The Wild Primeval Mechanics

Earlier I talked about a part of my setting called the Wild Primeval. It's one part Feywild, one part Wonderland, and one part Princess Mononoke. It's not an alternate dimension of magic, spirits, and fairies, but a true part of the world that covered the world in ancient times but has now been assarted by man to make room for civilization. Below are the rules I use, though translated to using D&D rules. I use these but for Savage Worlds. Hope you enjoy!

The Wild Primeval

Hexes that spawn on the map, having a 1% chance per day. This is Increased by several factors, some caused by the PCs.

Spells cast in the previous day: +2% per spell

Existing Wild Zone: 2% per Wild Zone Hex

Existing Wild Realm: 5% per Wild Realm Hex

Existing Ascended Wild Zone: 10% per Ascended Wild Zone

The percentage from spells cast are added the following day, then reset. These are all cumulative and go to a maximum of 75%.

When they spawn, check your 10 x 10 hex map and roll 2d10 to choose the random spawn coordinates. If you have a different sized hex map, you can choose different dice that would fit, or pick a 10 x 10 area on it. If it spawns on top of a settlement that is a town or larger, re-roll. The Wild Primeval tends to avoid civilization when first spawning.

Once spawned, every day you roll 1d6 to see if the origin Wild Zone continues to anchor itself into our reality or fades away. Rolling 4+ succeeds, raises (every 3 over the success DC for non-Savage Worlds players) count as additional successes, dice explodes. Three success means the origin Wild Zone is now permanent. Three failures means it dissipates.

Once it has become permanent, the origin Wild Zone starts spawning more Wild Zones in adjacent hexes. Every day, roll 1d6 to see which adjacent hex becomes a Wild Zone. Do this until the origin Wild Zone is surrounded by the secondary Wild Zones.

Once surrounded, the origin Wild Zone becomes an Ascended Wild Demesne and the surrounding six hexes the Wild Realm. Every week, roll 2d4 to see how much it expands. The numbers rolled are how many hexes are spawned. Each expansion must be adjacent to two existing Wild Zone hexes.. These can spawn over settlements that are towns or bigger. Wild Zone hexes that no longer border normal hexes become Wild Realms.

An Ascended Wild Demesne can erupt into something greater called an Unbound Wild Demesne. More on that later.

Multiple origin Wild Zones can spawn and it’s not unusual for a Wild Realm to have two or more Ascended Wild Demesne. When spawned, you can connect the realms with the spawning Wild Zones to form a larger Wild Realm.

Rules in the Wild Zone

In all Wild Zones, the laws of reality are warped. Magic is more random. All casters gain the Wild Magic backlash. Every time a spell is cast, there is a 10% chance they set off a Wild Magic event. Roll a d6 and see the results are below. Each result is simple and the GM or player can embellish as they see fit. The results are purposefully split between beneficial, neutral, and negative.

1. The spell doesn't work, but still uses up a slot. You take 1d4 damage per spell level.
2. A different spell on your list is cast, GM's choice.
3. The spell's cosmetics changes. Fireball becomes purple and grease smells like lavender.
4. Something cosmetic changes either you or the target(s). Hair color, smell, clothes, gender, whatever you or the GM decides. It lasts for 1d6 hours.
5. The spell casts for free, without using a slot.
6. The spell heals you or your target for 1d4 per spell level.

In addition, casting a spell adds to the chance of an Arcane Tempest forming. Arcane Tempests are terrifying storms that ravage the countryside with magical energies and fundamentally warp the area. The GM checks once a day for an Arcane Tempest to spawn in the PC’s hex. The percentages are listed below.

% of Tempest in a Wild Zone: 2%

% of Tempest in a Wild Realm: 5%

% of Tempest in an Ascended Wild Demesne: 10%

% of Tempest in an Unbound Wild Demesne: 20%

Spell Caster in the Hex: +2% per Spell Caster Level per Character

Spell Cast: + 5% per Spell Cast

Arcane Tempests unleash harsh winds and rain onto the countryside. The precipitation is always strange, ranging from unusual to the climate (snow in the desert, sandstorm in the jungle) to the downright weird (raining frogs or blood). These cause the usual penalties to sight and ranged attacks. In addition, eldritch energies surge through the area like lightning. These bolts of arcane lightning do 2d6 magic damage to anyone struck. Casters also lose a random spell when struck. Eldritch lightning has a 1 in 12 chance of striking a random character per 1 hour in the Arcane Tempest. Arcane Tempests disappear after 1d6 hours. When an Arcane Tempest is done, it changes the landscape drastically. Change one or more of the magical vistas in a hex when the storm is done. I usually change an amount equal to the hours the storm lasted.

The terrain in the Wild Zone becomes more treacherous. Forests become overgrown, deserts become hotter. Movement through all terrains are halved. Terrain in a Wild Realm and Wild Demesne become very chaotic. Floating islands, talking trees, rivers flowing into the sky, and fields of fire are all common vistas in these areas. These areas become great landmarks and potential adventures for the players and can be randomly rolled or placed appropriately. Each Wild Realm has one or two of these vistas. An Ascended Wild Demesne has three to four, and an Unbound Wild Demesne has five and up. I plan on making a list of these in a future post, but feel free to go crazy with this.

Monsters are more common in Wild Zones, and many are much more dangerous. Some monsters are spawned from the Wild Zones and will attack intruders to protect their home. The origin Wild Zone is the nexus of the all other Wild Zones. Within it is a strange glowing bulb called the Golden Blossom. It is what anchors the Wild Zones in our world. It has roots that extends out to all the other zones, making it easy to track.

Unbound Wild Demesne

Sometimes enemies or the PCs want to see the Ascended Wild Demesne grow even stronger. To do this, they can sacrifice creatures to the Golden Blossom to truly make it powerful. The blossom takes a lot of sacrifices to erupt. Below is a table that shows how many sapient mortals are needed to sacrifice to unchain the Golden Blossom.

Level of Sacrificed Creature    Number Needed

1-4                                                 625

5-8                                                 125

9-12                                               25

13-16                                             5

17-20                                             1

When it has taken enough victims, it becomes an Unbound Wild Demesne. The surrounding six hexes become Ascended Wild Demesne. The Golden Blossom also uproots itself and becomes a colossal spirit plant monster I call the Primeval Guardian. It acts as a guardian of the Wild Primeval and will continue spreading the influence across multiple hexes and destroying any signs of civilization. Whoever created it doesn't control it and many times, the Primeval Guardian will try and kill its master. There is a way to control it, but I haven't figured that out yeah. I will definitely make some stats for this colossal monstrosity.

Destroying a Wild Zone

When you destroy the Golden Blossom, you destroy the origin Wild Zone and all hexes it spawned. Other Wild Zones cannot exist without the original one and disappear immediately.

Sometimes a large realm of Wild Zones and Wild Realms will have multiple origin Wild Zones. If one origin Wild Zone is destroyed, then the six surrounding hexes are also destroyed. In addition, 2d4 hexes disappear at the start of the next day, GM’s choice. After this, if there are any hexes that aren’t somehow connected to an origin Wild Zone, they too disappear.

The Players and the Wild Primeval

Whenever the players destroy or let a Wild Zone bloom, it affects the spawn rate in the area. Doing certain actions can also stymie the birth of these areas. In general, Civilization is anathema to the Wild Primeval, and taming the lands will make it harder for them to spawn. If there are four or more Wild Zones still in an area, the slider can’t go above 0.

Slider

5 -- All Wild Zones gain a -4 to all of their anchoring rolls

4 -- Roll the % to Spawn dice three times and take the lowest

3 -- All Wild Zones gain a -2 to all of their anchoring rolls

2 -- Roll the % to Spawn dice twice and take the lowest

1 -- All Wild Zones gain a -1 to all of their anchoring rolls

0 -- Spawns normally

1 -- All Wild Zones only need two successful anchoring rolls

2 --Spawns one extra Wild Zone on a success

3 -- All Wild Zones only need one successful anchoring roll

4 -- Spawns two extra Wild Zones on a success

5 -- Spawns three extra Wild Zones on a success and all Wild Zones anchor after one day

Building a Domain: +1

Building an Urban Settlement: +2

Destroying a Wild Zone: +1

Destroying an Ascended Wild Demesne: +2

Destroying an Unbound Wild Demesne: +4

Wiping out a horde of monsters/an alpha monster: +1

A Domain gets destroyed: -1

An Urban Settlement gets destroyed: -2

A Domain/Urban Settlement gets claimed by a Wild Hex: -2

A Wild Zone anchors: -1

A Wild Zone ascends into a Wild Demesne: -2

An Ascended Wild Demesne becomes Unbound: -4

The Wilds and Magic

The inaugural post for this blog!

I love magic and fantasy worlds. It's something amazing and wonderful because it doesn't really exist in our world. However, one thing that I see often in RPG settings and games is that magic feels different or disconnected from the rest of the world. Yes, there are monsters in them, but many of the mundane monsters (orcs, goblins) feel too much like part of the mundane world, while more magical beasts tend to hail from other planes of existence. These magical beasts and dangers can be fantastical obstacles that can make the players feel really heroic. There's also this sense of wonderment of adventuring in vistas that wouldn't be possible in the real world.

Imagine the PCs tripping in this area...

Yet, there is also something interesting about the mundane world. There are still dangers, both from animals and the elements, that add a great amount of danger and conflict, thus adding adventure. These down to earth conflicts can help the players connect to the setting in ways that a more epic, magical style can. Saving the village from vicious bandits, or helping out citizens dealing with a drought, or even braving a terrible storm in the wilderness can fill the players with a sense of accomplishment and makes them feel as though they earned being called heroes.

So, what if we want both the mundane and magic vistas in our setting?

This is why I've added a phenomenon called The Wild Primeval in my settings. In this, there is a chance that an area of arcane energies spawn in the world. This changes the mundane into something more akin to a fairy tale. Floating islands, crazed monsters, talking trees, cannibalistic fog... these are all possible and common in the Wild Primeval. When spawning, they tend to avoid larger settlements and cities. One concept I enjoy is Man vs. Nature, with the best and worst of civilization warring with the best and worst of nature. With this concept, I have the Wild Primeval as a sort of primordial state of the world before the races of the world began building cities and taming the wilderness.

Floating mountains are always cool!

Not only can these zones of eldritch energies change the landscape, but they can also grow and expand. At the center of the Wild Primeval is a blossom of arcane energies. This is what anchors the wild zones into our world and giving time and care, they can expand overland and begin swallowing cities. And that can put the Wild Primeval against the PCs. Again, this really showcases the civilization vs nature I really want to be more at the forefront in the games I run, as well as secularism vs spiritualism.

I do plan on having the PCs able to counter the effects of the Wild Primeval (as well as causing them). Casting spells increase the chances of a Wild Zone event to happen, as does overcasting (casting past your limit, which is dangerous). There is also a cascading effect if Wild Zones are left uncontested. The more there are on the map, the more that will spawn. Of course, taming the wilds can help reduce and prevent the Wild Primeval from spawning. PCs can destroy the blossom that anchors the Wild Zone into place. I plan on the Wild Primeval having effects on casters (both positive and negative), as well as mundanes, but that can be expounded upon in another blog.

This may feel like an invasion from another dimension taking place in our world, but truthfully, it is the world reverting to its primordial, magic heavy state. Like overgrowth and animals retaking an abandoned city long after humans are gone. Yet it should still feel very alien and different to the players, almost as if they've entered another plane of existence filled with spirits.

Of course, the mundane wilderness is still saturated by spirits and beings from the Spirit World as well as magical beasts. Magical vistas also still exist in the mundane world, but they tend to be the exception and usually built by creature of magic or casters. In the Wild Primeval, magical vistas simply are the norm

I plan on expanding more on this in later blog posts. I want to have these spawning rules for hexcrawls that I wish to run now that I have free time.