Organic Towns: Month 2 Settlement Turn, Burgermeister Paoaytie

I still need to automate this process. Though I've already got a few too many personal projects that seem to be stalling a bit (well, there apparently was some mention of depression in my AI summary - and hey, there will be some AI notes at the end of this post)

Last month (technically more than a month ago now, but we'll just say game time...) we started a couple of projects: we started updating the barracks as the town is a bit worried about the roving Orc bands that occasionally attack caravans or even the trade town itself. We also have a few more people living in Windemere Crossing: we added 12 people so we are up to 312 people. This boosts our settlement points a bit, so assuming our math from last month is still valid, we now have 82 total settlement points, adding 1 for those 12 new residents (4 babies and 8 adults, so perhaps a family or two has moved in along with a few others). 

Our morale roll this month has nothing happening - apparently the sounds and site of the barracks getting upgraded have calmed the folk a bit. And those updated barracks will be ready to move into next month! Interestingly enough, the town is relatively crime-free this month: the graffiti has been removed or at least white-washed over. Perhaps it is because we're also going to add a small military unit from the good king Axechest to help with protection of a potentially lucrative tax revenue. Finally, we have a building roll, and we get a house roll this turn: 

It's the talk of the town after Tedonzic Thumper, the town butcher, claims a devil visited his house last night.

I probably should attach the still very much WIP of the Windemere Crossing guide here. It is mostly The Fantasy Trip stats where stats are made, but honestly, thinking if I were to really publish this, I'd pull the stats out to an appendix possibly, keeping the character art and descriptions fairly system-free. Of course, I can't really publish the Fantasy Trip stuff w/o getting permission, though I can use the Open Gaming License for the OSE stuff I suppose. 

Moving back to the town this month, we still have to figure out what to do. And I need to work on the Burgermeister of the town from a previous post. As I really don't need to have stats (she is not going to be fighting anyone other than politics, I'll do a quick write-up for her. In the meantime, having our 84 points to spend, and working on the barracks, we're going to spend some of our resources on beefing up the town guards. This is separate from the civil force of Sheriff Sprigbasher and Deputy Newtonson: these are the guards on the city walls for external security. Though they can of course be drafted as necessary for a town uprising or bar fight. As we do not have our barracks II yet, we can only train the militia, costing us 5 SP and a maintenance cost of 1. Next month we'll beef up to actual fighters. Having real guards is going to eat into our settlement points but will give us a better defense. We're also going to build a guardhouse, which takes 25 SP and will be complete for the next month. The town council decided a more robust police force should be needed as the Crossing is growing, and there are a lot of transients due to the caravans. Though I am curious if the Sea Elves running the Silver Pirate may want to have an inside person on the burgeoning guard force...And they have also decided to start building a town hall, or at least renovating one of the standing structures. Meeting at the tavern does not seem dignified according to Burgermiester Paoaytie (a tall, striking woman who is actually an Amazon, so I will have to re-read my Amazon books I got from a Kickstarter years ago. Oh yes, and does anyone realize she is an Amazon?)

Our summary of what happened this month (and apparently our adventurers are still treking, err, caravanning, to Windemere Crossing):

1. no moral issues this month
2. no noticeable crimes this month
3. Tedonzic Thumper, town butcher, swears a devil visited him (and oddly enough, I am backing the OSE Deviltry book - figure I have all his other things and one of these days will use them! It only has taken me under 4 years to use the Amazon book - see below for our mayor)
4. the barracks will be completed for Barracks II next month
5. we started building a town hall to get the town meetings out of the taverns
6. we added 10 more people, bringing the population to 322 people. We will need more housing next month
7. we started training a militia for manning the walls and helping with the occasional Orc attack
8. we plan on hiring some higher-end guards once the barracks are completed
9. we still have plenty of food

A goodly number of things happened this month.

And I've not posted this as it was in my document, but a small primer on the Respeth Kingdom:

The Respeth Kingdom of which Windemere Crossing is at the far north of, is ruled by King Khermumi Axechest. The capital is a fortress built into Thuluhm Mountain and named after that mountain. This is more than a week’s journey to the east. King Axechest has been raising taxes the last year or so, and wants to expand to the west where there are more gold deposits. However, those deposits are  in the Kingdom of Ismekonia, whose ruler does not want the Dwarves to take gold from his lands. There are questions as to why he is increasing the taxes, but rumors include the possible expansion via military means or digging underground. 

Taxes

There’s a yearly tax and the tax collectors go from town to town. For Windemere, this is late summer usually. The tax people have shown up earlier this year and are asking for more. This is to help fund the king’s army and help pay the Tunnel Master’s Guild to start some initial tunnel building on the western mountains.

Burgermiester Paoaytie Hatheo

A tall, striking woman who appears to be in her 40s or 50s, she is a towering presence in town. At 6'11" tall, she is among the tallest of the townspeople. She only tells those bold enough to ask that she comes from a "beautiful island far, far away but is on a journey to see how the world works and somehow, here I am". If one were to look into her home, they would find an ornate set of leaf armor that is both beautiful and functional (+2 plate armor). She carries around what she calls her staff of office, and under her cloak a sling can sometimes be seen. She listens to the others in the town council though she has used her "Voice of Authority" when things start getting out of hand. Nomehi Wiridea, the Sea Elf pirate captain, is afraid of no one but gives Paoaytie more than a grudging respect. She often carries a book or two, and can be found in her gardens reading or writing when not walking about the town and checking on the people. Quiet yet commanding, she exudes a confidence that is unshakeable.

Paoaytie is actually almost 200 years old and plans another decade or two before moving on again. She is winding her way back to the sea to return home to Elencia, home of the Amazons. She feels she will become more noticed the longer she stays, but as some assume she is part Elf from her grace and stature, she is not overly concerned that someone will figure her out. Amazons are not well known this far inland. She also has an exotic accent that no-one can place, though she speaks and reads Common just fine. There is a sense of a deep culture in how she phrases things.

And I'm going with her name is pronounced as Pay-ee-tay Hat-oh. As I can sometimes barely even speak English, let alone Amazonian languages!

OSE Stats

STR:     10

INT:      12 - speaks and reads/writes Common, but also speaks the Amazonian language, Dwarven and High Elven languages (that 6th level bard does nice language things! and being 200+ years old she is bound to have learned a thing or two,)

WIS:     13 - +1 on magic saves

DEX:     11

CON:     10

CHA:     18 (+2 on NPC reactions)

There are no classes that match the Amazonian concept of the Aristocracy (and as you know, I have a LOT of OSE classes!) While the typical bard in a lot of DnD games is really an exaggerated version, I think bard as a poet/warrior rather than a sex-crazed is the closest we've got. Of course, I could create something, but we'll go with that standard class. There are some exceptions for Amazons: she is trained for plate armor and does have her leaf armor (called Manah in her native tongue) and knows how to use that and her staff (Taka) and dagger (Zenkah). 

OSE Character

The Fantasy Trip Stats

TFT is a bit easier to handle as there are no classes, so we can build our character up. Obviously if she were truly 200 years old, she could have really boosted those stats, but keeping this close to "normal" people type of thing. She plowed all her experience into various skills and magics. She has a crapload of skills and giving her the quarterstaff though technically she needs a ST of 11 to wield. I suppose I could boost that stat as necessary, but going with she is just exceptionally trained. 

Some additional notes for AI and things

This post had no AI help - so that's good. But I also downloaded and running an AI engine that has some cool features - object recognition among other things. It could identify may cats as cats! And why am I doing this? Well, this engine runs entirely on local resources, and has an API so I could hook it to other processes and programs. And again - why? Because I think this could be used in a future job I may have (and I've an actual face to face interview tomorrow, May 8 - wish me luck!). And plus, it is fun! And written in .Net / C#, so something I can actually look at and make changes.

And I also have an idea for another post: the parallels between RPG preparation and software development. And that I tend to over-engineer both! Sorry that the job hunt seeps into this blog, but for me, everything is intertwined. 

PDF - Windemere Crossing WIP

And if you get this far - bonus as promised!