Here's the result:
The first page (shown here) is taken up with the map and local descriptions. Each one has some kind of trouble, something they need, or something else going on. The second page has information on each faction, encounter tables, how to start the campaign, etc.
This adventure premise is based on three great opportunities: Lost Treasure, Gold Rush, and Shining City in the Wilderness.
As for the actual ruleset, I suggest choosing something low-magic, with good support for overland travel. I've been using some homebrew rules myself, which I could post more about if people are interested.
If you could take a look at the pdf and tell me what you think, I'd appreciate it. Let me know if there are any other big parts that ought to be included in a writeup like this.
I love it, I love it, I love it. I want to try this out even just to improve my map-making.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading it! I'm glad you're enjoying it.
DeleteAnything in particular I should do more of / less of next time?
Put this on reddit, but thought I’d put it here as well. Sometimes things on reddit get the visibility and comment they deserve, sometimes not.
ReplyDeleteI like this very much. Some thoughts:
1. I like the map. Good old style period feel and a lot more readable than many I’ve seen. I found it a little ‘busy’ but I think that is just because there is a lot on it. I found everything reasonably easily. I really like the fonts and the way you’ve used them plus spacing/formatting to separate headings/names and their descriptions.
2. I like the entries you document. The mix of places, peoples, events and factions. Quite brief, but each communicates quite a bit. I like how they’re explained in terms of each other - it links places in to the whole setting, so by the time you’ve read a few you’re getting quite a good feel for things and the relationships between things, and that adds depth to the whole thing. It is great to have all the info around the map, so that you can see immediately the locations referred to.
3. The style & content reminds me of a lot of early Gloranthan RQ2 stuff. For me, this is a good thing. It also means that I don’t see this as particularly D&D. It comes across as a well thought out and ‘real’ fantasy historical setting. I’ve gotten a bit tired of some fantasy stuff which seems to be a relentless rehash of D&D fantasy, without any real inspiration from material outside of roleplaying games. This feels quite different to me. I could imagine running this with a variety of rulesets: RQ2, for example. Or Gurps Lite, or Into the Odd/Electric Bastionland. I could even go with the free basic 5th Edition AD&D rules, perhaps.
4. The encounter tables are great. They really convey the mood and feel for this place you’ve created. Nicely formatted and handy, with the map. Practical.
5. I am very impressed at how much you’ve conveyed in this small space. It is practical, to the point, and quite gameable. Instead of a one page dungeon you’ve a two page campaign. Neat.
6. I particularly like that you’ve provided inspiration for what the PCs will be doing. In my own thoughts, I call this ‘the premise’ - but I like your term ‘Party Role’ a bit better, I think. It certainly orients the players toward where *they* fit in to *this* setting. You’ve described things that immediately hook in to the setting, provide quite a bit of variety: and then you get people to pick two and combine — a great way to engage the players, but also to have a clear concept right from the start of play as to what they’ll be doing and who they are.
I think it is a great example for showing off your blogged process for generating this setting, thus making it easier for others to take your process and generate their own inspired creation. I find good concrete examples to be marvellous things. Previously the only thing I’d really seen this done for was for stuff like Traveller, and more recently Stars Without Number, where people take the numbers and tags and descriptors from the ‘dry’ procedures and create wonderful and imaginative worlds out of them. This is just the same, to me, at a smaller scale that I haven’t seen much done before. Doesn’t mean it’s not out there so I don’t mean to dis any other game or blog out of ignorance, but I think this is a great job for others to learn from and reference.
I’d take this as a pretty good model for formatting my own brain dump of info for my own games, and I think it’s pretty system agnostic. It is a great template.
This looks absolutely gorgeous. Importantly it looks very runnable as is and interesting game stuff rich.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this. It reminds me of Alfred Wainwright, a fell walker and mapper in the UK whose style I also adore and wish I could emulate. There is so much information in such a small space and it is all beautiful to behold. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! And thanks for telling me about Alfred Wainwright -- I just looked at some of his artwork and it's gorgeous.
DeleteThis looks like an amazing setting for a small campaign by itself. The information provided is dense, to the point, and gives the DM a good starting point.
ReplyDeleteIt does not feel like a "Yet Another DnD" setting but instead an actual world, much like Alistair said.
If I had a group, I would run a small campaign, five to ten person campaign in this setting alone.
P.S. I love your art style as it is has a hint of old-fashioned sense to it but in a legible format, which a common problem in many fantasy maps these days.
Thanks, I'm glad you like it! It was quite difficult to take so much material out, but having a constrained space to work with made for a good challenge.
DeleteThis is really impressive!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Oh hey, you're the one who made the Ziggurat of Yog -- I enjoyed reading your article.
DeleteWow, this is fantastic! So original and so much information in such a lovely format, Iwonderful!
ReplyDelete