Example Setting

Theme

  • Low-magic (magic is known but rarely understood).
  • Technology is 13th or 14th century (gunpowder, longbows, some agricultural innovations, pre-printing press).
  • Religion exists, but is murky and unprovable. Deities do not necessarily walk the lands, though some believe they do.
  • PCs are Human-only, and are neutral towards the centers of power.
  • Names & proper nouns are largely plain English. Themes are inspired by the British Isles, Germany, and Eastern Europe.

Domain Scale

  • Small: One Province under a single ruler (The Potentate).

Terrain

The results of the die rolls are below. Items in bold represent the chosen terrain.

Terrain Types

  1. Oasis
  2. Forests
  3. Cliffs
  4. Cliffs
  5. Beaches
  6. Sea
  7. Hills
  8. Sea
  9. Swamp
  10. Wasteland
  11. Caverns

Details

Details Table Results

  1. Heart: Stronghold: Seat of government
  2. Special: Unusual gravity
  3. Hazard: Permanent fog
  4. Ruins: Abandoned settlement
  5. Landmark: Glimmering cave
  6. Special: Trash heap
  7. Lair: Faction hideout
  8. Settlement: Prison, factionally divided
  9. Special: Home of the folk witches
  10. Lair: Faction hideout
  11. Lair: Hidden burrow

Names

  1. Hope Landing
  2. The Drifting Wood
  3. The Murk
  4. Dead Margin
  5. Swift Mines
  6. Slag Harbor
  7. Lord’s Blanket
  8. Whisperbox Isle
  9. Hexmire
  10. Fria’s Promise
  11. The Skunkholes

Province: Whitefort

Whitefort, after its “founding” by the great ancestor of the Earl of White. The (now dead) locals referred to it as The Ramparts, but that name is long forgotten. In the Spring the weather is cold and rainy, in the Summer it is hot and humid, in the Fall it is cool and rainy, and in the Winter it is freezing and hailing. The Heart of the Province is Hope Landing. Built around a large font of water in an otherwise brackish land, and originally acted as a hub for future explorers and pioneers travelling throughout the region. After years of stymied exploration in the wastelands to the West, folks eventually settled in the capital city. The current ruling Faction (The Potentate) makes the city its center of government, while The Will hides in the abandoned town of Dead Margin on the cliffs to the Southwest.

Factions

The Potentate (Government)

  • Base: Hope’s Landing.

    Advantages

  • Anonymity: The ruling council speaks only through an anointed subject, The Whisper.
  • Knowledge: There is little the Potentate’s ubiquitous spies do not know.
  • Authority: As the ruling faction over the Province, detachments of soldiers can be summoned from the villages very quickly.
  • Seneschals: The Whisper, stats as banshee, and Lord Alexey, stas as buccaneer.
  • Agenda: Maintain the stability of the realm by crushing rising threats from other factions.
    • Deploy newly-garrisoned troops to all roads leading into the Capital, to uncover enemies of the realm through torture and force.
    • Crush the The Will and any other enemies threatening the realm.
  • Obstacle: Opposition. The Will directly defies the rule of law.

Earl of White (Noble)

  • Base: Hope’s Landing.

    Advantages

  • Fealty of the plains villages and their farms (as detachment, stats as Bandits).
  • Resources: The White family has control of significant food stores.
  • Seneschal: Personal Chamberlain, stats as Brigand.
  • Agenda: Increase his own wealth by eliminating Lord Alexy.
    • Promise this season’s crop-yield to the Under-folk. In exchange they will raid nearby villages.
    • Bait & assassinate Lord Alexey, whose family owns the Swift Mines.
    • Marry the widow Alexey and inherit the mines, or buy them at a steep discount.
  • Obstacle: Cloak & Dagger. If the Earl’s plans are discovered, there will be nowhere he can hide.

The Under-folk (Commoner)

  • Base: The caverns at The Skunkholes.

    Advantages

  • Population: 2d10+10 ratlike Under-folk, stats as Kobold.
  • Apparatus: The God-thumb, which provides warmth and safety for the colony.
  • Seneschal: Ka-ro, stats as Ettin.
  • Agenda: Protect the God-thumb at all costs, and find new sources of food for the coming winter.
    • Ally with the Earl of White for his food stores, so long as it is convenient.
    • Find an independent food store that they may control.
  • Obstacle: Dog Eat Dog. Other Factions want the God-thumb as well.

The Will (Arcane)

  • Base: Dead Margin (see below). Remnants in Fria’s Promise.

    Advantages

  • Population: 2d10+10 Acolytes.
  • Position: The Springhouse, an abandoned keep in Dead Margin, once used by ancestors of the Earl of White to imprison and torture their political enemies. It is well-fortified and contains a small complex of jails beneath it.
  • Seneschal: Arjen Vol Sonn, stats as Lich.
  • Agenda: Acquire the God-thumb, and use it to restore Fria The Empty, then rule the Provinces.
    • Send spies throughout the Provinces in search of the God-thumb. Steal it.
    • Command the Under-folk to overwhelm the capital and distract the Potentate.
    • Take the God-thumb to Hexmire and bathe it in the Font of Regret.
  • Obstacle: Consequences are Dire. The Potentate will find and kill them all.

Map Result

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