Solo Kingdom Chronicler

 This has probably been done a few times before - but here is my spin on it! 

I've been writing a lot of "Kingdom" tables recently and while listening to a recent Dan Carling podcast on vikings, the idea of recording a list of important things that happened over time to a place might be a cool little world building solo activity! 

Kingdom Thing Generators: While your chronicles will focus on a single place, having a few generators representing other important places that may have an impact on your kingdom will be useful. You want your generators to give you ideas, so you can make them however you want, but this is what I suggest: 

• "Thing" list - Key stuff in that place in the world. Things like: Buildings, Animal, Professions, Physical objects - natural and manmade. Get as many as you can but I've been working with 30 recently. 
• "Descriptor" list - Key ideas/vibes/atmosphere associated with this place in the world. Will be used to warp/give more detail to the base thing. Descriptors like: Natural objects, Weather, Atmosphere, Animal parts , Body parts , Powers, Materials, Colours, Architecture, Design, Actions, Abilities. Mine have 80 entries. 
• Once you have both lists, roll on each and combine to get a thing from that kingdom. Roll on one or two of the tables twice and combine to get a more complicated thing! 

1. Generate a  focus place/kingdom/country/etc! 

• Use your Kingdom Thing Generator for the area you area of the world you are going to chronicle to jot down a couple of general ideas about the place, its general vibe and geography. This will probably change over the course of your chronicles regardless. 

2. Make a world list. 

• Make a list of all the places that you have Kingdom Thing Generators for. You will be rolling on this list every year in your chronicle to determine where the major event of the year stems from, so you may want to play with the number of entries (maybe the focus kingdom is on the list several times, or a kingdom that is particularly aggressive may be on there a few times as well).

3. Start the chronicle! 

• For each year (or month, or decade - how ever you want to do it), roll on the "world list". The entry you get is where the most important event for that period of time in your chronicle will stem from (an invasion, a disease, a revolution, a trade deal, etc). You then simply use your pre made "Kingdom Thing Generators" to generate an idea of what happened - then you recrord the event in the annals of history! You may like to have more than one major event take place in a time period - that is up to you! 

4. Finish the chronicle when you see fit!

• Maybe you feel content with the history you have generated - or perhaps want to start playing an actual party based game within the kingdom you have chronicled! 
• Making a campaign map would be very easy to do once you had your completed chronicles in hand! 

Worked example: 

Focus: The Kingdom of Ro 

Results: 

Miner/Rune/Black/Carved 

Archer/Wasp/Redfur/RuneCovered 

Engraver/Miner/Hive/FarSight 

Garden/Plain/Dripping/Tower 

• The rune covered miners of Ro mine the sacred black rocks of the yellow plains to be carved into huge runes of protection for the camps of the kingdom. 
• The rune covered, red fur wearing, archer protectors of the camps of the yellow plains use the poison of giant wasps on their arrows. Giving them the name of wasp archers. 
• The rune tattooist of the kingdom use chemicals taken from the giant wasp hives to imbue the wasp archers with far and perfect vision. 
• Ancient towers, dripping with vines and vegetation, keep watch over the garden farms of the kingdom. 

World List: 

1. Kingdom of Ro 
2. Kingdom of Ro 
3. Kingdom of Ro 
4. Kingdom of Lhieg 
5. Kingdom Malayach 
6. Kingdom of Rael 
7. Kingdom of Rius 
8. The Nameless Kingdom 

Year 1:  

Results: Kingdom of Ro, Spear warrior/Miner/Lake/Queen 

Event: Rune miners, working near the lake of Ro uncovered an underground hive of giant wasps. Their queen was unleashed upon the kingdom, causing much death and destruction until a contingent of brave spear warriors slew her. The hive is now under the control of of the rune tattooist wasp farmers.  

Year 2: 

Results: The Nameless Kingdom, Bonfire/Phoenix/Fog/Destruction 

Event: The fields of the kingdom were set ablaze much of this year, with the arrival of a flock of Bonfire phoenix from the nameless kingdom. Heavy smoke and fog plagued much of the kingdom and the tower gardens suffered much as a result. While the birds were eventually hunted by the wasp archers, many deaths due to famine were endured. 

Year 3:

Results: Kingdom of Ro, Eagle/Warrior/Scarred/Quills 

Event: Quill the scarred, a plains warrior who rode on the back of a giant eagle, put much effort into addressing the hunger across the kingdom - transporting food from still thriving tower gardens to outer camps that had been affected by the fog of the bonfire phoenix. He became a hero of the kingdom. 

Year 4: 

Results: Kingdom of Rael, Centipede/Giant/Pack/Horde

Event: From the forests of the kingdom of Rael came an invading horde of giant centipede, that both menaced and destroyed outer camps of the plains, but the tower gardens. Quill the Scarred, Hero and eagle riding warrior, lead a band of spear warriors and wasp archers to defeat the centipedes and drive them from the kingdom. 

Year 5: 

Results: Kingdom of Rius, Gate/Tree/Stream/Temple

Event: In exchange for tree seeds from their holy groves, a band of travelling monks from the  mountains of Rius were permitted to found a monastery in Ro. This was the start of the worship of Ori the Boundary, in Ro. Quill the Scarred, devout of Th'n of the plains, did not grant his blessing to the monks. 

Year 6:

Results: The Nameless Kingdom, Volcano/Acid/FireBreathing/Lava

Event:  A mass eruption of the volcanoes of the Nameless Kingdom, resulted in acid rain this year. Many crops were lost and hunger (but not starvation) was widespread. 

Year 7: 

Results: Kingdom of Lhieg, Looter/Knife/Marble/Boils 

Event: A rabble of looters from the Kingdom of Lhieg entered the plains of Ro this year - seemingly wanting to loot any temples they could find. They were hunted from a distance by the wasp archers - led by Quill the scarred. There corpses were burnt due being covered in hideous boils. 

Year 8:

Results: Kingdom of Ro, AnimalSkinTent/Miner/Pool/Golden. 

Event: A rune miner claimed he housed a miracle within his tent. A pool of pure gold that he had uncovered beneath the ground. Quill the scarred visited the tent and confirmed that the miner did indeed have a pool of shimmering, glowing, liquid gold. Followers of both the demons Th'n of the plains and Ori the Boundary claimed the miracle for their god. The miner became rich, asking donations from those who would see his pool. 

Year 9: 

Results: Kingdom of Rael, Hut/Owl/Earth/Growing 

Event: A solitary druid from the kingdom of Rael visited Ro, travelling in a small wooden hut on the back of a robust giant eagle. He spent several days communing with the miner with the golden pool, then left. 

Year 10: 

Results: Kingdom of Rael, Moth/Bear/RedCap/Stalk 

Event: A monster, assumed to be from the Kingdom of Rael, haunted the camp town housing the miner and his golden pool. The beast was a enormous purple bear, with the dusty wings of a moth, and the head of a repulse red cap mushroom. Sightings were common, reports of severe drowsiness for weeks after encountering the beast. Travelers who had come to see the pool of gold were found dead. Quill the scarred travelled to the town and slew the beast, but interest in the golden pool waned after the haunting.