In my post yesterday (which can be found HERE ) I talked about a new potential major project I was almost finished laying the groundwork on – The Content Packs. Rather than repeating everything in that post (which I encourage you to go read before this one), content packs are pre-rolled/themed outputs of my generators, compiled into related packs of content (hence the name), such as NPC packs being generated by Character Names + Backgrounds + Professions etc.
Today I’m continuing the overview of what I have planned, baring any snafus or healths blips of course, by going over some of the initial planned pack themes and details:
Maps/Tiles/Hex Clusters
Maps and Tiles is something I missed off the list yesterday. These will, for the most part, be a part of other packs. For example, a dungeon tile for a room, a small collection of hex tiles for an adventure site and so on. There is a good chance, especially for the tiles or hex-clusters of me just bringing out a tile/cluster as is and saying something like “right here’s the map, what’s going on here?” as a visual idea prompt.
Adventures
Planned Gens to use: Plot/Overview, NPCs, Room/Hex cluster, items
This pack is something I have done before, but just with Adventure Outlines. Whilst the premises was decent enough, in hindsight, needed something more to go along with it.
Corporate
Planned Gens to use: All the corporate gens, NPCs, items
Corporate Packs will be rather niched I know so I don’t expect them to be useful for everyone. But for those who like playing futuristic or modern type games, would help a lot especially when there are a lot of corporations in your world.
Cults and Groups
Planned Gens to use: Cult related and more
This pack theme, like some of the others, will have a lot of potential for expansions, due to the fact that there are many other groups and genres to which this can apply to. Cults, Guilds, Military and more.
Creatures
Planned Gens to use: Anything creature related, such as Creature concepts, Lifeform maker and so on
This one is quite simple in some regards but can also have a lot of room for expansion as I bring out new gens for creatures. For the sake of simplicity, I am including all creature types under this. Like the others, this could also be themed around a specific animal or collection of creatures, both existing (yet modified) such as Dragons, or new beasties.
Dungeon Feature
Planned Gens to use: The dungeon feature series
Almost all of the dungeon feature items are already set up to be used as-is for the various packs. Like others, as I bring out new ones they can be added to the possible packs’ contents.
Empire/Kingdom
Planned Gens to use: The Empire Builder series
This is one of the packs where I feel like it would break the plan “one per page” guideline I am aiming for, as there is a lot in there. For example, Name/Title, Currency, Government type, Historical events, Holiday/Festival, rumours/gossip, Hex map, wilderness Feature, Information, Major NPCs etc.
For ones like this, I think a plan of “overview for the packs” with the potential for, well, stand-alone but with more details. Example
[Content Pack – Empires – Volume Three] would be a collection of overviews of empires and [Content Pack – Empires – Vindaloovian] would go into detail about a nation that worships a spicey food dish.
Equipment/item
Planned Gens to use: Items
Like others, this one will definalty have sub-volumes/themes and genres, such as swords, books, armour etc and as I make new gens, more options become ready for use.
Fortification
Planned Gens to use: Fortifications, NPCs
This theme is probably going to become part of the “Wilderness” feature theme, which would cover what might be found when wandering maps and so on.
NPC/Character
Planned Gens to use Anything related to characters.
Whilst this pack theme is labelled NPCs, I am fully understanding that some players might use it as inspiration for their own characters. I can also 100% see that this would be broken down into genres and character types.
Settlement
Planned Gens to use: Anything related to settlements
This theme will be done primarily with a fantasy genre in mind, but will, on occasion be more generic or for other themes/genres. Within will be things like Name/Translation, Settlement Overview, Important NPCs, rumours/gossip, major streets/road names and possibly a rough map, but this last one might not be included to save time and costs etc.
Spells
Planned Gens to use: Spell Name, Detail, Creator Name
This theme has for me, the potential to be the most fun to do. These won’t be balanced/tested and will be presented in a “use at your own risk” type of situation, but could be silly, fun or downright dangerous to the caster!
Starship/Vehicle
Planned Gens to use: Starships, NPCs etc
Whilst this theme is named for Starships, It will cover vehicles and their crew for other genres as well, such as ocean-going vessels.
System
Planned Gens to use: Star system/Planet Namer
Whilst the others theme have the potential for sub-themes, like the Corporate theme, this one is designed with one genre setting in mind – Sci-fi. Whilst it *could* be used to give an overview for a fantasy genre star system, especially if you have arcane-powered void ships, it will be focusing more on the sci-fi/modern genre.
This is one of the packs I really want to have hex clusters for the system…not to scale of course 😉
Tavern/Place of Business
Planned Gens to use: Tavern Generator and other places of business, menus, food dishes etc
Whilst, at the moment, the Tavern Generator will be the primary content, when I can make gens themed around other types of stores or places of business, such as an alchemist shop and so on, those will be added to it.
World/Campaign
Planned Gens to use: Yes
This theme, like Empire, I can see 100% breaking the “One per page” guideline I am setting. It would cover the plane of reality, possible deities, the afterlife and more. It won’t, by design, be a full world or campaign setting, but like anything else I make, be a tool to inspire or a good starting point for your own worlds and campaigns.
Future Plans, Expansions and Possible issues.
Many of the pack themes have future expansions “built-in” as it were, such as equipment, creatures and so on. New themes can be added easily or even dropped if I feel like they are not working to my satisfaction. The list above is by no means the only theme I’ll be doing, my tracker sheet I am using I can forsee being expanded on quite often after a brainstorming session – Even if I never use them!
The biggest issues I can foresee so far are:
- My health (mental and physical) issues getting in the way
- Converting/Formating the generator output and tweaking them as needed
- For maps/hexes – The artwork, but with software like dungeon draft and a commercial licence for the artwork this is less of an issue for the art and more a “me struggling to get it done to a level I am happy with”
- Prices
- Print/POD (print on demand)
The first issue isn’t something I can work around and will have to deal with as and when the flare-ups happen like I had a month or so ago. The others are, like any other skill, something that will improve in time as I learn about the software more and the commercial artists bring out new assets packs that I can purchase a licence to use etc
For pricing, I will aim to keep things at the same price, but for larger products, they will be more, as to be expected. But this will mean I can lower the price later if I feel like it’s worth it.
For Printing/POD, as i mentioned yesterday, If the packs are over 50 pages then I can make them into print/POD. For those under that threshold, a compilation would be in order, such as “New Creature Volumes 1 to 5” etc.
Conclusion
Without realising it, this is something I’ve been working towards for a long time and i am quite excited to see where this goes. Will it be a success? Who knows…but I certainly hope so!
