Discovering New Worlds

On vacation in New England and inspired by the wonderfully creative blog Signs in the Wilderness, I created a set of random tables for rolling up a segment of New World coastline.

Roll a d12 and then a d6 as many times as you want (probably 3-5) to generate the location of a colony on distant shores.

A ship spotting a randomly generated coast

1 The sea lies to the …

1 South

2 Southeast

3 Southwest

4 West

5 East

6 Roll again

2 Just offshore you’ll find ...

1 A single large island

2 A long cape

3 Dangerous small rocky islands

4 A deep, cold ocean trench

5 A stretch of tidal flats

6 Barrier islands

3 The coastline is dominated by …

1 Numerous inlets and rocky bays

2 Coastal cliffs

3 A large river delta

4 Tidal lowlands

5 Long sandy beaches

6 Protected harbors

4 The lands along the coast are …

1 Heavily forested

2 Mountainous or rocky

3 Disease-ridden and swampy

4 Dotted with rolling hills

5 Modified by civilization

6 Marked by signs of a disaster

5 Most of the population lives ...

1 As subsistence farmers

2 In the remnants of a lost colony

3 In a powerful metropolis

4 As nomadic hunter-gatherers

5 In hiding from dangers in the wilderness

6 Among ruins of an ancient civilization

6 The dominant culture of the area is made of …

1 Friendly colonists

2 Friendly natives

3 Opportunistic traders or missionaries

4 A diverse mix of indigenous folk and colonists

5 Colonial rivals

6 Hostile natives

7 This land is named for …

1 Magic phenomena

2 An indiginous settlement

3 The dominant water feature

4 The major flora or fauna of the area

5 The dominant terrain

6 A historical or religious figure

8 The climate tends to be …

1 Cool but sunny

2 Hot and humid

3 Temperate

4 Rainy or cloudy

5 Dry with a wet season

6 Harsh and unforgiving

9 The best source of freshwater is …

1 A navigable river

2 A series of freshwater lakes

3 Cold natural springs

4 A large lake

5 Runoff streams

6 Rain

10 Food comes from …

1 Plentiful wild game

2 The sea

3 Local fruit or nut trees

4 Indigenous cultivation

5 Invasive crops from the Old Lands

6 Further inland

11 The people are experiencing …

1 An armed conflict

2 Mysterious disappearances

3 Famine or drought

4 Gluttony and moral decay

5 Social revolution

6 Lasting prosperity

12 The people most recently fought …

1 Each other or former allies

2 A nearby indigenous settlement during raids

3 A colonial expeditionary force

4 A large band of native settlements

5 A magically summoned army

6 Boredom. Peace reigns.