Hacking T1: The Village of Hommlet
Last post, we established the two tasks we
have with The Village of Hommlet.
First, we must present its information in
a more accessible and GM-friendly format. T1 tends to bury information the GM
needs in dense text, so we want to parse out that information and present it in
a way GMs can access easily.
Secondly, we must add depth to its
content. While the Village of Hommlet provides many details, such as the extent
and location of each villager’s life savings, we need to provide details more
relevant to the game at the table.
To tackle the issue of presenting the
information well, I first thought about how I tend to run player time in cities
at the table. Typically, I structure player interactions in the city as a sort
of point-crawl, where players can move between points of interest in the city
and declare the actions they take – usually downtime activities.
When applying this methodology to Hommlet,
I took inspiration from the seven-hex system from the Collaborative Gamer here. Specifically, I took a
hex grid and overlaid it with the Hommlet map to create “districts” in the
village of Hommlet, like so.
Overlaying this grid on the map of Hommlet
“chunks” the information, making it easier to remember and access. The original
map of Hommlet contained over thirty keyed locations, not including the keyed
locations inside the keyed locations (such as the inn and the chapel).
This is a lot for GMs to use and reference at the table, and I found myself
having a hard time managing it.
Now, with this hex grid dividing Hommlet
into “districts,” we can think of each district as a distinct place and group
details under it. The other advantage is that, at the table, the GM can use
these districts to facilitate transitions as players move between them (such as
by saying something like, “You leave the inn and head to the chapel, crossing
over the bridge and river on the north side).
After grouping Hommlet into districts, I
then organized the information presented in T1 into these seven categories,
arranging these around the map separate spaces. This method effectively turns
Hommlet into a “one-page dungeon,” where the GM has all the information they
need on a single side of a single sheet.
By the end of this process, I took the information
T1 presented in five pages and condensed it into one. This inevitably meant I
left some things out, such as the stat blocks for villagers. As you look at my
annotated map of Hommlet, you’ll notice that I left out any NPCs related to
keyed locations. I did this intentionally, as I plan to describe those in more
depth on the same page as annotated maps of those locations.
I also added a list of encounters
to the map. I plan to use these to help the village appear “alive.” The GM
could roll for an encounter as often or as little as they like. The idea that
each encounter describes an event that naturally comes out of the situations
described in the module. You have tensions between followers of the Old Faith
and the Cuthberites, several prominent villagers away on missions, and
construction happening on the castle.
I don’t know about you, but I personally
feel most invested in a game when it feels like it has a sense of progression.
In other words, I feel invested in a tabletop RPG game when the world moves and
changes around the players, not just in response to their actions. So my idea
is that, as your players spend more time in Hommlet, the castle should
gradually rise, more Cuthberites should move to town, and the people who are
there should pass away.
This, of course, requires that your
campaign take place over a greater span of time than a few weeks or months, but
the challenges I have with maintaining pacing in recent editions of fantasy rpgs
is a subject for another post.
In thinking about this, it reminds of
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. Part of what invested me in that game’s
characters was the fact that you could watch their relationships change (and
watch them grow old) over time. I think a tabletop RPG game benefits from that
sort of progression.
Besides formatting Hommlet as a one-page dungeon,
I planned to provide more depth where Hommlet does not already. Many villagers in
Hommlet do not have names, so I created a list of twenty I like Using fantasy name generator’s “medieval” names. You can roll on this in the moment when
your players interact with a no-name villager. You can roll 1d20 if the gender
is undecided or 1d10 on a certain side if you know whether the villager’s male
or female. If your players interact with more than twenty unnamed villagers, I
can’t help you. I suppose you could just name everyone Bob.
I also created a roll table for villager personalities. The idea is
that you roll a d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12 to generate a faceless NPC the players
decide to converse with. Hommlet often fails to describe villagers’
personalities in more detail than “friendly” or “distrustful,” so I hope this
table helps GM’s fill in those blank spaces. Every small village needs their grumpy
misanthrope and judgmental prude.
Anyway, that’s all I have for this post. In the next post, we will give
the same treatment to the upper level of the moathouse and, depending on the
word count, possibly the lower level, too. I hope these resources make T1 more
accessible for you to run. If you use this at your table or have advice from
your own experience, please let me know!
Hommlet Villager Roll Table
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Male
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Female
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1. Reinart
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6. Hobard
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11. Bethan
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16. Elia
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2. Alain
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7. Searl
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12. Lylie
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17. Winnifred
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3. Wymarc
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8. Hancock
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13. Rosalind
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18. Emeloth
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4. Geffroi
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9. Raylin
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14. Helenor
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19. Thea
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5. Sanson
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10. Berolt
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15. Loreena
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20. Saara
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1d4
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1d6
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1d8
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1d10
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1d12
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1: Child
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1. Farmer
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1. Wants adventurers to
not raise trouble
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1. Remarkably dirty
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1. Hardworking busybody
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2: Young Adult
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2. Animal Husbandry
(Shepherd / Cowhand / Apiarist)
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2. Wants adventurers to
bring excitement
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2. Remarkably clean
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2. Lazy layabout
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3: Mature Adult
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3. Craftsperson / Artisan
(Blacksmith / Weaver / Baker)
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3. Wants to maintain the
Old Faith
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3. Weather- beaten
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3. Talkative gossip
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4: Elderly
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4. Gathering (Hunter /
Trapper / Herbalist)
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4. Wants the Duke to
leave the village alone
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4. Wears a notable hat
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4. Mistrusting xenophobe
|
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5. Militia (Guard /
Soldier / Sellsword)
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5. Wants the Duke to
protect the village
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5. No shoes, and proud of
it
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5. Vicarious adventurer
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6. Construction (Mason /
Carpenter / Thatcher)
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6. Wants the village to
stay quiet and quaint
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6. Brandishes a holy
symbol or spiritual sprigs
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6. Nervous worrywart
|
|
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7. Wants the village to
grow and expand
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7. Accompanied by a pet
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7. Judgmental prude
|
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8. Wants to convert
others to the New Gods
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8. Looks like a season
(1:Summer 2:Fall 3:Winter
4:Spring)
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8. Aspiring zealot
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9. Ill-fitting clothes, obviously
homespun
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9. Greedy miser
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10. Bears a scar or
significant injury
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10. Grumpy misanthrope
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11. Sassy font of folk
wisdom
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12. Doe-eyed innocent
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