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Free Low Fantasy Campaign Setting (not rule specific): The Margravate of Greifshold.  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Made in de
Basecoated Black





Auckland

Dear adventurers and fans of all things fantasy.

I publish a campaign setting via Patreon with terrain crafting and painting tips. Part of this publication is an in-character guide to my setting: The Margravate of Greifshold, featuring hand-drawn maps and line-art.

Accordingly I release it first on this platform and then for all to enjoy on my blog, basically embracing a Creative Commons mindset. Feel free to share links to the guide on DaggerAndBrush and share the love and help GMs with their efforts to bring joy to the table.

Let me know how you like the guide, what else you would like to see. I am especially interested in some constructive criticism.

The setting is low-fantasy and inspired by historical examples. The campaign will introduce more fantastical aspects.

The first part deals with geography and myths of the native people of the land.

Part two focuses on the city of Greifshold, complete with adventure hooks.

The whole thing is a work in progress and I intend to publish encounters, detailed NPC backgrounds, items etc.

So follow the well traveled scholar Regis of Werta to Greifshold, an untamed land shaped by myth and warring tribes. A land to be conquered and civilized or a land to be cherished and defended from outsiders? Where do you stand, adventurer?



The land and its myths

The grand city of Greifshold

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/10/25 16:42:40


 
   
Made in de
Basecoated Black





Auckland

Now part three, the last section of the guide, is available for you on my blog.



As you can already see, the little graveyard on the map will be the site for the next encounter map. You fidn an early WIP below:


 
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

I love your artwork.

n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. 
   
Made in de
Basecoated Black





Auckland

Thank you Orlanth, much obliged. Great fun drawing those and a nice addition to the miniature painting and terrain building.

 
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

I take it the artwork and lettering are entirely seperate for editting and multi-language format?

I dont like the lettering one bit, but understandable under the above circumstances.

Your topographical map art is very similar to that of Tolkien. A tip for you. Take a copy of the original master and erase ground features carefully before adding freehand lettering, as Tolkien did. The erasion will not effect the map quality, the mind will assume the surrounding features blend underneath.
This will be much better than a modern font glow effect.

One question about the map itself, it is hard to have a mysterious interior so close to a well travelled coastline. It appears that unless contradicted by off map terrain it will be simple to travel to the northern plains by sea. What looks to be decent real estate is covered by the shield icon.

There is no dock, no port on the east coast, despite the entire territory being expansive and with an immigrant/invader population base, and thus mobile.

There could be myriad reasons why the east is inaccessible, from sea monsters to dangerous shoals and ocean currents. However it is under explained. You have to think of what you would do if Margrave.
If i were and had the resources to build watch towers and temples in the deep interior I would establish a port settlement north-north east of Herleva's stand and exploit the planes.

If such a settlement would fail and the reasons not screamingly obvious, such as any ships venturing north get attacked by nesting dragons, then there should likely be a ruin of a failed settlement at that location.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/11/07 18:59:43


n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. 
   
Made in de
Basecoated Black





Auckland

Thank you Orlanth, those are some good points.


Lettering:

The lettering is indeed on another layer and can be altered. I like the idea to draw the letters by hand (however, this would be new, exciting, territory to make my own font). it would also match the hand-drawn style better. I may give it a try with the graveyard map and if this is successful use it on the map of Greifshold.

Questions about the map:

To the east I imagine the coast to spike out to form a Peninsula, where a small whaler's settlement is located, that also functions as a dock/harbour.

It is possible to travel to the north by sea along the coast, but I also imagined the plains to be inhabited by a fierce race of beast men (using the Northstar Gnolls as a base model). Accordingly incursions did happen, but no one managed to return. Placing an abandoned settlement there to explore the fate of some colonists would be a nice idea. In addition the beast men decided to use the weakness of the Margrave after the rebellion to establish themselves in Wyrmrock. Another plot hook to make adventurers clean it out (or even cooperate with the beasts).

The guide is supposed to be written from a perspective that is in some cases unreliable, tendentious and influenced by a paternalistic world view. In future background material I want to feature the Hengemen's perspective and that of other factions.

I imagine the Margrave was too weak after the rebellion, losing a significant amount of men and noble followers, to expand any further. The two holds to the north were lost with no real incentive to take them back, especially given they are surrounded by the native tribes.

Resources to rebuild and expand were not immediately available and consolidating and reinforcing the settlement on the coast seemed reasonable to the Margrave after a decade long conflict, selling wood to fill the coffers emptied by mercenaries..

The writer of the guide disregards the Hengemen as simple people, but naturally they are quite capable and did at least in part achieve their goal: To stop expansion and to weaken the Margrave. Without the rebellion I think the expansion to the north would have happend, but any plans were halted through war. The new Margravine wants to change this and a major plot point could be to take back the strongholds and to expand the rule of the Margravine beyond the forest.

Thank you again for your input. I would be interested if you find this explanation convincing in terms of immersion. As it is a Work in Progress I can then work it into future background material.

 
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

You can stencil freehand lettering, or for an emap, hand arrange letters of the font of your choice onto the map with your arts tool.

Removing the modern glow look is key though.

As far as the north, unleashing herds of beastmen is a reason enough. They appear far more beast than man though, if they have tools at all they will likely have some sort of structures. I see no totem stones, no menhirs or sacred groves, or furrows dug is shapes to please the sky gods.
More importantly if the plains are covered in beast herds, why weren't they also defending the Green Bent at tales' start,; it is good land. Surely there must be a tale of the army which crushed them, pulled down their profane monuments in Reigaro's name and burned out their burrows.
Also look at the temple of Reigaro, its a classical temple. So unless the colonists found it and rededicated it, a tale as and of itself (and not too likely) then they must have built it. Building a temple in the wilderness does make sense, with a temple you get holy warriors, conversions and the stamp of civilisation. There must have been opposition, and a lot of costs involved. Building temples in the coastland is expensive enough, building on on the arse end of nowhere a lot worse. It could therefore only make sense if a religious order did it on zeal alone, or slave labour was involved, both would leave their mark.
A holy order with power for such a feat would have been better advised to build a fortress temple on the north coast, clear away the unclean beastfolk and pacify the land from both sides. If they lacked the power and the temple was built on the backs of subjugated hengemen that would leave a different social mark. Either way the arm of the faith of Reigaro is long for the temple to be there and built in that place and fashion.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/11/09 12:14:20


n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. 
   
Made in de
Basecoated Black





Auckland

Hiho,

thanks again for your thoughts. I enjoy this exchange as it gives me a new perspective on the world and what elements need more fleshing out.

I am still working out the details, but I see the beasts in the north to possess reason and culture and thus motivations beyond conquering the land.

The First may have had a long lasting conflict with them driving them back (maybe enslaving them to build their cities).

The First temple of Reigaro was indeed build on the ruins of the First, or much rather an already existing temple. Stones were repurposed, the temple restored, all under the leadership of Arlo. The Black Candle has reach and resources, so I think restoring the temple would be something they can achieve, even in a rather remote location.

Arlo, driven by a vision, set out to find this place deep in the forest and soon the attempts to convert the Hengemen led to conflict. I see these missionaries as a splinter group that, while still associated with the church of Reigaro, had a charismatic, if fanatic, leader in Arlo.

Building Starspire on a holy site of the Hengemen was the first insult, conscripting them to help restore the temple the second. When they dried to pull down the henges they went to far and the Hengemen promptly drove them out.

There may be darker secrets of the Black Candle to be revealed, which is another adventure hook and before Greifshold was build there may have been enough time to suppress rumours.


Where the temple stands in the forest I want to place the achient remains of one of the great cities of the First. Mostly covered by soil and forest only the temple remains, for some time used by the Hengemen and then abandoned. I think the coastline moved also in the last 2000 years, so what was a coastal settlement is now land locked.

I still need to think about how the First are related to the Hengemen. They could simply be their descendants. After a cataclysmic event (climate change leading to starvation, maybe war with the beastmen or rebellion made them abandon their cities etc.) a more simple way of life developed, more suited to the colder climate and expanding forest and constant fear of beastmen raids.

I want to introduce a supernatural element that is connected to the myth of Agrioth and Hithra, but I am still working on this. It should also be connected to Arlo's vision to draw it all together and connect past and present.

 
   
 
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