Dungeon Fantasy - Castle Defiant

[benz72]

An increased mana level will set you up for a Megalen invasion at some point.

You need bodies of water... the castle and those who farm to keep it fed are getting their water from some river or another... that is probably a good thing to put on the map

Known roads would be another good feature to add.

If there are any political boundaries of relevance that do not match terrain (or even if they do) that might be a good thing to note. E.g. when do they pass from the Barony of X into the territory overseen by the Sheriff of Y?

[Carnifex]

Originally Posted by benz72

An increased mana level will set you up for a Megalen invasion at some point.

You bring up an interesting point. I would think the distances involved would be some protection, this and the mountains, desert and djinn's are probably what has kept the area isolated to this point.

You need bodies of water... the castle and those who farm to keep it fed are getting their water from some river or another... that is probably a good thing to put on the map

Known roads would be another good feature to add.

Another good point, while there are none marked on the larger maps, that does not mean there are not smaller bodies of water that would be on a smaller scale map like this one. With the swap just 30 miles north, it makes sense that there is something feeding it.

As for the roads, I would think there would be at least one major road leading back to Caithness if nothing else. Other roads would depend on how far from the castle the human populations are settling.

If there are any political boundaries of relevance that do not match terrain (or even if they do) that might be a good thing to note. E.g. when do they pass from the Barony of X into the territory overseen by the Sheriff of Y?

At this point, I am thinking none, as this is an isolated holding hundreds of miles from Caithness proper. Although crossing the swamp probably puts one squarely into Bulgaren's territory.

[Carnifex]

I finally got a bit of time and updated the map with a large body of water in the swamp and a river moving south through the area of the castle. I did not add any roads, my thinking at this point is most of the human population is going to be very close to the castle for protection. Although I am considering marking a trade route with Caithness.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Carnifex

I finally got a bit of time and updated the map with a large body of water in the swamp and a river moving south through the area of the castle. I did not add any roads, my thinking at this point is most of the human population is going to be very close to the castle for protection. Although I am considering marking a trade route with Caithness.

Placing a fortification of some sort that has grown into a castle over time on a trade route between two locations makes a lot of sense. Originally, the fort/castle was constructed to help protect travelers and trade caravans; over time, the castle itself and the town that grew around it became a center for trade.

Just my thoughts on how this place would have started and grown over time.

[Proteus]

I checked GURPS Banestorm and it describes a complete orcish overrun of Castle Defiant and the rest of the Caithness enclave. So this campaign uses either a historical setting, a variant, or one that requires some exciting updates in the world's recent history....

[Carnifex]

Originally Posted by Proteus

I checked GURPS Banestorm and it describes a complete orcish overrun of Castle Defiant and the rest of the Caithness enclave. So this campaign uses either a historical setting, a variant, or one that requires some exciting updates in the world's recent history....

Banestorm's history is complete up to 2004 or 2005, that was 11 years ago. The basis of my idea is the Caithness civil war is over and has retaken Castle Defiant, the area has now become a new frontier ripe for exploitation by roaming bands of murder hobo....er I mean adventurers. The holding has probably been reestablished for not more than year or two.

As I said in the beginning, this is meant to be a sandbox, a place to host the tavern where every adventure begins. The recent history is not that important, in fact leaving the castle in Bulgaren’s hands and making the area an Outlaw Haven might be more fun.

[Rigil_Kent]

Originally Posted by Carnifex

Banestorm's history is complete up to 2004 or 2005, that was 11 years ago. The basis of my idea is the Caithness civil war is over and has retaken Castle Defiant, the area has now become a new frontier ripe for exploitation by roaming bands of murder hobo....er I mean adventurers. The holding has probably been reestablished for not more than year or two.

As I said in the beginning, this is meant to be a sandbox, a place to host the tavern where every adventure begins. The recent history is not that important, in fact leaving the castle in Bulgaren’s hands and making the area an Outlaw Haven might be more fun.

Might be interesting to start the campaign with the murder hobo...er ... adventurers moving in an retaking Castle Defiant first, then using it as a base of operations?

[sir_pudding]

Are you letting wizards take the normally-for-DF banned spells? Or is there just no non-alchemical magical healing?

[acrosome]

It might be fun to make the swamp an endorheic basin, like the Okavango Delta. IIRC there are mountains close enough to be a source. That river then becomes very important as a travel route with reliable water. Because, there's steppes and then there's steppes. I imagine the orclands as dry steppes, more like Kazakhstan or Patagonia than verdant like the Ukraine. And some sort of slightly high salinity would sort of fit in with the nastiness of the orclands. Put some salt pans near it.

[Carnifex]

Originally Posted by Rigil_Kent

Might be interesting to start the campaign with the murder hobo...er ... adventurers moving in an retaking Castle Defiant first, then using it as a base of operations?

Castle full of orcs and rogue dwarfs, sounds like a party to me.

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Are you letting wizards take the normally-for-DF banned spells? Or is there just no non-alchemical magical healing?

I am not sure I understand the question, but I see no reason to deviate from DF on this.

Originally Posted by acrosome

It might be fun to make the swamp an endorheic basin, like the Okavango Delta. IIRC there are mountains close enough to be a source.

This fits with the way the area is developing, it would make sense that the lake in the middle of the swamp would be an Endorheic lake fed from the hills and mountains to the north. My first question would be how does this affect farming and such around the castle? My second question would be, is this too much detail for your average run of the mill DF campaign?