Micro-Settings

I've been trying to move away from writing tables, because I've gotten so comfortable with doing them, but also because I feel so comfortable doing them, I want to keep doing them! At the same time, I've been trying to write micro-settings, and I just keep finding mental blocks, or being unsatisfied with what I've written and how it's conveying the setting. So I decided, why not just make a table of settings! Some of these settings are intended as full-blown settings, others could be fit into larger settings (and in fact some of these are intended to fit into each other). It's the most micro way to do micro-settings, but it'll include settings I've already talked about in depth such as Phantasmos. Having to train myself to reduce a setting to a few sentences or less should be a good exercise if nothing else.

Also, depending on the feedback I get for these settings, that may influence which ones I decide to focus on next for my full post write-ups!

Image Source: https://mertun.artstation.com/

Setting	Description
Antikythera Nova	A non-Anglocentric scifi future. A gritty space opera. Eldritch trans-humans. Psionic signal processing aliens manipulating quantum uncertainty. A dash of speculative science.
Aquarian Dawn	A low fantasy feudal world, several hundreds or thousands of years after a high fantasy / science fantasy post-apocalypse. The typical fantasy races have mostly receded or taken on niche roles in this world, while humanity desperately clings to the Middle Realm. However, with the arrival from the seas of the peaceful, socialist, androgynous aqua-colored humanoids known as the Aquarians, humanity must face the fact that their age is coming to an end. Some wish to take this transition with grace, as many of the other races have, while others wish to fight and struggle against the (literally and figuratively) rising tide to the last.
Carnopolis	An ever-expanding city, like a slimy, protoplasmic meat or fungus. A living shoggoth city. The shoggoth matter are like nanomachines, able to rearrange the structure of the city or encode information, creating a hybrid virtual/augmented reality where there is no meaningful distinction between the physical and virtual. Generations of survivors living in a world of never-ending hostility. A city that can be anything. A city designed to kill.
Cold War Under a Rising Sun	An alternate history where the atomic bomb was never dropped on Japan. In a prolonged second world war, the victorious allies carve Japan, the Soviet Union creating North Japan, and the western allies creating South Japan. Both Japans become cultural, technological, and economic powerhouses. Given the prosperity of the Russo-Ainu North Japan, this is a 1960's Cold War-era where the people in the communist world actually thrive. It's a world as much pulp as noir, with gadget-toting superspies, secret nazi revival sects, and world-threatening super-terrorists.
Dark and Misty Remains	A world of The Darkness Lagash and The Nameless Mist, the space in between the shell and spine of a world-sized dragon turtle. Albino underdeinos and platypus people who sense the electrical activity of muscle contractions and weird creatures made of dark matter and harnessing dark energy. A subway train system made of bone and the electrical activity of massive nerve tissue and muscle fibers. Houses the remains of Thalarion, the city of a thousand wonders, the undead shamanic Skadamutc and their necrotic god Lathi.
Frost and the Final Frontier	A near future semi-hard scifi setting where Antarctica has been colonized, and is in the early stages of urbanization. A modern-day New World / Wild West. Heavily reliant on technology, but with early-20th century-esque access to resources. As much if not more so Chinese and Russian as American or Western European. A sprawling Denver-like city. A utopian military-science industrial complex, like a precursor to the Federation in Star Trek or Heinlein if he were less crazy.
I-Cons	A near future cyberpunk world where electromagnetism has somehow fundamentally changed. While limited radio and television transmission is still possible, the internet is gone and nearly all electronic or electroconductive devices are connected to the Noö-Net. Humans can observe this realm, but can only interact with it through their Individual Constructs (I-Con), a Noö-Net artificial lifeform, trained like a neural network from the consciousness of their operator.
Kwik & Kantankerous	A near future cyberpunk world with a 90's-00's LA street racing aesthetic. A world populated by fungal, plant, and animal humanoids across socioeconomic strata race weaponized kwik karts in the streets. A world of gangwars, heists, social justice, and family.
Monsters and Madmen	The big war; the cities bombed and nations EM-pulsed; civilization as we know it is on the way out, but adults still cling to the old world from only a few years ago. On the other hand, the children wish only to leave their homes, to travel the empty, broken roads, and to collect and battle the monsters that have surfaced (or, perhaps, resurfaced) in the wake of humanity's decline. The world is in anarchy. Some of the magical creatures the children geas are intelligent, some infinitely more so than humans. They bide their time as anarchy ensues and humanity dissolves under its own weight.
Overlight	Deep-dream qualia elves, golden carp-dragons, rainbow thunderbirds, baku devas. A realm of soft thunderous clouds like the action potentials of neurons. The air is vaporized alcohol, the clouds are novocain, the lakes and rivers are liquid mercury rising into semi-solid structures, the mountains are lithium salts, and there's a rainbow space elevator to the moon.
Phantasmos	Heavy Metal gonzo weird Lovecraftian BDSM post-post-apocalyptic science fantasy. Lovecraft, Gygax, Dick, Morrison, and Asimov filtered through my own personal lens.
Quantumverse	An emergent microverse that exists "between particles"; a compressed computational world formed from the distribution of sub-atomic particles in physical space. A world of varying densities of compressed and encrypted pixels, voxels, and polygons. A fantasy world on a circuit board; a kingdom of baking-yeast people and the nefarious Rat King; A silk road Arabian Disco.
Second Exodus	In a near future, several decades after narrowly surviving the eldritch kaiju Nephilim, a new breed of monster, the Qlippoth, have forced humanity off the planet and onto orbiting space colonies. The Ein Sof have developed psychokinetic mecha, which must be piloted by children, to take back the planet.
Silicon Survivors	A world of trans-human cyborg hunter-gatherers in a naturalistic world of silicon, plastic, and the most advanced technologies conceived in 1980's science fiction. They ride their white, plastic-skinned, CRT monitor-headed beasts across fields of flayed cables, hunting blocky robots for their nutritious floppy disk innards. They are led by an ancient and wise computer like a knockoff Max Headroom, although some suspect the computer may have ulterior motives.
Starcrossed Sentai	In a small rural town in an anachronistic, mid to late-20th century "golden age" Japan analogue, a group of preteen children are granted superpowers and must save the world from alien invaders, while still passing their exams! Their costumes may look like they were made in a middle school home-ec class (because they were), but when their powers activate, they become the greatest superteam the world has ever known! If the videogame Earthbound is a weird Japanese person's take on Golden Age Americana, this is a weird American's take on Golden Age Japan.
Starflower Voyagers	A utopian post-singularity scifi setting. A trans-human entity, the starflower, a pure and child-like, god-like being, leads bands of loosely affiliated, 1960's-70's mod/hippie anarchic troupes known collectively as the Flower Power, to search the stars for intelligent lifeforms on the verge of their own singularity and assist them in the transition. They generally try to do good elsewhere in the cosmos along the way, not so much like police or judges, but like neighbors or good Samaritans. They are, of course, concerned with the greater philosophical implications of their actions, but generally hold a light heart and take a light touch wherever they go.
Stonepunk Journey	When the first Native Americans crossed the Bering Strait, they were not alone. They encountered monsters and spirits which went on to inspire the mythologies of the First Peoples, but also other intelligent species from sword and sorcery and medieval fantasy such as serpent-men and elves. This is a stonepunk world of chaotic primal magics, of anachronistic stone technologies, and perhaps other hidden, weird secrets.
Vortekka	A world surrounded by a shimmering vortex. 17th century-esque pirates and privateers with a dash of steampunk mechs and flying machines. Competing centripedal and centrifugal forces where humans reside on floating plates and other species reside on the islands and oceans along the inner surface of the shimmering, iridescent vortex.
Weird Wars	A science fantasy trench war... in SPACE. Warp-speed weaponry tear the fabric of reality into pocket dimensions, across which inter-dimensional trench warfare is fought. The heavy, deadly gases allow humans to take flight, but only the mutated Weirders, with their weird-metal bayonets and warp-blades, can maneuver gracefully in the harsh environments of the tears.
World of Wonders	A significantly alternate-history superhero setting where orgodynamics and entropy are opposite but equal physical forces of nature. Many ancient civilizations never fell and social constructs around things like religion, race, and ethnicity operate totally differently than they do in the world as we know it.

Vortekka One-Shot Play Report / Adventure Module Outline

While my home group has unfortunately not been able to meet in months, my roommate and I had some friends visiting from out of town and we got to run a one-shot with them! I GMed the game, set in my Vortekka micro-setting. We used Dungeon World, which I have never played before but have wanted to try for forever, so that was cool! I'm writing this as sort of a hybrid play report and Adventure Module Outline, since I think it's simple and straightforward, but also was a lot of fun and I could see myself running it again, and I hope other people can get some value out of it as well. While I think it worked as a one-shot, I also think it would be better spread out over a few sessions.

Premise / NPCs

Players are privateers aboard The Brown Bowser, with the mission of discovering new islands for colonization and for the acquisition of lost treasures, gold, and other resources. In addition to players, a few core crewmembers are:

Captain Noah “No Face” Fairman: His entire head and face is covered in bandages. He uses three parrot-shaped golems as his eyes; one blue, one red, one green. He is not especially large but is a ferocious hand-to-hand brawler and sharpshot. He wears an elaborate rainbow-colored frilly coat, a tall hat, and a curly gold wig. He appears friendlier and more relaxed than one might expect from a Captain, but has a low tolerance for insubordination and will turn ruthlessly cutthroat at a moment’s notice, if necessary. No Face is actually a Shark. He intends to take their treasure to an island dominated by sharks and kill the rest of the crew.

Cowan: A zapatotian mercenary hired as security officer and second-mate. He is disliked by much of the crew, in part due to racism, and in part due to him being a hard-ass. He is frequently seen swinging from the masts of the ship. Except for a clear disdain for Diego, he does not otherwise express his feelings towards others openly. In addition to his natural weapons, he is a master of phalanx tactics with a spear and shield.

Diego Jaramillo: First-mate. Casually dressed, bronze skin, short black hair, long hoop earrings, wears a lot of makeup. A drunken lay about, but brilliant ship and airplane pilot, decent fighter, and charismatic gentleman. He has a dark past; he was once a captain, but after a mission gone horribly wrong, he was demoted. He will avoid discussing this, but when drunk, or if he gets to know players better, he may reveal how his ship was somehow erroneously routed to a dangerous island, and most of his crew were killed and his precious cargo destroyed. Has an adversarial relationship both with Captain No Face and Cowan. Cowan may develop a begrudging respect for him if organized by the players against No Face. On the other hand, No Face was in fact the one who secretly organized the mishap on Diego’s ship, and sees Diego as a loose end. He insisted on Diego as his first-mate to kill him off once and for all. 

Characters

Oskar: A swashbuckling rogue with a magnetic energy sword known as the omni-sword. He dresses elaborately and flamboyantly with the full accouterments of a 17th century-esque gentleman. We used the mutant playbook from adventures on dungeon planet, where we re-flavored the "mutations" as abilities from his omni-sword, and I just wrote some custom moves for it. Played by my roommate (referred to as R).

Wilhellem: A scientist and technologist with an all-terrain, amphibious and aerial mech suit. I used the mechanic playbook from Inverse World. Played by our male visiting friend (referred to as M)

Lana: A wizard who desires drink and adventure. Not content to read from arcane books, she wants to explore the islands of the vortex and discover new magics first-hand. This was the only core Dungeon World playbook of the party. Played by our female visiting friend (referred to as F).

Play Report

• I wrote a quick-and-dirty weird science fantasy island generator for this one-shot and pre-generated 4 islands. I knew that there was no way the players would hit all of them in a single one-shot, but I wanted there to be options. Of course I rolled for the largest one, so the bulk of the adventure was on the island or on the ship.
• Randomly roll islands (either in advance or as needed) using island generator. This can go indefinitely. As the session is wrapping up, Captain No Face will lead the ship to the drop-off colony, which has been overrun by sharks. If the players realize Captain No Face is a shark and mutiny, or manage to escape the shark colony alive, they “win”.
• Roll 1d12 for random encounter between islands. (NOTE that in this one-shot, the players only traveled to one island, but for a longer adventure this is what I would have done)
• 1-4: nothing happens. 
• 5-6: 1d6 small or 1d4 medium aquatic or aerial hostile creature.
• 7: 1 massive or 1 large and 1d4 medium/small aquatic or aerial hostile creatures.
• 8: Dangerous natural phenomenon (waves/storm/rocky/etc.).
• 9: Friendly ships, merchants, prey aquatic or aerial creatures.
• 10-11: 1d4 small hostile pirate ships.
• 12: Large hostile battleship and 1d4 small ships.
• For each island, there should be some conflict:
• The captain wants to take more resources than would be sustainable for the island’s ecosystem.
• The ancient relic / natural oddity is more powerful than the captain is letting on. He will feign ignorance, adamantly disagree, or authoritatively shut down any conversation on the matter.
• The live specimen is being kept under inhumane (but survivable) conditions.
• The Captain demands they avoid an encounter with a friendly human ship. He either provides no explanation and demands obedience, or makes a weak/speculative argument like it may be a trap or something seems “fishy”.
• The Captain forces the party/crew to do needlessly risky things and holds no regard for their lives. This should be towards the end of the session, when the Captain wants to thin out the crew to make the inevitable betrayal easier.
• Below is the one island that my players visited this game, but if you like this, in the island generator post that I linked above you'll find three others.

Island 4 (Large)
A partially submerged island covered in a vibrant, metallic-colored coral forest. The corals produce usually pleasant humming and singing noises.
Apex Predators: Starfish-shaped robots harvest the coral, without discernment for other present lifeforms within.
Threat 1: Large robots disguised as coral which trap threats to the apex robots.
Threat 2: An underwater hive of flying bee-like pistol shrimp which have evolved to ballistically propel themselves by producing sonic booms, as a means of rapidly targeting prey within the coral forest and avoiding the traps of disguised robots.
Threat 3: Packs of raptors with vibrant metallic colors and frills which disguise them within the coral.
Non-threat 1: Pteranodons with sharp beaks and claws capable of chewing through hard coral. They are only dangerous if threatened.
Non-threat 2: A photosynthetic, slime-like yeast which has developed a symbiotic relationship with the coral. Can provide sustenance, but also causes inebriation or intense hallucinations.
Non-threat 3: A metallic gold-colored tree which produces a multi-metallic-colored tropical fruit pollinated by the flying pistol shrimp. The fruit contains a chemical harmful to the slime yeast, and by extension the coral forest itself. Seemingly an invasive species outcompeting the coral for the same ecological niche.
Treasure: 1200 gold value in slime yeast, to be sold as a recreational drug or as medicine.
Conflict: While the metallic trees were eventually going to overtake the coral forest anyway, collecting so much yeast will give the trees an even larger advantage. The trees will overtake the island faster than the ecosystem can adapt, and the ecosystem will collapse. Additionally, the captain will be draconian in not allowing the crew to consume the slime, threatening death, while flagrantly abusing as much of the slime as he wants. Eventually a crew member will be caught stealing slime and the captain will force them to walk the plank. 

•  The players investigated the island, encountering all the wildlife. After running some analyses (and consulting with Diego and Captain No-Face), they learned that the slime was extremely valuable, and made it their mission to extract as much slime as possible. They also learned first-hand about the intoxicating effects of the slime, which was quite fun ;). The captain gave them 24 hours to extract the slime.
• There were 4 major pockets of slime. They had to clear out each area of threats so that a safe and efficient pipeline could be established. Their actions, or spending time coming up with plans, would affect how long it took to clear out each pocket.
• They learned that by extracting the slime, they were creating an imbalance in the ecosystem. They decided that they did not want to destroy the ecosystem of the island, so they had to clear out a proportional number of trees to counterbalance the amount of slime they extracted, nearly doubling the time and creating additional complications.
• After encountering and defeating the apex predator, they were able to extract enough slime to satisfy the captain in just the nick of time.
• Upon returning to the ship, Captain No-Face throws a party in honor of a successful mission. While he consumes as much slime as he could want, he does not allow anyone else to sample the goods. 
• The players stumble upon Cowan and Captain No-Face getting into a heated argument. They hear shouting, followed by violent noises. They rush in too late, and find Cowan's body brutally torn apart, the office covered in blood.
• No-Face tells the party Cowan had gone crazy. Oskar follows No-Face to discuss the matter further, while Lana and Wilhellem investigate the office.
• In their investigations, they discover that the official documentation of the Brown Bowser's status as a privateer ship have been falsified. Additionally, they find a magical shark tooth.
• Simultaneously, Oskar, not convinced by No-Face, engages him in a duel of honor, where No-Face removes his bandages and reveals himself as a shark.
• The other players, hearing the conflict, rush to his aid, and they all face off against No-Face and his parrot golems. 
• Lana magically activates the shark tooth. It turns into a magical sword, but shark teeth in the pommel cut into her hand, embedding the sword into her.
• The party manages to kill No-Face and keep the ship and slime, Diego survives, but Lana's fate is left uncertain.

The Breakdown

Given that this was a setting I've never run before, and a system I've never run before, and M and F have little RPG experience, I was worried about how this was going to go, but actually everyone had a really good time! In retrospect I wish I had just developed one island and put more depth into it, since for a one-shot of course they weren't going to get far, but still they really liked the island. I also felt like I hadn't utilized the NPCs as well as I would have liked, but again I think for a one-shot that's to be expected. I will definitely say that R crushed it! He and I have been roleplaying together for nearly 2 years now and he's always been great, but he really nailed the character concept with Oskar right away, and that kept the game exciting and engaging.

In regards to Dungeon World itself, I thought it was a fun system and I want to play with it more, but also I struggled with the reactive nature of the player/GM relationship and I don't think I leveraged the system to full effect. I also ignored a lot of the GM moves and other mechanics that felt like obvious stuff I would have done anyway, but I wonder if that would have changed the experience if I had stayed closer to those rules. While we discussed the bonds during character creation, they also didn't really come into play during the one-shot. In a longer game where character progression is determined by fulfilling bonds maybe things would have been different, but in a one-shot with limited time, the idea of fulfilling bonds seems at odds with a D&D-style adventure. That being said, even with just this one one-shot, it was clear to me how this system applies a "storygame" approach to a D&D framework that I think is really cool. It feels like a similar thing to what I was trying to do with my WIP LotFP: Decyphered game, where I attempted to fit the design philosophy of the Cypher System to a D&D framework.

Vortekka

I will return to Antikythera Nova eventually, but I wrote this micro-setting for a one-shot I ran recently (play report soon), so I thought I'd share this first. Because this blends some of my older writing (my synopsis for Vortekka as a Place in Phantasmos, Zapatotians as an Intelligent Species in Phantasmos), I think it could use some touching up- the synopsis in particular could be "punchier". Maybe I'll eventually rewrite it, but for now I think it's good enough to post as-is.

Synopsis

Vortekka is a world surrounded by a vortex of multi-colored, shimmering, luminescent ocean dotted with islands. It has a land mass core of a series of disjointed plates floating in place. Life exists both on the plates, and on the inner-surface of the vortex. From the core, the sky appears like the inside of a massive surfing wave. The centripetal and centrifugal forces between the vortex and core allow for gravity on both planes. After reaching a critical distance away from their respective source of gravity, objects are pulled in the opposite direction. This has created a three-dimensional ecosystem blurring the lines between land, air, and sea. It’s a world of late-17th century-styled adventures of pirates and privateers, with a dash of high fantasy and steampunk. A world largely unexplored, where every island is a unique ecosystem challenging pre-conceived notions evolutionary adaptation.

Species

Humans: The dominant intelligent lifeform of the central landmass. Only recently have they developed the magi-technologies to reach the inner surface of the vortex, bringing about a new age of growth and exploration. Unlike the halflings, they are more concerned with the discovery of lands to settle and resources to exploit, rather than discovery and scientific inquiry. They are the most magi-technologically advanced species, but the least adapted to life on the vortex.

Zapatotians: Orangutan-sized land-dwelling octopi. Their eyes have adapted to above-water light and visual conditions. They breath air, but also have vestigial gills. They have long torsos, and hind tentacles differentiated such that their two lateral hind tentacles are longer, capable of snake-like locomotion, and of raising the body such that their beaks are raised above ground. Their front tentacles are utilized for carrying objects. They are fast on the ground and swinging in the trees, have powerful beaks, and are expert hunters in forests and jungles. Their society is simple, stone-age or barbarian-esque, but they are not necessarily unintelligent. Even in direct combat they are excellent warriors. In the modern era, they are often employed as mercenaries by other factions.

Indri (halflings): Halfling-sized lemur-like humanoids. They have large eyes, protruding snouts, strong, elongated limbs, and large rounded ears. They are more magi-technologically advanced than the zapatotians but less so than humans and are likewise more adapted to life on the vortex than humans, but less agile traversing the island jungles and forests than the zapatotians. They have a shamanistic and scientific culture and have taken it upon themselves to catalog life across all the islands on the vortex.

            Korora (penguins): Penguin-like amphibious creatures averaging over 7’ tall with short limbs and pear-shaped bodies. They have short but powerful beaks with rows of sharp teeth, blueish scales, and white bellies. They are the least maneuverable of the major intelligent species on land, but the most adept in water. Their scales also provide strong natural armour. They are generally simple people with simple wants and needs, but given their size, relative intelligence, and amphibious nature, they are perhaps the most thriving civilization on the vortex surface.

Sharks: A species of imperfect shapeshifters. They are always hairless, and no matter the form they take, they always have the gaping, toothy grin and cold, flat eyes of a shark. With the right costume and a bit of magic, some sharks can disguise their form enough to be passable as whatever species they are mimicking. Little is known of their civilization except that it exists somewhere deep within the vortex. They seem to be primarily interested in spying on and manipulating the island peoples on the surface of the vortex towards some malicious end. With the recent discovery of the humans, they may even have begun to explore the floating core.

Magi-technology and Ecology

            Between the competing centripetal and centrifugal forces and the air currents of the vortex, it is easier to take flight on Vortekka than on Earth but flying creatures must be heavier and stronger to control their flight. As a result, large, flying animals of all kinds are common, including those as adept in the sea as they are on land or in the air. Apart from these more ubiquitous creatures, life across the small and vastly distant islands has evolved each in relative isolation. Usually there is one large, dominant land-dwelling species or a social, intelligent species, and many smaller species, including flying or aquatic creatures too small or weak to be able to travel far, adapted hyper-specifically to the concerns of their island. Except for the larger aerial or aquatic beasts and their effects on the ecosystem, life on the floating core is more like life on the continents of Earth.

            While the air currents make it easier to take flight from the vortex than from on the core, the limited space and lack of natural resources across the islands has kept the intelligent species on the vortex islands from developing the necessary magi-technology to launch towards the core. Only in the last 50 years have humans developed the magi-technology to reach the vortex, and it is still an expensive and inefficient process. As a result, the human colonists, privateers, and explorers on the surface have limited communication with the core and cannot rely on assistance.

            To go from the core to the vortex, individuals in winged flightsuits must literally be rocketed into the air, and although the process has been refined, it is still not uncommon for the rockets to explode or fail to launch far enough to pull the rocketeer into the centrifugal force of the vortex.

            From the vortex, larger one or two-person aerial vehicles, like a cross between a canoe, sailboat, and biplane, can take flight without the need for a rocket. Likewise, individuals in flight suits can be launched from moving watercraft like paragliders. Some ingenious individuals have even developed transformable mechanical suits (mecha), smaller than airplanes but larger than a flight suit. Although often still somewhat bulky and impractical, the versatility of mecha in air, sea, and land have made them valuable assets on a ship. However, the technology is yet to be standardized and mass produced.

            Naval ships, airplanes, mecha, flightsuits, and these other technologies are often facilitated using magic and alchemy. Outside of fairytales and legends, most magic is relatively simple, practical, and mundane. Likewise, while humans on the core are starting to develop steam technology and have conceived of even greater technologies using resources like demon water and lightning, in the present these are little more than pipe-dreams.

Weird Science Fantasy Island Generator

I will be running a one shot in my Vortekka micro-setting using Dungeon World later this evening! I had included Vortekka in my list of Places in Nova Arkham, but this version is a setting unto itself. Play report, micro-setting post, and possibly some other related posts will come soon, but for now, here is the very simple generator I created, with four example islands I created using this generator. This generator is very bare-bones, but worked well enough for my purposes, I think.

First you decide the size for the island, which affects the amount of treasure available on the island, and can influence whether or not there is intelligent life, or how many unique kinds of lifeforms to produce for it or how many weird properties you want to give it.

The intelligent life is based on the species in Vortekka but could be replaced with other species easily enough.

Roll 1-2 times on the flora / island properties table and 1-3 times on the weird table to get a general framework for the island which can be used as a theme for the various species you populate in it.

Each island should have 1 apex predator species, ~1-3 other threatening species, and ~1-3 non-threatening species which exist mainly for flavor. Larger islands can have more species. While you should roll 1-2 times on the apex predator and threat properties, respectively, you can also think about properties which would make sense given the other island properties or other species you've already populated the island with.

Size (d4)		Flora / Island properties (d8)
Tiny		Tall, sparse trees
Small		Short grass or mossy
Medium		Flowery
Large		Fungal forest
		Coral forest
		Dense woody forest
		Volcanic
		Ancient advanced relics
Intelligent Life (d12) (size small+, or shipwrecked for tiny)		Weird (d10)
None (1-8)		Singing flowers
Human colony		Scattered ancient advanced relics
Halfling tribe		Bathed in celestial light
Zapatotian tribe		Perpetual, localized storm
Penguin tribe		All predators have humanoid heads
		Color palette (2d10: R O Y G B I V K W P)
		Metallic-colored
		Synthetic (plastic, metal, etc.)
		River of cold blue magma
		Floating building-sized plates
Animal Types (d8)		Apex Predator Properties (d8)
Mammal		Poisonous
Bird		Camoflauge
Reptile		Massive
Plant		Super fast
Fungus		Super durable / armoured
Fish		Super strong
Arthropod		Swallow whole
Other (robot/golem/etc.)		Breath / area attack
Treasure (1d4) (1d4 x size x 100 Gold value)		Threat Properties (d8)
Natural resources (wood, skins, metals or minerals, lost jewels and coins, etc.). Low maintenance but requires space.		Poisonous
Ancient relic or natural oddity (mundane). Low weight / space demand but easily lost, stolen, or broken.		Camoflauge
Ancient relic or natural oddity (special). As above, but may be dangerous (or useful).		Far range
Live specimen. Depending on specimen, may require space, high maintenance, dangerous, etc.		Large
		Fast
		Durable / armoured
		Strong Trap
From this table, I pre-generated the following 4 islands for the game tonight. The "conflict" sections are specific to the scenario, which I'll post in full in the near future: Island 1 (small) Covered in the relics of an ancient advanced civilization. Plates of land and bodies of water float over and around the island, slowly rising and falling Apex Predators: Amphibious, deceptively fast barracudas which jump and glide from the ocean to bodies of water on the floating plates Threat 1: Dog-sized hermit crabs which have made powerful shells out of the relics. Some of the shells may have special magical or technological abilities. Threat 2: Strong dive-bombing albatross-like birds Non-threat 1: Glowing pig-like bugs which eat photosynthetic algae which continue to produce sugars for some time in their gut before being digested. Non-threat 2: Hand-sized bipedal flowers, look like little people. Not intelligent. Treasure: 200 gold value of ancient treasure. Conflict: To get to the treasure, the vault must be blasted open by the ship, destroying many of the relics Island 2 (medium) Covered in a rainforest of tall, dense trees supported by a perpetual, localized thunderstorm. The island also contains a hesitantly friendly penguin tribe. Apex Predators: Bear-like mammals with a humanoid head. Their saliva contains a powerful neurotoxin. Threat 1: Tiny fish that jump between the transient pools formed by the constant thunderstorm. Upon close examination, their tiny humanoid heads can be seen. When threatened, they release superhot explosive gases, turning the pool into an area-of-effect torrent of blistering steam. Threat 2: Halfling-sized lizard people with humanoid heads and chameleon eyes and tongues. They launch compacted mineral pellet feces from their tongues high in the canopy, like snipers. Non-threat 1: Nocturnal tarsiers covered in spines. Not dangerous, unless provoked. Non-threat 2: Lemur-like reptiles, larger than the spiny tarsiers and more active in the daytime. Treasure: 1200 gold value for a spitting hominid-bear with a metallic orange coat. Conflict: The local penguin tribe hold this bear sacred and must either be circumvented or destroyed (the captain prefers the latter plan). Subsequently, the captain’s plan to take down the bear is to throw as many of the crew at it as possible with nothing but clubs and nets. Additionally, once captured, the captain keeps it muzzled and in a cruelly small cage. Liquid food is injected directly into its gut. Island 3 (medium) A volcanic island spewing cold, blue magma. It is bathed in a celestial blue light and covered in a layer of soft, minerally, blueish snow. Apex Predators: Yeti-like fungi with blue flesh covered in snow-like whitish-blue fur that provides them camouflage. Threat 1: Cold lava golems swim in disguise along the magma rivers, instinctively attacking non-native lifeforms. Threat 2: Whitish blue birds adapted to the cold environment. Their beaks are superhot, and their droppings supercold. Non-threat 1: Miniature, friendly, monkey-like versions of the fungus yetis. Non-threat 2: Crystalline-looking iguanas somehow adapted to derive energy from the cold light and blue magma. Treasure: 600 gold value to gather as many fungus monkeys as possible. Conflict: The fungus monkeys are not suited to the warm climate of most of the vortex. Most will die during the journey, and the rest will likely die not long after unless properly cared for. The plan is to sell as many of them as possible, as quickly as possible, as pets or curiosities to any buyers. Island 4 (Large) A partially submerged island covered in a vibrant, metallic-colored coral forest. The corals produce usually pleasant humming and singing noises. Apex Predators: Starfish-shaped robots harvest the coral, without discernment for other present lifeforms within. Threat 1: Large robots disguised as coral which trap threats to the apex robots. Threat 2: An underwater hive of flying bee-like pistol shrimp which have evolved to ballistically propel themselves by producing sonic booms, as a means of rapidly targeting prey within the coral forest and avoiding the traps of disguised robots. Threat 3: Packs of raptors with vibrant metallic colors and frills which disguise them within the coral. Non-threat 1: Pteranodons with sharp beaks and claws capable of chewing through hard coral. They are only dangerous if threatened. Non-threat 2: A photosynthetic, slime-like yeast which has developed a symbiotic relationship with the coral. Can provide sustenance, but also causes inebriation or intense hallucinations. Non-threat 3: A metallic gold-colored tree which produces a multi-metallic-colored tropical fruit pollinated by the flying pistol shrimp. The fruit contains a chemical harmful to the slime yeast, and by extension the coral forest itself. Seemingly an invasive species outcompeting the coral for the same ecological niche. Treasure: 1200 gold value in slime yeast, to be sold as a recreational drug or as medicine. Conflict: While the metallic trees were eventually going to overtake the coral forest anyway, collecting so much yeast will give the trees an even larger advantage. The trees will overtake the island faster than the ecosystem can adapt, and the ecosystem will collapse. Additionally, the captain will be draconian in not allowing the crew to consume the slime, threatening death, while flagrantly abusing as much of the slime as he wants. Eventually a crew member will be caught stealing slime and the captain will force them to walk the plank.