Some of you might remember me, although I haven't visited in more than a year. My old gaming group moved on to new things and my Mystara game has been in temporal stasis ever since :D .
I have decided to come back because I miss Mystara and the creativity at this forum. While I was "away" I lurked in other forums and I got inspired by an idea that I wanted to back to this forum and share with you. It is the Build a City project (BaC) from the Campaign Workshop forum.
Curious? Let me explain.
The BaC is a joint venture between posters and gamers at a board such as this with the purpose of creating a completely new city for everyone's free use complete with all the background, history and stats and secrets needed to DM adventures in it.
The process goes something like this: As thread moderator I will try to guide the process and rule in any disputes between co-creators, but in general my role is just to outline the basics to get things started and then to chip in now and then with ideas for the construction of the city.
You - the posters at the Mystara board - are the ones who will create the city by posting chronicles and journals detailing the city. As to which posts will become "canon" and thus part of the city's official making, that will be decided by you as well - or by me if great arguments erupt over details.
Once we have decided on a few basic facts (geography, time in history, nature of the original settlement), I will make the first post outlining how our city starts out. Each subsequent post will then typically detail 1-3 months of time, what happens during this time etc. Such posts are the "chronicles". You can also post a text marked "journal", which is basically a text detailing the thoughts, plans and lives of a person or persons in the city - but such texts are just additional flavour and NOT considered part of the "canon history" of the city. Journal entries are typically used if you want to post some details of one of your NPCs or PCs life in the city.
A chronicle post is considered canon as soon as additional posters have continued their posts based on the material. Any poster may precede the body of his post with the word "STOP". This means that he has taken serious issue with some event posted in the last chronicle. Further posts should not be made directly chronicling the town's events until the issue has been decided as either canon or non-canon.
Without my posting an event can be considered "decided" if three consecutive posts are made in agreement as to whether or not the event is canon excluding the original poster of the event.
EXAMPLE-RIGHT:
Poster 1: Everyone in the city is now a Vampire
Poster 2: STOP. That is ridiculous
Poster 3: I agree. The vampire thing is stupid as hell.
Poster 4: I agree. And that’s three of us so it's out. Next person can chronicle without it.
And two more rules for posting in the BaMC thread:
1) No artifacts or mega-powerful magic items. Artifacts are unbelievably rare in the D&D universe. Most adventurers will go their entire careers without ever seeing one.
EXAMPLE-RIGHT: Simon discovers a small ring with feathers engraved lightly on the band. (Feather Fall)
EXAMPLE-WRONG- Angered by the mob, Simon slays them all and claims the +15 unholy, vorpal greatsword of wounding as his own
2) Major events (zombie invasions, dragons burning the city to the ground or disintegration of major characters) should be proposed, rather than enacted. You would post a "proposition" at the end of your post if you wanted to do something huge with a rough outline of what you wanted to happen. The NEXT poster would then be able to decide if they thought your major even was truly warranted. Thusly for any event to occur it would have to be seconded, which would hopefully severely reduce (if not eliminate) the need to debate canon.
EXAMPLE-RIGHT: "Proposition" I think it would be interesting for Bobville to be raided by a squad of Hobgoblins
EXAMPLE-WRONG: Bobville is raided by Hobgoblins and hundreds die in the ensuing melee. Plus a vampire plague spreads through the town.
Up next: Defining the basics for our new town
Please voice your opinion on the following:
Timeline
We have to decide how far back in time our settlement begins. This will have an impact on a number of things:
- What world events will have an impact on the history of our city / what historic characters can be involved
- How many years of history we can write for the city before reaching "present day" in Mystara
- The technology and culture in the area/region in which the city is founded
Geography
Our settlements has to be located someplace. We can do one of several things:
- Select a wilderness area
- Select an area that was wilderness at the time the city was founded but which is civilised in "present day Mystara" thus allowing us to describe how the region was settled
- Select a city which is already on the map in one of the gazetteers but poorly described, thus allowing us to make up the history and background for the city in present day - including "present day" population, schemes, enemies etc.
Nature of the settlement
Should the settlement start out as:
- A frontier fort/tower/garrison?
- A stronghold for a high-level character? (what kind of character?)
- A trading post established by a merchant house or guild?
- A religious site? (to what immortal?)
- A small settlement of brave frontiersmen looking for gold/freedom/fertile farmland?
- A colony of shipwrecked sailors/explorers?
Or something entirely different altogether?
Please post your opinion on these matters (and anything else in connection with this tread). In a day or two I will announce when the voting ends and post the start of the BaMC.
Cheers,
Jesper
Geography
Our settlements has to be located someplace. We can do one of several things:
- Select a wilderness area
- Select an area that was wilderness at the time the city was founded but which is civilised in "present day Mystara" thus allowing us to describe how the region was settled
- Select a city which is already on the map in one of the gazetteers but poorly described, thus allowing us to make up the history and background for the city in present day - including "present day" population, schemes, enemies etc.
My vote goes for option 3 in Geography.
Since option 3 means that timeline and nature may depend on the city chosen, here are some ideas, broken down along the nature axis:
1. A frontier fort/tower/garrison
- Radlebb Keep or Riverfork Keep
- Fort Whitestone (in the Bushwack Prairie west of Cimarron)
- Raven Scarp in the Thyatian Hinterlands
- Fort Hobart or Fort Nell in Darokin
- Ylourgne or Trintan in Glantri
2. A stronghold for a high-level character? (what kind of character?)
- Penhaligon or Kelvin (though Penhaligon does appear in some adventures and books, so it may be a poor choice, and neither ruler is really high level)
- Lighthall (in Norwold, appears in Five Coins for a Kingdom, but is not really described except for its ruler, Sir Theobold Redbeard, who qualifies are truly high-level).
- Any wizard tower in Glantri
3. A trading post established by a merchant house or guild?
- Dunwick or Richland along the Savage Coast (oddly, there's almost nothing on either city)
- Vorloi (well, not really a trading post, but...)
4. A religious site? (to what immortal?)
- Jahore in Sind (to the plethora of Sindhi Immortals, of course)
- Vanya's Rest (Davania)
- Kelvin (once Lavv is discovered)
5. A small settlement of brave frontiersmen looking for gold/freedom/fertile farmland?
- Richland on the Savage Coast
- Verge
- Ryania (from Eye of Traldar, a small village north of Rugalov)
- Campo dos Ogros (in the Terra Vermelha)
- Porto Maldiçao (in the Immortal's Arm)
- Preuve (in the Immortal's Arm)
6. A colony of shipwrecked sailors/explorers?
- Kron, the floating city from War Rafts of Kron
Others
- One of the Milenian City-States in Davania (Kastelios and Garganin seem the best candidates)
- One of the villages assumed to exist near Vandevicsny in Night of the Vampire (the estates of the Moubotka, Ourosco and Strolojca families).
- Helskir in the Isle of Dawn (independent, not too ancient, not much described elsewhere)
- One of the lesser towns of Ochalea (there's very little even outside canon on these)
- Jahore or Sambay in Sind (though Jahore has some description in VotPA)
As for the timeline and nature options, I'm not that picky.
OTOH, it would be interesting to decide the general area first:
Main areas
- Known World
- Norwold, Denagoth or Isle of Dawn
- Savage Coast
- Sind, Adri Varna or Great Waste
- Hule
- Midlands
- Ochalea
- Serpent Peninsula
- Hinterlands
- Northern Davania
- Addakian Sound
- Arypt, Varellya, or Cestia
- Alphatia
- Western Skothar
- Tangor
- Myoshima
Since option 3 means that timeline and nature may depend on the city chosen, here are some ideas, broken down along the nature axis
Lots of interesting ideas. Here are my favorites from among them:
1. A frontier fort/tower/garrison
- Raven Scarp in the Thyatian Hinterlands
Others
- Helskir in the Isle of Dawn (independent, not too ancient, not much described elsewhere)
I'm currently running a campaign in which Helskir will figure significantly, and I'm working on the beginnings of a campaign based in the Hinterlands.
Very creative idea and nice to see you taking on a project like this!
How about this for a suggestion:
* A frontier village on the Isle of Dread founded 100 years ago by shipwrecked survivors
- The ship was originally carrying colonists from Thyatis bound for the Savage Baronies region of the Savage Coast. (900 AC)
- The ship was swept off course and crashed on the Isle of Dread instead.
- There would be a nice mixture of races/nationalities including some intermarrying with the natives of the Isle of Dread.
- The timeline would be set in the present day (1000 AC)
- One major plot point would be that the settlement has been recently discovered by the Thyatian navy during their voyages to the Hinterlands, and this has brought much upheaval to this small insulated community.
Frank
* A frontier village on the Isle of Dread founded 100 years ago by shipwrecked survivors
Paizo did a village called Farshore on the IoD for their Savage Tide AP. Raven Scarp would probably be a better choice.
--Ray.
My vote goes for option 3 in Geography.
Mine too.
Moreover, IMHO it'd be better to choose a city that doesn't put population, culture or government problems - that is, a city on which features all of us more or less agree.
This could exclude, for example, anything on the Isle of Dawn, Alphatia, Bellissaria or other rather undetailed areas which culture isn't clear (i.e. most of Skothar and Davania), but also areas of the KW on which a "canonical" agreement has never been reached (like Thyatis - how a Thyatian city is de facto ruled? DotE isn't so clear and many random assumptions are to be done if one wants to detail such a city... ).
Best choices could be cities/towns/villages in Savage Coast or Known World areas which have a well-estabilished canon background, so that everyone can potentially use the material that will come out in this thread.
Becouse of this, another quality of the city chosen should be the centrality of the site - it has to be a city where most DMs will have their PCs pass throught, if the project wants to target tha largest part of the Mystara fans. An so Karameikos, Savage Coast or Darokin qualify as the most viable countries without doubts (Thyatis is excluded becouse of abovementioned lack of canon details).
Some examples of cities that could IMHO do:
CITIES: Darokin City*, Corunglain, Akorros, Athenos, Selenica*, Akesoli, Minrothad; eventually even Freiburg, Oceansend or Alpha.
[* Starting from canon and/or Vaults material]
TOWNS: Ierendi, Vorloi, Dmitrov, Penhaligon, almost any town on the Darokinian (Dolos or Nemiston could be the best), Glantrian, Vestlander or Soderfjordan mainland, almost any town of the Savage Coast; eventually even Landfall.
VILLAGES: Any option in the Savage Coast, Glantri, Darokin or Karameikos is viable.
I can see that in my eagerness to get things going I might not have explained the idea well enough though. The concept of the project is to develop the city together, i.e. not starting the project with a settlement that is already 100 years old or more. Our job is to describe together how the settlement develops from a very early stage and how it prospers. The end product does not have to be a large city - it could be just a small town of a few thousand people - but the idea is that because we have described the settlement step by step we will know every little part of it in great detail - making it a great place to be visited by adventuring PCs.
Together, we will come up with details such as:
- What ressources does the community produce/export/get rich from?
- What secrets (guilds, plans, traps, monsters etc) does the community contain?
- What annual events take place there and why?
- What cool places are there to visit? What shops/crafts is the city or town known for?
- How does the community fit into the larger structure of the world and why?
- What allies and enemies does the community have?
etc. etc.
I can see that several of you are in favour of developing a community already on one of the maps in the Known World. We can do that of course but I am a little worried that it will stiffle creativity if we have to take "the end product" into consideration all the time.
E.g. if we were to start describing one of the major cities in Darokin, we have to fit it in with everything already written in the Gazetteers and the Vault of Pandius. That would railroad us a little bit.
One more thing to take into consideration about the timeline: The older the settlement the more years we will have to describe. While it can be very usefull to describe the present day community in great detail, it is IMHO a little waste of energy to describe the people who lived there 200 years ago (unless they were very important people who had a great impact on history etc.). Thus we would either have to "skip ahead" a lot to get to the important bits in the development of the community, or we would end up developing A LOT of stuff that would just be fluff in the setting.
I will leave the voting open for a few days more to allow everyone who is celebrating Easter offline to have a say in these matters.
:-) Jesper
Havard
Personally I would prefer that we selected a very undescribed settlement from the Know World maps or simply a region, which has room for a town but does not have one in the canon materiel. E.g. we could create a new settlement in the Trollheim hills of Vestland, decide that it starts out in 990 AC and then set about describing how it grows and adds to the development of the region.
I am not particularly fond of the idea of placing the settlement outside the Known World - basically because my knowledge of things outside the KW is extremely limited :D .
But let's hear what others have to say!
:-) Jesper
Personally I would prefer that we selected a very undescribed settlement from the Know World maps or simply a region, which has room for a town but does not have one in the canon materiel. E.g. we could create a new settlement in the Trollheim hills of Vestland, decide that it starts out in 990 AC and then set about describing how it grows and adds to the development of the region.
I am not particularly fond of the idea of placing the settlement outside the Known World - basically because my knowledge of things outside the KW is extremely limited :D .
I think you have a good point here. There are very good reasons for keeping in in the Known World (perhaps extended to the Dawn of the Emperor covered area?). I think making it a previously not-so-much detailed town or even a new made up one would be good. The Vestland thing might work well, or howabout an entirely fan-made city on the Isle of Dawn? Depending on where on the Isle it is placed it would probably be culturally anglo-celtic preferably on the Thyatian side. We could have it built near Fey lands, or perhaps a portal to Laterres' Ireland. Plenty of ideas to use there...
Havard
I think you have a good point here. There are very good reasons for keeping in in the Known World (perhaps extended to the Dawn of the Emperor covered area?). I think making it a previously not-so-much detailed town or even a new made up one would be good. The Vestland thing might work well, or howabout an entirely fan-made city on the Isle of Dawn? Depending on where on the Isle it is placed it would probably be culturally anglo-celtic preferably on the Thyatian side. We could have it built near Fey lands, or perhaps a portal to Laterres' Ireland. Plenty of ideas to use there...
Havard
I like that. A fan-generated new town/city somewhere on the Isle of Dawn would be really cool I think.
:-) Jesper
Timeline
I'm thinking 1000 A.C. to make it as useful as possible (or perhaps even 1010 A.C. as long as the timeline deals with recent events in fine enough detail). IMO, focusing on an historical period may be best for more well known Known World cities and towns, but would still be quite interesting. I don't have access to my Mystara material at the moment so I can't give any specific ideas yet.
Geography
One village that caught my eye was Latveii in the southwestern region of the island. It is on the Doloma River and has some interesting features around it that could be used: ruins of Fjellstue, Nova Gabriona volcano, Black Dust desert, and a 'dragons' label.
Nature of the settlement
I'd really want to look at my material before offering any suggestions on this but in the meantime others may have nice ideas.
[Proposal] How about using the village of Latveii in the southwestern region of the Isle of Dawn?
P.S. Great idea Jesper!
:-) Jesper
Thanks for the input Hugin, but I am a little confused - what map are you looking at for the "dragons label" etc.? There are no such features on my DotE maps?
:-) Jesper
Sorry about. Here are some maps from the vaults:
By Mark Howard (near the top left)
By Thorfinn Tait (down in the bottom right)
I'm not sure where the source of the dragons label is derived but it appears in both maps in the same location.
Thanks for the input Hugin, but I am a little confused - what map are you looking at for the "dragons label" etc.? There are no such features on my DotE maps?
:-) Jesper
I think these details can be found in the Trail Map series.
The Eastern Countries Trail Maps shows parts of the western Isle of Dawn in 8 miles per hex, so there are room for details not shown on DotE maps.
The maps that Hugin linked are clearly using the Trail Map as their source.
And by the way, I agree that IoD could use some development effort, and Latveii is as good a place to start as any.
However, there is some minimal development done on the area, at least in Mystaran Almanacs, though nothing much on Latveii. (See Vaults, under (Province of) SEPTENTRIONA.)
- Maladax
Havard
If we are indeed choosing a settlement on the Isle of Dawn, I would rather prefer somewhere in Caerdwicca, Redstone of Westrourke/Newkirk.
Havard
I also see that area as having a bit more potential than the Shadow Coast which is rather remote.
Anyone else have an opinion? Otherwise I will try to flesh out the beginning of our city development later tonight or tomorrow evening.
:-) Jesper
The older the settlement the more years we will have to describe. While it can be very usefull to describe the present day community in great detail, it is IMHO a little waste of energy to describe the people who lived there 200 years ago (unless they were very important people who had a great impact on history etc.). Thus we would either have to "skip ahead" a lot to get to the important bits in the development of the community, or we would end up developing A LOT of stuff that would just be fluff in the setting.
I slightly disagree here--I love the fluff, and I think it's one of the things that makes Mystara so intriguing! Since campaigns can and do exist at many different times, I'd like to see some depth at various times. What intrigues me most about a project like this is the very real potential of developing local urban lore, rich backgrounds, detailed geneaologies, etc. The more such information is available, the more interesting and immersive a campaign setting it can make. Starting at least a decent way into the past allows us to agre more easily on events in the outside world, which will necessarily have at least some impact on the board's town.
I slightly disagree here--I love the fluff, and I think it's one of the things that makes Mystara so intriguing! Since campaigns can and do exist at many different times, I'd like to see some depth at various times. What intrigues me most about a project like this is the very real potential of developing local urban lore, rich backgrounds, detailed geneaologies, etc. The more such information is available, the more interesting and immersive a campaign setting it can make. Starting at least a decent way into the past allows us to agre more easily on events in the outside world, which will necessarily have at least some impact on the board's town.
All true, but there is a difference between describing 20 years of history and 100 or 200 years of history in 1-3 months bits :P
I haven't had the time to do the math on how many years it would take a village of 50 people to become a town of 5,000-10,000 people but I suspect at least a generation or two? Of course, we can always swell the ranks of our community using a number of explanations such as gold rushes, imperial colonization, refugees and low-tax incentments, but I think we should try to use these tools with care and not over do it.
My own Mystara campaigns always begin in 1000 AC (because I use the B-X-C-M series of modules and never the Wrath of the Immortals, sinking of Alphatia etc.). No matter which year we begin our community in, perhaps we should vote on whether to follow the WotI timeline past 1000 AC or maybe something a little more neutral?
:-) Jesper
This post is reserved for continuous editing to become the new index of our city creation just like you can see here: http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=12239430&postcount=9
I am currently writing up a proposal for a beginning, which I hope you will all like. I will post it in a few hours.
:-) Jesper
[Journal]
Lord Alexander shifted uneasily in his saddle when he saw for the first time the lands that were now officially his. His mount was still panting from the recent gallop and its breath formed clouds of vapour in the chill winter air. Although winter was waning, the ground was still frozen and covered in a light blanket of snow and there was ice along the riverbank.
Behind him Lord Alexander’s men were also watching the valley in front of them, as if they were trying to determine whether this was paradise – or hell. Like a prisoner who had long awaited his sentence, Lord Alexander was relieved to finally be here and see these lands with his own eyes. He had served in the Imperial Thyatian Legions for almost two decades and ended his career as a distinguished centurion and deputy second-in-command of the proud 12th Legion. As such, he should have been awarded a fief in the rich Imperial Territories on the Trevonian River. But ill fate – or rather his lack of respect for certain powerful men in the Senate – had caused him to be sent to colonize this inhospitable piece of wilderness instead.
The irony of it all was that they had used his distinguished career as a soldier through 20 years as an excuse to send him here. ‘Men of his character and strength’ they had said, ‘were needed to conquer the frontier and secure more farmland and resources for the Empire, that she may remain strong’. And so they had sent him to this Immortal-forsaken place, far across the sea where no one would ever even notice if he succeeded or failed. At least not for several years before the first taxes were due, he thought with some bitterness.
In front of him Lord Alexander saw what a few early prospectors had already suggested might be a suitable location for the dominion’s first settlement. It was a narrow strip of land edged in between two small rivers from the south that came together in a fork. Just north of where the rivers met, a huge piece of rock perhaps 500 feet in diameter jutted out of the river 25 feet high; as if it was a toy some giant child had thrown trying to dam up the river. The river, of course, just proceeded to flow around the rock on both sides and continued to wind its way north into the Carryduff hills where it would eventually become one of the main tributaries to the Lod River that flowed into the Gulf of Newkirk.
Lord Alexander could hear his 12 year old son, Julius, taking excitedly to some of the men in the entourage. A widower, Lord Alexander’s wife had tragically drowned at sea many years ago, when her ship had been lost in an early autumn storm. She had been coming to see him at his new posting – he had written her a letter and lovingly asked her to – and although her family had warned her not to travel until the spring she had defied them and hurried across the sea to meet her love – only to meet her doom instead. The Immortals be praised, Julius and his younger sister Elena had remained with Lord Alexander’s wife’s sister in Thyatis City and their lives had been spared. Because of his duties in the military, she had taken over the children’s upbringing and now they loved her as a mother and treated him with the kindness of a stranger. He had wanted to bring the children with him to this place – to start a new life together in this place, away from all the politics and wars of the world. But his sister-in-law had begged him to let Elena remain in the city – at least until the land was cleared of dangers and a suitable home were built. In Thyatis City she had friends, and teachers who would educate her as a proper lady, his sister-in-law had reasoned. And although he hated to admit it, she was right. This was certainly no place for a young, fragile girl used to the comforts of the city.
Despite the ill will of the Senate, Lord Alexander had been granted a company of men to help him clear the land and prepare the first settlement. Some were craftsmen skilled in various trades, hired through an arrangement with the various guilds in Thyatis City, but he was fairly certain that a number of the unskilled manual labourers were pardoned convicts – criminals who had faced the choice between the whip on the galley or a new, uncertain future in the wilds of the Isle of Dawn. Although Lord Alexander knew that such a choice was never offered to the worst offenders – murderers and arsonists – petty thieves, smugglers and swindlers could easily be among his workforce of approximately 50 men, and Lord Alexander was pleased that he had sufficient men-at-arms to control the situation.
A handful of loyal men who had served under him in the 12th Legion had either retired from army life or been given permission to follow him on this journey to the frontier. They now formed the core of his 20 men-at-arms – the rest were rowdy (but cheap) mercenaries he had picked up in Nordvik far to the north up the coast, when he had first made landfall on the Isle of Dawn a few weeks back.
It was nearly two months since he had been at the Imperial Court in Thyatis City. As were the tradition, on the day following the New Year celebrations he and others like him had attended the Emperor’s audience to petition the Crown for fiefs as a reward for years of loyal service. That seemed like such a long time ago already.
Lord Alexander had been given a strip of land in the wilderness to the east of the Killyleagh Curragh – a gigantic, festering swampland filled with all manner of beastly things. In his days as a legionnaire at Redstone Castle, Lord Alexander had more than once heard the stories of the horrors that dwelt there.
To the northwest of his new dominion lay a series of rugged hills known as Carryduff. Some prospectors suspected – or rather hoped – that ores of rich minerals could be found there. But the hills were treacherous and teeming with tribes of bloodthirsty bugbears and most travellers did not stray from the river, which lead north to the village of Lodar – the only noteworthy settlement in the region and the harbour from where Lord Alexander would need to ship in his vital supplies for the first seasons.
To the northeast the land rolled in what appeared to be fertile grass plains. This was the lands that the Crown had its eye upon. Taming it and farming it all the way to the Gulf of Newkirk would bring food and taxes to the Empire. But first a fortress would have to be erected that would act as a shield against whatever nastiness dwelt in the hills and swamps to the west. Hence his mission.
Lord Alexander looked once again on his map. A large forest marked ‘Ashton Woods’ apparently lay to the southeast of his new dominion. Although he had never heard of it that would probably be a main source of timber for the village and fortifications he would have to erect. But he would need wagons to transport the timber.
Lord Alexander looked over his shoulder and signalled the column of men, horses and roofed over carts to advance. As was the usual colonization technique in the Empire, he had been given one year to prepare the area for settlement, i.e. to clear the land for farming and construct dwellings. It was almost the end of winter now and by spring next year farmers would arrive from the Empire with their families and livestock – lured here by the golden promises of the empire’s colonization officials and the emperor’s decree that no colonist would have to pay taxes for the first three years. Lord Alexander had no illusions about whether this generosity applied to him and his household as well.
One year. Three more shipments of food, tools and supplies apart from what they had brought with them (which was not much except the bare necessities). Then the houses would have to have been built and the land cleared for the sowing of crops. It was a task as difficult and potentially as dangerous as any he had ever faced before.
[Chronicle]
Lord Alexander arrives with 50 workers, 20 men-at-arms, a small group of 8 personal retainers and his son Julius to carve an existence out of the wilderness in the province of Redstone on the Isle of Dawn.
Total settlement size: 80 people
Notable dwellings: None
[Proposal]
This is my suggestion for the beginning of our settlement. I have placed it there because of a number of interesting geographic locations close by and because it was still wilderness but close enough to Redstone and Newkirk to become involved in political maneuvering later on.
Lord Alexander will likely face many difficulties in his first years and his relations with his family and allies and enemies in Thyatis City can also be a big influence on the future of the dominion.
Unresolved questions:
• Which year should we begin this tale in? I would suggest around 980 AC or 990 AC so that the settlement can reach an interesting size before WotI, if we are going to follow this timeline.
• Would anyone like to suggest a name for the settlement? Or should we develop this as the story goes?
• Would anyone like to write up a basic stat block for some of the main characters?
:-) Jesper
If nobody feels like continuing the story that's fine. I'll just let it die. But I am not going to do all the entries myself.
:-) Jesper
I think the location for the city is a good idea. I think 990 could be a good idea for a starting year, but you know more about how this works.
I think the storyline with Lord Alexander is interesting. It also raises quite a few questions. Why is this strip of land chosen? Is it perhaps of strategic importance in the conflict with Alphata? What are the threats? Monsters? Pict-like barbarian raiders? Are all of these really the result of Alphatian schemes?
I'll let others answer some of your other questions
Havard
I especially found the chronicle to an entertaining and interesting read. It really got me attached into these characters from the start.
I agree with Havard that 990 AC would be an appropriate year to start the settlement. As for a name, how about naming it after Lord Alexander's departed wife? I didn't catch her name in the write-up, so I don't know if you had any thoughts about this.
We should also define some of the threats found in the Ashton Woods or swampy lands. Maybe a tribe of lizard men in the swamps or other humanoids in the forest? Can the settlers negotiate a truce with them or will they pose a major threat during the formative years of the settlement?
Frank
I feel bad now.
Don't. Maybe I just need to be more patient. I just saw all of these people reading this thread and nobody responding and I sorta though: "Not again".
I think 990 could be a good idea for a starting year, but you know more about how this works.
Not really. I only know what I was able to figure out from reading the other Build A City Threads. There are really very few rules to this experiment - and we make them up as we go
.I think the storyline with Lord Alexander is interesting. It also raises quite a few questions. Why is this strip of land chosen? Is it perhaps of strategic importance in the conflict with Alphata? What are the threats? Monsters? Pict-like barbarian raiders? Are all of these really the result of Alphatian schemes?
I think perhaps I just need to explain the basic idea in a little more detail. Whenever the storyline of the community faces us with questions such as these, we can do one of two things:
1) We can debate it for a long time and then write the story
2) We can just write the story and see what happens!!
The original intent was that as soon as Poster 2 continued the story, Poster 3 could then continue from where Poster 2 stopped OR (if Poster 3 really disagreed with the turn of events in Poster 2's post) stop the thread and call for a vote on things. Three votes to abandon Poster 2's story would then revert the thread to where Poster 1 stopped. Otherwise the story continues and Poster 2's ideas become part of the canon of the thread.
So, there you have it. If you want something to happen - in the town or around it - just write up a new chapter in the story! If you REALLY feel that what you want to suggest might be too much for the other contributors to stomach, you can alway mark your post [Proposal], which will then mean that it is not part of the canon yet but just an idea you would like to toss out to the others.
:-) Jesper
Excellent work so far Jesper!
Thanks!
I especially found the chronicle to an entertaining and interesting read. It really got me attached into these characters from the start.
I agree with Havard that 990 AC would be an appropriate year to start the settlement. As for a name, how about naming it after Lord Alexander's departed wife? I didn't catch her name in the write-up, so I don't know if you had any thoughts about this.
She has no name at this point, so guess what? You (or whoever beats you to it) gets to name the city! That is how this works; you want something, you just write it and see what kind of feedback you get! ;)
We should also define some of the threats found in the Ashton Woods or swampy lands. Maybe a tribe of lizard men in the swamps or other humanoids in the forest? Can the settlers negotiate a truce with them or will they pose a major threat during the formative years of the settlement?
Ashton Woods is already mention extremely briefly at the Vault in some of the Almanacs for Redstone province. We can either take our inspiration from there (the Vaults say the woods are filled with evil wolves, spirits and fey) or we can make up whatever we want :D
The important thing to remember is, that this thread will move along a lot faster with more writing and less debating/thinking. We have a lot of years to cover folks! Don't be intimidated by the grand scale of our little undertaking. It's just fun! :P
:-) Jesper
My best advice to those of you who are reluctant to post because of the "rules" - don't be. My sole inspiration comes from this thread: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=837285 and I just thought that it would be fun to create a city in Mystara in a like manner.
Think of this thread as a mix between building a stronghold in a D&D game and perhaps some form of Civilization computer game. Each month we don't roll die to see what events happen (well, we might
), we just decide what we want to happen - and then we write it!Popular vote decides whether new chapters are added to the canon or not - but as a general rule: if noone objects, it is added automatically!
Don't be afraid to "disturb things" or "ruin what others might have planned". That is exactly what [Proposal] and [Stop] tags are for in this thread. If you are afraid your ideas might upset others, mark them [Proposal]. If you become upset - because somebody just killed of the mayor in the story, who you intended to become involved in the underworld - post [STOP] at the start of a new post. This means that until whatever grieviance you had with the thread is sorted out, the canon cannot continue.
Simple as that (I hope).
Now, I just introduced a background for this community. Let's say that the majority of you (who are active in the thread) didn't like it. You could then write a new Chronicle entry depicting how Lord Alexander and all of his men were slaughtered by Pict locals, who then took over the community and took it in an entirely new direction? And if most contributors are ok with that, then that is where the story will take us! etc. etc.
There are NO given results
There is NO 'end product' until we say so
There is NO list of requirements that we need to fulfil. This is OUR community to do with as we like. So let's make it a great one!
:-) Jesper
A papyrus letter with jagged penmanship, dated XVII Vatermont, CMXC.
Dear Elena,
Hello! How are you keeping? It is very very cold here but we are doing well. I am riting on something called paupierus all the way from Ekto but I do not know if I am spelling it right. My half birthday was last week and I am now CL moons old and a man. Pa did not say happy half birthday I think because he did not know. There is something in the forest near us that looks like a goat wearing clothes and Pa says there is no goat and not to tell stories. We are working hard to make this a good home for when you come.
Your loving borther,
Julius
[Chronicle]
During the first months of 990 AC, Lord Alexander and his men live in a rough homestead, working to build basic storage facilities and a secure perimiter. A preliminary log-and-mud estate house with undercroft for common quarters begins to take shape.
Total settlement size: 80 people
Notable dwellings: Various canopies and tents
[Proposal]
The Ashton Woods, as per the vaults, are inhabited by wolves, spirits, and fey folk. And at least one individual who could pass as a goat wearing clothes
Looks great so far!
Your loving borther,
Julius
Awh, that is cute! And I like seeing the settlement through the eyes of an excited child!
The Build A Mystara City Thread, Year 1, Month 5
[Journal]
Lord Alexander writing in his diary:
How very low I feel this day! Not even the warmth of the spring sun upon my face can spring me from the gloomy prison that is my mind, which keeps my thoughts continuously circling the dark events of yesterday.
We have been here for almost three months now and work in the camp has been progressing nicely, I thought. Our first order of business was to set up campsite between the forking rivers. In the following weeks we fortified the camp as best we could, but these men are sadly not legionnaires and the construction of palisades and moat was taking too long so I had them focus on just the basic defences and then proceed to construct storage facilities for our supplies.
We also started building a smithy so that our blacksmith, Johan, could repair our tools and mend whatever wagon wheels, horseshoes and other items that break in these harsh lands. After that the men began building my estate, with enough room for a large part of my retinue and loyal men-at-arms to stay in as well. Although I am no longer a young man, I was perfectly comfortable in my tent, as I was in my Centurion days, but I was worried for Julius’s health here in the cold winter landscape. It is hard to keep the boy occupied and sometimes he wanders off on adventurous exploits along the river, despite my instructions not to and harsh reprimands.
But the curiosity of my dear Julius is not what has cast such a gloom over my thought this day. For a while now, we have felt the effect of the lack of women in the men. I have tried to deal with this as I did in the Legion – by strictly enforcing the rules that I have set up. But most of these men are not legionnaires and never have been. They have come here either for promises of gold or a fresh start and their discipline is very low I am sad to say.
A few drunken brawls led me to restrict the men’s access to the wine but that just resulted in a much worsened mood among them. Increasing their work load to make them too tired to want to fight did nothing good for their morale either. What these men need is entertainment – or religion – although I doubt that the words of a priest of the Immortals could quench their thirst for women, wine and gambling.
Yesterday the one thing that I have been trying to avoid happened. Some of the workers were in a foul mood and provoked two of the northmen guards that I hired in Nordvik. Insults were exchanged and knives were drawn and before I could stop it, one of the workers had been stabbed in the stomach and died, another of his friends was cut in the ribs but he will survive.
Today I had to hang the northman that did it. Justice must be observed, but I fear the effect that this bloodshed will have on our community. Some of the other northmen are obviously upset that I hung their comrade and there are murmurs among the workers about revenge. I pray to the Immortals to give me strength to deal with this and keep my family safe.
[Chronicle]
In the first month of spring a smithy is constructed for Johan, the blacksmith (Human Expert, level 3)
In the second month of spring, a murder takes place. One of the workers is killed by a northman guard in a brawl and the guard is subsequently hanged.
Total settlement size: 78
Notable dwellings: Log-and-mud estate house, smithy, storage buildings