Larchmere Yys Overview

Here is an overview of the Larchmere Yys region of Hyperborea in my AS&SH campaign; the article is intended to represent information readily available to player characters.

Larchmere Yys, this small frontier region between the immense Spiral Array Mountains and the swampy Dagon Bay, was settled roughly half a century ago by Apollonian pilgrims. The people of Larchmere Yys Village (population c. 300) are a peaceful folk; they grow crops, herd goats, and continue the worshiping of Apollo to this day. The settlement is surrounded by strong larch timber walls, and watchmen are stationed in towers in the northwest and southeast; they are especially wary of strangers since people started to disappear without a trace.

To the southeast lies a deadly swamp known as the Toad Bog, infested with giant frogs and aquatic hydras. It is said the swamp is cursed and those who die here come back from the dead to feast upon the living. Just outside the swamp at the coast lies another village, Pisko (population c. 150). The seemingly welcoming inhabitants of this recluse settlement are in fact Dagonites, who have sacrificed many men who were unfortunate enough to set foot there. Allegedly, there are numerous underground tunnels connecting the major buildings to an ancient temple complex. The oldest of these tunnels might even lead down to the seabed where the fish-people and their aboleth masters live in their alien cities.

The hills to the south are presumed to be burial mounds of long forgotten kings. Further south lies a deserted wasteland, mostly inhabited by purple worms. The only notable site there is the Horrid Crater, where the infamous Witch of the Barrens lairs, whose prophetic powers are sought by many daring - and oft desperate - individuals.

To the west one finds the Spider Grove, a source of excellent timber in the region; also, giant spiders. Betwixt the forest and the great Lake of Mists stands a small community of all sorts of eccentric individuals; travellers, pilgrims, brigands, and hunstmen, these men of the road have finally found peace in their lives. Velmar (population c. 200) has an aura of unearthly languor as the inhabitants seemingly ignore the outside world and live only for the pleasures of the flesh.

To the northwest lies the Crystal Lake, whose waters are famous for their restorative powers. The lake is guarded by a vicious naga, who is known to be a collector of arcane curiosities. Further upriver stands the small Esquimaux village of Noatak (population c. 150). The people of Larchmere Yys have good trading relations with the Esquimaux; the ultimate goal is to convert them to the faith of Apollo.

Campaign Pitch - Black Metal Marsh

Labelled in my notes as Black Metal Marsh, I present you this short background of the setting. No doubt it was inspired by the pitch of Rafael Chandler's new game (although when I read it first somewhere else only the short version was available). The original idea was to use Robert Conley's Blackmarsh as its basis; now I'm not sure if I will follow through with it (nevertheless, I haven't found a suitable alternate name yet).

It was believed that the world always existed and was never changing, for nothing could ever exist without Law and Order. Angels of the World Above served the incredible power that is the Operator and watched over mankind, inhabitants of the World Below, with ever vigilant eyes. None would have suspected that it be one among them who would betray the very foundation of the known universe.

Ledsabbath, an angel of the highest rank, found the never changing notes of the divine choir boring and the mortal crowds' uniformity pathetic; he wanted something that was never conceived before, something new.

Campaign Settings: Underworld, Hell, and Afterlife

There has been a similar post to this on Grognardia (part one and part two) detailing interesting and unusual settings developed for D&D-esque campaigns. In this short post, I intend to do the same. Each of the following settings deals with the underworld, Hell, or the afterlife to some degree. Take it as expressing my greatest admiration to the creators of these wonderful settings. Enjoy!

40k and D&D - A General Overview

Warhammer - I am mostly talking about 40k here - fascinates me; the setting has some crazy great ideas and the artwork is superb and very inspiring. It has two major flaws that oft hold me back from playing it, though: (1) the official system is baroquely complex for my style, and (2) the setting, if logically followed through, excludes D&D-style adventuring altogether. With this post (and probably with a couple more) I intend to get over the problems (admittedly, both can easily be solved) and create the means of adventuring in a setting (reminiscent) of Warhammer 40k.

Twisted Demi-Humans - Dwarves

Dwarves; we all know them well: short, stout, bearded folk of the underground, excellent warriors and miners, oft with values strongly associated with those of the romanticised vikings. Although this is a picture we can all relate to and it bears the advantage of ease introducing the concept to newcomers, it gets old and boring with time.

There have been many excellent variants geared toward making them more interesting (e.g. ASE, Red Tide, Devil's in the Details, etc.); hopefully, the compilation of ideas below may be useful for some people and live up to the standards set forth by the aforementioned examples.

What makes a setting work for D&D?

A while back on Dreams in the Lich House, there was a couple of posts (here and here) regarding what makes a D&D setting good in terms of playability. Although there was some disagreement over which elements count as core and essential to the game, no one has offered a better treatment yet (regardless of what exactly "better" is supposed to mean in this context).

Assuming there exist a number of criteria which absolutely have to be satisfied, we can find the core elements of a D&D setting by analysing how adventures are generally set up, what elements they include (locations, items, etc.), and how they relate to the player characters' actions.

HCC1 - Valley of the Hawks

Note: This is a reposting of a review from Dragonsfoot with minor editing.

The Valley of the Hawks is only but the first instalment of the Hex Crawl Chronicles, a series describing different sub-settings (based on certain North American areas, according to the author). It is published by Frog God Games and written by John M. Stater (of whose NOD magazine both Melan and Bryce Lynch wrote a review). It uses the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules, but can be used with any old school D&D-esque system (for those who are interested: a Pathfinder version is also available).