Hilander RPGs

Can Rome be Built in an Hour?

The time is 8:36 PM. Start the clock.

I want to take the ancient city found in the Valley of Lune and advance the clock ten years.

What has it become?

This is a crash test of Fletchwind, volume 1.

What do I already know about Lune? It's an ancient city once populated by the elves (now perhaps the neighbors?), and now home to adventurers, clockwork folk, a handful of "dreamless" elves revived after aeons of torment, and probably a few other enterprising sorts.

Let's go.

We're starting with Richard Markert's article, City Governments. For this, let's see who the top two governments at play are.

1. The Clockwork Parliament

The clockwork parliament was established in the early days of Lune's rebirth. Members of each notable faction—dreamless, gearhearts, immigrants, and even the hedgekin—met together to discuss the needs, assets, fears, and desires of Lune's residents. Each group chooses their representatives in whichever way they please. The masks are worn as a sign that each represents not only themself, but the people of their faction. This has worked splendidly so far, ensuring peace among the diverse groups.

The parliament now seeks to create procedures for claiming land within the city—much still lays abandoned—but enforcement is costly.

2. The Silver King

Among the gearhearts is a single glistening silver specimen, called the Silver King by some. Soon after awakening, the Silver King took many of the gearhearts into the wilderness, on a holy quest to repair and reclaim their kindred. They returned, and laid claim to the high towers of Lune, and the mills which power their mechanical hearts. Many of the miracles of Lune can only function if the Silver King allows. The higher levels of the city are now inaccessible by any but gearhearts and approved fleshfolk.

The Silver King does not yet know the secrets of how the gearhearts were made, and so seeks the knowledge of the lost elves, but not all in the city are friendly to the idea of contacting those lost within the veil.

Relationships

A quick roll on the government relationships table shows us...

We're at 24 minutes in, let's keep going!

Generating the City Crawl!

We'll start with 2 districts, the Spires above and the Garden below.

City Description: Carved & Frozen, the whole city is carved of an ancient white stone. Dust and debris have covered much of it, and things built of wood have rotted away, but most of it still stands as a silent testament to the ancient ones' abilities.

City Spirit: Assertive but Egotistical. This is a frontier town. Most folk who live here have strong cause to be here. They've crossed mountains, survived nightmares, or rebuilt their own crumbling bodies just to be here. They're tough, and they know it. Frankly, most folk who live here think they're the only ones who could.

Goals & Obstacles: Construct / War. The people want to rebuild the ancient city, but every structure opened is a risk. Sometimes the ancients left behind treasure. Sometimes horror. And sometimes something completely new has moved in. Inch by inch, the people claim the old city for a new generation.

The Spires

The high-city, claimed by the gearhearts under the rule of the Silver King. Fleshfolk are strictly forbidden, and few exceptions are made.

Additional Descriptions: Hidden. Mist hangs over the city in an ever-present dome, while sunlight can pierce through to the streets below, the mist conceals the spires and the goings-on of those who dwell there even from those directly below.

Locations:

Encounters:

  1. Animal Catcher: Large birds still try to make nests up here from time to time.
  2. Stray Invention: While new sentient gearhearts have yet to be made, a few tinkerers attempt to create animal-like automataons.
  3. Orphan: A term for a gearheart with memory issues. They have no place of their own, and are unable to care for themselves. They tend to be driven by pure instinct, and are often considered inconvenient or even dangerous.
  4. Prophet: A gearheart preaches about the glorious revolution, when all shall be made metal, and flesh no more pollute the world. Generally looked down on.

The Garden

The low-city, where adventurers and the dreamless have built a safe haven for themselves and weary travelers. Hedgekin can occasionally be met here, though most of them feel uneasy lingering within the city walls.

Additional Descriptions: Layered & Quiet, the garden's center is a massive tree, where once a great spider ruled. It is now a place of meditation for the dreamless. A circular street runs a loop around the this meditative place, and there many folk have set up shops and residences within the "inner wall" of defenses they have put up against the un-reclaimed city.

Locations:

Encounters:

Eight minutes remain!

Four Adventure Seeds!

My own article lists a bunch of adventure seeds, lets interpret a few...

  1. Steal a precious artifact: Those gearhearts have something up there we want! Sneak up and take it for us low-city folk.
  2. Assassinate the VIP: A shady gearheart will pay hard gold to anyone who can kill the star of the theatre troupe in the name of the silver king. (They're a demon cultist looking to sew chaos, but rat on them and the cult will come after you.)
  3. The Noble Woke Evil: One of the Masked Parliament is acting strangely. Break into their house and find out what they're up to. Mission is from another member, the problem? They're possessed and planning a ritual to regain a massive, terrifying, physical form.
  4. The Old Tyrant's Dungeons: In the bowels of Lune, the old king did terrible things to gain secrets. Those ancient laboratories have been cracked open. They've been sealed off for safety, but since when has a lock kept you out?

DONE

With two minutes to spare. Granted, I'm a fast typer.

This could use another work through or two if I were going to publish it as an actual module, but for use at the table? Hell yeah. I think we've got a good thing going!

Fletchwind is in its final 36 hours over on Kickstarter! You can pick up the PDF for a cool $15, or if you're the type who likes to smell pages, that's available too.

#create