojourn blog is FREE to all. If you wanna support this work, browse my itch.io page so you also get a game out of your generosity. Contact me directly here if you have any questions or want to tell me something cool. :)
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Thursday, 22 January 2026
Mythic Bastionland: Overloading the Wilderness Roll
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