Big Map of Kalimdor

I have many projects I am working on or thinking about simultaneously. I do try to focus on the ones I'm actually playing or have a good chance of playing in the near future, but sometimes I work on other things. For instance I'd like to play a campaign in the Warcraft Universe, where the Warcraft series of games including the RTS Warcraft III and the MMORPG World of Warcraft are set. So I have been working on a map of Kalimdor, one of the continents in the series.

This map is large scale, with 30 mile hexes. Thus I am using twelve sheets of hex graph paper. One of the things I have noticed is that since the MMO has regions that should logically be much smaller in relation to the continent as they are presented as being, I have had to make decisions as to where these should be in relation to one another. For instance the zone called "the Thousand Needles" is supposed to be close to several zones, which are thousands of miles apart on my map. I had to make a decision as to where I wanted to put it, near on of the three zones, or somewhere in the middle. Ultimately I decided to put it near Feralas, a zone of jungle, as the explanation of it's existence presented in one of the RPG books that made the most sense to me, required it to be near that zone.

Ultimately, the fact that there is a lot of space between established regions is actually a bit of a blessing. There is a lot of space to put stuff that might not fit in one of the other regions. Furthermore players of the games will not know everything there is to know about Kalimdor. There will still be a lot of secrets. Though for some of the larger regions they still won't know everything. So over all I'm feeling good about my efforts. Just a few kinks to work out.

New Campaign: Lord Zack's Greyhawk: the Return of Elemental Evil

I am trying to get a campaign going. It will be set in Greyhawk, but a modified version of the setting. For one thing many of the non human races will be fey in origin, the Dwarves, Elves and Gnomes were all originally fey, but eventually became more man-like. Halflings on the other hand are still considered demihumans, and there are additional demihuman races like troglodytes, no longer lizard-like, but instead a race of subterranean demihumans, and merfolk, which are obviously marine demihumans. I'm also rearranging the goblin races, hobgoblins are a smaller variety, rather than a larger one and the larger variety are called orcs, rather than having orcs and goblins be separate varieties. Goblins do vary by environment, as there are the more agile lowland orcs, and the stronger mountain orcs, as well as deep orcs. There are also crossbreeds of course, I'm thinking of making kobolds a crossbreed of gnome and goblin. Gnolls are in fact descended from orcs "blessed" by the demon lord Yeenoghu to resemble the canines that many goblins favor. Trolls also have changed as in my campaign they come in many varieties including ogres, and one resembling the traditional D&D troll. "Hill giants" for instance are a variety of troll. Goblins and trolls seemingly are related to certain varieties of evil fey, like the boggards and fomors respectively for instance. I am also using a version of Blackmoor closer to Dave Arneson's which also in a different place.

Now as for the campaign it's going to mostly be a sandbox, but there will also be a sort of plot, or at very least a theme. That being the Cult of Elemental Evil. Thus I will be using modules like the Village of Homlett/Temple of Elemental Evil, and the Giants/Drow series. These modules will not necessarily be as written. I'm considering heavily modify the Temple of Elemental Evil to address some complaints I've heard about it, for instance. I'm also using B2, and probably modifying the Caves of Chaos. I won't be using Queen of the Demonweb Pits.

the Shattered Empire

Well it's been slow going, but it seems some time in the next week my game with my old group, minus a few people, and with a few new people will begin.

I have decided to start a new campaign instead of continuing my old one. I have set up a sandbox, though I'm still making a few adjustments to the map. They will be starting in the town of Delphens, which has a corrupt government and is dominated by rogues and thieves. Nearby, there are a couple of ruins from the old empire, that had been conquered by a human slave of the elves. There is also a mound that is inhabited by evil fey and a cult of elves to the north. Farther to the east is a ruin of a truly ancient culture that possessed great arcane and technological knowledge.

I tried to run the first session last Friday, but I had problems with MapTool.

Update

Well I haven't written anything for a while. So I'll give it a go now.

Things have been a bit difficult in real life, but I have been getting some gaming in. Last Saturday I went to the PHB 3 Game Day and won a package of miniatures in a trivia contest. I've been working on a new campaign that I hope to start next month. I have an Obsidian Portal site on the campaign here.

To summarize he campaign is set in the outlying areas of an empire that fell 500 years ago. It's a sandbox campaign, so I've been creating maps and populating them with various threats and sites for adventure. It's been pretty fun.

Think that's pretty much it for now. I hope I am able to post again soon.

The Call of Cthulhu

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had not yet read any Lovecraft stories. Well I just read the Call of Cthulhu. It was fascinating. Also completely horrifying. It does make me want to explore the idea of such alien beings in my games. However I do not believe, as the stories of Lovecraft posit that humankind is insignificant. I believe that we are even created in the very image of the Creator. To some degree or another that idea has shaped my idea of mankind's role in the fictional universes I set my games in. So my view of beings like Cthulhu is also shaped by that idea. It would be entirely possible for an adventuring party in my games to prevail once and for all against dread Cthulhu, not merely stalling the "inevitable", but averting it entirely. Not very Lovecraftian at all. More similar to the treatment of such beings in World of Warcraft, wherein being like C'thun and Yogg-Saron are to put it frankly, Raid Bosses. Now enemies in my games are not quite "Raid Bosses" that can be farmed for loot and the like, but a true adherence to the spirit of the Cthulhu Mythos would likely not give such beings statblocks and the like at all. I am not ashamed of this philosophy, but merely note the dichotomy between the spirit of the original material and my treatment of it. In fact I am considering having some kind of Chtulhuoid being be the guardian of the Water Crystal in my Legacy of the Titans campaign. Though as the Kraken that was the Fiend of Water in Final Fantasy, the inspiration for my Legacy of the Titans campaign in the first place, was quite like Chtulhu anyway, I might just use a Kraken and emphasis the similarities.sp

The Disciples of Pyro have returned!

Well I have got a hold of some my old friends online and we've arranged to play Dungeons and Dragons online together! I think I might have them hear of the legendary Fire Crystal and thus, perhaps, engage in a pilgrimage to this obviously holy site... Then they may get involved in the Legacy of the Titans storyline. This is quite different from where the campaign was likely to go before, but even these plans are not set in stone.

Classification of Beings in the Castle Acheron Campaign

I have given a lot of thought to the manner of beings found in the Castle Acheron campaign. What varieties of being are there? How are they classified? How did they come about?

There are certainly animals, plants and other forms of life, similar in nature to those found in our world. There are also beasts that are not found in our world, but are otherwise similar to natural animals. "Above" those are spirit beings, which include spirits clad in flesh and disembodied spirits. It is in this category that humans and others that can be considered people, (like hobbits and orcs, if I decide to include them) are found. These beings are primarily spirits, but inhabit animal bodies. There are also ascended beasts that are similar, but different in that they are created only late in an animals life and then only under specific conditions. These would include the kitsune, tanooki and nekomata spirits of Japanese myth. The spirits of people survive the deaths of they're bodies. Most leave this world for other planes of existence such as the Lands of the Dead (Hades, Hel, etc.), or the realms of they're Gods, but some remain in this world. There are also various spirits of nature, such as those found in animistic religions. Then there are spirits that do not have animal bodies at all, but may have "psuedobodies" of different natures. These include beings we might call faeries, but this category may also extend into the third category I have yet to discuss. Elves, dwarves and gnomes would fit under this category.

This third category also includes beings we might call angels, demons or gods. They are not spirits in the same manner as those of the second category, but of a different sort. I'm not really certain about the basis of the distinction, but I do think that beings such as demons and gods should be distinct from men. However, in this campaign I will make no distinction between demons, angels and gods. Though, some "angels" may in fact be beings created by "gods" to serve them. The distinctions between "gods", "angels" and "demons" will largely be a matter of the mythologies held by mortal beings. However, it's not that they are completely wrong, as they're mythologies will have some basis in fact, reflecting much of the actual relationships between the deities. However going further into this subject would be beyond the scope of this post. Perhaps I might call this category "celestials".

There may also be a fourth category of abberant beings that don't fit any where else. Similar to the aberration creature type of 3rd Edition or the aberrant origin of 4th Edition, and like those inspired by the Chtulhu Mythos. I haven't read any actual Lovecraft stories, but only things inspired by them like D&D and Warcraft. I find the creatures and beings of the Mythos to be fascinating, but do not agree with Lovecraft's world view. So the influences of the Mythos on my campaign are likely to be superficial. It should also be noted that my "celestial" beings include certain elements that make them similar to beings from the Chtulhu Mythos like alien forms and to some degree mentality. Some are at least superficially human-like but others are less so.