The Campaign Builder's Guild

Raelifin I love the map! Did you create it in photoshop? The land texture just seems to fit perfectly what did you use?

I've slowly been working on flushing out my Afterworld Map, however its been slow work because I've been having to build up the existing Empires and everything before the invasion, then translate that onto a map that shows what is currently known about the condition of the world.


All the map currently consists of is a rough sketch scanned in and a few photoshop elements tossed on top, it is only a rough WIP.

 AFTERWORLD MAP

- Dashed lines are Nation borders
- Orange Dots are remaining cities/towns and the yellow surrounding them is to give an idea of what area they patrol/protect. These points of civilization are points of the lights in the darkness that has consumed the world.
- Purplesque/Blue squigglies and brown cross hatched areas are rough ideas for locations of lakes/rivers
- The underlayed black thick lines are Leylines that run under the world
- Brown stuff is the mountain ranges
- Purple Filled Shaded areas are current locations known/expected to house the remnants of the invading armies

Well Xapn, My girl and I will be in Anaheim for Blizzcon in October, I don't know if we are going to be in town much longer than the conference, but at the very least, if you are interested, I'd be up for meeting you somewhere around there for dinner one night :)

A rough encounter story, written to show how a Lantern Bearer (someone who hunts down Shadow creatures in my campaign Setting Afterworld) might potentially encounter one of these shadows, and how he would fight then.

Lantern:
The leaves slowly drifted past the lone mans face as he silently treaded through the rapidly darkening autumn forest, carrying only his long staff adorned with a burning lantern. All around him the cascading colors of leaves provided a carpet as he paused to glance up from under his long cowl. In front of him stood a dark figure that seemed to be there one instant, then simply gone the next. A shadow is simply what most people called them, but he knew each of there names, each of their weaknesses, the shadows were his prey, and it was for this particular shadow that he was now a good six days travel from any form of inhabited civilization.

They stood facing each other for a good half an hour as the light slowly faded, and it wasn't until the sun winked it's final goodbye as it crossed over the horizon that both creatures erupted into action.  The apparition seemed to disappear among the deep shadows that the forest cast as it charged forward, only visible for moments as it crossed between the patches where, what light remained, spilled through the overhead branches.  The man held his course till the creature was almost upon him, then with inhuman speed he flung open his deep cloak and drew forth a long curved sword that shone with the brightness and intensity of the sun.

Holding the sword before him, the creature stumbled and fell amid screams of anguish as the light pierced into it's very being. "Begone spawn of Shadow! This world is not yours!" Screamed the man, whose cowl had been flung back, uncovering his face as he drew his sword. The shadowed creature, despite its howls of pain, frantically dragged itself away from the light. Slowly the man followed the creature, hoping to allow it to feel at least a part of the pain it had inflicted upon the sixty eight men, women and children whom it had slaughtered as they were attending a night sermon in prayer for the rain that their crops so desperately needed.

A full twenty minutes the man followed the creature, listening contently to it's screams of pain, it's body pock marked by the light that shown from his sword, until he finally took pity on it.  Bringing forth his lantern, he pointed the hooded opening at the shadowy aberration, and with a whispered command it flared ten times brighter than the sun, a burning beam of light so bright that literally dissolved the creature, leaving the nothing but the shadows of the trees dancing over head. The man sighed, the creature was stronger than he had expected, and the amount of power he had ended up requiring to destroy it had completely drained his lantern of power, leaving it dimmer than a glowing ember.  It would be a full three days before it had fully recharged, and he prayed to whomever was willing to listen that his display tonight would be enough to ward off anything else that may be stalking this forest until then.

Alright, so I've been playing around with the idea of creating a campaign setting based off an ancient hightech society that has fallen into decline and thus resorted to a medieval ages technology level. However, several groups of people still retain knowledge of the past, and technology from that time period still exists around the world as "Artifacts of God" and the like. Most of the basics are just another campaign setting, however the big issue I am running into is that the players will always know far more than their characters.

The characters should act and believe they are in a medieval like world with no knowledge of the ancient civilization that the are descended from. yet players (no matter how much you try to keep it form them) will generally have a pretty good idea of the world and it's history before they start playing, and if they don't, they will certainly know if you ever try to run another campaign there again.

Now, I know many people who would never have an issue with this and play their characters exactly as they should. However, I also know just as many, if not more, people who would find this exceptionally hard to do.

So, the question is, what are your thoughts/feelings on the idea of not sharing setting information with your players and ways to do it, As well as what are your thoughts on role playing this sort of campaign? How do you think people would handle it?

Thanks!

While I know I've offered to help some of you with maps, I just wanted to make a post to show off some of my past works for anyone interested. As even the web versions of the maps can be larger,  Visit This Web Page  to view them all.   If you are interested in having me help out with a map or create one for you, reply to this thread or shoot me an email/pm.

I've also got a bunch of work to do :) I've pre-ordered my books (save over $30 on amazon if you buy them all together), and have been using  DND4.com's PHB to begin adjusting many of the races to my new world Afterworld.

I'm ripping apart the Dragon born and Tieflings, creating my own history and background for them, and I will probably be adjusting much of the other core races as well. Only another month or so! :)

Updated the Afterworld Wiki with a new Location of Note   The Roost

I've hosted the map I am beginning to work on for Afterworld. It's a bigin, but take a look at the link and let me know what you think!

 AFTERWORLD MAP

-So far only the mountains have been placed on the computer, more to come soon.
-Black Lines are leylines.

Hey Xapn, I will help on the climatology stuff the best I can :). First off do you think you could post up what you've got so far so I can take a look at it? generally I use a a real transparent layer in photo shop and differing colors to due a rough sketch of where I want my climate zones, then once my mountains and rivers, etc start being placed, I can go back and adjust those layers as I see fit.  

One thing you need to decide is your ocean currents. All ocean currents have a natural tendency to go in a big circle as the cold water sinks to the bottom as it passes the poles and then warms up and rises as it passes the equator.  This will affect the climate zones depending on what side of the current your on.

I assume the black on your map is mountains? Hope this helps! and like I said upload any ideas you've got for your climates and We'll see where to go from there. :)

Alright, while I prefer a more artistic style of mapping than what you are doing, I understand the reasoning behind wanting it to be proportionally accurate for what you are doing ^_^.

Now other than that ;), the map is looking really good (I did notice one of your islands to the west is drawn with a larger brush size than the rest of the map though). Some of the things that determines Biomes is the rotation of the world, the orientation of it's axis, and the distance to your planets sun. Have you thought any about that? because depending on those three conditions, it will wildly affect not only your planets Biomes, but the seasons as well :P  

Let me know and I'll try to help you out :)

Just added a section to the Wiki on Notable Locations around the world. One that I have been working on for a while though is called Trials of Auinaeth. I have reposted what I have wrote on the Wiki here, and was looking for some opinions/ideas.

Trials of Auinaeth

    * Located in the City of Del'san, in the Central Plains.

    * While not one of the largest cities on the continent, it has some of the best smiths and craftsmen in the world residing within it's walls.

    * Huge Temple like structure. Contains tavern, meeting rooms, training rooms, as well as the Entrance and Exit to the Trails of Auinaeth.

          *** Tavern: Rooms for over 200 people, with several sectioned and varying styles of bars and restaurants. People who have completed parts of the maze can be found flaunting their accomplishments regularly throughout the bars, and for a few drinks, many are willing to give newcomers a few hints about what they will encounter.

          *** Meeting Rooms: Meeting rooms of all sizes and can be rents from the tavern for low prices. Tipping the tavern will often get free drinks brought to your room.

          *** Training Rooms: Magically enchanted rooms built to allow people to test their skills and train before entering the Trials. They will provide a challenging, but short encounter for adventurers. See John in Tavern for more details and booking information.

The Trials of Auinaeth:

    * The Entrance:
          *** The Entrance to the Trials is located on the front side of the temple, and consists of a massive stone arch reaching well over sixty feet high, flanked on either side by two giant stone statues; One of a Man in full plate crossing his sword with a staff held by a man in flowing robes on the other side.

          *** As you walk towards the arch from the massive town square in front of it, your path is lined by 12 Slaughterstone Eviscerator, 6 on each side, and right before you reach the massive statues, are 4 Slaughterstone Behemoths, 2 on each side. The Constructs are empowered by the maze and given a limited intelligence/telepathic powers. If they feel you are not worthy/ready to enter the maze, you find you mind bombarded with laughter and taunting in an attempt to sway your choice.

          *** The only other thing that stands between you and the door is a small mutt that lies in front of the gate. It has been there for as long as anyone can remember and a rumor has spread that if you feed the dog on your way in to the Trials, it will bring you good luck. Many people claim that the dog is able to tell if you are truly ready to enter the maze or not, and stories are told of it leading people away from the gate.

          *** As you pass through the arch, you enter a tunnel that rapidly diminishes in size till it is no taller than 15' and no wider than 10'. To outsiders the party/persons that entered rapidly seem to fade from view. About 100 feet down the tunnel you find a single obsidian pedestal that holds a large tome upon all who enter must write their names. This is also you last chance to back out of the Trails of Auinaeth. Another 100 feet down and you may not leave until you have passed the first tier of trials (assuming you live), to you, the tunnel through which you just came appears to be a solid wall, immune to any attacks or attempts at penetration.

          *** The entrance is only guarded by:

                ***** Slaughterstone Eviscerator: Six squat, powerful legs support this stone automaton's thick, insectoid body, which is wider and lower to the ground than a horse's. The creature's stable bulk supports four serrated blade-arms that are able to whirl around with vicious speed.

                ***** Slaughterstone Behemoth: This massive automaton resembles a six-legged stone cat. Four huge, hammerlike arms jut from its front two pairs of shoulders, and it has a low, squat build.

    * Inside the Trials:

          *** The Trials of Auinaeth was constructed by a wizard by the name of Auinaeth over a 800 years ago. It was made to test the limits of peoples skills who entered it and while commissioned by the king of the state, became and obsession of perfection for Auinaeth. For most of his life, Auinaeth worked to improve his tests, and eventually gave the construct a sentience of it's own to adjust the contents to better suit the people entering it. Over time it became smarter and smarter, but lacked true intelligence and the power to fully manipulate the environment inside of itself, and so upon his deathbed, Auinaeth had his mind melded with his creation's so he could continue his work eternally. 750 years later (give or take a few) the creation, now called the Trials of Auineath, has reached a level of power and knowledge from those who have passed through it to be considered of demigod status by many. In fact it may be even more powerful than that, seeing as it has actually constructed another plane of existence for itself, so that it can better modify the environment inside of itself better.

          *** It draws its power from the magic that seeps from the intersection of leylines beneath the city.

          *** The environment within the trials depends on where you are, sometimes it is a labyrinth like design, other times open fields or forests.

          *** Consists of nine tiers of Trials, each progressively harder.

          *** The Trial will spawn new creatures as necessary to keep the trials well populated and at a stable level of difficulty.

          *** Once you have entered the Trials, you may only leave at the end of one of the tiers. Once you have completed a tier, when you re-enter the trials, you may choose to enter at any of the towns whose trials you have passed. The ninth layer has no town at the end of it's trial, however once you have completed the ninth layer, you may re-enter the trials at any location you choose.

          *** All that is known about the Ninth Trial is that there is a tome that rests at the end of the trial for those who have completed it to write their names in. Past this, no information has been disclosed by those who have completed it. Many speculate that the challenges faced in the Ninth Trial are so trying that the prestige of completing the trial means little to those who pass it, as those who emerge speak little of what occurred in side, and never seek recognition or fame for their achievements.

          *** After a tier of trials is completed, a thin black band appears on the upper arm, one for each tier completed. These bands are like tattoos, however they cannot be removed and any attempt to cover them up with other tattoos or markings fade within a day.

                **** Anyone found to have placed fake rings on their upper arm, is magically tattooed with 9 lines across the forehead and exiled form the city. However, people who have falsely boasted of having passed the ninth trial have been known to disappear and never be heard from again.

                ***** The towns located at the end of each trial are largely self sufficient and have a commerce of their own as people pass through from one trial to another, seeking to resupply or sell items they found on the way. The towns at the end of each trial are located in a large field area, at least one mile square and is filled with farmland to supply its inhabitants with food. Most of the towns consist of a wooden stockade and all the basic shops along with an Inn or two. The higher the trial you progress to, the smaller the towns get, until eventually at the end of the 8th trial, all the town consists of is a small Inn.


During the Invasion:

    * During invasion the city would only fight to protect itself, however it did not discriminate against anyone seeking to enter the trials. As of such many creature from the invasion still reside in the city, training and seeking to enter the Trials.

    * While attacked several times during the war, and hit hard by the plague, the city held on, one of the few places that was able to wether the storm. This was largely due to the constant influx of adventurers who sought out the Trials located within the city. These adventurers supplied the city with a well trained defensive force and the leaders to tactically guide them. Only when two Dark Energons were brought to bear on the city, did the invading army breach the walls. From there, a small elite force slipped through the defense in a dash to the city center. As adventurers streamed out of the temple to defend the Trial Gateway, the constructs guarding it's entrance exploded into a frenzy of killing, decimating the attacking force within minutes. Very few people noticed that through the whole fight, the mutt that lay under the archway simply watched on, only standing up to growl when one of the invaders came within 15 feet of the entrance. An attack was not attempted on the city again.

Thanks guys :)  and Ish, being able to subscribe to wiki categories sounds amazing :D  I'll have to make sure all my pages have categories associated with them now ^^

Alrighty, So since it seems most commenting/reviewing is moving towards the Wiki (which I love ^_^), I wanted to see how different people are handling these discussions.

On my wiki I have created a Title block for my discussion page to let people know it's ok and encourage people to post Ideas/Comments under the Discussion tab. The following is a link to my campaign Afterworld's Discussion page. Help yourself to the title block and modify as needed!

So what about you guys? Still relying on discussion threads in the forums? or are you all for the Wiki revolution? And if you are using the Wiki, are you using the discussion pages or putting notes directly on the pages?


:) Thanks!

4/30 - 11:56:Updated the Cosmology Page, and Placed links on the Main Afterworld site near to the top of the site for easier access. Currently working on a navigation bar, but it is not turning out the way I want it to.

More updates coming soon!