Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 crossblade Apr 09, 2009 17:23:01	I'm well aware that a campaign world with numerous wonderful and breath-taking locations that set the imagination ablaze don't make up for a lack of story; but just the same, I'm curious what sort of amazing places have people put into their campaigns. (Or even simply wanted to put into a campaign) Be it high fantasy or low fantasy. Story dependent or just for ascetics, striking amazement, curiosity or fear into the players. Alternatively maybe it's just there for a cheap laugh or a DM homage to something else. Any which way, I'd like to know some interesting places or ideas for locations to put into a campaign. With as little or as much description as wanted; and yes I'll go first with a few that's stuck with me over the years (either read about, saw on the boards or from my own head). 1) A Floating Continent/Island - Yoinked from Eberron. The Sherwood trees are lighter than air, thus making their wood excellent for airships. 2) Elemental Canyon - Two parallel mountain ranges so close together, they effectively make a canyon between them. The catch is though: it's inhabited by uncountable elementals of all sizes and types! Fortunately they are all very friendly and extremely playful, but due to the number AND nature of the elementals, it is not safe to walk through the canyon (and impossible to go around the mountain range), otherwise they would swarm you looking for attention and a new friend. (You don't want a hug from a fire elemental!) Luckily, the dwarves and gnomes in the area have developed an effective means of passing through the canyon, using the elements' playful nature to an advantage. Passers through can mount or ride along in enchanted carriages, sleighs or for the more adventurous types, ride on elemental-wakeboards to traverse the extraplanar-like environment. (If riding a board, a series of skill checks based on balance, tumble, jump, etc rolls can be made. For added fun, throwing in combat from some running pack creatures. Surfs up, dudes! 3) A Wind-Up City - It could have unwound or it can still be going. It can be filled with wind-up creations or even warforged. 4) Cave Behind a Waterfall - Maybe it's a hide-out, a dungeon or the den of one or more monsters. 5) A Gnomes' Tinker-shop - Stop by! Have a look... DON'T TOUCH THAT! Taste this... You were blue when you came in here, right? See what those crazy Gnomes are up to this time. Maybe help them build, test or gather parts for something. 6) The Icey Cave of the Roof-Top Lurker! - Credit given to Commissioned Comic. Cookies to anyone who can find the Lurker's stats, as I can't. (Wizards did make a level 20 Santa though for 3.5) I'm sure this type of thread has been done before, but I can't find it. Now add your own!
#2 deter3of4 Apr 09, 2009 17:41:13	I'm trying to fit this into my campaign http://www.moolf.com/interesting/the-deepest-step-well-in-the-world.html This temple/well is located in a village in India and believed to be the deepest step-well in the world. Description from link: "It was built in the 9th century and has 3500 narrow steps and 13 stories and is 100 feet deep" Imagine walking in an overgrown jungle and stumbling upon that.
#3 Mechalibur Apr 09, 2009 18:26:37	I really liked the 3rd edition book, Sandstorm. Because of that I made a large desert in the middle of a continent. I called it the Dead Wastes. It had all sorts of obstacles, and some underground complexes. The whole Wastes were made by a crazy epic spellcaster who is now dead, but still has followers trying to spread the Wastes. Also there was a giant sand worm that would roam the entire desert. Each day there was a 1% chance of it appearing to attack the PCs. It was a pretty fun encounter when they were trying to run away from it. The center of the Wastes was called the Dead Zone, because no life was to be found there. In the middle there was a sandstorm that never stopped moving. Good times
#4 person34 Apr 10, 2009 17:06:31	Yeah I used the sandstorm book too and have one of my favorite locations in my campaign. The desert in my campaign is magically created and on the coast which makes no sense in the world, but the desert just goes and goes until it runs directly into the jungle, with a very obvious dividing line. The image though of the jungle and desert coming together is pretty wicked in my head. Just the huge variance in color and texture.
#5 AbdulAlhazred Apr 10, 2009 22:31:06	There is an ancient cursed dwarvish city under a mountain in my campaign. At the center is a monsterous shaft 500 feet in diameter which goes down into the unexplored depths. Nobody has ever reached the bottom (if there is one). Ruined balconies, bridges, and stairways adorn the walls and cross it here and there. Anyone who spends some time in the shaft will eventually attract the attention of the horrible flying bats and rotwings which nest here and there. Evil spidery demon things weave webs here and there as well. Overall it is a gloomy place where many an adventurer has met their demise.
#6 crossblade Apr 10, 2009 22:58:02	For some reason, the mention of deserts got me thinking of meteor impact craters, which got me thinking about what happens when sand is super heated... it forms glass. Therefore the idea just popped into my head: A desert made of pure glass. Crystal clear dunes, everything else underfoot a hue of either white or prismatic shines. Be it magically formed, created as beauty from the gods, or the result of a meteor hitting a desert. This would then bring the question, could beings live here? How would they build upon the land. If the land is "ground", would earth spells affect it? Could Stone Shape spells affect the glass plain? After all, glass is sand, and sand is finely ground rock. (It could make for beautiful structures) A possible sea adventure arc: City on/in the shell of a Dragon Turtle. It may have to be unrealistically large for even a small number of being to live on (Colossal+++++? :P), and thusly not fightable, but it might work as a type of "moving island". Maybe it's evil, sinks ships and has sahuagin on it that raid ships before they're sunk. Maybe the Dragon Turtle is good and the thinks living on/in it are good/neutral... or maybe they are evil creatures living on the good DT and the DT doesn't know they're evil.
#7 skyhoof Apr 15, 2009 22:05:06	The Valley of Fallen Stars: A deep grassy valley with a great rift at its center, carved into the world from an ancient sorcerer's last spell. All around drift hundreds of spheres of light, twinkling like stars. These globes seem to take on sentience from time-to-time, even developing wisp-like behavior. The valley is several miles in diameter, and is populated mainly by trees and grass. A river cuts through its center, only to drain into the rift in a spectacular waterfall. The rift itself is about a mile deep, and comprised of grey rock. Cosmic power surges through the valley even now, and several islands of stone float both high above and far below the ground. Some more arcane-loving races, such as the eladrin, have made small cities on the topmost of these islands, with untold things dwelling below that. At the very depths of the rift there is rumored to grow an unimaginable wealth of valuable minerals, primarily astral diamonds. However, even discounting the countless creatures and hazards one would have to brave to get that far down, the valley's maker is said to reside at its bottom, a demigod trapped within his own invention. No one that goes to harvest the diamonds has yet returned.
#8 necroticbanana Apr 16, 2009 16:23:21	A possible sea adventure arc: City on/in the shell of a Dragon Turtle. It may have to be unrealistically large for even a small number of being to live on (Colossal+++++? :P), and thusly not fightable, but it might work as a type of "moving island". Maybe it's evil, sinks ships and has sahuagin on it that raid ships before they're sunk. Maybe the Dragon Turtle is good and the thinks living on/in it are good/neutral... or maybe they are evil creatures living on the good DT and the DT doesn't know they're evil. Not sure if your familiar with the "Zartan" it's a HUGE turtle from previous editions. somtimes the inhabitants that live upon its back dont even know its alive. It's 3rd ed. stats are in the Arms & Equipment guide although i feel there a bit lacking. i mean it's flipper attack deals a max of 32 points of dmg? i mean c'mon the flipper is like the size of an island all on its own. i remeber in the old MM they even mentioned it takes them a hundred years to mate LOL talk about foreplay.
#9 sprydle Apr 16, 2009 20:34:51	I used the cave behind the waterfall to start my latest campaign. An active volcano with a settlement of dwarves living underneath mining the slag. A lake near the volcano that is incredibly deep but instead of the water getting colder at greater depths, it gets warmer. Warm enough for any number of creatures to live below. Islands floating in the sky.
#10 skyhoof Apr 26, 2009 10:41:14	The Library: A strange book in an abandoned library teleports the party to a wondrous and colossal repository of books. Strange, prominent, and interesting people of all sorts browse through its halls, all the while talking amongst each other, mainly about the enigmatic hermit and founder of the library known simply as "The Maker". As the PCs pick up books, they begin to realize that each book teleports them to a different realm, with thousands upon thousands of worlds lined up on the shelves. Eventually, if they are very lucky, they may meet the Maker in person. If they do, they will discover that he seems very familiar, and that the library isn't actually real. The Library is actually a corporeal representation of the Maker's consciousness. The PCs are wandering through the DM's head.
#11 bone_naga Apr 26, 2009 11:12:04	A world in which there are no continents, just a vast ocean. The only land consists of small volcanic islands and extremely large beds of coral reef. Most cities are either giant floating ships or built on the backs of giant turtles (like the old zaratan, but on an even larger scale). One city is home to the giants. It is a three-tiered city. The level most visitors arrive at is built on the backs of these turtles. Being home to the giants, everything is of course built on a much larger scale. A series of giant chains connect this turtle to an enchanted cloud in the sky that is solid and can be walked on. This cloud is towed by the turtle. Many of the structures here include quartz and various stained glasses, and generally take advantage of the sunlight. Travel to this level is obtained either through an mechanical lift that the PCs must operate themselves (by turning a handle which turns gears that are latched onto one of the chains, thus allowing the lift to "climb" the chain), which could be an interesting encounter if they were attacked by flying creatures partway up (and must then divide their time between killing the beasties, and stopping themselves from hitting the ground, as the whenever you let go the the handle, gravity pulls the lift back down). Alternatively, a cloud giant has a giant platform that he will simply levitate to the enchanted cloud for a substantial fee. Another series of chains connects the turtle to the lower level. This level is a giant free-floating coral reef, with tunnels dug out by the inhabitants. Some areas are flooded, and require water breathing. Others are sealed off and have breathable air provided by a specific variety of fungi. Water breathers can simply swim to this level. Air breathers must climb inside an enclosed metal capsule that is sealed and slides down a chain to the reef. Once there, a sea giant takes it inside an area with breathable air, and opens it.
#12 herald108 Apr 26, 2009 14:04:25	I'm trying to fit this into my campaign http://www.moolf.com/interesting/the-deepest-step-well-in-the-world.html This temple/well is located in a village in India and believed to be the deepest step-well in the world. Description from link: "It was built in the 9th century and has 3500 narrow steps and 13 stories and is 100 feet deep" Imagine walking in an overgrown jungle and stumbling upon that. Now that is cool. A little repetitive, but cool. And if one were to map that, it would require, how many sets of Dungeon Tiles? From the idea files: The Dune Sea Far to the west, beyond the Iron Mountains is a wasteland known as the Dune Sea. This expanse of desert sand is constantly shifting from the force of strong winds on the surface and from volcanic activity deep beneath. These powerful forces shift enormous dunes that move in slow, wave-like formations. Treacherous currents and eddies churn the sands throughout this region. The Dune Sea can only be navigated by dune ships that sail the surface of the shifting sands. Travelers should take care against the dangerous beasts, native to these parts. Tribes of lizardfolk range over great distances and attack dune ships on sight. And this sandy waste is inhabited by a variety of ferocious monsters such as ankegs, galeb duhr, land sharks, purple worms, salamanders and flame snakes. This is a fantastic location from my own campaign world. But no campaign has ever gone there yet.
#13 Phrennzy Apr 26, 2009 19:01:45	The desert in my campaign is called the Sea of Fire, and has actual firestorms that sweep across it from time to time. There is also the Oracle, an entity that will answer any one question truthfully, but only after you have completed a task for it. It hovers in a large room with books flying about, they stop briefly in front of the Oracle before flittering on. The Thornwastes, a hilly area overgrown with massive thorn covered vines as thick as a man is tall, creating natural mazes, infested with all manner of creatures. The sky above it is constantly stormy and churning, with dry lightning strikes, windstorms, duststorms, and the occasional tornado. Deep within lies the lair of the Ghostlord. (Yes, I am running RHOD). Linked Lakes: Swimming down, down, down, into the depths of one lake and the diver will suddenly find that he is swimming up from the depths of another lake many miles away. A good way to move cross country if you can hold your breath and don't mind getting wet. Deadwood: A forest composed of dead and dying trees and bushes, that never seem to completely rot away. The trees reach dead branches high overhead, intertwining with each other and filtering the sunlight. Chock full of undead. And speaking of undead, there is the Necropolis. Once a bustling city, nearly all the inhabitants became undead overnight. The city is shrouded by magical twilight, and the undead roam freely within the walls. No one is sure what caused the disaster, but everyone is sure there is quite a bit of wealth for the taking inside. Myrkhelm Manor: Once the massive, elegant home of a rich and powerful family, the estate suffered a curse when the family fell upon each other. The manor vanished completely, and reappears only for a day every year, on the anniversary of it's disappearance. Wealth abounds within, but so do the mad remanants of the powerful spellcasting family. And of course, you don't want to be inside when it vanishes again.
#14 sigil_beguiler Apr 26, 2009 19:21:23	The Wall: This city was forged from the giant Sea Wall of a long abandoned city, during the cataclysms that caused the fall of the city and consumed many others. Refugees from all corners of the world seek refuge in the Sea Wall. The inner most section of the Wall has collapsed causing a natural "downtown", this tight corridor is where shops, business and the trade of in this city takes places, they are multi layered with shops upon shops nailed to the Wall. Within the Wall itself is where most people live. The city is one of high magic but with a grim feel. There is dragon brigades, ever burning torches, warlocks speaking with The Stars and Beasts of The Deep, and elemental empowered craft wander the seas, sky and desert. At the same time the poor are shoved deeper and deeper into the dark ruins under the city, slavery is common and drugs rampant. Monolith: Cities created on the ruins of a once magnificent floating city, its remains scattered across the world in the form of giant black slabs of rock. Multiple Monoliths exist each built upon these rocks. They are built here because besides being a natural protective barrier the Royals who rule the city and their Aberration rulers have found that one can siphon off energy from these stones. As such the city is a mass of tall skyscrapers piercing above a jumble of wires and tubes covering the entirety of the rock. Most people live within the spaces between these tubes and wires, hacking into these tubes and stealing energy. This energy has allowed for much advancements in technology, magical hologram and computers. The Tower: The Tower was a ancient tower of unknown origin. The Tower slowly grew into a town with residences building upon the outside of the Tower, slowly increasing its mass with a encircling number of houses, stairways and other buildings. As the town grew into a city this began to grow outward. This was thanks to a combination of waste forming a natural hill around the city as well as the Tower no longer being able to support more weight. This has caused much development of buildings to be based around the city. This idea of vertical growth remained and many buildings are built upon each other. Communication in the city has come to rely on intelligent ravens thanks to the vertical nature of the city. This has given it a legacy of being master scouts relying on their ravens to send back communications. The Tower being placed on a empty landscape has also meant that long-eyesight is important to see far away threats. The Blackness: The Blackness covers the sky. It is a twisting churning miasma, tendrils of it pierce the clouds and brush against the ground leaving nothing in its path. The Blackness is not completely black though, it seems to boil and form sores that expand till they explode. Out of these open sores is lingering light and gas seemingly coming from nebulas within The Blackness. Occasionally black objects seem to fly out of these nebulas their twisting, eldritch forms dissappearing into the sky. Rumours have spread that The Blackness has consumed the other side of the world. Tendrils have begun to appear not out of the sky but from the ground, carried along with them are ruins and even abandoned cities. Their architecture stretch any logical explanation.
#15 Chirp Apr 27, 2009 20:18:42	The Waste: This region extends along the length of the Blackthorn River for nearly three hundred miles. Centuries ago it was a pleasent wetland populated by halflings that used the river for trade. But a powerful necromancer conquered it and turned it into a dark and twisted swamp with nightmares become real and the dead find no rest. When the necromancer was eventualy killed, his death caused The Waste to become unstable. Besides the countless halfling skeletons that walk the bogs and the terrifying shadow creatures that lurk in the darkest reaches, magic has gone wild in The Waste, causing spells to have strange, unpredictable effects. Extremely potent effects. Or to not work at all. The Land of the Black Sand: Located deep in the desert and surrounded by foreboding mountains, the Land of the Black Sand is a dark region where the sand is formed of finely ground obsidian from ancient, now dorment volcanos. It has strong ties to the Shadowfell, and is ruled by the Shadar-Kai. The Glass Wall: Stretching across the entier main continent from one great ocean to the other, the Glass Wall is older than recorded history. Made of polished glass that glitters with countless brilliant colors in the sun, no one knows the original purpose of the wall. It serves now to devide the western kingdoms from the untamed wild lands of the east. Countless centuries ago, however, the glass wall was built through a combined effort of the common races to protect themselves from a terrible creature that now rampages unrestrained through the eastern wild lands.
#16 skyhoof Apr 29, 2009 18:16:00	The Bluff: A great wall of natural stone, carved from the world ages upon ages ago. The bluff itself levels about half a mile high, with little in the way of hand-or-footholds. No-one has managed to scale the bluff in the recorded history of almost any race, save for an old elf legend. The area beyond the cliff is rather flat and rocky, with sparse grass and trees. The Bluff is an unnaturally quiet place - No animals of any sort reside there, and even the life-force of the plants seems subdued by the waves of bizarre energy emanating from the Bluff's opposite edge. Dodging the immediate dangers of sentient plantlife and ancient constructs, one could make their way to the opposite edge of the Bluff, which drops in an equally sheer cliff to the sea. Floating on the water's surface is the source of the strange energy - An abandoned city the likes of which few have ever imagined. If the party were to find themselves inside of the city, then they would find treasures - and dangers - beyond their wildest thoughts. The architecture is full of sweeping crescents and bright gems, and everything from the buildings to their ancient guardians is made of the same substance: A turquoise, bone-like substance that can shatter diamond. At the center of these deadly ruins, one would find a great chamber covered from ceiling-to-floor in multicolored stones, each glowing with dim sentience. There happen to be a number of sockets without gems in them, just enough for the current party to fit. The gems seem to be the source of the city's power, and the device itself is capable of speech. However, it speaks an obscure dialect of elven, and is not fond of repeating things. If the PCs can decipher it, they learn that the device is what is known as an "Infinity Circuit", a collection of souls for an entire city that powered the ancient's devices and served as an afterlife for their people. The Shattered Realm and the Chaos Gate: The shattered realm is not a region but a continent, one that was all but destroyed in an ancient catastrophe. The land is now a cracked remnant of its former self: Grey rock and stone ruin, interspersed with twisted landmarks and great rifts in the earth. Elemental energy of all kinds washes over the plain, causing bizarre weather patterns: Lightning-filled blizzards over burning ground during an earthquake is all too common. Archons and elementals roam and war these desolate wastes, though more numerous are the feral genasi, driven mad from the chaos of their own creation. A great number of rifts spread forth from the land's center, where a great maw of nothing stands open, waiting for the fierce winds around it to feed it those who wander too near. Over this maw, a great number of islands floats in a continual cycle around a central spire, chained together and beaten with elemental energy. The spire itself is made of pure obsidian, and is curved around with a naturally-occurring staircase. At the top of this tower is a colossal gate, naturally-hewn of diamond, that is said to open to the elemental chaos, the ethereal plane, and even the bizarre space known as the Far Realm.