Journey: Terrain Generator

Hmm. Yep. Fun times.

This stuff is mostly system-neutral. We might reference the system at times (and this is intended for Journey), but overall, the procedural generation stuff is generic enough that it can be used for anything.

Basics

So, you want to get into fantasy roleplaying, but have no idea where to begin. While reading the rules for whatever game you're planning on running is a solid idea, there is also the issue of setting: the fictional place in which the game to be played will be taking place.

There are plenty of existing fictional settings out there, and it's possible - perhaps even probable - that one of those would fit exactly what you're trying to do. If you want to create a story similar to Lord of the Rings, then setting your game in the world of Middle-Earth is probably a good place to start. This approach has some issues, though: literature on the topic may be limited, or perhaps one of your players-to-be knows the setting by heart, and will try to correct your "misinterpretations" of the setting.

If you want to avoid these issues, then creating your own setting is the best way to go. However, world creation is no small task, and it is easy to be overwhelmed by the process - rare is the source that gives the reader a clear, concise methodology to world creation, with the concerns of gaming in mind. Fortunately, those involved in the creation of Journey have realized this, and implemented a relatively straight-forward system for world creation. While it is not as freeform as your own imagination, it can give you a firm place with which to start; it also has the advantage of generating "sensible" geography, which this author finds to be a good thing. While absurd geographic combinations are impossible to remove entirely, we can at least cut down on their chances of appearing - which you can use to your advantage, if you like.

Procedural Generation of Content (PGC)

The terrain generation rules, as presented here, follow a concept known as "PGC" - procedurally-generated content. That is, information from earlier steps or higher levels of design inform the latter or lower-levels of design. This is what enables the terrain generated by this system to be sensible. While you may have to make decisions at some points, the purpose of the terrain generation rules is to be largely autonomous: with your small amount of input, you can produce a working, functional, sensible world geography.

In programming, this kind of procedure is done behind the scenes; here, it is done by you - the reader - rolling on specified tables. If you have an idea of the kind of world you want to create, you can instead make a specific selection on a table, rather than roll.

World Basics

The first few steps involve setting up the basics of the world to be created.

We'll presume that the world being crafted is one relatively similar to Earth - that is, similar atmospheric composition, similar liquids present (and the oceanographic systems that accompany them), and similar geological formations.

Thus, the world basics include such things as percentage of water coverage, number of tectonic plates, placement of plates comparative to world surface, and number of continents.

Step 1: Water Coverage

The first step is determining how much of the world is covered in water. While a world could conceivably have other liquids in place of water, simply substitute your chosen liquid in place of "water" in this discussion.

TABLE: WATER COVERAGE

2d6	Result
 2	35%
 3	40%
 4	45%
5-6	50%
7-8	60%
 9+	70%