As I looked at the map I’m going to use, and thinking about the size of the earth, the task of world-building became very overwhelming (over-overwhelming?). I need to scale down, or suffer from starting shock. So, here are a couple ground rules …
- I’m only going to focus on one part of the map for now, and I am choosing the large landmass in the south east quadrant of the map. This is still a pretty large chunk of world, and it has lots of interesting features, not the least of which is a river that apparently splits in two. (It’s the river just above the center of this map.) Map Puritans, I don’t like it any more than you do, but that’s what the random generator gave me to work with, so that’s what I’m going to do.
- Next, each hex is going to be 60 miles, as that’s what the DMG suggests for continent-sized maps. This also gives some guidance about travel times, which I keep getting hung up on. Essentially, it takes about two and a half days to cross one of these hexes. I’m going to subdue my inner math geek this time, and not fret about side lengths, and east-west versus north-south distances. (It’s very hard for me to write that last sentence and move on. I’ll do my best.)
- Each day, I’m going to pick a category from the checklist in Worldbuilding Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 1, and write about some things from that category. Since I’m making this about D&D, some of the items won’t apply, but I’ll figure that out as I go.
- Finally, here are a few ideas that I’m thinking about working in …
- I like the idea of flying ships of some sort. I need to think about whether these are steampunkish balloons with gondolas, or ships made of magical floating wood, or something else.
- Floating islands are also intriguing, but do I really need more land masses to think about?
- I find gigantic statues of winged guardians and tower-sized swords in the ground to be pretty compelling, so perhaps I’ll work that in as well.
- I’ve had this idea of a moon breaking apart and falling to the ground, bringing magic with it. Wizards became a thing by studying some of the debris, while sorcerers get their start just by being too close to certain chunks. Also, the image of a permanent crescent moon in the sky, perhaps trailed in its orbit by smaller chunks looks pretty cool in my head.
- Elves are nomads, there’s a kingdom of gnolls ruled by a lamia, giants exist only in myths (for now), the main deity is a two-faced god of creation and destruction, no – elves are storytellers who live in circular communities …
Now I’m just brainstorming. I’ll add a few ideas to my notebook, and write about some of them in the coming days.
RPG Wandering 