Apex: The German Station

I've made up my 3 main research groups:

• Menschlicher Dinosaurier (Human Dinosaur) using dinosaur genetics for improving human capacity. Emil Augsburg
• Power Kristall (Power Crystal) - they have found small fragments of a crystal that has amazing energy potential. Rumors of a larger crystal and the search for them have lead to various expeditions on Apex Island. Isla retrieved the most promising map. Sybille Mader
• Dinosaurier bewaffnet (weaponized dinosaurs) project to see if dinos can be used in combat. Kommandant Blut

 My apologies for those that actually speak German: I am just using a translate web site to get something about right. I've also got the 3 people in charge of each group a bit defined, and some still overly vague ideas how they will interact with our group, it at all. I'll post more details on those people later, as I really need to get some details for the port town they are going to! The first was a real WW2 person and I squeezed him to Apex Island. History's villains for the game. I just use the one, the rest will all be made up.

Anyway, our map:

And a map procedurally generated:

Located towards the south of Apex Island, Hafn Zweite's population is primarily German. This is the closest town outside of Wissenschaftliche Kriederstation, and used for those soldiers on R&R. German is the main language spoken, though most languages are also represented. It has a high wooden fence surrounding the town, which has four main sections. Roads in all sections are hard-packed dirt with raised wooden sidewalks. When it rains, the streets can become quite muddy, and torrents can cause minor flooding to the harbor.

The Smoke Docks to the north are where most ships dock. There are some warehouses and the harbor master's office here, along with what would be considered the red ight district. Most Germans on R&R don't get too far past here. Passports or IDs are required to get off the docks.

The South Docks take smaller ships and the occasional sea plane. Cut off from the rest of the town, the South Docks has many more languages spoken. There is a manned guard post on both sides of the Dock Bridge, but unless there is some sort of alert, they are not particularly strict. Passports or papers are required to cross the bridge, but not required in this section of town.

East Gate has several hotels, night clubs, smoke and opium joints, music halls, kitchens and cafes spread out between housing and some gardens. There are also stables. While there is a single horse stable, there is also Gunther's Exotic Stable, where one can rent trained dinosaurs. There are two trails leading out of town. Both have a guard squad on duty at all times to verify papers, and to be a rescue team when necessary.

The Knightring to the north of the town and outside the walls is an unbridled series of whore houses and speak easies. Native alcohol is available in large and cheap quantities here. As the patrons say, it does grow on you after a while. 

The New Danube River meanders through the city, coming from the mountains to the north east. The river itself is generally fairly calm, surrounded by the deep jungles. There is a tow path on the north side, though it is seldom used and growing over in many places. Steam ships are available to take one up river for a sight seeing cruise, though these are short trips. The river does have crocodiles as well as actual dinosaurs. While the posters in the travel offices show a more pastoral scene as below, there is a hefty insurance premium involved and several waivers. 

versus

The river is generally sluggish until you get closer to the mountain source. River boats can go up river, taking 3 or 4 days to get to the ring of mountains. There is a single office that allows for unaccompanied boating excursions, but your deposit it the price of the boat.

Windemere Crossing - People and Keyed Map

 I've been doing some minor updates to the original post detailing all the places, getting some numbers and colors to help guide you through Windemere Crossing. I'll continue that process, and my guess is eventually I'll try and do another PDF, perhaps a shared world if I can get any of my friends to run a game! It could be another base. While I like Edge City, it is way too big, though I do have that entire book on Ankh-Morpork so I do not lack for chrome there. But is it useful chrome? I'd like to make this a a useful place.

So now we have a color and number coded map, and the locations as previously noted. To make this useful, though, we need to have NPCs that the players can interact with, and have things. Perhaps even some mapping of how the NPCs may relate to one another. 

Digging into my ever growing stash of Kickstarter publications, I found this one from the Characters book from Fish in the Pot:

Rennor is a young black-haired Orc teenager who wishes to be captain of the guard. Found busily patrolling the streets, not affiliated with any company, her tall and stoic demeanor is cut short by her awkward proportions, lanky figure and cheap padded clothing stained to look like armor. While she is still shy of stopping anyone who is acting shady, Rennor has a keen eye and a sharp memory and is a friend to the community at large.

We've already established there is a single family of Orcs in town, and Lurbuk's oldest daughter is a vet at the stables. Rennor is the youngest daughter of 6 girls. Lurbuk's few forays into town for drinks often have gentle ribbing that he lacks any sons. She is friends with Keze Briarlegs, the town's second tailor. Keze makes the padded clothing Rennor wears on her "rounds", getting the dyes from Mika's textiles a couple blocks east of his shop. The sheriff, Ira Sprigbasher, looks at Rennor as one of his first choices when he does need a posse, simply for her strength and somewhat intimidating form. The deputy Ellis Newtonson is actually afraid of her, and dislikes the fact that the sheriff will call on her sometimes to help him, usually with rowdy brawlers. Being a foot taller and probably a hundred pounds heavier, Rennor is better suited for breaking up fights. And the townspeople that know her also know her father. And would rather avoid any confrontations with him!

Rennor notices everything that goes on about town, and is looked on favorably by most of the town's residents. She does steer clear of the half Elves and the Silver Pirate, but usually makes several circuits of the town and knows every street, alley and animal in Windemere Crossing. 

Using another KS publication, One Page Lore: Fantasy Folk (by Jesse Galena), and combining with the Fantasy Trip's Orcs which generally nasty and brutish, we have Orcs that are going to be stronger than most people, are despised in general by Dwarves and Elves (which is why she avoids the Silver Pirate!), and have a mental tenacity. They are carnivores, and while Lurbuk and family have nothing against eating a kill, fresh or not, cooked or not, while in town they do try and least have a modicum of manners. Not that anyone would say anything to Lurbuk's face! Orcs also have excellent night vision which is why Rennor will often patrol at night. 

Being a teenager, she will be your base 32 point character. She is someone visitors to the town might notice, and while at first glance think she is part of the town patrol, a closer look (2d vs INT) it will be easy to notice that she is wearing baggy clothes that only appear to look like armor, and the pike she has is just a stick with a rough-made knife tied with twine to it.  So my first NPC for Windemere Crossing!

Rennor Lurbuk, Orc female, 18 years old

STR: 14    DEX: 10 (adjDX: 9)    INT: 8

Skills: 

• Knife
• Brawling
• Area Knowledge (Windemere Crossing and out to 10 miles or so outside the area)
• Horsemanship (her father does run the stables and she helps along with her 5 sisters)
• Running
• Quarterstaff (she does practice but the knife keeps falling off, so she is not learning pole weapons)

Weapons, armor:

• cloth (stops 1 hit; looks like real armor until you get close)
• quarterstaff (1d+2)

So we also have some relationships here:

World Building - Windemere Crossing

This, and my Traveller Career Bibliography, are going to be works in progress. I may take each to make a document from, but until then, I'll just update these posts and, when I have another post, will keep things updated. But I have added a Windemere tag, so you should be able to search for them now by tags. Going to go ahead & hit publish on this one, but I'll come back to it as I expand it out. In ways that will probably never get used by my players, but hey, I do like to world build. I can at least live in some of these places in my own mind.  

I tried to play a bit with Campaign Cartographer's City mapping but that will take a LOT more practice to get anything close to what I want. In the meantime, this site (Watabou) makes some really cool random things, and I've always liked the medieval cities it can generate. After a few random hits, this one came up that does have the east/west route as well as a southern route back into the mountains. And about the right number of buildings. 

We do know that a few of the buildings are outside the walls, including the tanneries due to the smells. I'll have to look a bit closer at the various shops we have and place them in the map. The central plaza there is the marketplace with a central fountain of some sort. I'll see about a color coded map for the places I expand out here, and try to note the color and number in the description.

Northern Gatehouse from D'Architect (yes, a KS I backed as it has some really nice pictures!)

We need our list of what is available, as well as whatever additional info to make the shops a bit more interesting. Though honestly I've yet to make some of that role playing come across well. It is like the mapping: what is in my head does not seem to come out the same way. The answer to that is the same answer to most things: practice, practice, practice!

I am also using a few other resources I've picked up to help flesh out Windemere Crossing. I'll note where those come from as well.

And onwards to the shops and services listing. The notes in the parenthesis are number of help and the general quality. I = Individual, T = Team, G = Guild. 

General Store (I, Good), Zrag's Mercantile. Green building 1. Owned by the diminutive Goblin Jesp Zrag, Zrag's Mercantile has a central and large building just off the market place. Carrying a wide quantity of goods, the overall quality is good to respectable: while you won't find the Lenu'r Bow here, the equipment and wares are of good quality, no bent swords here! With a not insignificant amount of traffic on the Ocean Trade Route, Jesp manages to maintain his shop with all the necessities. On occasion he has been known to trade for more exotic fare as well, but like all the Zrag Goblin merchants, you will never know what you may find. Often you find what you need without knowing you will need it. Located facing the market place, a sign with handcart hangs above the door. Three short steps open into the store, wide, well-stained planks on the floor holding shelves of equipment and gear. Behind a wide, low table is Jesp, usually cleaning some object or another and seated on a stool so he can see over the counter. Behind this table are barrels and shelves of rations and food stores. Prices are within the normal range, though Jesp does enjoy some bargaining. While he takes various currencies, he prefers to keep with the standard coinage of the Respeth Kingdom. He will direct patrons to the bank and exchange to exchange different currencies, gems and artifacts for coinage of the realm for those he won't take. He often purchases textiles, leathers and furs from the local shops and crafts them into serviceable if not great clothing. 

Wealth               Common

Prices                Normal   

Security            25% chance of something every 30 minutes

Influence           little local influence

Goods                decent but average arms, adventuring goods (ropes, pitons, packs, etc), basic clothing, whatever you may think of in an old west style of general merchandise store but fantasy flavored.

Services            directions via a range of maps, supplies

Disposition        Open to all

Favored            adventurers who do good (neutral or good aligned). Somehow the Zrag clan seems to just know what adventurers have been up to though they only imply things.

Tanner / Taxidermy (I, Fine), Durdro's Tanning Yellow building 2. Located outside the city walls near the south gate. Where Jesp gets most of his leather for the better items. Durdro is a small man with stained hands and stained teeth from the chewing tobacco he chews. He lives above the tannery, which consists of several vats, drying racks and a store room full of various salts. Some of the salts come from the Eastern Ocean, as he has a regular caravan bring him supplies. While he does not create many goods from the various leathers, the quality of the hides is very good. He may also have other creature hides available as well. Rumors from the Silver Pirate talk about a dragon hide he has been working on for months now is in a back room.

Magic Shop (I, Fine) Alore Edris' Shoppe, Red building 3. A well maintained 2 story building on the corner, the lower part of the building is dug a few feet into the earth to give tall ceilings. The height is taken up by several 12 foot tall bookshelves, with a rolling ladder to access the higher shelves. Books, containers, scrolls and interesting hats are on the shelves. The floor itself has sections for various types of clothing, from fine ball gowns to sturdy adventuring clothing. Alore Edris is a tall, thin wizard who is always messing with cauldrons of dyes and magic where she creates her magical clothing. She wears what many on town consider exotic clothing, with a silk kerchief about her neck and creased trousers, a high buttoned starched white shirt and odd looking shoes. While most of her clothing is non-magical, it is all finely made, with neat stitching of intricate designs. Clothing here is almost twice as expensive even before any magic may get applied. Some of the magical garments include clothes that are always clean and immaculate, or can repair themselves after being damaged. She also has tunics and leggings that are the equivalent of stone flesh and provide the same amount of protection. Her Cape of Innocuousness gives the wearer a +2 on being noticed. All of her clothing has a hidden tag with her signature embroidered in it. Some of the clothing is hanging by itself in mid-air with no visible means of support. Shoplifters never get far - a jacket by the door will capture any would-be thieves as they exit. How it knows they are stealing is a question asked by more than one thief!

Wealth          Prosperous 

Prices           prices start at 25% above normal and go from there based on the enchantment

Security        very high with a 5% chance of something happening every 30 minutes

Goods           excellent made clothing, minor potions (10-100 gold, priced per rules), magic scrolls and books

Services        clothing repairs, new clothes. fashion notes

Disposition    Adore welcomes most guests with a brief smile, and asks that they look around unless they are looking for something special.

Favored        magic users as she loves to chat about spells, potions and magic in the world.

Tailor (T, Poor)  blue 4 If the players cannot afford Alore Edris' shop, Keze Briarlegs shop may be more affordable. Clothing there is not particularly well made but does the job. Costs are 75-100% of the normal cost of clothing. The building is almost a hovel and not well cared for, located against the wall to the west side of town.

Butcher (I, Poor) lavender 5

General Store (G; Poor) pink 6

Tanner / Taxidermy (G, Good) orange 7

Wainwright (G, Fine) Brown 8

Rare Libations (I, Good) Maroon 9

Herbalist (G, Good) gold 10

Bank and Exchange (T, Poor) gold 11

Smith (I, Good) green 12

Textile Production (I, Poor) light blue 13

Smith (T, Poor) brown 14

Inn (G, Good)  Pink Building 15 The Nimble Priest Inn. A large 2 story building with a basement below the main floor, The Nimble Priest is run by the acolytes of the Fair Lady. Fellow clerics and acolytes get a good discount, everyone else pays fair coin for the rooms. Rooms range from a few coppers to sleep in the stable above the riding mounts, 5 silvers for a shared room and breakfast, 1 gold for a single room and breakfast. The Fair Lady is a deity none of the characters would have heard of before. 

Tavern (T, Fine) red 16 The Silver Pirate, run by half-Elves who used to be pirates on the Eastern Ocean. There will be tales of the Rainy City and Wex's Drift as well as plying the savage ocean currents. Occasionally one will hear rumors of Amazons but the other Elves will quickly make a sign and change the topic of conversation. Many of the regulars here are from the Ocean, and talk of the coastal cities they have been through, and the joys of the living in the salt air. When asked why they are here now, they look to the owner, Nomehi Wirididae, tending the bar. The half Elf has a scar across her face that disappears down her neck and she will scowl as the conversation quiets for a moment. The crew of her ship will stick by her, but she was banished from the open water to live her life near the desert sands by a curse. And so she took over Windemere Crossing almost a year ago. The tavern offers great drinks as well as some sea faring favorites. The near constant flow of merchants and caravans keeps her kegs full and spirits from across the world get here. While not as fine a wine selection as the Sarap Evi in Ceawla (see this post), there are some fine drinks and foods available. 

Hired Help (I, Poor) tan 17

Soothsayer (I, Fine) yellow 18

Doctor / Apothecary (T, Good) blue 19

House of Leisure (I, Fine) yellow 20

Bath House (G, Good) yellow 21

Barber (G, Fine) Purple 22

Stable (T, Good) line green 23 Lurbuk's, run by an Orc family. The Lurbuk family is a close-nit family, the only Orcs in a town of mostly human and half-Elves. Lurbuk is an Orc of few words. Standing near 7 feet tall and as wide as the proverbial barn door, Lurbuk has few issues with animals in his stable. Located outside the eastern game, Lurbuk's Stables consist of actually 3 stables and two houses. Two of the stables house horses, with the third houses more exotic fair and is also something of a vet clinic for his eldest daughter Rush. Horses of good or better quality are available here for sale, as well as stabling for those who want a bit more than a stall or corral for their mounts. And more than horses may be found here. While camels, mules and ox are not uncommon, there is a pen with a couple of giant goats in the back, and an elephant is almost healed in one of the out buildings. If asked and Lurbuk trusts you, he will confide that he can get other riding animals. He has another stable a few miles south in the foothills, where more of his family lives.

Viota - Startown of D'Arlee

D'Alee supports both a high port and ground facilities. D'Arlee Down shares some space with the Naval port for some common facilities, particular craft that are not pure Naval vessels such as the soon to be transferred lab ship.  D'Arlee down covers about 300 square kilometers on the outskirts of Viota, which has, over the last hundred or so years, become more of a traditional startown than the original city planners may have wanted.

Baor River bisects Viota into two main sections nicknamed Startown West and Startown East. Across the river, in Startown West, lies the main warehouse district. This area contains hundreds of warehouses ranging from a bare roof on metal trusses to fortified cargo depots. South of this, the business district contains brokers and businesses supporting the port as well as the Naval port. Brokers, bars, Naval recruitment centers and other professional facilities form the core of this section. As you head south and west, the businesses become less savory, and the traders and brokers may trade in things best unmentioned. This section of town, nicknamed the Skids. has bars of loose morals and rumors of criminal elements are not far from the truth. The police and Navy military patrols occasionally pass through, but this is a favorite haunt of Naval personnel as well as trader crews on leave when on D'Arlee.

Startown West, as you move out from the warehouse district, has the better quality suppliers and more uptown offices. This is the area the D'Alee government maintains business dealings with the ports, and police are more visible. Moving further west, as you approach Lake Kian and its estates, houses and businesses are farther apart and more luxurious. Most residences are fenced, and some may have military grade defenses in place according to rumors.

Viota has approximately 150,000 residents in the city and the neighboring suburbs.

I used the RPG City Map generator to create the city, then Google Draw to add text and the ports. The city generator also lets you save the image into smaller, more detailed images. So while the main image is 3200 pixels, I also exported 16 (4x4) images also at that resolution.  So I can plans the mean streets of Viota depending on what the players end up doing.  I see gun fights as a possibility, although with a law level of 8, not sure how that will actually happen!