OSR: Fast Mapping: Part 2, County -> Barony Level

In Part 1, I showed how a quick hex map could be used to generate reasonably historical borders for kingdoms and counties. I'm now going to show you how to turn those counties into baronies. Since this is Feudalism for People in a Hurry, I've simplified, edited, and ignored contentious or inconvenient issues wherever possible. Rather than try and design a system for one specific time period, in one specific area, I've built a system that's equally wrong for all historical variations, from Cambodia to Chablais.

Side Note: the whole point of this design series is to approach posts like this from the opposite direction. Rather than starting with air currents, erosion, and forests and then building population centres that make sense given the terrain, I'm trying to build a system that does the feudal politics first, and then uses the politics to determine the terrain.


Fast Barony Mapping
Step 1. Pick a County
Draw the approximate borders of the county and then zoom in. The previous maps used 18-mile hexes, but we need to zoom in to the standard 6-mile hexes. If you prefer another scale, zoom in accordingly.

Your county should include some "Core Regions" (the full circles), some "Developed Regions" (large circles), and some "Undeveloped Regions" (smaller circles). It might also contain  impassible hexes (wastelands, mountains, etc.). I haven't included any in this example.

Step 2: Prime Barony
Start with any your Core Regions. Pick the central hex of your central Core Region and assign it a letter. I'd suggest starting with A. Mark all adjacent hexes with this same letter. I'm using colours as well to make things more clear. This barony should contain the major city or town of your county.

Roll 1d8. This is the number of "extra" hexes the Prime Barony can occupy. Using the same system as Step 4 from the previous post, add on extra hexes until you've used up all your "extra" hexes. 

Step 3: Barony Borders
Every other Barony occupies 1d8 6-mile hexes. If you want larger Baronies, use 1d10, 1d8+2, or whatever you think is appropriate.

The most protected or central hex contains the barony's small city, large town, massive castle, or seat of power (marked with a black octagon)

Baronies with 5,6, or 7 hexes also contain a small town (marked with a black triangle)
Baronies with 8 or more hexes contain 2 small towns (marked with a black triangle)
Towns should be placed at least 1 hex away from other towns or cities.

Step 4: First Pass Baronies
Starting with the central hexes of any other Core Regions, assign a letter, and then move migrate to adjacent hexes until you have assigned all hexes for that barony. If you are stuck in a corner and can't assign any additional congruent hexes, mark the nearest empty hex.

Then, move outwards to the Developed Regions, and then to the the Undeveloped Regions. Remember to assign black octagons and triangles as you progress. If the central hex of a region is inaccessible (because it's in water/mountains/a neighboring county/etc.), don't worry about it, and skip that region.

Step 5: Filler Baronies
There should be some empty space left. Starting with the Core Regions, assign baronies of 1d8 congruent hexes. If you are stuck in a corner and can't assign any additional congruent hexes, mark the nearest empty hex. You don't need to follow the directional assignment / "random walk" rules at this stage. In fact, you don't need to stick with the "1d8 congruent hexes" thing at all. Just fill in the gaps.

If you've run out of letters, switch to numerals or greek letters. Any baronies far from the Prime Barony are likely to be rebellious or completely independent.

Step 6: Borders

 Draw some wiggly borders and get rid of unneeded letters.

Step 7: Assigning Ownership
The Prime Barony (A) will usually belong directly to the Count or Duke. It may share the same name as the county, or it might have a different name entirely.

The Count or Duke will also have at 1d4 other baronies as part of their personal territory. Assign them randomly.

You may want to set 1 small barony, preferably in an Undeveloped Region, as a Royal Forest instead of a barony. This doesn't mean it's covered in trees, but it does mean the Monarch has kept it as a special, completely wild preserve for hunting deer, boar, goblins, etc. Remove any settlements.

1 or more small baronies might be owned by archbishops. The church's lands are mostly within individual baronies, rather than being concentrated into a central seat of power, but from time to time an archbishop acts as both a secular lord and a religious leader.

All other baronies will have individual Barons. If you really want to complicate things, some baronies might owe fealty to another Count or Duke, or directly to the Monarch. In a fantasy setting, you may also want to set aside land for elves, goblin clans, etc.

Step 8: Naming
Each barony has an name. You can use lists like this one, or this one, or any number of online generators to invent plausible names. Town names work fine, as do last names. You can probably name baronies, towns, and cities on an as-needed basis. I've gone a little overboard with my map as a demonstration. Feel free to repeat town names. It happens all the time in real life.

Example:
The county is called Pellamy
Baronies A, J, and N belong to the Count of Pellamy
Barony J is an Elf enclave, and can more or less be ignored going forward.
Barony D is owned by the Church directly, and has an Archbishop rather than a Baron.
Barony I is replaced with a royal forest. Any settlements inside are removed.

Step 9: Done!
You now have a map of your county. 

For the sake of convenience while hexcrawling, you might want to fill out any adjacent counties (or portions of them) using the same method. I went ridiculously overboard here. There's no need to do any of this for your games.

By comparing the baronies to the "Core/Developed/Undeveloped" lands created in the previous part, we will be able to see which baronies are prosperous and which are sparsely populated. I will cover terrain, prosperity, and castle assignment in the next post. I will also cover how to avoid the whole "one-and-only-one interesting thing per hex" problem.

Table of Barony Names:
French names were taken from a list of French authors. English and Scottish names were taken from existing lists of baronies.

1d100	French	English	Scottish
1	Beroul	Little Easton	Saulset
2	Brantome	Bywell	Kirknewton
3	Bretel	Morpeth	Giffen
4	Renart	Tarrant Keynston	Abernethy
5	Turnebe	Crick	Plean
6	Turold	Asthall	Ormiston
7	Pithou	Staveley	Culbin
8	Verdier	Burgh-by-Sands	Grantully
9	Berneville	Brattleby	Dolphinstoun
10	Vair	Chatham	Arbroath
11	Auvergne	Pevensey	Teallach
12	Garnier	Barnstaple	Inneryne
13	Labe	Cardinham	Blackburn
14	Clari	Appleby	MacDonald
15	Belleforest	Skipton	Mureth
16	Boron	Pulverbatch	Hallyards
17	Beaumanoir	Stafford	Glenluce
18	St. Cyran	Rothersthorpe	Bearcrofts
19	St. Amant	Folkestone	Ballencrieff
20	Cotin	Cavendish	Bedrule
21	Coincy	Ellingham	Montgomerie
22	Etaples	Hastings	Auchindoir
23	Viret	Wolverton	Cromar
24	Sponde	Irthington	Rannoch
25	Gombaud	Beverstone	Rattray
26	Lorris	West Greenwich	Auchreoch
27	Ronsard	Aldington	Traquair
28	Joinville	Totnes	Kemnay
29	Soignies	Chilham	Duart & Morvern
30	Estienne	Alnwick	Abergeldie
31	Morna	Richard's Castle	Cumbernauld
32	Marot	Whalton	Finzean
33	Charron	Skelton	Bannockburn
34	Serres	Plympton	Balfluig
35	Sceve	Castle Combe	Coldingknows
36	Assoucy	Liddel Strength	Dinnet
37	Mairet	Dursley	Portlethen
38	Pasquier	Lavendon	Gordoun
39	Larivey	Chester	Grougar
40	Montreux	Benington	Wigtoun
41	Precy	Kirklinton	Kinnairdy
42	Racan	Long Crendon	Dunure
43	Belleau	Mitford	Balcaskie
44	Machaut	Sudeley	Drylaw
45	Sorel	Clun	Crawford
46	St. Gelais	Marshwood	Anstruther & Balcaskie
47	Meschinot	Mulgrave	Kilmaurs
48	Bodel	Old Wardon	Denny
49	Dargies	Winterbourne	Glencammon
50	Pisan	Wigmore	Leswalt
51	Mezeray	Nether Stowey	Lescure
52	Boisrobert	Castle Holgate	Garlies
53	Courcelles	Chepstow	Byres
54	Malherbe	Tickhill	Gartmore
55	Verville	Bolham	Tulloch
56	Schelandre	Chitterne	Miltonhaven
57	Bellay	Trematon	Marchmont
58	Souhait	Warwick	Ruchlaw
59	Erart	Hepple	Glenfalloch
60	Villehardouin	Holderness	Coldingham
61	Urfe	Brecon	Haliburton & Lambden
62	Bertaut	Great Bealings	Ardblair & Gask
63	Nerveze	Much Marcle	Rusco
64	Fauchet	Poorstock	Gartly
65	Monstrelet	Weedon Pinkeny	Fairholm & Kirkton
66	Bude	Bradninch	Dirleton
67	Scudery	Old Buckenham	Blairbuis
68	Rosny	North Cadbury	Kirkdale
69	Bodin	Wem	Ravenstone
70	Escuteaux	Hockering	Eyemouth
71	Grevin	Stainton le Vale	Strichen
72	Moline	Castle Cary	Aboyne
73	Baif	Thirsk	Kippenross
74	Poissenot	Bramber	Hartsyde
75	Tyard	Okehampton	Lenzie
76	Troyes	Kendal	Earlshall
77	Jodelle	Hook Norton	Seggieden
78	Nesle	Styford	Busbye
79	Beze	Cause	Innermessan
80	Marcade	Trowbridge	Newton
81	Brule	Beanley	Dunconnel
82	Boaistuau	Witham	Myrton
83	Gouberville	Walkern	Ayton
84	Crenne	Blagdon	Barnis Forbes
85	Sebillet	Cogges	Blackford
86	Villon	Monmouth	Struan
87	Muset	Salwarpe	Mertoun
88	Dolet	Freiston	Auchendarroch
89	St. Sorlin	Clare	Craichlaw
90	Oresme	Blythborough	Esslemont
91	Sales	Knaresborough	Barnbarroch
92	Amyot	Southoe	Hallrule
93	Viau	Gloucester	Ballumbie
94	Bartas	Lewes	Kirkliston
95	Remi	Wormegay	Dairsie
96	Guillet	Headingham	Garthland
97	St. Maure	Wark	Trent
98	Chartier	Helmsley	Cavers
99	Bethune	Skirpenbeck	Clackmannan
100	Amboise	Langley	Rachane