The Lost City of Legend

It could be a lost city of gold, or maybe the silver mine those two men were killed over.  Or maybe it's a whole lost kingdom in the mountains, full of jade and fruits and luxury.

Legends of lost and bountiful places make for great adventure.  They're a great way to combine searching for a lost treasure with exploring the wilderness.

Overgrown Ruins - Nicole Cadet

Lost places come in many kinds.  For this article, I'll be focusing on five:

Lost Place (d10)
1-2	a lost Mine for a valuable mineral
3-4	a lost City of wealth and wisdom
5-6	a lost Tomb that might contain power and truth (along with bones, of course)
7-8	a lost Colony built around a bountiful crop or healing waters
9-10	a lost Country ruled by a good philosopher-king

Legends of lost mines show up all throughout America, and they're easy to drop into a setting just about anywhere.  A ragged mountain man shows up in town one day with some bits of silver they don't want to talk about, and presto: the legend of a mine is born.  (A legend of a lost mine can easily overlap with a gold rush.)

Lost cities are a bit harder to hide, but in a vast enough wilderness full of hostile people and hostile terrain, just about anything could be out there.  In a land that has suffered a great apocalypse, there's always the possiblity that a wealthy city once existed whose inhabitants all died, leaving their treasures behind.

Tombs and burial mounds are left behind by many civilizations, and it's no surprise when their richest people are buried with great wealth.  Most of these get plundered almost immediately, but every now and then the tomb of a powerful ruler is lost to time (like the tomb of Genghis Khan).

Colonies don't usually disappear, but when they do (like Roanoke) speculation runs wild.  Did they leave for greener pastures?  Did they all die?  (A search for a missing colony can fit well with a great migration going on.)

A lost country is much like a lost city: hidden by distance and unknown country more than anything else.  Legends of the great power to the north or the Jade Empire to the west might turn out to be true.  Medieval European legend spoke of a great Christian kingdom somewhere beyond the Arab world, ruled by the wise Prester John.

Let's roll up a lost place as we're going along.  4: A lost city of wealth and wisdom.

St. Brendan the Navigator

What esoteric or secretive group was said to have founded this place?

Supposed Founders (d8)
1	an elven imperial military unit that was supposedly wiped out by a poorly-known enemy
2	a fierce giantish house whose annual monument was made of human skulls
3	an ancient human kingdom said to know secrets of the earth
4	a wise giant poet who led a band of followers into the mountains and was never seen again
5	an elven religious brotherhood that was expelled from the empire
6	a human conspiracy said to practice witchcraft and summon spirits
7	a utopian society of two peoples working as one
8	a company or lone entrepreneur who hired/enslaved workers

A good legend of a lost place starts with its founders: the secret silver mines of the Jesuit order, the lost cities of the ancient ancestors of the west, the tomb of the Crow King.  They supposedly went off to go build this place for their own private reasons.

8: A company or lone entrepreneur who hired/enslaved workers.  I'm imagining one of the powerful elven trade corporations, going off and founding a secret city somewhere in the Northern Lands, as their own private enclave, outside of imperial authority.

But how have they managed to keep it secret all this time?  Why would they want to keep it secret in the first place?

Reason for Secrecy (d12)
1-3	so the authorities couldn't take a share of its wealth
4-6	so their enemies wouldn't destroy it
7-9	so they could prepare for war
10-11	because they all died before it could be discovered
12	to wait until the world was ready for its revelation

9: Secret so they could prepare for war.  A corporation founding a secret city so they could prepare to wage war against...another company?  One of the major colonies?  The empire itself?  Some kind of great intrigue was going on with this place, intrigue that might still matter in politics of today.

The secret city of the Indigo Company, full of guns and ready for war.

(Looks like I need to finish that blog post about random trade companies.)

All they found was "Croatoan" carved on a tree.

Some clue gets the adventure started.  Roll to see how the protagonists become aware of the legend, then roll again for another clue to get the ball rolling.

Clues of Its Existence (d12, twice)
1	an incomplete map with very specific directions
2	a ragged traveler on the brink of death who claims to have found it
3	an old story of an explorer who made several attempts to find it, never returning from their last
4	an old wooden object, carved with a revealing name or sign
5	a small golden item with a face that has a strange feature
6	an earlier site that turned out to be unsuitable for it and was abandoned
7	tales of a treasure hunter who found signs of it a while back
8	a piece of artwork depicting it in its surroundings
9	a widely-believed prophecy
10	records of the disappearance of its creators
11	a song or nursery rhyme that everyone already knows
12	an old book with some pages torn out

10: records of the disappearance of its creators.

Digging around in records of the Indigo Company (trying to find out what happened to a ship, the Saint Tevel) the party notices a curious pattern.  Several major administrators' records all stop in the year 1602 without any note that they died or left the company.  1602 is also the year several of the IC's ships disappeared, along with a sizeable amount of wheat, gunpowder, and gold.

7: tales of a treasure hunter who found signs of it a while back

Everyone who knows about the indigo trade has been telling the party to look for the wreck of the Saint Tevel down in the southern isles, but there's one account of a treasure hunter who claims to have seen the ship's bell in a human town up north.  That treasure hunter might still be alive.

A View of the Monuments of Easter Island - William Hodges

As they investigate the story, the adventurers should learn of some particular landmarks that lead to the lost place.  Whether there's an explicit map or just some bits and pieces of information about a journey, the tale tells of landmarks along the way.  (Three sounds like a good number.)

Landmarks in the Tale (d20, thrice)
1	an out-of-place name or sign carved on a tree
2	a cairn of stones with an unexpected artifact underneath
3	a rock that looks like a face from the right angle
4	an island surrounded by cliffs with only one safe landing place
5	a two-headed mountain whose peaks line up with another feature
6	a tribe of humans with an unusual appearance
7	a stone statue from an ancient civilization
8	a copper medallion, wrapped in cloth and recently buried
9	sunlight on a certain day of the year shines through a gap to show the way
10	a single tree that bears fruit in the wrong season
11	strangely-colored birds who line their nests with something valuable
12	a tree that has grown around bones
13	a shipwreck quite a ways from the shore
14	a mighty waterfall that can be heard for miles around
15	a lone tree in a dry and barren land
16	the place where jade and copper are traded once a year
17	ruins of a settlement that was utterly destroyed
18	a deep shaft into the earth where mining once failed
19	an underground journey beneath the high mountains
20	one of the great natural wonders of the world

18: failed mining shaft, 17: ruins of a settlement, 5: two-headed mountain

The treasure hunter's story eventually led them to the human town up north, where the party met an old human woman who had heard stories of elven castaways from her grandfather when she was a young girl.

She told them that the elves were shipwrecked and built a town to survive the winter, and that they killed many of the humans.  Her grandfather led an army to subjugate the elves, destroying their town and enslaving them to do menial work.  They were taken somewhere off to the west to work in the ancient mine where the two-headed mountain becomes one.

In the Longhouse - Lewis Parker

As the legend spread outwards from its source, it changed, getting less accurate as the miles and years wear on.  From the adventurers' perspective, the legend usually gets more accurate as you get closer.

When entering a new region or country, roll to see how the legend changes.  If you're on the right path, the local version of the story is more accurate than what you heard before.

Development (d6, occasionally)
1	It gets bigger. (The lost city of gold? They say it's the capital of a whole empire.)
2	It gets older. (The colony of Nayan? According to the journal, it was founded on the site of an earlier settlement.)
3	It gets smaller. (Seven cities of jade? There's only one that I know of.)
4	It gets darker. (The old mine of Taratessa? I hear they massacred all the slaves working down there.)
5	It changes into a different type. (The fabled Snake Kingdom? They say its wonders were all buried with its last king.)
6	The legends lead you to something similar, but underwhelming. This is not it, but a lesser place confused with it in the stories. The true place is still out there.

4: It gets darker.

Journeying into the northwest, the adventurers come to the Black River country, where they eventually find the mine once worked by the elven castaways.  There they read the words the elves left behind, scratched onto rock and written with blood.  The castaways were planning to escape and rejoin the other ships at the site of the secret city, and their writings reveal something dark about the purpose of that place.

I have some ideas of what the dark purpose of the city could be, but I'll wait till I've rolled on the last table below.  Something about the nature of the apocalypse?

Seekers of the Seven Cities of Gold - Jim Carson

The lost place will not be easy to find.  Following clues and legends is hard enough, but there are other reasons the journey will be difficult.

Difficulties (d10, twice)
1	It's much farther inland than the legends say.
2	It's in a very rugged/dangerous country.
3	The legends have gotten it mixed up with a different place.
4	It was moved/rebuilt at a new site.
5	It's now underwater, covered by the sea/river/swamps, possibly only visible at low tide.
6	Someone powerful is gaining great wealth/knowledge from it.
7	Its builders (or their descendants) still defend it.
8	Searching for it will draw the attention of a cruel enemy.
9	It's buried under a present-day settlement, reachable only by a deep well or chasm.
10	A strange and fearsome species dwells in the vicinity.

2: rugged/dangerous country
5: now underwater

The secret city of the Indigo Company was built in one of the fjords of the inhospitable northern coast.  Mountains in the interior, rocks and fierce storms on the shore, there's a reason the elves never officially ventured this far north.

When the apocalypse came, a great wave destroyed the city and its ruins are now only explorable at low tide.

Discovering a Lost City - Søren Bak

Discovering this lost place will change things in ways beyond the control of the protagonists.  There could be a powerful artifact here or immense wealth.  This place could contain truths that should have remained hidden, or it could be the sign spoken of in the prophecy.

Effect of Its Discovery (d10)
1-2	It contains something amazing: a lost technological marvel, a magic tool from folklore, or a lost treasure.
3-4	You will learn the secret behind the rise of one of the great powers of the world.
5-6	Immense wealth can be found inside, though it'll take a lot of work to extract/transport it.
7-8	Kings and governors will wage war over this place.
9-10	The prophecy will come to pass and a sign will be seen in the heavens.

1: It contains something amazing.

The secret city of the Indigo Company contains a lost technological marvel of the age before the world ended, a great engine that could detect deposits of gold from hundreds of miles away.  It functioned best in the cold winds of the north, and it consumed great quantities of coal each time it was run.  But it also caused catastrophic side effects that eventually collapsed the land around the secret city, and it was smashed by the great wave.

They knew about the side effects, and they didn't care that it would eventually destroy the city and kill its inhabitants.  As long as the Company gained enough gold to fund its army, they didn't care how many lives would be lost in the process.  But the city failed before the Company could find the gold.

So of course the adventurers discover the logs of the distant gold detected by the engine, along with plans for the engine itself.  The Company survived the apocalypse.  It's not so clear the adventurers will survive the Company.

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Roll up your own lost place of legend:

random Lost Place
lost place
supposed founders
reason for secrecy
clues of its existence
landmarks in the tale
development as you travel
difficulties
effect of its discovery

Shining city in the wilderness

Somewhere out in a quiet corner of the wilderness, a community is building a wonderful new home: a gleaming city of marble, a valley of bountiful fields, a peaceful refuge in the trees.  They've left their old society in search of a place to live far from outside intervention.

Utopian dreams like this are common in the story of America: the Pilgrims coming to the New World, the Mormons establishing Deseret, Tenskwatawa's Prophetstown, the Oneida Community, and the list goes on.

But it's not a utopia yet.  They might never build one at this rate.  For now, they're a struggling community full of problems and promise.

And they're a great source of quests.

First, let's see which species this is:

People (d8)
1-3	humans	(d6) 1-2: a wandering tribe seeking a new home 3-4: a small group that left their people 5-6: refugees from many tribes coming together
4-7	elves	(d6) 1-3: a religious group considered heretical by most 4-5: veterans of the losing side in a war against the empire 6: people suffering from a disease that makes them outcasts
8	giants whose ancestors adopted the elven religion at a mission and are keeping it alive in the face of heresy

The Holy City (Clarence Larkin)

A community like this will need help getting started, but they'll also be able to offer help.  Choose an ideal that this community is founded on.  This should suggest the type of help they might offer those who help them.

Ideal (d4)		goal	imagery	for their friends
1	refuge	offer a safe haven for those in need	white dove, fireplace	food, rest, healing
2	stronghold	become a place of military might	sword, tower	powerful allies
3	isolation	focus on quiet contemplation and righteous living	plain dress, book	a place to hide, secret knowledge
4	industry	work and prosper together	beehive, plow	financial/material help

Joseph Smith

Every utopian community is based on a vision, a shared dream of how they could build a better world.  Where is the inspiration for this community coming from?

Inspiration (d6)
1	their leader, a charismatic visionary who is in charge of everything and is never questioned
2	a prophet or elder that the leaders listen to, someone who speaks of visions and forgotten wisdom
3	a martyr, someone who was killed for saying bold things and is now revered by the people
4	their traditional ways and wisdom, prophecy passed down from olden days (possibly in a book)
5	signs that everyone has witnessed, signs that a widely-known prophecy will be fulfilled by their new community
6	a shared experience of struggle and hardship that binds them closer together

Cahokia (Michael Hampshire)

What difficult task is ahead of them that they'll need help with?

Difficult task (d10)
1	Find/grow food for everyone in this barren land.
2	Bring about or find the fulfillment of prophecy.
3	Clear the land of dangerous creatures/plants/phenomena.
4	Get enough of something for survival: guns, medicine, warm clothing.
5	Obtain the foundation of the city: a sacred object to institute true worship, mothers and fathers to begin making babies, an official charter, a seedling of the perfect tree.
6	Make lasting peace with a fearsome enemy that the party has crossed paths with before.
7	Utterly defeat an outside enemy that's supported by allies of the party.
8	Conquer the powerful fortress of the people who already live here.
9	Open up a path to this place through difficult terrain: build a bridge, make a road, clear obstacles on a river, carve a tunnel/canal.
10	Build an amazing structure: a mighty fortress, a wall to defend this community, an imposing temple.

Quests also come from outside the community.  A place like this will have its enemies, quite possibly the people who already lived here and were driven out of their homes, or maybe the ones who drove them to live in this wilderness to begin with.

The First Sermon Ashore (Jean Leon Gerome Ferris)

What danger is roused by the making of this utopia?  Roll twice, one danger leading to the other (though not necessarily in the order you rolled them) or both dangers springing from the same source.

Danger (d10)
1-2	Displace the local people who will need a new place to live.  If they can't find one, they'll wage war on someone, possibly the party's allies or families.
3-4	Draw the ire of religious/civil authorities (of the party's religion/group, if possible) who will try to end this place.
5-6	Introduce something that disrupts the local way of life: disease, new religion, addiction, guns, a new invention.
7	Disturb natural danger, causing it to reach new places: wolves, snakes, vultures, flooding, wildfire, thirty-year locusts wakened early.
8	Thousands of people flock here from all around, making the other powers of the world wary of this community's power.  The newcomers might be in desperate poverty and in need of help.
9	Deplete local resources: overhunting game animals, drinking the wells dry, chopping down all the trees for firewood.
10	Attract the attention of powerful enemies who drove these people out of their original homes.

Kirtland Temple (Walter Rane)

What's wrong inside the settlement?

Problem (d6)
1	Discontent over leadership/decisions is likely to cause a split, with one part of the community leaving to build their own settlement.
2	The leadership is secretly corrupt: accepting bribes, giving privileges to sycophants, betraying the community to their enemies.
3	They need better ways of acquiring food: new plows, a new crop, a network of irrigation canals, homemade goods to trade with a farming society.
4	Many of the people have lost sight of the vision of this community, turning away from the ways/religion of the leaders.
5	They've run out of money/supplies. Hope for the future is mixed with fear.
6	The community hasn't found the site for their new home yet.

Roll up your own utopian community:

random shining city
people
founding ideal
inspiration
difficult task ahead
danger
danger
problem

The Lost Treasure of...

Going on an expedition for lost treasure is a staple of adventure stories, from Indiana Jones to the Argonauts.  It's an easy formula, which is why it works: a prize to inspire you, a journey to find it, trouble along the way.

Signs in the Wilderness is about the bright future that lies ahead, opportunity for those bold enough to take it.  Treasure is one of the great opportunities that drives an entire campaign.  (Previously we looked at a gold rush and a great migration.)

For a treasure hunt, first you need to know what you're hunting:

Treasure (d8)
1-3	lots of valuables	(d6) 1: gold doubloons, 2: silver dollars, 3: rings, necklaces, and other jewelry, 4: diamonds/rubies/emeralds/sapphires, 5: paper money or certificates, 6: set of identical statuettes/carvings
4-6	single piece of artwork	(d6) 1: statue/figurine/mask of stone, jade, ivory, or gold, 2: painting/tapestry, 3: crown/scepter, 4: large gemstone, 5: intricate necklace, 6: chalice/bowl/cauldron
7-8	miscellaneous	(d6) 1: taxidermied body of an unknown creature, 2: book of secret knowledge, 3: ancient sword, 4: ship, 5: bones of a saint/ancestor, probably wrapped or in a decorated container, 6: great new invention

A good treasure needs a name.  It's going to be talked about a lot, from gossip to newspapers to ancient clues, so be sensational.  Some names to get you started:

The Scepter of Ranava, the Lost Treasure of Bear Canyon, the Chalice of the Flying Serpent, the Beacon of the Dawn, the Tapestry of the Green Temple, the Accursed Emerald, Captain Hill's Treasure, the True Relic, the Silver of the Seven Shrines, the loot from the Ten Century Heist, the Great Wonder of the North, the Ivory Standard, the Empress of the Isles, the Thirty-Seven Certificates...

What you'll have to do to find this treasure depends on how it got lost in the first place.  Roll to see how it was lost, which might suggest the type of clues left behind as to its whereabouts:

Lost (d8)			clues
1	lost by accident	shipwreck, wagon went off a cliff, fell overboard during a storm, left behind when its keepers were driven off	there might have been survivors, someone recorded/remembers them passing by, the owner of the vessel/treasure knows where it should have gone
2	deliberately hidden	buried/hidden/disguised to keep it away from the law, tax collectors, pirates/bandits, enemies in war	they might still be alive, left clues/map for their allies/heirs to recover it
3	keepers are gone	kept in its usual spot, but everyone who knew about it died, could be recently lost or from an ancient civilization	rumors that they had a treasure, historical clues about who they were and where they lived, accounts from those who saw it on display
4	stolen	discovered and taken to a private collection, stolen while in transit	witnesses and survivors, signs of a break-in, someone tried to sell it
5-8	complicated	It was lost one way, then lost even further another way.  Roll (d4) for each.

If this treasure isn't sounding fantastic enough yet, roll up an exciting fact or two about it.  The treasure needs to be so important that adventurers might risk their lives for it.

Significance (d12)
1	many treasure hunters have lost everything seeking it, both fortune and blood
2	many people have died defending it or keeping it hidden
3	reputed to have magical or healing powers
4	religious/ceremonial: from a shrine, long used in political ceremonies, too sacred to gaze upon, etc.
5	from the founding ancestor of a tribe/lineage/city
6	from a major historical event: famous explorer, major battle, day of peacemaking
7	a war or great battle was fought over it
8	many believe that it was not made by people, but instead fell from the sky, grew from a seed, was made by the spirits, etc.
9	said to be cursed, or is part of a widely-believed prophecy
10	very large, or a set of similar objects
11	contains something very valuable within it (possibly another random treasure)
12	a small piece of it is already famous, on display, used in ceremonies, a symbol of an entire tribe or city, etc.

Where do you first learn the information that gets you started on the treasure hunt?

News (d6)
1	article in the newspaper or news from the town crier
2	dying words of a stranger or something they're carrying
3	someone you know asks for help or wants to hire you
4	finding a clue hidden somewhere, maybe in an old book
5	overhearing/reading a private conversation
6	public discussion, everyone is talking about it

Other people will make this treasure hunt more complicated.  Roll twice:

Trouble (d8)
1	A rival treasure hunter/expedition is already on its trail.
2	Whoever's responsible for it being lost wants to keep it that way.
3	The people who live near it will fight to keep outsiders away.
4	The rightful owners want it back, or there's a dispute about ownership.
5	Whoever has it now (or controls the area where it's hidden) will do anything to keep it.
6	Everyone knows you're searching for it and they all want a cut.
7	The authorities demand their share, possibly the whole thing.
8	Someone has information you'll need, but they're in jail, exiled, or in hiding.

How is it situated now? Roll twice, then put the results together in some way: they both apply at once, or one happened first and then the other.

Situated (d12)
1	underwater
2	sunken into mud, possibly in a swamp or marsh
3	in a gully, gorge, or canyon
4	underground
5	in or under vegetation that has grown around it
6	deliberately sealed in a crypt or locked away in a safe or vault
7	on display in public, but disguised in some way
8	in a private collection, maybe in a temple/shrine
9	surrounded with traps and hidden spikes, maybe in a giant's trapped treasure hoard
10	very far away from where the party is or where they might expect it to be
11	in the territory of a very hostile group
12	in difficult terrain: rugged mountains, harsh desert, thick swamp

Roll up your own lost treasure:

random lost treasure
treasure
lost
significance
how you hear the news
trouble
situated

The Great Migration

Migrations are a great way to cause trouble, and trouble usually leads to adventure.

American frontier history is full of migrations: the Lakota fleeing onto the Great Plains to escape the musket-wielding Ojibwe, the Oregon Trail drawing American settlers to the west, the Cree following the fur trading posts through Canada, the Mormons (and the Pilgrims before them) heading out to establish a holy city.  It's a long list.

So why do we care about migrations in a roleplaying game?

• They're often a consequence of a conflict.  Help the local people win a war, and the losing side might have to flee somewhere else.
• They cause conflict of their own.  Most places are already inhabited to some degree, so a bunch of newcomers showing up is likely to get folks ready for a fight.
• Migrations need resources.  Plenty a trader has gotten rich on selling goods to migrants passing through.  Someone's likely to hire guides and armed escorts.
• Migrations bring resources, too.  They might be the first ones in the area with guns, or they might be carrying sacks of gold to buy land.  Raiders might make a good living preying on these folks.

To create a great migration, you might find the following tables helpful.  As usual, you can roll randomly if you like, but you might just use the tables for inspiration.

Mitchell Pass, Oregon Trail - Todd Williams

Why migrate?

Pick two reasons from the table below.  The first is obvious and visible to outsiders; it's the reason you're likely to hear about.  The second is quieter, a reason that most outsiders don't know about.  It might even be a secret reason only the leadership knows about.
 

Why migrate? (d8)
1	A bountiful land full of resources beckons to those who are ambitious or desperate.
2	Enemies are driving them out to take their land.
3	Their livelihood is running out: the land is barren, the fish are gone, the mines have run out.
4	Fleeing from persecution, they want a place to live by their own ways.
5	They aim to build a utopia, a shining land of virtue and prosperity.
6	A prophecy, a vision, or a great spiritual teacher leads them into the wilderness.
7	Trade opportunities beckon: access to trading partners, guns, a port, a trade route.
8	They need to settle close to powerful allies.

Trail of Tears - J. Crosby

Difficult terrain

There's a major obstacle in the way of this migration, some kind of difficult terrain that's going to be hard for everyone.  Crossing this obstacle might be where the migration is most vulnerable.

Obstacle (d10)
1-2	a vast, trackless plain, bitterly cold in winter and blazing hot in summer
3-4	a rugged mountain range, nearly impassable under winter snow
5-6	a great expanse of swamps, lakes and/or rivers
7-8	a deep canyon, a high bluff, or a difficult portage bypassing a waterfall
9-10	a journey on open water: over the sea, across a strait, hopping from island to island

Waka - Charles Goldie and Louis J. Steele

Progress

Roll to see how the migration is progressing.

Progress (d6)
1	The migration is just talk so far. They do not know much about the destination yet.
2	An outsider has been to the destination and back. Everyone is intrigued by their report.
3	All the people are about to migrate in one large caravan.
4	Groups of dozens of people are just starting out now, armed and vigilant.
5	Families or very small groups are setting out, trying to keep out of sight.
6	Most of the people already traveled the first step a while ago, but they ran into problems and hunkered down. Now they have to decide whether to keep traveling or return home.

Handcart Company across the Sweetwater River - Clark Kelley Price

Surplus & shortage

People on this journey are going to need help.  Roll once on the chart below to see what they need most desperately.  Roll again to see what they have in abundance.

Surplus/Shortage (d8)
1	safety, forts to take refuge in, armed escorts, guns, powder
2	food, grazing for pack animals, water in a dry country
3	guides, maps and guidebooks, a navigator, an interpreter
4	warmth, shelter, suitable clothing for the weather
5	a safe place to cross an obstacle: a portage, pass, ford, strait, etc.
6	boats, wagons, snowshoes, draft oxen, porters
7	leadership, confidence, belief in their purpose
8	money, trade goods, permission to pass through someone's territory

Trading Post - Hubbell

If you get the same result for both rolls, treat each one differently.  Let's say you rolled a 6 for both (boats, wagons, snowshoes, draft oxen, porters).  They could have plenty of canoes for the river-borne part of the journey, but be desperately short on hands to carry everything over the portage from one river to the next.  Or some of the people could have oxen and good wagons, while the rest are stuck hauling everything on their backs.

Hard work ahead

The migrants believe they'll have a hard task ahead of them at the end of the road. They might believe this from prior experience, or because of rumors headed their way, or maybe by the words of a prophecy about their new home.

Hard Work (d6)
1	expel the people who live there already
2	defeat those who will follow after them
3	clear the wilderness to make room for settlement, felling trees, opening rivers, digging wells
4	build a great colony/city
5	learn how to survive in such a strange place
6	prepare for dark days to come: starvation, disease, cold weather

Clearing the Land (Quebec)

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Roll up your own great migration:

a great migration
obvious reason
quiet reason
major obstacle
progress
in desperate need of
have in abundance
hard work ahead

Choose your own Gold Rush

Earlier I wrote about what happens when a new resource is discovered and people rush in to stake a claim.  Let's take a look at some choices you can make to make this Something Rush your Something Rush.

What is it?

The big question: what's the resource?

Resource (d12)		typical use
1-2	gold, silver	currency, jewelry
3	diamonds, rubies, jade	jewelry, specialized tools
4-5	fur, horn, animal parts	clothing, medicine
6	fruit, seeds, plant parts	food, healing
7-8	coal, whale oil	fuel for furnaces, heating, lamps
9	iron, flint, copper	toolmaking
10	very fertile farmland	growing crops, homesteading
11	combined	Roll twice (d10) and combine them into one resource.
12	rumors of power	Roll again (d10) but it's said to have some strange power.  (20% chance the rumors are true.)

Some of these are straightforward and historical, but if you roll an 11 you'll be making up some strange new resource that's an amalgam of two other ideas.  Let's try a few:

• 4 (plant parts) + 7 (iron, flint, copper): A tree of the hardest wood that can be grown and worked into useful tools.
• 2 (gold, silver) + 3 (diamonds, etc.): Jade with veins of silver running through it.
• 1 (gold, silver) + 4 (plant parts): A plant that has deep roots into the earth, taking in gold as one of its nutrients, resulting in a fruit with gold inside.
• 8 (farmland) + 5 (animal parts): There's an animal with valuable fur that can easily be raised in captivity, but only with the soil/weather/ecosystem of this one region.

How is it hard to get?

Even once you show up to the place where this rush is happening, you'll still find that the resource is hard to get or hard to work with.

Difficulty (d8)
1	deep in the earth
2	covered by material that's difficult to remove
3	threatened by dangerous creatures/disease/presence
4	in difficult terrain, too rugged/cold/dry
5	resource itself is hazardous
6	difficult to find (thinly spread, nearly extinct, hard to see)
7	difficult to transport (fragile, heavy, squishy)
8	only found underwater

What are the locals doing?

The people who live in this area are likely to already know about this resource and are getting involved in some way.

Locals (d6)
1	They were already extracting/using/trading it and are trying to maintain their control.
2	They knew about it but don't like to use it because it's sacred, dangerous, or attracts too much trouble.
3	They're joining in the rush alongside everyone else.
4	They're selling things/services to the newcomers, trying to get rich.
5	They're being forced to work, but they're making plans to revolt, demand proper wages, or otherwise put a stop to their intolerable conditions.
6	There are no locals; this area was mostly uninhabited.

What are powerful figures doing?

All this activity has drawn the attention of powerful figures: trade companies, tribal confederations, kings, prophets, the viceroy, etc.  Someone important is going to want a piece of the action.

Powerful figures (d10)
1-2	Outsiders don't have enough power to truly control matters.  Expect power struggles between prospectors, local bosses that rise in power, and feuds that flare up from time to time.  This is a lawless and dangerous place.
3-4	They control the main route to this place, charging high tolls or ticket fees.  Expect small-time guides and ship captains who say they can get you there another way, but for a price.
5-6	You have to get their approval to stake a claim, or else you'll get thrown out and lose what you've gained.  Expect illegal mining operations, legal challenges, and plenty of corruption as rich and well-connected people get ahead in line.
7-8	They're trying to take over the supply business, to be the only ones selling supplies to the prospectors.  Expect them to use strongarm tactics to put their competitors out of business, and expect a black market as smugglers bring in supplies anyways.
9-10	There's more than one powerful figure trying to control this place.  Roll twice to see what they're each doing.

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If you're not sure which options to choose, try this random roller:

random resource rush
resource
difficulty
locals
powerful figures

(Incidentally, I still haven't figured out how to get this random table roller to work on mobile devices.  If you happen to be a Blogspot expert I could use your help.)

Pioneers and refugees

There's a better life out there on the frontier, but you have to go out and make it for yourself.
The apocalypse upended everything, destroying whole tribes and nations.  Once-great cities fell to starvation and disease, towns were abandoned, and alliances ended.  Survivors took refuge in a few crowded havens.

Now a new generation has been born, and they don't have to accept the hand their parents were dealt.  It's a big world, and there's bound to be somewhere better out there.  Pioneers are headed into the wilderness, migrants and refugees and wagon trains streaming across the land.

For this post, I'll mostly be talking about ways to make money (since it's useful for everyone) but migrations are important for more than just wealth.  If it's your group of people that are migrating, their success matters to you.  Helping or hindering a migration might factor into other plans.

Hired hands

Before a migration can get underway, they'll need a suitable destination, a new place to live and a way to get there.  Scouts and wilderness guides can help.  Guidebooks to the wilderness are traded and sold across the frontier, all of dubious quality.  If you find a better route through the wilds, you might make some good money leading people on it.

Humans are some of the most common migrants, usually fleeing from enemies and setting out for new farmland, hunting grounds, or fishing harbors.  If they don't already have a place in mind, they'll send out scouts and consult their prophets (a topic for a future post).

Elves can also be found seeking a new home in the wilderness.  Organized groups supported by a city are out establishing farming settlements, mines, forts, and trading posts.  They're willing to pay for porters to carry their things once they're in rugged terrain where ox carts won't help.  Religious pilgrims can also be found, exiled as heretics and looking to found a new home in the wilderness.  They're more likely to need guards if traveling through dangerous areas.

Tree goblins tend to migrate in small family groups, looking for dense forests to settle in.  They're likely to avoid other people if possible, but they might hire a guide if they don't know the way.

Individual giants migrate all the time, but they don't usually do so as a group.

Prices vary, but in general:

• Scouts and porters earn 1 or 2 shillings/day.
• A very knowledgable wilderness guide could earn 5 shillings/day.
• Armed escorts in dangerous country might make 2 or 3 shillings/day.
• Guidebooks about a wilderness country cost anywhere from 1 to 5 dollars.

Permission

The elves are all about protocol.  You don't head out to colonize the wilderness without a charter and a proper plan.  Imperial or city charters cost money (the more the better) and require the right connections.  New charters are hard enough to come by, so would-be colonists often buy up shares in a previously-chartered company.

Wherever settlers are going, they're likely to run into some kind of local rulers.  There's plenty of open land nowadays (after the starving time) but authorities tend to expand to fill the space available.  Anyone leading a migration needs bit of diplomacy, some well-placed bribes, and gifts from far-off lands.

So why would rulers let people settle on their lands?  Newcomers can bring plenty of trouble and use up resources, but they're also good for a few reasons:

• They could join their hosts' group and provide extra labor or military might.
• The hosts could trade the right to settle in exchange for something of value.
• The newcomers could bring valuable knowledge and techniques.
• Unoccupied land might be taken by enemies; new settlers help establish a claim to the land.

Passing through someone else's territory isn't always free.  If the locals are stronger than the migrants, they might demand gifts or a toll before allowing passage.

With all these travelers coming through, a few types of establishments are useful:

• Trading posts to sell supplies.
• Forts to provide defense for the region.
• Ferries to carry people and cargo across a river.

Trouble

Some people seize the opportunity to prey on pioneers.  Charging tolls isn't very friendly, but it's generally accepted.  Outright robbery (often accompanied by murder) is considered criminal just about everywhere.

Some human tribes are known for taking captives.  A group of unguarded refugees could easily disappear into the wilderness, taken for slave labor, without anyone else ever knowing their fate.

If the migration is a threat to your people, you'll probably try to get them to go elsewhere.  Just telling them to leave might be enough, but threats can easily escalate to warfare.  If enough migrants meet a grisly fate, the rest are likely to change their route, but that's also when they might call for military aid.  You don't want the army showing up, and you especially don't want a band of hired adventurers.

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Coming soon: what happens when these pioneers get where they're going, an article about founding settlements and trying to get them through the winter.