Okay, now we need to hash out a starting region for the campaign. The Sunderlands are "different" from what was before, but there should be a map of some sort, if only roughly sketched because of cataclysm. The PCs also need places to hail from. A rough outline of those places is required. Where are the dwarves living? Human towns? etc.
I've actually been thinking quite a bit about this. As I said, there are only certain elements of the Tolkien map that I explicitly used, so I feel the rest is up for grabs. That said, I may use some terms and location names in our discussion as shorthand, the better to expedite discussion (e.g. I might refer to a relatively idyllic region full of comparably low level encounters as the "shire", but that doesn't necessarily mean that's where halflings almost exclusively live, or that it leads to a village named Bree, etc.)
That said, much of my world building so far has centered on the regions surrounding the supervolcano. The caldera itself, which will likely span twenty-ish miles in diameter, would realistically have cooled after a century, but I'm contemplating, for "Rule of Cool" purposes, whether I should keep it as a relatively area-- a sea of lava, if you will. I'm not sure how realistic I want to be with such elements, given that this is a fantasy game with players who likely have a 7th grade level of geological understanding. :) I haven't really come up with a name for this place, though...
Beyond that, the "Mirkwood" forest is now a devastated graveyard of nature, blanketed in ash and crawling with monsters. I thought magically twisting the elves of this area into dark elves would be an interesting alternative origin for the drow, especially given the presence of big, nasty spiders in the area. Driders and ettercaps abound! I've thought of calling this the Ashenwood, but I wonder if I can come up with something more creative. I may not, as young players often appreciate the descriptive nature of "on the nose" names.
Vesper the dragon queen (who was a devious green dragon in the last game, but will have by now become a shadow dragon, because it's cool) has established her fortress in the "Dol Guldur" of the area. Perhaps there is also a wall (physical or otherwise) through which people must use her fortress as the gateway into the previously described dark realms.
Beyond that region would be a "dead marshes" type of area. Shadowfell-y wetlands that are bleak and uninviting, and perhaps quite large (or even growing?) No name for this yet either.
My intro blurb mentions "last strongholds of light and hope", which could mean anything from fortresses of lawful good armies to "shires". There probably should be both, with all gradients in between, but I do want to distill it down to a handful of discrete regions, for ease of world comprehension. Humans can probably come from anywhere/everywhere. I can totally see dwarves going rather isolationist, deep into mountains, but players are free to play an exception to that rule. Elves are likely to be from a "lorien" sanctuary forest (but if elves are holed up and isolationist in a forest, and dwarves are holed up and isolationist in a mountain, that may be too similar...)
I've hit a bit of a block at this point, mostly because I want to do something broad enough that we could do anything the players want wherever we go, but it's simple enough for them to wrap their heads around. Thoughts?
I plan on rendering a rather refined map over the summer, but only after I can nail these things down. I'll sketch some things and post them here soon. A picture paints a thousand words! :)
Here's a map I whipped up over the weekend. I think it still needs a lot of work, and will likely redo the entire thing, but it's a starting point. It also gives some common ground for points of discussion, etc.
The orange spot near the top is the caldera, and you can probably spot some of the details I already mentioned. I can see lots of places-- especially to the south-- that would have been only mildly affected by the eruption, which is where many survivors would have gathered and rebuilt.
I was thinking that dwarves would have relocated in the mountain range to the east, but it's possible that they've instead spread out, their kindgom having, y'know, exploded, and never really being able to re-consolidate their people, instead splintering into several kingdoms and factions.
Elves are likely to have closed their lands off to outsiders, retreating inward to protect their lands from looming evils.
Humans would be spread out, the prominent societies likely being to the south, but plenty of hardy folk scratching out a life in the devastated lands along the west coast. Half-orcs would likely hail from these northern lands as well.
Halflings that aren't mixed with other societies would probably be localized in the valley to the southwest.
Dragonborn would populate the eastern coasts, and tieflings would be from the northwest, largely separated from the other peoples by the "bad" regions.
Anyway, those are my initial thoughts. What do you think?
I'm thinking of extending/expanding the large lake/inland sea in the middle and calling it the Haemere or Haemeres (to refer to the body of multiple connected waters). It would have a disturbingly dark red coloration, mostly due to deposits from the marshes above, but stories would abound of it being from the blood of the fallen, or the remains of those sacrificed in the lands to the north, etc.
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of dwarves being a broken people. Their throne has been shattered, and their people scattered across the Sunderlands or twisted and corrupted into duergar. The PC who thought he was the "rightful heir to Erebor" is indeed granted a position in Baazilor's retinue, but he has succumbed to madness (still using "Dilly Dilly!" as his war cry) and is a monstrous shadow of what he once was. That should be a fun callback for the return players, and I'm sure the player seeing his character used this way (Pottermore put him in House Slytherin, FYI; hide your little ones and lock up your pets!).
The players tended toward the races that displayed overt power (dragonborn, half-orcs, etc.) This seems like something to expect from the age group, though I think the kids would benefit from stories of people with hidden talents and strengths. Any thoughts on how I can nudge things in the right direction?
In terms of story arcs and campaign pacing over the course of the school year, I think things could go as follows:
1st Trimester: Find the Creed Stone, with most encounters involving environmental challenges (to help describe the setting), and perhaps rival "stone hunters" including agents of Baazilor. The trimester would probably end in the PCs defeating the greatest and most threatening of these rivals, eliciting vengeance and raised stakes from the Big Bad.
2nd Trimester: The heroes need to get the Creed Stone to the caldera, whether that's through negotiating their way through the elves' domain, allying themselves with dwarves who wish to restore their kingdom to its full glory, skirting along the coastline to "avoid conflicts", or some other ingenious path to victory. The Big Bad will be actively pursuing them now, perhaps even senting Vesper herself to find them. They could lose the Creed Stone to her (or someone in the party could betray them and give it to her, etc.) at this point, who can then use it in her onslaught against the last vestiges of civilization. If this seems inappropriate to the story so far, then some other "Bad Guys 1, Heroes nothing!" ending should happen.
3rd Trimester: A lot of this act depends on the details and choices of the first two, but it should end with the heroes reaching their goals, hopefully using the Creed Stone to seal the caldera and cut the bad guys off from their power. If time permits, the heroes could help mop up some bad guys, but not without notable threats escaping (loose threads on which to build next year's campaign).
Sorry, lots of work this week to attend to in school.
Really good work here, I really think the map is ++ work. Perhaps you can make a smaller, fragmentary map that covers the area just around where the PCs will start. To me that means you need a town/city or something to launch from. Perhaps a hardy redoubt on the west coast, perhaps just to the north as it were of the forests.
As to physically potent player races, yes this will happen in my experience. By pregenerating the PCs you can kind of limit them by making fewer of the PCs from rarer types. In my games, because there Dragonborn are like nearly nonexistent, I simply didn't make any for them to choose from. YMMV
It's our last week. I hear you on having lots of busy things going on!
Thanks! Like I said, the map is likely to undergo some revision and refinement, but this is a good start. I certainly will give them a smaller map to start with (perhaps with a small inset to give them a sense of where they are in relation to the rest of the area) otherwise they may get overwhelmed and/or spoiled for choice. A smaller map may also help me steer them in directions if I feel the need.
I really like the idea of the western redoubt as a starting point. It would be rather isolated from other regions (giving me time to develop other major landmarks should the players choose to go in that direction) and present a nice frontier area for dangers from the north (i.e., low level monsters).
I don't have anything against physically powerful races, and their features are somewhat more simple that some of the others. Perhaps that's another draw for younger players. By comparison, a halfling's Lucky or a tiefling's Infernal Legacy are likely to be lost in the shuffle of gameplay. KISS is the name of the game for middle schoolers. That said, I can certainly skew things toward races I prefer with the pregens. I could even explain away the sudden drop in dragonborn by saying that Vesper has carried out a draconic purge, the better to eliminate rivals.
I think my next effort will be toward developing that smaller map. What do you think would be a decent area for it? Perhaps only a couple hundred miles on a side, or is that too big/small to start with?
Awesome. If I put the starting settlement at or near the mouth of that big river on the west coast, then it looks like I'll be catching a lot of that valley to the north, much of the "elf forest", and even the Mountain Keep from last year's game (visible near the southern end of that mountain range).
Hopefully I'll have it up soon, to more fully flesh out...
Okay, here's the mockup for the zoomed in map. Some of the font came out a little bit smaller in this WIP, especially the town/city names. I'll type them out here, along with some thoughts about each location:
Hemmuth is the "hardy redoubt" you mentioned. I plan on looking at places like Carcassonne for inspiration. A road heading east leads to a rough and tumble crossroads settlement called Bullocker. I'm not sure if I like the name, though... A road forks up to the Mountain Keep, a location from the previous game, and it should be interesting to see how it's changed over the last century. Another road forks to the southwest, passing by a dwarven settlement called Marastyr (a relatively open center for trade and the export of quarried stone) and Rhethuin (the gateway city to the Elvish Enclave) before continuing to the yet-to-be-named human capital. Following the coastline south, Moonwood stands at the junction of a road leading onward and a spur leading to Uldrekh, the local Dwarf stronghold.
I decided to call the whole area the Wandeings, as that whole area north of the Hem River is an open, hilly wilderness that's (perhaps magically) easy to get lost in. Only the desperate enter it, and few come back with anything worthwhile. I probably need to include something in there to entice players to go explore though...
Anyway, thoughts? Anything (names, features, etc.) I should change?
Just awesome, is there a "hail" emoji here? If not, just imagine it here.
I think you have everything mapwise you should need for a whole lot of gaming. Since, you are starting them out in Hemmuth a short synopsis of what that place is and why it is the hub for all these diverse types is important. You situated it at the delta of a large river system (The Hem), perhaps it is an alluvial delta where people are "panning" for precious metals and even gems (IIRC Diamonds and other gems were panned in ancient India this way). Economy is what I am trying to get at. It might have started as a place for people to take refuge in, but something has to keep them there.
Next, you need a few NPCs the PCs *WILL* encounter. I often focus on the merchants, a tradesman, a guard, and a someone tied to a PC. I can easily craft a personality for them in the first session and get the ball rolling. What do you have in mind?
Last thing, I love you map creator. What program are you using?
I love the idea of the "panning" economy. In an area not well suited for agriculture (for as-yet-undefined reasons) that seems a viable motivation for establishing the settlement here, and encourages the city to sort of "wall up" against invaders. It would draw dwarves into the community (stereotypically speaking), and perhaps even the occasional enjoy of elves. In other words, it's a good melting pot, and can let me establish social/racial relations before they even leave the city!
NPC that they will encounter? To be honest, I haven't put much thought into it, mostly because my NPCs tend to be foils for the PCs, and usually don't come to life until after the PCs are lined up. Innkeepers are the standard, and some sort of "captain of the guard" that players can (wish they didn't) know pretty well would be good too. Memorable merchants where they could buy things from would be good too. It's hard to see what I need until I see what the players need, especially since I'm still getting used to their predilections as .
My map creator is pencil, paper, a scanner, and Photoshop to put in labels and give it a splash of color. I'm old school. If I can find a map creator that gives me that same level of control (with less time investment), I'd be interested in checking it out.
Aww man! You are making me jealous! You HAND drew that?
As to NPCs, I remember someone, either on Taking20 or Matt Colville's channel I think, saying that we DMs needed to make NPCs that weren't jerks, and were actively someone the players wanted to go see. For me, in my school game, I focused on the Duke and his court, over the "lesser people". For one, having players see the Duke take time to personally notice them, and charge them with a task gave them an increased sense of importance. "We have to do this! Tyrus is counting on us to finish the mission." That way, when I sent them off to Greenest in the Hoard of the Dragon Queen adventure, they had a reason to go. Once there, I made certain that the bard ran into his family home being ransacked by cultists, and made it personal.
See, with my group, appealing to ethos like that just never worked. The few players that were attracted to that idea were outvoted by much more aggressive and selfish players. Maybe it was just the group chemistry, but I had a hard time getting them to care about anything more than personal gain and glory... which I then used against them in the end. :)
Yeah, that was hand drawn. I didn't do anything fancy with it, not until I've finalized what I want where, but putting that bit on paper was just a few hours' time, really. I love to draw, and (time willing) plan on giving a sketch of each PC for the campaign. A simple sketched-out map is small potatoes by comparison.
I got stuck in mapmaking mode. :) Here's my description text for Hemmuth:
The Island- Poverty and labor district. Ready water access comes at the cost of little defensive infrastructure. Fishing and dredge industries operate out of here, and most low-class citizens take up residence here, due to the cheap housing and only a passing scrutiny from the Hemmuth Guard.
Island Gate. The access point to the bridge to Hemmuth Proper and the mainland, with paired towers that serve as a forward outpost against invasion. Amfrey Panareen oversees the gate, a human captain in the Hemmuth Guard who keeps a stern eye on the comings and goings of his station.
The Sandbar. Considered the cultural heart of the Island, this expansive tavern is the place to look for job opportunities, local gossip, and the general goings-on of the surrounding lands. The gnome Seebo Nackle runs the establishment, a former prospector who decided it was better to give dredge miners a warm place to rest and revel than it was to compete with them.
The Proper- The realm of aristocracy. Merchant lords and their retinue enjoy the greatest luxuries of the Wanderings, safe—along with their treasures—within the city’s tightest fortifications and the society’s highest glories.
Noborat Keep. The center of city affairs, and home of Ciaran Kayne, the Earl of Hemmuth, and his family. The keep is protected by its own circular wall and garrison, and open only to those with pertinent business for the Hemmuth Court.
The wall surrounding the Proper is broken at only three points, each with defensive towers. Bridge Gate connects to the bridge by use of a drawbridge, and features a receiving square that can seal off from the proper with a portcullis. East Gate guards the road that follows Hem River and to realms inland. Harbor Gate leads to the merchant quarter of the city.
Pierward- Framed by Hemmuth’s Wall on two sides, and the docks on a third, this triangle of land houses the city’s middle class. South Gate leads to the road going along the coast
Sailors and merchants live and work as ships come and go with wares to and from Hemmuth and surrounding lands. Hemmuth Guard maintains several swift military vessels that stand ready to face incoming threats.
Hemmuth Star. Equal parts beacon, stronghold, and temple to Sanyael, goddess of vigilance (knowledge, light, and tempest domains). Abbess Felosial Faro stands as chief priestess, and also holds a seat in Hemmuth Court. An order of priests and warriors serve under her, guarding and guiding all good people.
Outboroughs- Beyond Hemmuth’s Wall sit estates, bazaars, and hostelries to cater to those who, for one reason or another, don’t enter the rest of the city. They spread from South Gate to East Gate, along a road that bypasses the city, and are home to those with a reputation for crime and opportunism.
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Okay, now we need to hash out a starting region for the campaign. The Sunderlands are "different" from what was before, but there should be a map of some sort, if only roughly sketched because of cataclysm. The PCs also need places to hail from. A rough outline of those places is required. Where are the dwarves living? Human towns? etc.
I've actually been thinking quite a bit about this. As I said, there are only certain elements of the Tolkien map that I explicitly used, so I feel the rest is up for grabs. That said, I may use some terms and location names in our discussion as shorthand, the better to expedite discussion (e.g. I might refer to a relatively idyllic region full of comparably low level encounters as the "shire", but that doesn't necessarily mean that's where halflings almost exclusively live, or that it leads to a village named Bree, etc.)
That said, much of my world building so far has centered on the regions surrounding the supervolcano. The caldera itself, which will likely span twenty-ish miles in diameter, would realistically have cooled after a century, but I'm contemplating, for "Rule of Cool" purposes, whether I should keep it as a relatively area-- a sea of lava, if you will. I'm not sure how realistic I want to be with such elements, given that this is a fantasy game with players who likely have a 7th grade level of geological understanding. :) I haven't really come up with a name for this place, though...
Beyond that, the "Mirkwood" forest is now a devastated graveyard of nature, blanketed in ash and crawling with monsters. I thought magically twisting the elves of this area into dark elves would be an interesting alternative origin for the drow, especially given the presence of big, nasty spiders in the area. Driders and ettercaps abound! I've thought of calling this the Ashenwood, but I wonder if I can come up with something more creative. I may not, as young players often appreciate the descriptive nature of "on the nose" names.
Vesper the dragon queen (who was a devious green dragon in the last game, but will have by now become a shadow dragon, because it's cool) has established her fortress in the "Dol Guldur" of the area. Perhaps there is also a wall (physical or otherwise) through which people must use her fortress as the gateway into the previously described dark realms.
Beyond that region would be a "dead marshes" type of area. Shadowfell-y wetlands that are bleak and uninviting, and perhaps quite large (or even growing?) No name for this yet either.
My intro blurb mentions "last strongholds of light and hope", which could mean anything from fortresses of lawful good armies to "shires". There probably should be both, with all gradients in between, but I do want to distill it down to a handful of discrete regions, for ease of world comprehension. Humans can probably come from anywhere/everywhere. I can totally see dwarves going rather isolationist, deep into mountains, but players are free to play an exception to that rule. Elves are likely to be from a "lorien" sanctuary forest (but if elves are holed up and isolationist in a forest, and dwarves are holed up and isolationist in a mountain, that may be too similar...)
I've hit a bit of a block at this point, mostly because I want to do something broad enough that we could do anything the players want wherever we go, but it's simple enough for them to wrap their heads around. Thoughts?
I plan on rendering a rather refined map over the summer, but only after I can nail these things down. I'll sketch some things and post them here soon. A picture paints a thousand words! :)
Here's a map I whipped up over the weekend. I think it still needs a lot of work, and will likely redo the entire thing, but it's a starting point. It also gives some common ground for points of discussion, etc.
Anyway, those are my initial thoughts. What do you think?
A few more thoughts:
Sorry, lots of work this week to attend to in school.
Really good work here, I really think the map is ++ work. Perhaps you can make a smaller, fragmentary map that covers the area just around where the PCs will start. To me that means you need a town/city or something to launch from. Perhaps a hardy redoubt on the west coast, perhaps just to the north as it were of the forests.
As to physically potent player races, yes this will happen in my experience. By pregenerating the PCs you can kind of limit them by making fewer of the PCs from rarer types. In my games, because there Dragonborn are like nearly nonexistent, I simply didn't make any for them to choose from. YMMV
It's our last week. I hear you on having lots of busy things going on!
Thanks! Like I said, the map is likely to undergo some revision and refinement, but this is a good start. I certainly will give them a smaller map to start with (perhaps with a small inset to give them a sense of where they are in relation to the rest of the area) otherwise they may get overwhelmed and/or spoiled for choice. A smaller map may also help me steer them in directions if I feel the need.
I really like the idea of the western redoubt as a starting point. It would be rather isolated from other regions (giving me time to develop other major landmarks should the players choose to go in that direction) and present a nice frontier area for dangers from the north (i.e., low level monsters).
I don't have anything against physically powerful races, and their features are somewhat more simple that some of the others. Perhaps that's another draw for younger players. By comparison, a halfling's Lucky or a tiefling's Infernal Legacy are likely to be lost in the shuffle of gameplay. KISS is the name of the game for middle schoolers. That said, I can certainly skew things toward races I prefer with the pregens. I could even explain away the sudden drop in dragonborn by saying that Vesper has carried out a draconic purge, the better to eliminate rivals.
I think my next effort will be toward developing that smaller map. What do you think would be a decent area for it? Perhaps only a couple hundred miles on a side, or is that too big/small to start with?
Yes, a couple hundred miles in each direction is like a world to low level PCs.
Awesome. If I put the starting settlement at or near the mouth of that big river on the west coast, then it looks like I'll be catching a lot of that valley to the north, much of the "elf forest", and even the Mountain Keep from last year's game (visible near the southern end of that mountain range).
Hopefully I'll have it up soon, to more fully flesh out...
Hemmuth is the "hardy redoubt" you mentioned. I plan on looking at places like Carcassonne for inspiration. A road heading east leads to a rough and tumble crossroads settlement called Bullocker. I'm not sure if I like the name, though... A road forks up to the Mountain Keep, a location from the previous game, and it should be interesting to see how it's changed over the last century. Another road forks to the southwest, passing by a dwarven settlement called Marastyr (a relatively open center for trade and the export of quarried stone) and Rhethuin (the gateway city to the Elvish Enclave) before continuing to the yet-to-be-named human capital. Following the coastline south, Moonwood stands at the junction of a road leading onward and a spur leading to Uldrekh, the local Dwarf stronghold.
I decided to call the whole area the Wandeings, as that whole area north of the Hem River is an open, hilly wilderness that's (perhaps magically) easy to get lost in. Only the desperate enter it, and few come back with anything worthwhile. I probably need to include something in there to entice players to go explore though...
Anyway, thoughts? Anything (names, features, etc.) I should change?
Just awesome, is there a "hail" emoji here? If not, just imagine it here.
I think you have everything mapwise you should need for a whole lot of gaming. Since, you are starting them out in Hemmuth a short synopsis of what that place is and why it is the hub for all these diverse types is important. You situated it at the delta of a large river system (The Hem), perhaps it is an alluvial delta where people are "panning" for precious metals and even gems (IIRC Diamonds and other gems were panned in ancient India this way). Economy is what I am trying to get at. It might have started as a place for people to take refuge in, but something has to keep them there.
Next, you need a few NPCs the PCs *WILL* encounter. I often focus on the merchants, a tradesman, a guard, and a someone tied to a PC. I can easily craft a personality for them in the first session and get the ball rolling. What do you have in mind?
Last thing, I love you map creator. What program are you using?
Hawk
I love the idea of the "panning" economy. In an area not well suited for agriculture (for as-yet-undefined reasons) that seems a viable motivation for establishing the settlement here, and encourages the city to sort of "wall up" against invaders. It would draw dwarves into the community (stereotypically speaking), and perhaps even the occasional enjoy of elves. In other words, it's a good melting pot, and can let me establish social/racial relations before they even leave the city!
NPC that they will encounter? To be honest, I haven't put much thought into it, mostly because my NPCs tend to be foils for the PCs, and usually don't come to life until after the PCs are lined up. Innkeepers are the standard, and some sort of "captain of the guard" that players can (wish they didn't) know pretty well would be good too. Memorable merchants where they could buy things from would be good too. It's hard to see what I need until I see what the players need, especially since I'm still getting used to their predilections as .
My map creator is pencil, paper, a scanner, and Photoshop to put in labels and give it a splash of color. I'm old school. If I can find a map creator that gives me that same level of control (with less time investment), I'd be interested in checking it out.
Aww man! You are making me jealous! You HAND drew that?
As to NPCs, I remember someone, either on Taking20 or Matt Colville's channel I think, saying that we DMs needed to make NPCs that weren't jerks, and were actively someone the players wanted to go see. For me, in my school game, I focused on the Duke and his court, over the "lesser people". For one, having players see the Duke take time to personally notice them, and charge them with a task gave them an increased sense of importance. "We have to do this! Tyrus is counting on us to finish the mission." That way, when I sent them off to Greenest in the Hoard of the Dragon Queen adventure, they had a reason to go. Once there, I made certain that the bard ran into his family home being ransacked by cultists, and made it personal.
See, with my group, appealing to ethos like that just never worked. The few players that were attracted to that idea were outvoted by much more aggressive and selfish players. Maybe it was just the group chemistry, but I had a hard time getting them to care about anything more than personal gain and glory... which I then used against them in the end. :)
Yeah, that was hand drawn. I didn't do anything fancy with it, not until I've finalized what I want where, but putting that bit on paper was just a few hours' time, really. I love to draw, and (time willing) plan on giving a sketch of each PC for the campaign. A simple sketched-out map is small potatoes by comparison.
I got stuck in mapmaking mode. :) Here's my description text for Hemmuth:
The Island- Poverty and labor district. Ready water access comes at the cost of little defensive infrastructure. Fishing and dredge industries operate out of here, and most low-class citizens take up residence here, due to the cheap housing and only a passing scrutiny from the Hemmuth Guard.
The Proper- The realm of aristocracy. Merchant lords and their retinue enjoy the greatest luxuries of the Wanderings, safe—along with their treasures—within the city’s tightest fortifications and the society’s highest glories.
Noborat Keep. The center of city affairs, and home of Ciaran Kayne, the Earl of Hemmuth, and his family. The keep is protected by its own circular wall and garrison, and open only to those with pertinent business for the Hemmuth Court.
Pierward- Framed by Hemmuth’s Wall on two sides, and the docks on a third, this triangle of land houses the city’s middle class. South Gate leads to the road going along the coast
Outboroughs- Beyond Hemmuth’s Wall sit estates, bazaars, and hostelries to cater to those who, for one reason or another, don’t enter the rest of the city. They spread from South Gate to East Gate, along a road that bypasses the city, and are home to those with a reputation for crime and opportunism.