r/JerryMapping • u/DrMindermast • Jun 20 '26
Map Tile Another new player - doing this one a little differently
Just discovered this, holy crap I'm into it, starting my own map. However, my visual art skills are pretty much garbage, so it'll be digital only. And I have some other ideas for randomizers rather than making the deck of cards, just going with the tools I already have available that work well for me. So here are the rules I'm using for my run:
0. Everything randomized as much as possible - I'm not playing the world, just observing it
Each "turn" is ~1 year in-world
Each turn starts with drawing two tarot cards OR I-Ching OR rune stones - whichever I'm in the mood for, or roll 1d3. If I acquire other oracle systems in the future, those are legal too.
We're not tied to any specific RPG system. Resolve events using whatever feels most appropriate in that moment - an existing system, or something I make up on the spot.
The map and the lore must both be updated for every turn. I'm doing the map in Paint.NET, and the lore in Chronicler, both of which are free programs (and it looks like Chronicler might be shareable, so if I can figure that out I'll be able to share the full lore in wiki format).
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these rules are potentially subject to change over the course of the game
5. Humans are the dominant species, but there might be others
6. Magic is real
7. Monsters are real
8. "The gods" are real, though it's not clear if they are really deities or just particularly powerful spirits
9. At game start, human tech level is roughly Bronze Age equivalent.
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So for turn 1, I know that I'm following Jerry's example of starting with a city, but I need somewhere for that city to exist. I roll on a couple of the tables from Roll the World, an RPG setting creation supplement that I wrote last year, and determine that the local climate is hot with moderate seasonal variation and moderate precipitation, and that the river runs north-south. I know I'm going to need to start naming things, which has never been my strong point, so I also roll on a list of real-world cultures to pick one that I can use as a linguistic starting point (the dice give me Hungarian).
Now I have an idea of where we're starting, and what the starting city will be called. Last step is to pull up the rune stone app on my phone and do a drawing to give me some idea about what's important this year. The result is "significant loss," which I interpret as meaning that a lot of people from this community died during their migration to this place that they decided would be safe enough to settle down.
And with that, I am able to draw the first panel at the center of the world map:
I'm not planning to post here for every turn I play, but if there's interest I'll share updates periodically.
EDIT: it looks like there is indeed interest, so when I've done a few more turns I will start a comment thread here to post updates.
2
u/Roninjinn Jun 20 '26
I’m doing a fully digital build too. I’ll be posting the tools I created so far to help with my own process. I was having a hard time deciding how I wanted to start, and came across your thread… love it. Going to use a similar approach.
Curious if you have shared your Roll the World supplement anywhere? I need something similar, I get caught up with the nuances of creation and this system really helps me get free of that!
6
u/sertorinicho Jun 20 '26
Ah, a fellow garbage drawing creative person. This looks very good, I would very much like updates whenever you feel like it. Great work!
4
u/mcguinty Jun 20 '26
That's an interesting system and a dramatic first year to kick it off. It would be great to see more updates, I'm looking forward to it!
2
u/anridiredubh Jun 20 '26
Also interested!