Anyway, I've been making a map, and I'm to the point that I need some feedback. Before showing the map, let me say this: I am awful at coming up with names.
I worked on my own RPG for fun for years, and the best name I got was 'Hero' as the name of the game, and things like 'Fighter' and 'Big Scary Boss Guy' for characters.
So that's probably my biggest problem right now. I have no way to reference any locations, other than pulling out my map and pointing. Speaking of which...
History:
Arkhosia crashed and burned, as standard DnD fluff said. The entire region succumbed to chaos, and the monsters moved in. Arkhosia was to the west, is only partly planned now, and is now a desert region.
Humans are not from this region, they came from the east (in ships), and are fairly new to the area (500 years or so). When they first settled, the major city was near the center of the map, where the red& black dot is. About 50 years ago, that city was obliterated by a Red Dragon, who was slain during the battle. Due to elemental diffusion, the area is now an inhospitable mess of lava, sulfer vents, and barren soil. The area is now mostly abandoned, and the wilderness is regaining control of the surrounding area (hence the darker grass).
History time is over! Yay!
Nation 1
Lots of excellent farmland, is basically the breadbasket of this end of the world. Powerful trading country, but quite well defended due to logistics.
The White&Black dot in the center of the map is the Kingdom's capitol.
The black dot to the south west is Riverside, a major trading center with a sizable merchant marine.
The tiny black dot slightly to the west of that is the Mercenary Post where the campaign starts.
The black dot due south of the capitol is a city nestled at the edge of the mountains, and is known for their excellent horse stock.
Far to the north, near the tundra, is another city, which is nearly another country, but is basically hanging out for protection.
Nation 2
Nation 2 is a powerful sea power, in a constant struggle for naval power with Nation 4. Nation 2 generally transports goods across the ocean, and Nation 1 takes care of the river transportation.
Nation 2 needs a bit of fleshing out, but the capitol is right at the mouth of the Great River (which also needs a name)
Nation 3
Think vikings. That's about all I got for now, but they are a very hardy folk, with a focus on fishing and some coastal transportation.
The capitol is on that peninsula, and the black dot to the south of that is another city. To the south of that is a massive lighthouse, built right at the edge of the cliff.
Nation 4
The island nation.
I may give that peninsula south of Dwarven Fortress to Nation 2, but Nation 4 has an excellent navy, and lives off the ocean. Think of the Sea Folk from WOT or the Greyjoys from SoF&I
Elven Forest
Standard Wood Elves place. Have a more symbiotic relationship with the trees than some other elves.
Feywild
Mostly Eladrin and whatever other fey races are running around. Their half of the Great River has a massive bridge spanning the waterfall, with a city smack in the center. Inspired by this painting
The island in that lake is a powerful Mage's Academy, and the city to the far west is the capitol of sorts.
Dwarves
The fortress is smack in the middle of some Himalaya-scale mountains.
The mines are still in working order (not abandoned or anything)
Any critiques, ideas, and most especially names would be great. I need names for the following:
The world
The continent/region
The nations listed above
The Great River
The names for 4-6 major cities in each of those nations.
I added the text and the red lines in photoshop though.
Truthfully I'd fully write out an awesome history. I think the history of a realm makes for the best stories. If many of DnD's current settings didn't have such an intricate history they would merely be just a hodge-podge of worlds thrown together with minor differences.
It's great to get the players interested in discovering certain aspects of that history as well. In fact, get them into the campaign by making them believe that their presence will really be a factor in upcoming events that trace back to that history and allow them to be the next heros of that event. All these tips should be pretty obvious, but you'd be surprised how many games fail because the players start getting bored by not being a part of something bigger than an evil necromancer looking to take over a town. In the beginning just give them small hints that the times are changing, then work it up to the point where a god-like being is poised to rule the realm and the small tasks the players have been completing have been a thorn in his side... so now they're the focus of his wrath.
Another thing that has always been a plus then DMing is involving the players' characters on a personal level. Each character has a background, so exploit it and use it to further the campaign. Give each character a little attention by allowing them to work out their own goals in side-quests that give them an arsenal to fight this god-like being whether it be powers, powerful items, or influential allies.
So far the realm looks pretty good.
Good list of interesting names.
Truthfully I'd fully write out an awesome history. I think the history of a realm makes for the best stories. If many of DnD's current settings didn't have such an intricate history they would merely be just a hodge-podge of worlds thrown together with minor differences.
It's great to get the players interested in discovering certain aspects of that history as well. In fact, get them into the campaign by making them believe that their presence will really be a factor in upcoming events that trace back to that history and allow them to be the next heros of that event. All these tips should be pretty obvious, but you'd be surprised how many games fail because the players start getting bored by not being a part of something bigger than an evil necromancer looking to take over a town. In the beginning just give them small hints that the times are changing, then work it up to the point where a god-like being is poised to rule the realm and the small tasks the players have been completing have been a thorn in his side... so now they're the focus of his wrath.
Another thing that has always been a plus then DMing is involving the players' characters on a personal level. Each character has a background, so exploit it and use it to further the campaign. Give each character a little attention by allowing them to work out their own goals in side-quests that give them an arsenal to fight this god-like being whether it be powers, powerful items, or influential allies.
So far the realm looks pretty good.
Thanks for the tips. I have some ideas for some more epic histories, but most of those are for later. I'm trying to keep it fairly simple for now.
The short version is that the BBEG is a dragonborn 'Bad Egg' who, at a young age, discovered he had the power to absorb the essence of recently slain dragons (only true dragons*).
Now, he could easily have turned this power to good, but he got a bit drunk on the power, went a bit wacko, and is now hunting down dragons in the region to steal their essence. Weirdly enough, this process almost guarantees the dragon in question will experience Elemental Diffusion.
As the PCs continue their Mercenary Post quests, they will begin to notice more and more elemental diffusion zones, many of which are quite recent. As they investigate, I'll slowly reveal more and more. Eventually (probably mid-paragon or so) I hope they will actually track this guy down.
*In fact, he was a small child living in the city mentioned above, and caused the dragon to go into elemental diffusion, though he didn't know it at the time.
I don't have any plans for the Epic BBEG yet, but Tiamat might be pretty ****** at them for killing her favorite up-and-coming warrior. Of course, it could always involve Arkosha/Bael Turath in some way.
The plot twist for later today is thus:
The spring harvest (Wheat and grain) from Nation 1 is being shipped to the Dwarven Fortress. Normally, the foodstuffs would be loaded on a ship and transported over seas, but there is a seriously major storm screwing up the regular shipping channels. For a region often called "Shipwrek Cove" this is a Bad Thing.
A local merchant guild is gambling that an overland shipment would actually be faster, under the circumstances. Assuming renting/buying wagons would be far, far cheaper, he is procuring a collection of Bags of Holding and wagons to transport them.
The catch is, I'm trying to figure out about how much foodstuf he is hauling, at least in a general sense.
For the record, here's the transit times:
Nation 1 Capitol => Nation 2 Capitol = 5 days (boat) or 25 days (overland)
Nation 2 Capitol => Dwarven Fortress = 11 days overland (6 days by boat but not possible)
backstory
OK, my players are escorting a merchant determened to get somewhere quickly, and have decided to take a "shortcut" through the wilderness. They are cutting crosscountry from Nation 1's capitol to Dwarven Fortress. Right now, they are traveling through a swamp, but up next is a combination of forest, mountains, and a river.
I have some ideas to make the river crossing... interesting, and forest monsters are plentiful in the MM1. I'd like to homebrew some Mountain Goats to team up with some Hippogriffs to welcome them.
OK, my players are escorting a merchant determened to get somewhere quickly, and have decided to take a "shortcut" through the wilderness. They are cutting crosscountry from Nation 1's capitol to Dwarven Fortress. Right now, they are traveling through a swamp, but up next is a combination of forest, mountains, and a river.
I have some ideas to make the river crossing... interesting, and forest monsters are plentiful in the MM1. I'd like to homebrew some Mountain Goats to team up with some Hippogriffs to welcome them.
Viking People- Vyrmosk
Dwarven Fortress- Duska Krak
Nation 1- Eijradun
Most fertile regions of Nation 1- Golden Hills
Nation 2- Aventar, its people known as the Aventi
Great River- The Ssa-Mere
The World- Ardune
The Continent- Arkhast
RPG Maker 2003. Ask Google, it should be free to download somewhere. ;)
I added the text and the red lines in photoshop though.
Just to let you know, RPG Maker 2003 is NOT free nor are any of the other RPG Makers (I have purchased both RPGM Maker VX and XP). Although, there is a 30 day free trial.
You sure they didn't make 03 free after the release of XP? Perhaps I stumbled upon a bootleg version or something... Weird. I don't even know where I downloaded it from, I just googled it. :/
I'm sure its not a trial version, as I've had it over a month and a half now, and it still works. I did download a trial version of XP, but the extra features it allows are irrelevant for mapmaking, so I haven't used it other than just to mess around.
Anyway, since this counts as a bump, does anyone have comments about the Mountain Goat encounter? I'm slowly adding names to places, so thanks for everyone's advice on that end as well.
Really?
You sure they didn't make 03 free after the release of XP? Perhaps I stumbled upon a bootleg version or something... Weird. I don't even know where I downloaded it from, I just googled it. :/
I'm sure its not a trial version, as I've had it over a month and a half now, and it still works. I did download a trial version of XP, but the extra features it allows are irrelevant for mapmaking, so I haven't used it other than just to mess around.
Anyway, since this counts as a bump, does anyone have comments about the Mountain Goat encounter? I'm slowly adding names to places, so thanks for everyone's advice on that end as well.
Enterbrain would never make anything free, except for the RTP. They are like Adobe in this matter. You must have a bootleg/hacked copy. Unless you downloaded it from the Enterbrain site, it is likely an illegal copy.