SKETCHING THE SETTING
Previous Article…Campaign Chronicles #2 – Creating the Villain and more details
In this article we set up the basic setting where the adventure will take place. We’ll use the bottom-top method.
The bottom-top states that we develop the world according to the ongoing campaign.
However we need to sketch what sorrounds the players. Some mapping, some geography and some ideas of what they could encounter. Only then we’ll transplant the first adventure we want to play into our world.
The two main elements – the adventure and the setting – will interlace and interact.
The adventure will adapt according to the setting.
The setting will be shaped by the decision made by the players and will change accordingly.
This means that we are not going to define everything, we just need an idea and a brief description of what could be interesting.
If something unexpected occurs…Improvisation.
I usually open the dance with some mapping. I draw them with paper and pencil.
The Map
I marked on the map what I consider to be places of interest.
Meg’s lair is where the characters starts the adventure that will lead them to the town of Seawell and then to the lighthouse. I decide to employ the short adventure Wreck Ashore (D&D 3.0) and then transplant its content inside the setting.
I have played this adventure twice, and mastered it once. I’m curious to see what happens with players that have never played a roleplaying game before.
The next step will be sketching some information about each city
The Five Towns of the Valley
I take note of the population just to have an idea of the size of each town. Then I define the traits that characterize the town, nothing more than general info to keep in mind when – and if – the players decide to explore the place instead of starting the adventure.
Seawell
Population: 1,500 (90% humans and 10% halflings)
Traits: commercial and agricultural hub, emerging economy, thriving.
Here is where part of the first adventure will take place. Seawell is the first target of Meg’s Mucklebones’s plan to conquer the valley and become queen. East of the town there is a swamp and several small tribes of lizardfolks.
Beyond the swamp there is the lighthouse, where the second part of the adventure will take place. The city is ruled by a council of 10 people elected every 10 years.
Saltdale
Population: 700 (humans and small conclave of gnomes)
Traits: poor, decaying population (many residents moved to Seawell), salt extraction and fishing.
Saltdale decline began two generations ago, when Seawell built the lighthouse and intercepted some important trade routes coming from the east. The most influent families went bankruptcy a long time ago and gradually disappeared from the scene.
A wizard seized the power 10 years ago and turned the small settlement into a magocracy. While the wizard doesn’t care too much about Seawell growing influence, the citizen still blame the rival town of Seawell for the decline of their town.
Blackwater
Population: 1200 (70% humans and 30% ratfolk living in underground caves).
Traits: crossroad of the valley, steady economy, crude oil extraction
The town was founded around one century ago and when the human settlers arrived small clans of ratfolks were already living there. The ratfolks clans were scattered on the northern side of the lake.
Both the humans and the ratfolks realized that a healthy cooperation could yeld much more than a bloody warfare. Ultimately the ratfolks built a system of underground tunnels and moved there.
The Lake of Blackwater bear the name from the color of its waters. They are black due to an earthquake that allowed crude oil to emerge on the surface of the lake. The ratfolks has built decanteries to separate oil from water.
Riverdale
Population: 1300 (70% humans, 20% halflings, 10% other humanoids)
Traits: militarized town, fishing economy, struggling.
Riverdale was intended to become the jewel of the valley. Favored by it’s good position on the sea routes, plenty of wood to chop and abundant fishing grounds.
What prevented the town to flourish was the gnoll increasing raids. Many clans of gnolls managed to cross the mountain range until their numbers grew enough to form big tribes.
Most of the gnoll tribes wander the northern plains and periodically attack the residents. The river and the swamp have partially protected Riverdale to this day.
However, in the last years, the gnolls have become bolder, forcing the town into a constant state of alert.
Riverdale is also the headquarter of the Knights of the Griffon. Thanks to them the town has not fallen, at least not yet.
To the present day the city is ruled by Lord Lothar, commander of the Knights of the Griffon.
Thorn
Population: 900 (70% humans, 15% dwarves, 10% gnomes, 5% other humanoids)
Traits: economic boom, lumber production, increasing mining, emerging dwarf enclave.
Thorn is the best ally of Seawell. In the last year Seawell decreed that a city wall was essential to protect the city. The town of Thorn proved to be the best candidate to support the project.
Not too far on the north, at the feet of the mountain ranges, granite is abundant.
A whole clan of dwarves coming from the east is gradually moving to Thorn and they will take care of all the mining operations.
Someone speculate that the dwarves have accepted the job because they know that something more than granite can be extracted.
Thorn is ruled by a council of druids and rangers. Fifty years ago the town was nothing more than a small lodge, a shelter for those who lived scattered at the feet of the mountain range.
People & Places of Interest
We described the five main settlements that lie in the valley. However a setting is not made of towns only. Organizations, private institutions and abandoned places exist. We’ll name a few of them.
We have to keep in mind that the campaign is just beginning, and we don’t need to detail everything. We’ll focus on a couple of things that could attract the player’s curiosity.
Knights of the Griffon
Lord Lothar commands the Knights of the Griffon, a mounted company of experienced fighters. They came from the north and they are survivor of an army that lost its last battle against an invasion of humanoid (we won’t detail what kind of humanoid they were, not for now).
Lord Lothar and the survivors crossed the mountain range and arrived to Riverdale, where he established his headquarter. Lord Lothar’s plan is to create a defensive league between all the town in the valley, where of course he will play the role of supreme commander.
To the present day all the towns agreed to join the league, however Lord Lothar lacks of politic skill, so the league is struggling to become a solid reality.
Academy of Saltdale
The magic academy is probably the only things that prevents Saltdale from becoming a ghost town. Osim, the wizard who rule the crippled city, is interested in magic more than anything and anyone else.
He doesn’t care much for other issue, but will defend the town against any threat and at any cost if necessary. Every three months the Academy opens its doors to new apprentices, and only the most talented are initiated to the arcane secrets of magic.
Most of the time no one pass the tests, thus no new apprentices are picked. A conclave of gnomes manage the academy where Osim is actually the only teacher.
The Old Tower
Where the moutain passage ends. there is the so called Old Tower. It’s nothing more then a legacy of yesteryear.
Beyond the Mountain Ranges
North of the high and snowy peaks, there is a land scourged by war and chaos, petty kingdom ruled by petty kings rise and fall, most of them do not last enough to be remembered or sung in bard’s songs.
We assume that the valley and the regions around were once part of a great empire that fell into ruins centuries ago. Imagine something like the obscurantism that followed the fall of the Roman Empire. From 600 Ad to 900 AD to be clear.
Clans, tribes and sometimes nations of savage humanoids are gaining the upper hand and the survival of the so called “civilized races” is at stake.
Next Article…Campaign Chronicle #4 – Session Zero and Player Characters