Histories of the Ancient Wilderness (part V)

I present here the first part of the latest iteration of the backstory for the Isle...From possibly either the late 90's early 00's. The last significant use of it was an extended Tegel Manor run, possibly in 2003 or so when my turn to GM came up in our local group. [Out of character notes will be presented in square brackets thusly]

Introduction and discovery
The history of the Isle is even more unclear than that of the Mainland, while much knowledge and most history of the previous epoch was lost in the interregnum, nothing is known of the Isle before its discovery in NBE 423. With the re-founding of the bright Kingdom in (225), trade and exploration increased dramatically. One result was the discovery of a huge and unknown Island about a weeks sailing to the south east of the Port of Pemboda. There was, and has been no information found about its existence before this date, and it is postulated that the isle may simply not have existed before this time. There is specuation that the Scouring of the Coasts described in the Epic of the Longstrand (probably from -229) may be related to the appearance of the Isle, if one assumes that its rise or appearance displaced the sea that it currently occupies.
The initial landfall was the result of a storm that drove a small group of merchant adventurers off course, and did sufficient damage to the ships to require several months stay before a return could be contemplated. some local exploring was done, and the fishing banks off of (now) Northport [hex 2901] were identified, along with the general excellence of the land for agriculture. Also noted was the fact that it seemed
uninhabited at least as far as a few days march from the initial landing at what is now Faldirk [hex 3101]. Given the lack of trade opportunities, the venturers eventually continued on to their destination, reported their findings to the Mariners guild, and sailed off into obscurity.

First Settlements
What is clear is that knowledge of the existence of the Isle became generally known, more as a curiosity than as a potential resource. What it did seem to provide was the opportunity for a new life free for many refugees of the seemingly endless Slovian wars that erupted in 655. Most took sail in whatever they could build, buy or steal, travelled to the original landing point, and travelled a short distance down river to found Faldirk [Modron from Judges guild]. Most of the refugees had no interest in contact with war torn homelands or in being "returned" to their bound or enslaved status on a lords demesne, so ships were generally destroyed or broken up for lumber on arrival. In time, this secrecy became both required and enforced. Later arrivals were welcomed, helped, supplied and politely but firmly informed that while they could not return, they were free to take what they found inland; given the conditions of the lands they had fled from, this was generally accepted enthusiastically; the few merchants arriving to see if trade was possible quickly were forced to join the settlement, or returned penniless to report a dangerous, anarchic wilderness. The inflow travelled generally moved south east, founding the first steadings of the Freehold and Cantons.

Northport and the Freebooter Shanty Towns
Meanwhile, the seas around the coast became increasingly hazardous with the Long Siege of Pemboda, and essentially destroyed the merchant and fishing fleets of the Pembodan Coasts. The need for a constant blockade of Pemboda required a constant source of resupply, and the fishing banks off of Northport began to provide it, which was originally founded as a Slovian naval base [Verbosh, JG]. As the situation became more chaotic over the next decade, there was constant flow of deserters and escaped slaves and prisoners from Northport to the interior of the Island.

Finally, the descent of the Slovan Navy and the Bright Kingdom and its Allies into outright piracy resulted in the founding of several well hidden pirate enclaves on the South and West coasts of the Island. Once mercantile traffic had been driven away, the Pirates generally turned to longer voyages to newer hunting grounds (such as the Slovian seas), and the southern shanty towns on the Isle were well positioned to support them.

For the next two hundred or so years, until the lesser interregnum, the three areas coexisted largely independently and in ignorance of the others. Escapees from the (eventual) slave fisheries of Northport trickled into the Freem Valley, retired pirates and further escapees into the vales of Grantium, and more and more fled or displaced peasants homesteaded the Cantons. Government was minimal, and land plentiful. And at some point early in the first century, the settlers discover one of the true treasures of the Isle: Freem.

Next up: Freem !

Ancient wilderness Map Part IV

So, to continue, what this became was a framing wilderness where I could put all the cool dungeons and adventures (well, mostly dungeons) I was ran or wanted to run.  So, looking at the Map, you'll find quite a few Judges Guild locations, and some "blackmoor" kind of places. There are some locations from the game Lizards, but the names are well changed: but they are there, for sure.

For me, it really was the first fantasy campaign (FFC, by Judges guild) which guided my thoughts of a wilderness, although it has been suggested by some old players that a sense of whimsy (or possibly brain damage) was what made me cleave to things Arnesonian; probably true, but the environment and atmosphere presented in the FFC has always been my goal.  if I had to describe it, its kind of like much terry Pratchett crossed with catch-22; a loving parody (the Pratchett part) combined with some mean but accurate humor that is interrupted by real world consequences in the midst of a belly laugh....where you go, "HA HA HA...Oh SHIT NOOOOOOO......" (this is the catch 22 part).What the FFC presented was (to my mind) exactly that - a somewhat joking dangerous environment -with lots of very mundane human interactions at all levels.  Also, it was a small kingdom sandbox, which makes it more personal - one can become a king, abeit not king of much...still, that's all there is, so go for it !

As a GM, I'm probably more akin to Pratchett than Heller, (although please note I make no claims as to having similar quality and skills of either author) so I probably err too much on the side of slapstick and post modern irony ("look at us ! We are medieval people played by modern people who act just like modern people who are nothing like us...!) ; but I've always felt that in an RPG, if you can't get yourself killed, you aren't playing an RPG. So, there need to be serious moments -but on the other hand, I've always believed that Serious does not equal Joyless, so there you go. Sometimes getting killed is as important as levelling up; and sometimes, there is no choice but to die well, or at least amusingly.


More later, I suppose. Probably about the history of ReSquIs.

Ancient wilderness Map Part II

With actual files added !

Click for embiggened and Endetailingizationed version !

My ancient wilderness campaign map.......

So, about a zillion years ago, I started GMing original D&D, and, as suggested, got a copy of the wilderness survival map (mailorder spare part from Avalon hill; yes I was already a profound gamer-geek in 1975).  I copied, messed with, accidentally destroyed, replaced and redrew it on and off for years.  Its most constant use was as "The Remarkably Square Island" allowing me to run dungeon crawls and associated hex crawls in any overall strategic campaign I wanted, or for impromptu pickups with no particular continuity (Grad school period of my life). 
I was dithering about scanning it when I found a rendering of it online recently here(at Bat in the Attic); so I downloaded that, and modified it according to at least one of the incarnations -as L'isle d' Carre, aka ReSquIs.

Roads and baronies added. More details later. BEHOLD !

(see next post for downloadable and larger version )