Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > The Fantasy Trip

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-05-2018, 11:34 AM   #31
RVA_Grandpa
 
RVA_Grandpa's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Richmond, VA, USA
Default Re: Duchy of Dran

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cas Liber View Post
Podliforku
A ramshackle town/port with a notorious reputation for piracy, Podliforku has little in the way of local government apart from a local Mafia-type Thieves' Guild which employs most of the pirates. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of money and black market goods in this town, which attracts merchants and dwarves from all around. However no merchant admits to dealing with folk in this city.
When I found this information, (not just Podliforku, but the whole gazetteer) I combined it with Steve's original descriptions. I'm anxious to see how it all melds together in the updated materials. Then again it might not.

- RVA_Grandpa
(RVA by the way is Richmond, Virginia)
RVA_Grandpa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-08-2018, 07:34 AM   #32
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Duchy of Dran

I wonder what makes sense to do with Dran & Elyntia, and what makes sense for me (who made about 50 similar maps of campaign connected all around it, a big point and fun aspect of play being that players needed to discover it for themselves during play rather than just reading about it in a published book) to share about my own version of it.

It occurs to me it might be good to leave a lot of blanks, as it has had all these years, for people to fill in.

On the other hand, maybe having at least one official published well-fleshed out campaign world example would be invaluable for all the people without the time/inclination/skills to do so. Maybe seeing what some other players did with it would also be useful or at least inspiring (even if just seeing what a kid like me did at 11 years old - some of my strongest motivations to create game stuff have come from seeing what others did and that I would do it differently).
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPaulB View Post
...
Elyntia Kingdom
  • Duchy of Dran
  • Duchy of Bolors
  • Duchy of Deseret
  • Duchy of Kel
Former Kingdom of Tanander

There seems like several more Elyntia Duchies should be north and west of the map. And what is the capital of Elyntia?

What is happening in Tanander right now?

What size is that water mass that Tro is next to?
In my campaign, Elyntia extended a little bit east and west and a lot more north, with a few other duchies, a barony, a royal province and a very large capitol 2-3 maps north of the Dran map. Then there were quite a few other countries and wilderness areas in various directions, including a nation about the same size of Elyntia, but separated by smaller nation-states.

My Tanander had a belt of sparse disorganized people south of Elyntia in and near the southern Huldre Forest, and then several small fractured states (that had been part of Tanander) to the south of that, which had some wars and resulting "regime changes" during the campaign. I also had a whole semi-secret history about what had happened and where some of the old people from Tanander had gone, which the players never discovered. :-)
Skarg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-08-2018, 08:19 AM   #33
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Duchy of Dran

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jackson View Post
... I have no idea how much water Tro is on, but it's big enough to support commerce because Podliforku supports pirates. But it's probably not beg enough to support a major naval power because Podliforku has not been burned to the ground. Or maybe it has, and recovered?
In my campaign, it was a large ocean called the Ardonoles Ocean, which extended farther than I ever mapped, to the east and south. The Duchy of Bolors and the Duchy of Nerit to the north of it both had smallish navies of galleys with rams and catapults (I used the Ramspeed rules to resolve naval combats). There were quite a few other nations mostly with similar navies or smaller along the coasts in either direction, but there was not a lot of naval warfare.

Players did sometimes question the existence of a known pirate base at Podliforki (the name I used for it since that's what the map seemed to show - I thought Podliforku was
a typo). The players never really investigated to see what was up, but there were several contradictory rumor-level explanations:

* The Duke of Dran is unconcerned with the pirates, preoccupied with events on land, and doesn't consider the pirates worthy of prosecution by his army or navy, and/or perhaps not his people's direct responsibility or concern.

* The Duke of Dran, and/or his local delegate the admiral and/or mayor of Tro, have some covert mutually-beneficial arrangement with the pirates in Podliforki.

* The pirates in Podliforki have been clever enough to evade whatever prosecution attempts there have been, and/or have some sort of informants that have warned them.

* Podliforki generally seems to be a small fishing village and no one credible has ever said they've actually seen the reputed pirates there.

* In any case, Podliforku is so small that there can't be too many pirates based there.

* The pirates actually aren't based there.

* The pirates are actually Elyntian privateers or special forces.

* The pirates are some other sort of private sea adventurers, and have never been caught pirating anyone.

* Podliforku just doesn't or wouldn't turn away pirates, but there aren't any with any roots there. There are some pirates in the Ardonoles Ocean, and they've sometimes come to Podliforku, but that's about it.
Skarg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-09-2018, 10:22 AM   #34
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Duchy of Dran

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cas Liber View Post
Newdelve: Established after Rubydelve became a battleground, Newdelve is primarily a dwarvish city with a moderate number of gnomes ... Spells: [B]summon giant badger, ...
What are gnomes and giant badgers?
Skarg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-09-2018, 10:33 AM   #35
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Duchy of Dran

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPaulB View Post
This is an attempt to classify establishments rating with symbols.
Interesting.


Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPaulB View Post
Does TFT already have something to rate these?
No.


Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPaulB View Post
What system do you use to for the GameMaster to rate the establishment?
Usually English adjectives & phrases.


Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPaulB View Post
Michelin stars are a rating system used by the red Michelin Guide to grade restaurants on their quality. ... According to the Guide, one star signifies "a very good restaurant", two stars are "excellent cooking that is worth a detour", and three stars mean "exceptional cuisine that is worth a special journey". - Wikipedia

But then you need to rate the lower levels too.

Would something like this work?
I think I might prefer two types of rating - one for positive qualities, like Michelin, and the other for various types of problems.

The quality rating I would probably drop one star or so compared to Michelin, but not as far as your example where two stars is still poor & problematic. I'd want a little more grain than your tables have. Also I think the "normal" expectations bar would vary by culture.
Skarg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2018, 01:02 PM   #36
Steve Jackson
President and EIC
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Default Re: Duchy of Dran

I like those alternate explanations for the Pirates of Podliforku.

They also could be innocent fisherfolk who have been the target of disinformation by the real (state-sponsored) pirates, and are too naive to successfully improve their image. After all, few fishing villages have a Chamber of Commerce. In that case they'd probably really be the most pirate-free place on the whole coast, with indignant fisherman ratting out any strange vessel to the Duke's well-known local agent.
Steve Jackson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-11-2018, 07:27 AM   #37
Terquem
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Idaho Falls
Default Re: Duchy of Dran

I don't know why but this reminds me of Sorrento, Italy
Terquem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-13-2018, 08:18 PM   #38
JohnPaulB
 
JohnPaulB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Portland, Maine
Default Re: Duchy of Dran Map

Quote:
Originally Posted by kbs666 View Post
Assume most families lives where they work. Family size would average 5, might be higher or lower but something like that. So a town of 2000 would need slightly less than 400 buildings of all types. There would obviously be some larger structure that employ more than one family and there would be structure that serve as only dwellings, often multi family dwellings but some would be single family dwellings for the upper class.


That would likely work out still to something like 400 buildings.
Thanks, I'll use that as a rough guideline.

With the beautiful rendering of the Duchy of Dran and Bendwyn maps, are the hexes still 12.5 kilometers and 20 meters respectively?
__________________
- Hail Melee

Fantasy Chess: A chess game with combat.
Don't just take the square, Fight for it!
https://www.shadowhex.com
JohnPaulB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-13-2018, 08:55 PM   #39
Terquem
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Idaho Falls
Default Re: Duchy of Dran Map

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPaulB View Post
Thanks, I'll use that as a rough guideline.

With the beautiful rendering of the Duchy of Dran and Bendwyn maps, are the hexes still 12.5 kilometers and 20 meters respectively?
Shhhhs, you'll get that one guy all spun up about "map scales" again
Terquem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-13-2018, 09:13 PM   #40
larsdangly
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Default Re: Duchy of Dran

Map scales!!!!!
larsdangly is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:47 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.