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Mythic Bastionland: Overloading the Wilderness Roll

Get something on EVERY move in the wilderness

Samuel James

Jan 22

READ IN APP

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 Roll

When ending a Phase in Wilderness, roll:

1- Encounter the next Omen from a random Myth in this Realm.
2-3- Encounter the next Omen from the nearest Myth.
4-6- Encounter the Hex’s Landmark. Otherwise all clear.

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):

SHIFT - Encounter a change in weather.
ECHO - Encounter the Echo of a random Myth.
DEPLETION - Encounter the weariness of travel.
SIGN - Encounter the evidence of others.
OBSTACLE - Encounter a random obstacle.
ENCOUNTER - Encounter a random encounter.
DENIZEN - Encounter the next Omen from a random Denizen in this Realm.

Let’s detail these!

SHIFT

Encounter a change in weather.

Roll d6 below:

1- Windier
2- Wetter
3- Drier
4- Hotter
5- Colder
6- Weather Event, roll d6 below

Weather Event

1- Frost
2- Hail
3- Downpour
4- Thunderstorm
5- Whirlwind
6- Fog

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.

ECHO

Encounter 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:

The referee rolls 1 and 2 on a d6 and d12, getting the Wall Myth. Rolling a d6, they get the 2nd omen which reads: “Two giant magpies, stealing shiny things. They nest in the trees that root among the Wall’s oldest stones.“ The ref describes a nest, now abandoned in a moss-covered boulders that look to have once been a part of a wall. The ref looks to roll up a quick shiny thing and flips to the next page to see “grief flute” as a object. “You see what looks like a rusted silver stick glinting up there too. It’s pretty high up. What do you do?”

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.

DEPLETION

Encounter the weariness of travel.

Roll d6 and apply the results to everyone in the Company:

1- Worn Body: Lose 1 VIG.
2- Worn Body: Lose 2 VIG.
3- Dulled Edge: Lose 1 CLA.
4- Dulled Edge: Lose 2 CLA.
5- Weighed Down: Lose 1 SPI.
6- Weighed Down: Lose 2 SPI.

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.

SIGN

Encounter 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.

Knave 2nd Ed. It’s a mithral bestseller so you really should have it.

OBSTACLE

Encounter 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!

ENCOUNTER

Encounter 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...

1 a knight
2-3 apprentice or d6 worshipers
4-6 no one

3- d6 MYTHICALS

1 giants VIG 13, CLA 4, SPI 8, 5GD, tree (d8 hefty), stone (d6), treat as warband.
2 centaurs VIG 14, CLA 15, SPI 12, 4GD, longbow (d8 long)
3 oozes VIG 18, CLA 3, SPI 5, 2GD, weapon (d6), piercing attacks are impaired.
4 dryads VIG 7, CLA 14, SPI 11, 2GD, A1 (barkskin)
5 harpies VIG 9, CLA 13, SPI 7, 7GD, talons (d8)
6 griffons VIG 12, CLA 8, SPI 8, 6GD, talons (2d6)

4- d6 BEASTMEN

1 ratmen VIG 11, CLA 11, SPI 9, 5GD, A1 (armor), dirk (d6)
2 hogmen VIG 14, CLA 7, SPI 9, 3GD, A1 (helm), hammer (d8 long)
3 toadmen VIG 7, CLA 14, SPI 15, 6GD, spear (d8 long)
4 snakemen VIG 13, CLA 12, SPI 11, 5GD, A1 (shield), bite (d8), handaxe (d6), shield (d4)
5 crowmen VIG 8, CLA 8, SPI 8, 7GD, shortbow (d6 long)
6 goatmen VIG 9, CLA 12, SPI 14, 4GD, scimitar (d6 hefty)

5- ONE WARBAND (pg 11)

1 riders VIG 10, CLA 13, SPI 10, 3GD, javelins (d6), handaxe (d6), steed
2-3 mercenaries VIG 13, CLA 10, SPI 10, 4GD, A3 (mail, helm, shield), spear (d8 hefty), shield (d4)
4-6 skirmishers VIG 10, CLA 13, SPI 10, 2GD, shortbow (d6 long)

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)

1 rare (1-2 sage, 3-4 alchemist, 5-6 sellsword)
2-3 uncommon (1-2 herbalist, 3-4 soldier-at-arms, 5-6 archer)
4-6 common (1-2 servant, 3-4 guide, 5-6 sentry)

8- d3 HORSES

1 old, roll d12 for each Virtue, 6GD
2-3 mature, roll d12+4 for each virtue, 4GD
4-6 young, roll d12+2 for each virtue, 2GD

9- d6 GIANT BEASTS

1 bears VIG 14, CLA 9, SPI 11, 4GD, A1 (hide), claws (2d8)
2-3 wolves VIG 13, CLA 13, SPI 13, 5GD, claws (2d6)
4-6 rats VIG 8, CLA 9, SPI 7, 4GD, bite (d8)

10- d6 GIANT INSECTS

1 wasps VIG 6, CLA 9, SPI 9, 7GD, stinger (d8, self dies on a 1)
2 beetles VIG 7, CLA 9, SPI 5, 3GD, A2 (carapace), claw (d6), slam (d8, then beetle loses 1 VIG)
3 arachnids VIG 7, CLA 9, SPI 7, 3GD, slam (d6), stinger (d8 slow), webs
4 grubs VIG 8, CLA 4, SPI 6, 2GD, slam (d6)
5 crabs VIG 8, CLA 5, SPI 8, 5GD, A4 (carapace), claws (2d6)
6 scorpions VIG 8, CLA 5, SPI 7, 6GD, A1 (carapace), claw (d6), stinger (d10 slow)

11- d6 GIANT REPTILES

1 tortoises VIG 15, CLA 10, SPI 10, 2GD, A3 (shell), slam (d8 slow)
2-3 salamanders VIG 11, CLA 13, SPI 9, 4GD, claw (d8), fire breath (d6 blast slow)
4-6 serpents VIG 12, CLA 12, SPI 9, 6GD, bite (d8, suffers d4 VIG lose)

12- ONE DRAGON

1 Ebon Fume VIG 17, CLA 16, SPI 17, 12GD, A4 (hide), bite (d10), claws (2d8), acid breath (2d12 blast slow).
2 Mythlurian VIG 16, CLA 15, SPI 15, 6GD, A4 (hide), claws (4d6), thrash (d10 blast).
3 Skaladak VIG 14, CLA 13, SPI 13, 7GD, A4 (hide), bite (d8), claws (2d8), frost breath (2d8 blast slow).
4 Txyr the Old VIG 15, CLA 6, SPI 9, 8GD, A3 (hide), bite (d10), claws (2d6 slow), smoke breath (d6 blast slow), wingless.
5 Uyril Unending VIG 15, CLA 14, SPI 14, 10GD, A4 (hide), bite (2d12), lightning breath (d12 blast).
6 young hellkite VIG 9, CLA 10, SPI 10, 6GD, A4 (hide), bite (2d6), claws (2d6), spark breath (d8 blast slow).

DENIZEN

Encounter 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:

1- Encounter the next Omen from a random Myth in this Realm.
2- Encounter the next Omen from the nearest Myth.
3- Encounter the next Omen from the nearest Myth.
4- Encounter a change in weather.
5- Encounter the Echo of a random Myth.
6- Encounter the evidence of others.

Or maybe you want more encounters and you opt for:

1- Encounter the next Omen from a random Myth in this Realm.
2- Encounter the next Omen from the nearest Myth.
3- Encounter the next Omen from the nearest Myth.
4- Encounter a random obstacle.
5- Encounter a random encounter.
6- Encounter the next Omen from a random Denizen in this Realm.

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!