4 General Types of Areas of Adventuring on Cidri

[Jim Kane]

I like lists.

I like lists *with* definitions.

Sometimes I can find burning inspiration for new TFT adventures simply by listing and defining *things*. Maybe this technique can help you find GM-inspiration when you are otherwise staring at a blank page in your typewriter (or empty computer screen, as the case may be).

After looking over the map of Southern Elyntia (containing the Duchy of Dran) on page 72 of TFT:ITL, I began to think about the region from a much broader perspective. Here is the short list and definitions which came out of that "Thought Session":


⦁ Wilderness (an uncultivated, uninhabited, and/or inhospitable region - i.e. open seas, deserts, forests and mountains)

⦁ Civilization ( a cultivated, developed, and inhabited region, with a perceived separation from and domination over the natural environment).

⦁ Inhabited Wilderness (relatively small pockets of an inhabiting population/culture; existing within an otherwise uncultivated, uninhabited, and/or inhospitable region, exhibiting and existing with a limited or isolated domination over the natural environment)

⦁ Abandoned Civilization (a de-populated area of a formerly inhabited, cultivated, and/or developed region; where the wilderness is slowly reclaiming the area via unchallenged encroachment.)


Completing that broad and short list, I realized I had provided the overall area setting and general dynamic for nearly every: Tarzan, Conan, and Star Trek adventure I had ever read or watched; AND, this list revealed to me, just how many of those adventures where primarily based around the dynamics of the setting, as opposed to simply serving to provide the ground under the feet of the adventure party while they go after the McGuffin.

Lists. Lists *with* Definitions.

Check it out next time you find your "creative well" seemingly dry, and have a "thunk"; you may be surprised when the creative wheels suddenly start turning again - seemingly on their own.

JK