Sitemap Design in Mythic Bastionland

Featuring the Great Boulder in the Sky

Sites remain an underdeveloped but intriguing aspect of Mythic Bastionland play. In this episode of Gnomestones we demonstrate a simple process for designing sitemaps from scratch. The complete sitemap for the Sky Boulder is at the bottom of this article for you to download and use in your campaigns.

In the latest episode of my Gnomepoleon-themed solo campaign, The Weaver Knight resolved to capture ‘The Sky Boulder’, a Monument appearing on page 119 of the Mythic Bastionland rulebook. We’re going to create a sitemap for this Feature to strengthen the adventure.

For this design, we limited ourselves to spark tables found within the Mythic Bastionland ruleset. Pulling out the Tome of Adventure Design just feels like a creative cop-out, y’know?

We begin with the instructions on page 15 and it goes like this:

SITEMAP BUILD

Each d12 is assigned to one point of the hexagon, labeled 1 through 7. The art is made with Excalidraw.

Roll 7d12. We roll the following numbers and put them in Slots 1-7 in order: 4, 8, 1, 1, 6, 4, 1. In this case, the 1s are Features, the 4s are Dangers, the 6 is Treasure, and the 8 is left blank. We assign the rolls in order and apply the notation.

Circles are Features, Triangles are Hazards, Diamond is the Treasure

Time to connect the points with routes. There are nine possible spots to place the routes, shown below.

Roll 6d10, and place in the following order: three open routes, two closed routes, and a hidden route, re-rolling duplicates and 10s. The results are: 7, 1, 3, 9, 5, and 4.

Now we add the entrance and the hidden entrance. We roll 2d8 and assign the results based on Slots 1-7 to determine their locations: 1, 5.

The side entrance leads right to the treasure

The basic site construction is done. Now for the site’s contents.

We use the Mythic Bastionland spark tables to build the interior. In this section we gather spark table results, which are then synthesized into the final product.

1. A Hazard. It seems like a good place for an enemy to guard the entrance. MB provides 72 hazards. We roll, d6 → 2, d12 → 4: Spiked Roots. Not the goblin warband I was envisioning. I also roll on the Manoeuvers Chart on page 25, d12 → 4, d12 → 1: Defend, Demoralise. I have some ideas, more on that later.

2. A Feature, part of the Sky Boulder interior, a foyer perhaps? There aren’t many options for rolling dungeon and castle interior features in the Mythic Bastionland guide, perhaps a project for a future. I will try a Bailey roll, d12 → 11, d12 → 11: Bustling Arena. Another curveball.

3. Here we have another feature, right in the center of the map. I was saving the Keep roll for the center node, d12 → 3, d12 → 11: Musicians, Tapestries. The paths are blocked to nodes 4 and 5.

4. The Treasure. The Secret Entrance goes right to this spot, but the paths from 3 and 5 are obstructed. We’re going to put this in a special place, right underneath the rock. I roll on the Flora Table, d12 → 8, d12 → 1: Vibrant Grasses. I also roll on Luxuries, d12 → 9, d12 → 8: Esoteric Sword.

5. The last feature, we’ll have this be the roof of the Sky Boulder. We roll Strategy, d12 → 2, d12 → 9: Capture, Decoy. We also roll Soldier, d12 → 7, d12 → 2: Cowardly, Archer.

6. The final hazard. I have a plan for incorporating one of our previously determined Myths, but I will add another hazard roll. Here we go, d6 → 2, d12 → 8: Perilous Crossing. We add a roll on Feature, d12 → 8, d12 → 7: Veiled Cairn and then Woe, d12 → 6, d12 → 5: Prophecised Abduction and Drama, d12 → 1, d12 → 7: Betrayal, Inheritance.

Time to build the site. One, two, we do something potentially called creativity, and then it’s done.

Some notes:

• Since The Shadow is hidden in this site, you can bring in Omens associated with the Myth. For example, NPCs may have information regarding the sad history of the Sky Boulder, or the flute could be found at Locations 2 or 3.

• Raise the stakes by placing an enemy warband in the Sky Boulder. There are several places for epic battles around the site.

• The physics of climbing on the underside of the Sky Boulder can be adjudicated with painstaking detail or generalized.

• Once the Shadow is awakened, it is free to leave the chamber, escape into the wind, and return to haunt/hunt the players. I will be incorporating some of the spark rolls that didn’t fit onto the page later in the campaign.

Until next time on Gnomestones.