Quick Kingdom: A world generator in 45 min

Continent Generation
This is often a place where it is easiest to get lost in the details or fall into the trap of writing two pages of
information where you only need two sentences. Fortunately for us, /u/famoushippopatamus recently
posted a wonderful generator that we formalize here:
> Take your first hex sheet and draw any shape. If you want inspiration try your favorite landmass on earth or
choose a feature found on the moon, Mars, or Venus.
> Next, add (1) mountains, (2) hills radiating from the mountains, (3) rivers flowing from mountains to shores or
lakes, (4) forests, (5) and swamps in areas with a lot of rivers or where they meet the shore.
> Then, name each geographical feature. If you are having problems coming up with some names poke
around to find a name generator. BETTER YET, let your players name geographical features then theyll
already be interested in them.
> After that it's time to add political boundaries before deciding what races you want to include. This helps
break up fantasy stereotypes of putting elves in forest and orcs in mountains.
> Once the boundaries are made, roll on the tables below to generate a race, religion setup, and relationship
to neighbors for each nation. Then, roll for a government and an event that happened in the last 10-20
years. Need a pantheon?
> Helpful DMG tables: Religion (DMG 10); Government (DMG 18); Events (DMG 27);

d10

Races

d6

Religion
Setup

d6

Relationship of nation to neighbor

Human

Elves

Loose Pantheon

Neutral with

Orcs

Drow

Tight Pantheon

Hostile to

Dwarves

Lizardfolk

Monotheistic

Closed borders

Hobgoblin

Halfing

Dualism

At war with

Goblin

10

Gnoll

Animism

Friendly with

Cult (in secret)

Are allies

d8

Government

d8

Event

Monarchy

Civil War

Oligarchy

Conquered by an outside force

Theocracy

Collapse of empire/loss of colonial holdings

Republic

Natural disaster (earthquake, tsunami, volcano)

Democracy

Magical disaster (zombie plague, meteor swarm, Wish)

Meritocracy

War against neighboring kingdom

Military dictatorship

Economic collapse

Plutocracy

Assassination of the sovereign

Kingdom Generation
This scale will be the focal point for the rest of the document. Generally the first 10 levels or so will find
enough in the region to keep them occupied. As the party moves onward, each of the next sections could
be applied to each subsequent kingdom.
> Within each kingdom create one major city (capital), 2 large economic centers, and 1 place of importance
(religious, arcane, military, port etc.)
> Next, create a relationship map with each city using the table below. It might be important to adjust each
citys background to take in account the government. For example, if the government is a republic, each city
might be a capital of a smaller state within the kingdom. Or if the government is a militocracy perhaps each
city represents the camp of a general. Also mark which city is: (a) the capital and (b) most affected by the
kingdom event.
> Then, for each city roll for a Polity Ruler and Complication. For the kingdom, roll for its current overarching
goal (Kingdom Ruler seeks)
> Then, fill in the kingdom with twice the number of smaller cities, forts, places of mining/manufacture, etc.
These can have their own relationships if you want, but could also be small enough that they dont have as
much social pull. They can be further characterized by DMG 112.
> Helpful DMG tables: Chapter 4: Creating NPCs is a nice quick way to fill out leaders of the kingdom and
polities

d6

Polity Relationship

d6

Polity Ruler

d6

Polity Complication

Enemies

Fighter

Ruler accused of deceit & murder by heir

Trade Partners

Rogue

Cult infiltration in church

Allies

Cleric

Civil conflict between two houses

Marriage

Wizard

Criminal faction gaining power

Hostile in secret

Figure-head

Occupied by forces from adjacent kingdom

In debt to

Monster-indisguise

2nd-in-command leads in rulers

mysterious absence

d6

Kingdom Ruler seeks...

...absolute power over the people

...domination of the whole continent

...divine authority to rule by ascension to demi-godhood

...arcane power and magic weapons

...to make this land completely safe

...rid the land of all but a certain [class, race, religion]

...to unify the kingdoms in a grand round table of leaders

...to make peace with the neighboring kingdoms

Defining Environmental Features

This section should allow the generation of some interesting rumors, hook, complications for each of the
major topographical features within the kingdom. These features can be used as quests for the beginning
adventuring party. They might be motivated by the king to retrieve a fabled magic item, agree to rid a
farming community of rampaging undead, or just seek to plunder crypts and ruins for personal gain.
> For each forest, mountain range, swamp, lake/river roll on table below.

d10
1

...a lost city of the yuan-ti which contains brass plates etched with the promises of power

...a beast that fell from the stars which can fulfill any prophecy

...an arcane machine powered by blood which brings forth change unintended

...a throne made of iron and gold, which seats an old god willing to make a deal

...an artifact of great power protected by a guardian untouched by it (DMG 219)

...a place uncharted that no one has returned from

...a portal to distant planes or the forest that can be seen on the moon (DMG 43)

...the last of a long forgotten race in search of their last hope- an infant god

...a miracle plant that blooms only in the presence of the right ideals

10

...untapped vein of precious mineral & gems

>

d6

In this [forest/mountain/lake/river/swamp/plains/desert] there is rumored to be...

Next the three tables below will add conflict in the form of Hostile Life, Environmental Complication, and
History about that region. These can be adjusted slightly to take into account the table result above.

Hostile Life

d6

Environmental Complication

d6

History

Single dominant predator

Weather

Haunted by the Dead

NPC of great power

Rough Terrain/Insects

Great Battle Fought

Evil Faction in power

Wild Magic

Always considered sinister

Unrecognized nation

Alien Ecology

Celestial event observed

Predominance of feywilds

Hard to Forage

Former site of resistance

All encounters = Deadly

Above, but seasonal

Location of old nation capital

PCs Starting Social Network

This section will help give the PCs a social network with which to operate in. This social circle can be
where the first quests originate and can provide ongoing problems for the PC to negotiate.
> For each PC roll on the Group table below. The player somehow has had some prior contact with this group
and vis versa. For extra fun, have the PC make a CHA check: Pass = favorable relationship; Fail = hostile
relationship.
> Next, roll on the NPC Contact table for each organization. This is the NPC the group will interact with most of
the time. The DMG on pages 89-91 does a good job allowing the easy creation of each of these NPCs more
in depth.
> After the NPC is in place, there needs to a rumor, hook, motivation for the group. Roll on the Problem
table. It could be a problem they want the PCs to solve, unique to the NPC, or just an issue being handled
internally by the group but could cause problems for the PCs. If two groups have the same problem they
could be after the same thing!

d20

Group

d10

NPC Contact

d12

Problem (roll Group for target)

Smugglers Ring

Leader

Stolen artifact of importance

Artisans Guild

Second in Command

Assassination (or attempt) of leader

Arcane Society

Lackey/Initiate

Illicit affair

Military Order

Neophyte

Drug addiction

Powerful Family (rising)

Veteran

Wants to remove from power [group]

Powerful Family
(declining)

Excommunicated
Member

Kidnapped a member of [group]

School of
Philosophy/Sages

Quartermaster

Find crypt of legendary member

Divine Society

Healer

Corruption by infernal elements

Secret Society

Zealot

Schism in group

10

Devoted Order of..

10

Average member

10

Caught in a debauch act

11

Merchants Guild

11

Needs an item discreetly transported

12

Assassins Guild

12

Looking for extra arms on a contract basis

13

Mercenary Company

14

City watch/guard

15

Thieves guild

16

Sailing/fishing boat

17

Manor staff

18

Monastic Order

19

Engineering Order

20

Tavern Regulars

Random Encounter Tables

This section will help you establish some quick encounter tables for most of the environment you have in
your campaign. They can/will/should be modified at a later date, but just to get the players going these
attempts at iconic monsters should do.
> A good random encounter table provides both combat and skill challenges for the players. This keeps
encounters from slowing game play down too much. Combat helps tax PC health, while skill challenges
help tax PC preparation.
> A good random encounter table helps illustrate the area the PCs are in helping you, the DM, avoid info
dumps. So if the PCs visit are traveling in The Valley of the Cobra then the random encounter tables might
involve reptiles, giant snakes, and ruins of snake-centered civilizations.
> An encounter table can also mix up frequency to emphasize a specific aspect of the area. So if the area
contains an active predator, perhaps rolling 2d6 and encountering that predator on a 7 would be better than
rolling a 1d12.
> Finally in a world of living myth, common animals can seem boring. However mixed and match real life
example for a new crazy animal- battering rams beat their heads like woodpeckers. If you roll the same beast
twice it could represent adaptive variation on the same base animal. So, a forest could have a short neck
grass deer and a long-necked pine deer (a giraffe-type). And common folk will use animals as symbols and
metaphors: As trustworthy as a coal sheep Taller than a pine deer.
> To create your encounter table roll 4-6 times below. These give the list of creatures that your encounter table
will have (or just pick). Next create a combat encounter and a skill encounter for each thing rolled. Then
maybe add 1-2 encounters with a feature linked to the Environmental Complication and/or History.
> Helpful DMG tables: Sylvan Forest Encounters (DMG 87) is an excellent example of a good encounter table.
I might limit the monster variety in order to drive home a theme, but its a good mix of combat and noncombat encounters.

d12 Type

Forest

Mountains

Plains

Swamp

Water

INT Predator

Hag coven

Kobolds

Hill Giant

Nothic

Merrow

Predator

Large cat

Wyvern

Dire Wolf
Pack

Giant
reptile/amphibian

Shark

Beast

Stag/deer

Bats

Boar

Shallow water fish

Quipper
Swarm

Beast

Hawk/Raven/Owl

Eagle

Stag/deer

Bats

Dolphin

Beast

Rabbit/Fox

Mountain goats

Blood Hawk

Alligator

Giant crab

Monster

Owl Bear

Cyclops

Manticore

Bullywug

Dragon turtle

Monster

Basilisk

Griffon

Bulette

Troll

Kuo-toa cabal

Monster

Drake

Chimera

Cockatrice

Hydra

Sea Hag

Monster

Displacer beast

Minotaur

Death dog

Phase spider

Water
elemental

10

Aberration

Ettercap

Beholder

Death Knight

Otyugh

Aboleth

11

Non-Combat
NPC

Elvish Ranger

Nomadic Goat
herder

Dwarven
Prospector

Reclusive
shapeshifter

Wise Boatman

12

Non-Combat
NPC

Eccentric witch

Wandering Bard

Goblin Scout

Lizardfolk
Shaman

Devious Naiad