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As I told you last week, I decided to write an awful fantasy novel for National Novel Writing Month. So far I’ve written right around the 1667 words per day needed to finish in 30 days and I feel good about finishing on time. My original plan was to build the world as I went, but I got to a point last week where I had to at least come up with some basics, so now I’ve got a spiral notebook and a map, so shit just got serious. Since lots of gaming blogs describe crappy fantasy worlds, I’m going to do that here this week.
For the map, I decided to use Campaign Cartographer, which I’ve had for a while now but never actually used before. I remembered why when I opened it and tried making the map. The program has weird controls that are really counter-intuitive and hard to figure out. After spending about an hour with the help file and lots of false starts, I think I’m finally starting to get the hang of it. The map is below, but it’s not very detailed because I’m not doing any more world building than I have to, so things don’t get added to the map until they show up in the text.
Most of the established detail about the world deals with Omaria, where the story is set. Most of the other kingdoms are just a name at this point, but here are the brief descriptions of the points of interest I know something about:
Ravenshire: Is where our story begins, and is a mid-sized town. It’s the base of operations for Gwar Dragonsword and Lug Ramsbane and the home of The Fisted Faun inn, best known for the spiced pork made by its proprietor, Olard Chubwit. The Captain of the Guard in Ravenshire is Heafstagg Swinekill.
The Foreboding Forest: This is where Maltar Dio, the Green Wizard, lives. It’s also where Dave’s wandering around lost and stupid.
King’s Rest: This is the capital where Cas’andra Bloodstone grew up and studied at the Academy of Black Arts. It’s also where Dezep Tor, as a member of the Night Guard, is based.
Harm’s Way: Is a tiny village at the edge of the forest. It’s main claim to fame is the monastery of the Purple Sages (worshipers of Parfrey the Lorekeeper) located there. It’s the home of Elrith Starbreeze and the current destination of the main party.
Wintershire: Is the city where the Winter Palace (which is lovely in the fall) is located. The party will be going there after Harm’s Way.
Umbra: This is the land where the fnorcs live. It’s all evil and shit. The warlords there take the title “Grim.”
Bittertea: Dezep Tor claims to be originally from there, and 25 years ago it was brutally attacked to Grim Kargoth.
The Dragon Lands: This was the T’barri Empire until it was destroyed in the wars started by The Bastard King (right before the dragons went away). With the Empire destroyed, the T’barri became wanderers. The buried city is where ArchGrim Slaine Doomfists’ fnorcs have set up a camp and seem to be looking for something, possibly one of the Dragonswords.
Callipygia: This is where the barbarians live, and where Lug hails from. They worship Mighty Thule, who rules in Vanhallen.
Here’s the basic history (copied from my notes):
- Four Kingdoms (Omaria, Syadasti, Malclypsia, Zarathud) form alliance with dragons, forge Dragon Swords
- King Aslan Dragonsword I (formerly Prince Valentine of Omaria): Unites Kingdoms under Dragonsword Throne
- 500 Years of Peace
- King Zodak Dragonsword (The Bastard King) usurps throne through treachery, wages war on everybody
- Four kingdoms splinter, dragons leave, T’barri empire destroyed
- Age of Disorder
We also know that there were five dragon clans and that wizards divide themselves into four Orders (Gold, Green, Blue, and Red).
And in case you’re wondering: Yes, most of the character names are from the Qerth Random Name Generator. Some of you might also notice a recurring theme with some of the place names, particularly the kingdoms.
