Misplaced Maps: Iceshard Sanctum

The dragonkin of Atel-Mahar were a nomadic race of barbarians that trudged across the icy plains in search of their deity, Hasu for centuries. Growing weary of their search, they turned away from the peaceful god of strength and honor and became a wild band of pillaging murderers. Then, a prophet emerged from the clan; a young Dragonkin named Abakar. It was his life’s mission to return his people to the way of Hasu, and so for sixty years he carved a great sanctum out of a glacier for his people to dwell in and honor their deity. Thus began a peaceful, honorable time for the dragonkin – until the death of Abakar, when they descended once more into madness…

Charts & Tables: Market & Bazaar Environments

Markets and Bazaars are important parts of your game world. Players need a place to unload loot & treasure, search for new gear and deals on odd and exciting items, and generally blow all of the gold they’ve been robbing from tombs and pilfering off the corpses of dead enemies.

Often, however, it’s easier to generalize a market district, assuming that whatever they need is there and throwing in a magic item or two for kicks. This is all well and good, and appropriate at times, but there are moments when you want to create an interesting environment for your players to shop through.

Misplaced Maps: Burundol’s Catacomb

Burundol, King of the Black Cleft Minotaurs, has laired his clan amidst the winding caverns beneath the Lonely Woods where he discovered a long-forgotten labyrinth tomb built by a civilization of old. Over decades, Burundol has bred his clan and honed them into brutal, remorseless warriors. Though secretive and isolationist under Burundol’s rule, a new Bull named Ephesar plans to overthrow his king and lead the clan on a bloody crusade into the southlands.

Random Encounters: The Lonely Woods

Random Encounter Tables are my favourite brand of supplement. Often I raid published encounters for these hallowed lists, the perfect tool for an on-the-fly DM that appreciates the ease and time saved by randomly generating features of a traversed dungeon, cave or region. Feel free to pilfer this list for good ideas, or tailor it to a part of your game world that suits.

The Lonely Woods

The Lonely Woods is a dark, frigid forest in the northern reaches of the world. A few settlements and enterprising caravans are brave enough to set up camp on its fringes, but a pervasive organic mold and rumours of giant spiders with eyes as big as plates and legs longer than rowboats generally keep those with an interest in self-preservation far, far away.

Hex Basics V: Completing Your Region

*image used without permission from elfworld.com

Connecting your region is the exciting final part of the process, and after we’re done here we’ll have a completely playable regional hex for a one-off table game, or to expand into a much larger world territory.

Hex Basics Part IV: Detailing Outposts and Adventure Sites

*art used without permission from elfwood.com

In the previous posts of this series, I’ve supplied you with far too many words for approximately 4 minutes worth of actual work on your part. This is a blog however, and so I will continue with my long-winded diatribe in the name of hexes, science, and religion. Typically only the former.

Hex Basics Part III: Generating Outposts and Sites

*photo used without permission. By Ben Powis (www.benpowis.net)*

It’s a strange phenomenon, the stocking of hexes – I find that like a good piece of art, inspiration can be hard to come by when you’re staring at a blank page. The sequential method of creating a hex map has, in my opinion, the same effect as creating “prompts” for your roleplaying; creating something visual that you can attach further meaning to.