The Better Parts of Earth for Hexmaps

For some reason, we all like to see real-life places covered in hexmaps. Because the six-mile hex can contain so much, it can be easy to assume that you can fit something like the USA or the continent of Europe in a large but reasonable-size hexmap. But if you've ever looked into this, you'll find that inclination is wrong. Six-mile hexes contain a lot, but the Earth has a lot a lot a lot of ground to cover, and if, like the dedicated Idraluna Archives you make hexmaps at this scale for much of the Earth, you'll find that a lot of regions are just vast swathes of hundreds of hexes of tundra or desert or something, not very dynamic or interesting.

So I'm taking the liberty of going through all Idraluna Archive's maps and pointing out the ones I think might be best inspiration for a hexmap for a campaign or wargame. The maps Thomas provides are all kind of low-resolution, so I think it's more likely you'd want to use them as direct and detailed inspiration for your own more gameplay-focused take with your own system's needs. Go 75% real-life topography, 25% Outdoor Survival chunkiness and contrived routing challenges.

So, without further ado, the maps I think have a pleasing mixture of terrain, routing choice, and inspiring beauty:

Africa

Nigeria, especially the southern half.

Upper Nile

West Africa

African Great Lakes

African Great Lakes. Look at those swirling biomes and convenient water routes.

Asia

Dzungaria (#1 for mountain pass-centric games)

Fertile Crescent, avoiding the swell of Arabia (which is always done dirty by hexmaps)

Manchura

honorable mention to Borneo for if you need a generic island hexmap.

Dzungaria. Plenty of choke points for a creative DM to put some dragon den or humanoid city in.

Europe

Iberia (#1 for generic European fantasy games)

South Central Europe

Anatolia

Iberia. Some hard barriers, some softer ones. Good mixture of wide homogenous zones with more varied ones.

North America

New England
Central Mexico
Great Plains (more homogenous but still has variety)

New England. Simple but pleasing. Mountains you can try to route around.

Oceania

Tasmania

Tasmania. There weren't a lot of maps for Oceania, but this one is okay.

Oceans

None

South America

South American Pampas

East Brazil

Mato Grosso (#1 for heavily forested games)

East Brazil. Lovely mix in the east there.

There it is, the cream of 118+ maps. If I had to pick one to run a game for, I might pick Iberia, especially if gameplay would only occur in a smaller section; or the African Great Lakes, especially if long-distance travel would come up a lot. Such realistic scales are unfortunately a bit too big for most campaign purposes, but you can always take the juiciest section from the quivering whole, or reproduce the whole map at a different scale. Thanks again to Idraluna Archives for going through the work of making hexmaps for so much of the Earth. Very interesting stuff.

Tolkenor, the Border Isle

 It is a time of concord. It is a time of discord. Peace has finally come between the thousand warring lords of Alba, but it was not won through friendship. A warlord holds the pope for a hostage, and all the great isles hold their breath. Meanwhile, hundreds of unemployed retainers and thousands of disloyal soldiers turn to brigandry on the waves or the hardscrabble life of the wanderer, as news of wealth and horror from farther and farther lands marks a new age of conquest, expansion, and misery.

Shadow Hunters (1972)

(This regioncrawl was written to accommodate the Masters of the Strait gloghack)

Click here for the regioncrawl, or read on for some reflections on it.

rare photo of Errol Flynn playing a pirate

Reflections:

• As always, I'm glad I included the little details that make the relationship between the ruleset and the world strong-- making sure to include dogs if there's a dog language PCs can learn, exc. But I could have gone a lot harder in that, and it would have gone well I think.
• As a setting, Tolkenor has plenty of danger, wonder, and political-dramatic potential, but it lacks an overarching crisis that makes everything doubly precarious and animates all the best settings. A massive invasion, or outright domestic crisis of some sort.
• Perhaps more overt risk to the life of piracy, or the end of nobility or something. Inspiration from the source material. Why isn't a snooty bureaucrat on the brink of gathering a massive fleet to shoot every outlaw in the head with a cannon?
• Glad I have those little harbor marks on the border connections between land and ocean. That's a step over previous efforts.
• There should be way more connection between regions. PCs following each lead should feel blown around.
• There should be way more interactivity. More buttons that make regions explode, or move, or something. I've done better at that before.
• If I was about to run a Tolkenor campaign, I'd put more work into making a generator for making regions on the fly. Like Josie's stocking procedure, but with a table of elements and themes particular to the setting.
• Coming up with spirits on the fly on a per-region basis is fine, but if spirits are going to be local powers, I'd like some of them to feel as present as some of the political powers. That would give priests and religious events a feeling of actuality.

Wildernesscrawl Notes: Fellowship of the Ring

I recently had the joy of listening to Fellowship of the Ring in audiobook format, and took the opportunity to take notes about the journey the characters took as they traveled from the Shire to Tol Brandir, where the book ends. Specifically, I wanted to compare the journey to my country-as-dungeon idea and see how a tale famous for its description of adventurous travel differs from the experience I have been setting up. At the end of this post I'll reproduce the notes I made, but I expect them to be only of passing interest.

Instead, here are the observations I made.

1. Middle Earth is big! Using my ad hoc and approximate standard for converting a continuous journey into distinct regions, the party saw 20-25 areas while trying to efficiently cover ground in a long journey. If they were trying to fully explore each region like a party "clearing" a dungeon, the full Fellowship countrycrawl could easily be 100-200 keyed areas, ignoring true dungeons and adventure locations like Moria that would want to be keyed themselves. My "megawildernesscrawl" is probably as small as possible to try to recreate this feel, and it feels notably smaller than Middle Earth.

2. Tolkien makes many of the "doors" between regions distinct landmarks in their own right. Passes, gates, and rapids see love. This is probably something worth emulating.

3. There are a good mix of regions we would categorize as being of the empty, monster, treasure, trap, and special types. Most of the traps serve to confound and challenge travel through the wildernesscrawl, cutting off routes or requiring some expertise or preparation to overcome.  

 4. Gandalf and Aragorn understand the lands they travel through. They can distill their reasoning for the routes they take to relatively simple considerations that are easy to follow, avoiding dangerous places and choosing which obstacles they want to risk. There are enough dangers that it is clear there is no totally safe path to pick.

5. There is pressure on the party. They face many hostile random encounters, and there is a strong, well-framed reason that so much threatens them. A malevolent force is actively attempting to impede them, giving the wildernesscrawl  a "mythic underworld" hostility.

Click for full-size.

Route Notes

I'm certain this is not all accurate, but I believe it is accurate enough for me to learn principles from. Indented entries are mentioned routes or routes the Fellowship intended to take, but ultimately did not.

For connections between regions, I use D ("door") for normal connections, S for secret connections, R for connections that require a ranger or elf, X for blocked connections, and L for locked ones.

Hobbiton

D

Buckland

D: east gate

S: brandybuck hedge gate to West Old Wood

West Old Wood

X: due east (old man willow’s choice)

X: due north (old man willow’s choice)

D

Barrow Downs

D

Bree

D

outlying villages

D

main road

And

D

Wooded country

R

Midgewater Marshes - slows travel

D

Line of hills (Weathertop)

D

Main road again

D

Wilderness - slows travel

D Last Bridge

Hills - slows travel

D

Troll country

X hills and passages 

Old path (cliffside troll hole)

L ford of Bruhenan (forbids evil)

Rivendell 

End book 1

Rivendell

D

Wooded country (routes not commonly known)

D

Treacherous swamps

D Holly Ridge

Hollin

D

Caradhras mountain

D Redhorn gate pass

Dindril Stair (deepvale)

D

Silverlode river

D

Great river

D

Secretwood

D

Siranon, the Gate Stream

L

Moria

D

Dimril Dale and (Mirrormere) (also accessed by Dimril stair from the Torrent river)

D

Northern Lothlorien

D South-facing gate

Caras Galadhon

D Mouth of Anduin 

(Western Side)

Depopulated Borderlands

D

bleak wolds

D

Barren country of stony vales 

D Amon hen

(Eastern Side)

D

The Brown Lands

D

Barren country of stony vales

D Amon Lhaw

D

Bleak hills (Rohan)

D 

Bleak marshes 

Mordor 

(Route for Delaying their Choice)

Anduin the Great River

D

River past the brownlands

D

Gravel shoals

D Rapids of Sarn Gebir (also leads to western shore with Open Doors roll)

More river

D Argonath, the pillars of the kings

Tindrock/Tol brandir/

D

More river

D Great falls of rauros

The Nindalf/The Wetwang

D

The entwash (to Fangorn)

Before I Sleep: Ancién

 Continuing with my plan to post "side dishes" to my megawildernesscrawl project, here go my notes about the troubled kingdom of Ancién. It is the most direct spiritual successor to Astos, my first attempt at a country-as-dungeon. This side dish includes a procedure for its typically inconclusive civil wars, as well as some notes and notable items.

Ancién

A "prosperous" "nation" that claims to be the oldest remaining kingdom in the world. It belongs to the Kisic culture, which means people here have French or Norman or Arthurian names, sleep standing up, and love to wear gloves all the time. Soldiers of the crown wear tabards of quartered blue and white, because they're good guys. Therefore, people of Ancién are some of the least aware that they live in a collapsing state.

The queen, now at the age when she must worry about throwing off an entrenched regent, is kept at the sidelines as two massive theological movements have suddenly become listless and reckless following the coincidental(?) death of their respective leaders. Between the Urbanites, who are worldly, and the Furious, who are violent adherents of the fundamentals, there are many would-be martyrs looking for someone to direct them.

If you're making a PC in Ancién, you can make them an assassin instead of one of the base classes. This is a bad omen.

from the Adventures of Peter Peterkin

Civil War Procedure

• A war is always initiated by a pretender faction, traditionally with some flashy coup attempt that goes awry. Each faction has a claimant with a Legitimacy somewhere between 2 and 12 based on how much people think you deserve your war goal, traditionally the Ancient Throne.
• Specific regions contribute War Points to the side they swear to. Extra factors like foreign armies can add WP too.
• At the start of a season, each side comes up with a plan, then rolls a d20 and tries to get under their Legitimacy. If they fail, check the Region Loyalty Table for the result of that roll and if the named region is part of their faction, it goes rogue or switches sides.
• If the legitimacy roll failed, repeat the last step.
• If a rogue region is about to get their goose cooked, they can scramble and try to start or join another faction.
• While this is happening, PCs and major NPCs might be going on a little adventure or something else that will be factored in.
• Make opposed d20+WP rolls for each part of a faction’s plans that results in a battle or contest. When the aggressor fails, they can’t advance that part of their plan for the rest of the season. You can divide your forces, but that should reduce the size of the dice you roll or something. DM figure it out.
• The default result of a civil war, by the math, is a stalemate. A faction can keep a full army fed, supplied, and mobilized for about [22 minus WP] seasons before they have to start eating each other. If all factions fall into this before making a peace agreement, we fall into the time of warlords, all fought on the skirmish level with normal D&D rules.

Region Loyalty Table (and WP contribution)

1. Togea Lowland (1 WP)
2. Chauce (1 WP)
3. Invraisem (1 WP)
4. Uradel (3 WP)
5. Eungaine, the City of Smoke (1 WP)
6. Vortinham, the Prison-City (1 WP)
7. The Broadwoodland (1 WP)
8. Guertomb (1 WP)
9. Ashmarch (2 WP)
10. Galefir Hills (2 WP)
11. Benevale (1 WP)
12. Eastern Levett River (1 WP)
13. Feuilponwood (1 WP)
14. Sarat (1 WP)
15. Benevale (1 WP)
16. Western Levett River (2 WP)
17. Serpent Ridge (1 WP)
18. Benevale (1 WP)
19. Ashmarch (2 WP)
20. Gwynedure (3 WP)

War Relics

• Starblood Mantle: slowly shapes your mind into that of Nemesis.  Save each season or get -1 WIS and +1 cleric level. You may choose to fail the save. Losing the Mantle turns you into a wretched hunter seeking to recover it. +3 Legitimacy and +1 WP and your last region will never go rogue.
• Fawrion Forte: first sword of the first killer of Ancien. A humbly made +1 starmetal arming sword. When its wielder would be damaged by a weapon or projectile, they roll a d12. If they get above their current HP, the sword deflects the harm, be it matter or magic. No scabbard can encompass the weapon. +3 legitimacy, but if the wielder fights for another’s claim, that claimant gets -1 legitimacy.
• The Book of Opposites: write the name of your enemies in its endless pages, and keep writing them. +1 WP, somehow...
• Wand of Rivaval’s Pox: worn, blackened cedar handle. Leaves an ashen stain on anything it touches. Magicians can use it to fire a spray of clear, shoe-polish-scented drops. Those touched must save or lose 1d6 maximum HP and 1 Legitimacy. 2d6 charges. Multiple uses on the same person have more dire effects.
• Avaburn Stone: a flat, chalky rock. Place it on the seat of a throne, and the Avaburn Maidens will come. Do as they say, and they will fight for you; the region over which the throne presides will get +1 WP. Defy them three times, and they will take you away.

Lands of Quasqueton (Country-As-Dungeon)

 This is an attempt to adapt the first floor of the  B1 In Search of the Unknown dungeon into an overland realm, in the style of a previous attempt. In so doing, I'm pretty sure I've totally ruined its initial purpose, as I'm pretty sure he mapping challenges for which B1 is famous have mostly been obliterated. Not only have many of the convoluted areas been unknotted, but the overland rules I'm entertaining with this format allow PCs to forge alternate routes in extremis. There are unmarked changes to the way the areas are laid out, even beyond the shift from dungeon to countryside.

This version promises an odd experience. The encounter table, which I attempted to jazz up, is a bit lackluster, and this ostensibly settled realm is notably quite depopulated. You will want your copy of B1 open if you study this adaption closely, as I tried to avoid duplicating work or restating tedious information. The cavern level of the dungeon was not adapted, but hopefully you can imagine how they might translate into a stirring underdark locale.

In this case, I imagine 1 overland Turn is equal to five days travel, and can get you through five squares, ten if you're sailing upriver or walking on ice, fifteen if you're sailing downriver. Every sixth turn, a party will need to rest for a few days. I've been thinking about long-term travel and how to make them more concrete. Perhaps a DM should force such long expeditions to include pack animals, porters, or vehicles and set a price for 3 months of supplies, using an equipment list like the one found in the Prairie Traveler to specify exactly what this equipment is.

-

The first dynasty of Quasqueton was established by the warrior king Rogahn the Fearless and the potent wizard Zelligar the Unknown. In the turbulent times that have since come to the riverine kingdom, it is said that they will one day return from their doomed campaign in distant lands, leading an army of gay soldiers in fine array, tooting horns and waving banners, fighting to banish trouble and evil on the roads and rivers.

Quasqueton is a land with cold, wet autumns and long, chilling winters. The rivers which feed trade near-fully freeze for 1d2+4 months of the year.

Encounters

1. 1d6 orcs. The descendants of those enslaved in earlier dynasties, most orcs live as outlaws and are suspicious of strangers.

2. 1d2 giant centipedes. Largely harmless, but attack if you get too close, which is most likely to occur by accident if you pass by their burrow in winter.

3. 1d6 kobolds. Likely peddlers, farmhands, or cowpokes. Pant in the summer, roll around in winter.

4. 1d20 troglodytes. Last generation they migrated here as raiders. Now they are often mercenaries and guards marrying into local leadership. Not well adapted to the cold.

5. 1d4+1 giant rats

6. 1d2 x 10 berserkers. Most of their ranks are filled with disaffected local bachelors and widows or widowers who seek something to be a part of.

• 0. Delta City Ruins. Once a bustling trade port flanked by high cliffs. Now no longer continuously occupied. Statues of various kings and potentates stand half-ruined in alcoves carved into the cliffs. Some are enchanted with Magic Mouths that make grandiose boasts. In the west cliff is a statue of Rogahn and in the east cliff is a statue of Zelligar. Behind each of these two is a hidden passage through the stone, coming out in valleys that serve as secret routes. Searching the city will yield the remains of four adventurers, as well as signs of previous campsites.
• 1. The River Quasque. Allows travel at double speed if you have a boat or, in winter, a sled team or snow shoes. The tributary fed from area 31 is called the Rayon. When it splits at the Steel Cliffs (area 4), it is called the North and South Rayon. People in this part of the country are considered awkward and pretentious. The tributary fed from area 5 is called the Alet. People in this part of the country are considered pious and well-formed, and everybody loves them. The longest branch of the river, fed from 18, is called the Rimewater when it needs to be distinguished from other parts of the river. People in this part of the country are considered hardy and needlessly sinister.
• 2. Kettle Town. Farms and fortified granaries around a town of grates and awnings. Civic reverence for the town's original residents, the hirelings of Rogan and Zelligar, is slowly morphing into a religion.
• 3. Steel Cliffs West. The safe ascent on the western face is guarded by a camp of a dozen orc fisherfolk. In lean years, they dabble in piracy. Their captain, Sentia, wears shoddy brigandine, a braided beard, and an immaculate lion-faced Shield +1. Drinking and gaming is the group's only outlet..
• 4. Steel Cliffs East. No easy ascent from anywhere but area 3. Standing unspoiled is a beautiful marble statue of a beckoning woman lifting up a scimitar.
• 5. Alet Mountains. Ample valleys and foliage make traversing the range less arduous than it otherwise might be. Atop one of the more gradual slopes is the brutalist Tower of Zelligar. Within, untouched by the ages, is a massive mural depicting his military victories, a fine bed with his name engraved in it, some ewers and other minor treasures, and, hidden behind a screen in a chest with a poison needle trap, an ornate glass vial containing the tears of a Ghost, which serves as a potion of invisibility.
• 6. Zelligar's Villa, now a ruin. Fallow vineyards surround it. Crab spiders infest the interior of the intact buildings, and hanging on a stand is a Bag of Devouring, which seems like rich purple fabric on the exterior but scratchy burlap on the inside.
• 7. Alet Grove. A path from the Tower leads here, a beautiful and enchanted place where a unicorn wouldn't be out of place. The bottom of a still pool seems to be lined with coins and gems, but it is only an illusion. When disturbed, it disintegrates like ink in the water to reveal a pair of zombies in rusted-up ring armor wielding spears.
• 8. Highland Outcropping. Studded with the tombs of later dynasties. One is notably more ancient in construction but much better preserved than others. Within, rather than a tomb, is an arcane workroom. Environmental storytelling reveals that this was built in secret by Zelligar IV the Secret-Fire, and is of a middle dynasty.
• 9. Highland Fields. Dotted with gullies and the detritus of arcane rites which have been conducted here for generations, ending only twenty years ago. Home to such things as smoke that incapacitates with a full day of uncontrollable laughter, dickishly enchanted rings which are actually worthless, sites of human sacrifice, torn skins with arcane prophecies painted onto them, vats of weird goo, deep fire pits, busted-up coffins, occasional caches of honey and grain, and tins of incense. A clique of thirty strange, withered, blue-skinned people, the descendants of a lapsed priesthood, act as custodians here. Stats as goblins, typically encountered in groups of ten. They are led by Oltid, who wields a false magic wand (radiates magic) in combat, hoping it will cast some kind of spell.
• 10. Dakel's Cove. A cave hidden in a cliff bank on the River Quasque. To access it, you need to swim under the brickwork of a section of the cliff, reinforced by a moss-covered brick wall which conceals a beach in a long overhang. Attentive PCs may notice that the bottom of the brick wall is held up by stone arches, giving access just a couple feet under the surface of the water. Within the cove are 60 barrels with boring contents, like barley, soap, and lard, as well as a 400 gp pearl which has rolled behind a barrel full of peas.
• 11. Rime Plateau. Largely a collection of inaccessible and rocky vistas, with several waterfalls feeding into the river. Half-visible in one waterfall is a chain ladder rattling around. The force of the water makes climbing the ladder almost impossible, but during the winter months the falls freeze and the ladder comes to the front, due to dwarven constructions of its blah blah blah. Ascending leads to an old miner's camp, abandoned in one of the recent political crises. In addition to some gear useful to adventurers— rope, chains, iron spikes, there are piles of wooden beams, building mortar, stone blocks, and assorted hardware. The mine itself never went into operation, and it would be the investment of thousands of gold coins to get it running. However, it would reliably turn a profit in tin ore for years to come.
• 12. The Unknown Library. A remote holdfast near a mouth of the river, accessed by a grand series of bridges and paths. Unfortunately, because the library was named for a latter-day imitator of Zelligar and not for its actual secrecy, the library was destroyed in a power struggle last century. Most of the tomes and scrolls have been destroyed, but hidden in a secret room only noted in the directory is a Silver bracelet worth 32 gp and a tell-all biography of Zelligar I's daughter, Boed the Apt. The kobolds from area 13 sometimes make the trek to visit this place. They use glowing bugs in jars for light and greatly value literature despite lacking the means to produce paper, vellum, or other appropriate sheets.
• 13. Sidif. A dozen small kobold villages, only half of which are currently occupied. The rest, either home to peddlers who are not present or abandoned in the past generation, contain various mundane tools and implements, as well as about 9800 copper coins that would take a few days of ransacking to gather.
• 14. The Drakewood. Dense and difficult to traverse, with needled ferns that cause a burning rash. It was by this routes that the troglodytes entered Quasqueton, and most troglodytes could give directions for safely traversing it. In the darkest part of the forest is a giant, hollowed out oak tree that once served as a hermitage, and within, on a small hanging rack, can be found two scrolls of cure light wounds engraved with illustrations of saints healing the sick. At the DM's discretion, the Drakewood can connect on its western edge to another realm.
• 15. Village of Downing Fields, a rustic but inviting alpine spot. Festivals are common, the mayor is inviting, and raiders never seem to trouble them. Those who visit are unknowingly transported to area 16, confusing navigation.
• 16. Village of Fielding Downs. As area 15, but the mayor has a hole in one eye that's constantly dripping some fuzzy fluid and no one acknowledges it.
• 17. Meter Hill. Sister peak to the Rime Mountain Peak (area 19). Often coughs up ash and soot. In the side of a cliff is an impressive stone door that will never open, a mean-spirited trick of Rogahn II Half-Elven. Around the door are elven runes mocking those who attempt to open it as weaklings and babies. A carcass crawler lingers near the peak, half-submerged in the ash but unfortunately distinct to the eye.
• 18. Rimewater Mouth. The river powers a pair of water wheels around which a small town has sprung. There is a large smithy there, but the stern smith who owns it is too old to work the forge, and all her sons have died or gone.
• 19. Rime Mountain Peak. Some stubborn trees grow here. In a short cave a long shaft can be found that runs down, down, down to the caverns under Quasqueton. A block and tackle is fitted into the cavern ceiling directly above the hole with rusted nails. When more than 100 pounds of weight are put on the tackle, there is a chance the nails will snap and it will fall out of its fitting. About 300 feet down the shaft, the irregular walls are met with steep, crudely-cut spiral stairs that lead down, down, down.
• 20. Lesser Mountains. A high redoubt on a remote hill is visible from a great distance, but traveling to it involves a spiraling, circuitous route that slows travel. Frustratingly, the interior is totally unfinished, and empty except for some bear scat, a small wooden box holding 140 gold coins, and a clay tablet amateurishly inscribed with a smiling face.
• 21. Lamoe, called by outsiders the Troglodyte Moot. Raiders have settled the fertile lands overlooking Delta City, and begun to tend it, growing tomatoes suspected of being poisonous and potatoes believed to be venomous. Outsiders have a good chance of being hassled by the Ambo, a clan of nosy warriors. Their warriors number eight, and they are led by Uwlo, who wields an amber-chased +1 dino-head flail, and his one-eyed aunt, Aiphu One-Eye, who wields a two-handed whip. She has a false map that accurately shows areas 1 and 17-22 and incorrectly maps the rest of the land of Quasqueton.
• 22. Overgrown Reserve. The thick woods here slow travel. Fungus and molds of every color of the rainbow infest the reserve, and the spores are unpleasant to breathe. 
• 23. Woodrow. Series of woodcutting communities overlooked by Castle Rogahn's cliff along the south. A tunnel in the vault of a cliffside belltower leads up to the castle proper.
• 24. Consort's Villa. Built abutting the cliff of area 25. Currently ransacked and in disrepair, although searching the compound can yield a silver mirror worth 360 gp, as well as a black widow spider hiding under a bed and ready to crawl out. If the party splits up to search the villa, one will probably still spot it emerging. In a central room, there is a small statuette of a local deity, and in its hand in a wooden box containing a golden ring of protection +1 with a heart-shaped ruby, as well as fragile piece of paper that says in crude hand "Melissa, God knows I have done nothing to deserve you. You are the one beautiful thing in this sinful world that brings me any joy and you give each of my days meaning. I am sorry I have no beautiful words to say these things. Will you marry me?" In a basement, behind some smashed up wine racks, is a tunnel into area 25.
• 25. Castle Rogahn. Surrounded on all sides by steep drops, with a winding approach on the west side that has utter collapsed. A spartan and forlorn fortification raised by Rogahn, dwarfed in grandeur by later ages. It is operated to this day by jumped-up burgers and their servants, though they cannot find it in themselves to fully pretend they exercise any power. There are some treasures preserved here— an antique silver spider medallion on a chain, worth 200 gp, four centuries-old tapestries showing scenes from the early days of the Land of Quasqueton, and a 20'-long bed with an 'R" inscribed in it, allegedly belonging to Rogahn. They sure made heroes tall in those days. Connects by hidden tunnels to areas 23 and 24.
• 26. Favor District. A series of small, planned settlements on rocky, uneven land. Abandoned as unsuitable living, but there are fallen nobles elsewhere in the the land who would seek to regain their estates here. Trophies of various sorts can still be found here, as well as a pillar engraved with martial triumphs over a dragon, a basilisk, orc tribes, and other foes. At the center of the district is a stone belltower, its insides rotting and home to a colony of Shriekers. Any convulsing or klaxon from the fungus causes the ancient bell to ring, causing a random encounter check. Fallen in the guts of the base of the tower are 80 silver coins.
• 27. Two Thrones. Basalt flat, with two vaguely chair-shaped hills near the center.
• 28. Chapel of Oduma. Thriving community of settled orcs around a large church to the chaotic, poorly-sketched deity Rennat. Established by a short-time ally of the Quasqueton dynasties before it was abandoned. The church seems to be in disrepair because construction on it was never completed. Near a sacrificial pit with a spooky pentagram is a leather pouch with 40 pieces of electrum.
• 29. Erig's Rest. Sleepy rustic villages. The landmark of note is a cairn said to belong to a minor king.
• 30. Erigwood. Ferny forest with many maple and oak trees. In the south of the region is an exposed limestone outcropping with a large cave, leading gradually down into the cavern roads of Quasqueton. 3280 silver coins are stacked neatly in 20 sacks of 164 coins each in a chamber near the entrance, retrieved from below and abandoned for unknown reasons.
• 31. Rayon Mountains. Home to many strange springs, each of a different color and consistency. Analogue to B1's pool room. Exploring the valleys and crevices of the southern expanse reveals a hidden stair that leads to a mountain peak (area 32).
• 32. Rayon Peak. Home to a family of dwarves, the Marevak Clan. Long-lived, they knew many rulers of the realm personally and act as conduits of history. What's more, they are skilled architects open to working for anyone who might seek to restore the workings of Quasqueton. For treasure, beyond several interesting blueprints on a drafting table, the patriarch of the clan wears a Ring of +1 protection, and they keep a healing potion (2 doses) in case of mishaps.
• 33. Hinterland. The strong and loyal Etex people were sought after as recruits for Quasqueton's army, but those who remain here are agreeable and gentle. There's an old parade ground and barracks, where 60 gold coins can still be found in an old lockbox.
• 34. Gangrel Swamp. Flooded land thick with small trees and shrubs, where bubbles of flammable gas arise frequently, making the use of open flames impossible. Home to many orcs living at an unhappy subsistence level, slowly making a circuit of the area. Near the center of the swamp is the orc outlaw Everard, whom they all respect for his wisdom and tenacity. His home in the trunk of an anomalous mangrove tree contains, among other things, a valise carrying fine clothes worth 100 gold coins.
• 36. Noqa Mill. Disused mill with an oversized water wheel. The foundations of the mill are unstable, and there is a 2-in-6 chance per person entering that the floor and half the building suddenly sink, smashing through the ceiling of a cave to land in a deep cavern (area 50).
• 37. Porterhouse Plains. Site of an ancient battle, serene. Searching the old site for a few days yields chain links, bones, a few rusted weapons, and a gold ring worth 40 gp

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p.s. decided to add a literal back-of-the-envelope map of Quasqueton as a citizen of that land might draw it for some adventurers.

Location: Astos (Country-As-Dungeon)

 This is another experiment in overland travel procedure. Wise voices have remarked that in many ways we want the same sorts of things from an overland journey as we want from a dungeon-crawl. To get my head around this idea, I've designed a map for a country, as though it were a dungeon with twenty areas. The connections are more approximate than for a dungeon, and I'm sure there are many tweaks you'd have to make to the normal crawling procedure to make it work well. This is all untested, a quick mock-up to get my head around the idea, but it's already throwing up all sorts of questions for me. Adapting "empty" rooms, special areas, monsters, traps, and treasure really got my creative juices flowing.

I guess you'd want to say that characters don't heal any HP while they travel, as that rather deflates the danger when travel takes so long. On the other hand, if someone has a healing spell they can cast every day, I suppose that would really change up the math of HP attrition. It makes sense that the DM should set the scene of any encounters such that they can often spin off into further scenes at the normal, personal, minute-to-minute scale. That way, players won't get used to the idea that it's safe to use all their daily spells and abilites right away in every overland encounter. You'd also want to figure out how rationing, foraging, and other concerns are reckoned, which I have helpfully not done to leave it as an exercise for you.

Astos

The kingdom of Astos is a synthesis of post-LoTR fantasy doorstopper influences like Wheel of Time, the Inheritance Cycle, and the Kingkiller Chronicle. It's one of those nominally calm and cheerful lands that doesn't understand the peril it is slouching into, helped along by agents of a Shadow or Dark One or what have you. Like many dungeons, it has a few factions— the secretive conspirators against King Alerholt, the idealistic servants of the crown, and the elf-friends, ideologically aligned with the crown but disillusioned with the king and the nobility.

1 Turn represents about a week of travel, and covers a region or about five squares, assuming the party is moving carefully. Travel will be slower when they check out points of interest, get especially encumbered, brave the winter, or face inclement weather.  Travel will be faster when they ride fast mounts, rush heedlessly, or are aided by the terrain.

Little ford symbols and door markers represent natural connections between regions. If they are connected, a party can enter at any reasonable point; they don't need to first journey to the spot on the border that has a door symbol. Some regions don't have a natural connection. At the DM's discretion, entry can still occur, though it will take 1d4 Turns. If the party has guides to the area, they can roll the die first and then decide if they want to attempt it.

2d6 Random Encounters (1-in-6 every Turn)

2. 1d10 undead shadow-warriors. Their cursed swords prevent healing and drain 1 hp per day. Those slain rise a week later as shadows.

3. 2d10 2 HD monstrous humanoids who serve an even freakier 8 HD monster

4. 1d100 con artists, brigands, or pirates

5. Heavy rains slow travel. Roll another encounter check.

6. wildlife-- roll a d4: 1. 2d6 wild dogs, 2. herd of deer, 3. spying pigeons, 4. boar

7. Faction encounter: spies, knights, or weary elves

8. Corrupt or inept official

9. Peasant who offers help (on negative reaction, duplicitously)

10. Doomsaying prophet (high-level cleric, reaction roll determines alignment), 25% of a mob

11. 3d10 skeletons

12. Rotnem, a surly yet wise immortal dwarf wizard whose personality was mangled by a curse.

Areas

1. Morcanor (Elf-Friends): redoubt of elven scholars in a grand gully hidden in the heart of a forest, called by outsiders Morcanor's Woods. Their rugged custodians, called "Elf-Friends", tend to cordon them off from interlopers, as they are credulous and fragile. PCs will be intercepted by an Elf-Friend patrol (stats as brigands). On a negative reaction roll they will drive the PCs off with bows and pen-knives. On a more positive roll, they'll tell them to beat it more nicely. If you can actually get into Morcanor, the elves can tutor magic-users, identify magic items, or confer +1 arrows and polearms on those they charge with a solemn quest. These elves are distinguished by their pastel robes, wispy hair with sap-scented oils, maypoles, and love of dance. The captain of the Elf-Friends here is the aging surveyor Vortins.
2. Tewse Marsh (Elf-Friends): peat harvesting villages, dilapidated gallery roads, and spooky trees. Slows travel. A horrific meat-grinder of a battle from last generation's war hangs like a spectre over the people here, and wishful indigents sometimes dive for treasure that they know isn't really there. Cockscomb hats and falcata are in fashion here.
3. River Guimri (conspirator): a meandering, steep-banked river that slows travel unless you buy passage on a fast boat (30 gp/Turn). The fish here are inept, and "Guimri fish" is an insult across all of Astos.
4. Limondy (Crown): a woodcutting region, known for its vineyards and fine hounds. Of late, a strain of shaggy black hounds have escaped captivity and mingled with wolves to birth a race of murderous freak-shucks. PCs visiting Limondy can purchase un-freaked hounds, as well as expensive wines that function as potions of certain spells.
5. Orcarad (Crown): the lands overseen by the lady knight Orcarad, chapter master of the knights of St. Nilte. She shelters "true" allies of the crown who are increasingly out of place in the capital at Silat, as well as renovating the order's main chapterhouse. Fighters who swear an oath of loyalty, pass a few trials, and keep an overnight vigil can be inducted into the order here, receiving a horse and a unique coat of arms as well as the following blessings ot Saint Nilte: to heal another with a touch for [level]x2 HP once per day, at 3rd level to constantly be affected as by protection from evil, and at 5th level or higher cast cure disease once per day. If they seriously break their oaths they will lose these blessings, and upon their fellows learning this they will be barred from the order. The common people of Orcarad are mostly engaged in ranching, and known for colorful quilted cloaks as well as their tolerance of witches.
6. Liorlin Fields (none): wide, rustic spaces with small trade towns along the rivers. Renowned for their wool clothing and tobacco, which they sell at a suitable price. However, if you go even further into the remote hamlets where the tobacco is grown and sheep are shepherded, you will find the salt of the earth, an insular but straightforward folk descended from the demigod Addartas. Not only are their goods sold for a great deal, but any hirelings picked up here get +1 HD, proficiency with bows and clubs, and a [level]-in-6 chance of comprehending ancient languages, a fact that will surprise and concern even them when they discover it.
7. Fog Lake (Conspirators): crossed by ferries and barges (5 gp a head), but infested by freshwater sharks, servants of the Dark One.
8. Lake Vale (Elf-Friends): an ancient forest with overgrown paths, old stone pillars, and root-banked ponds. Slows travel. Legends claim that the first king of Astos, Lenregne,  lingers in these woods, promising to return in the realm's greatest need.
9. Caivret (Crown): a province ringing a town of banking and law, and the royal family's summer holdfast. There lingers Princess Margane, forced into a sort of semi-exile for attempting to reverse the evil law of her father's ministers. While loyalist forces attend her, she privately confides in her bodyguard, the half-elf Llad, that she has begun to wonder if the monarchy is worth keeping around at all. Unbeknownst to her, there are agents of the Shadow in her coterie, and at the first sign of her striking out against their master, such as if the PCs convince her to help them in some great quest, assassins will poison her and her guests at the next meal. The province is known for its many-colored fields of flowers and the propensity of its people to gamble on anything.
10. Barrow Hills (Elf-Friends): grassy, stony hills often studded with ancient barrows. One hill, called simply Elf Hill, is sometimes seen to have clouds of mist emerging from its elf-glyph-covered barrow mouths. This comes from a gateway at the center of the barrows in that hill that serves as a portal to Morcanor. The warm air of those woods combine with the barrow chill, and thus produce mist and fog. Those who walk through the gateway find themselves in a still grove near the heart of Morcanor. The elves will probably be pissed with them if they find out.
11. Laigal (Crown): semi-lawless series of towns, taverns, jealously guarded orchards, and military camps in the outlying lands around Silat. Locals are hostile to anyone who doesn't match their idea of a proper Astosian. -3 reaction unless you're a Laigali, cleric, brewer, horseman, or mother, and encounters are met on a 3-in-6. Despite everything, they are emphatic patriots. The closest thing to an authority in the region is the Cohort, an organization of professional firefighters/burglars. Their hideout conceals a vast treasury, including some cool spell scrolls and Matagot, a blackened +1 intelligent dagger with a tiger's eye in the hilt that can see through invisibility. It has a feline personality, which has led to some questions around the captain of the Cohort's sanity.
12. Silat (Conspirators): capital of Astos and the seat of King Alerholt. Unfortunately, a den of vipers managed by sycophants and liars only meaningfully opposed by street gangs that sometimes riot against the more draconian policies enacted in the king's name. Anything the PCs might do here that sets them out will be met with interrogations, extorted bribes, and/or surreptitious deportation into Laigal. Alerholt's chief advisor, Malise, is a rube, controlled by the palace's butler and spy for the Dark One, Teird.
13. River Black (Conspirators): wide, deep river that speeds travel if you can secure a barge (20 gp/Turn, rustic) or passage on a river boat (50 gp/Turn, ritzy, secure). Near the headwaters of the river are the ruins of the Black City, a walled series of cyclopean streets and leaning towers. Within is an ash-covered woman in a black robe who calls herself the Patroness (Stats as ghost). If she can get a rube to take something she gives them out of the Black City, it will cause their soul to fester. They'll get grouchy, refuse to part with their gift, and lose 1 wisdom per Turn. At 0, she will hatch from the victim reborn, with stats as a death knight and an eye to conquest.
14. Sorrow (Elf-Friends): abandoned gnome towns in scenic birch woods. It is said that they left when a compact forged with them was broken by the king of Astos. Hidden in each town's well is a secret tunnel that leads to their hideout, for their departure was feigned. They are suspicious of outsiders, but are lifelong friends. Once they played drums and sang, but now none dare. Remarkable for their pointed navy caps, coracles, and brandy.
15. Kevalrigme's Gap (Conspirators): rough climbing through the barest and narrowest mountain pass. Impassable for horses, but mules can just about manage it. In the winter months, the thick icicles that form hanging from ancient stone arches along the "path" render travel practically impossible. The wizard Kevalrigme's country starts on the eastern side of the mountain, and he knows how to conjure winter storms out of season.
16. Pello (Elf-Friends): windy, windy, windy plains. Did you think you could cross the flatlands without much hassle? Wrong! Much hassle! Travel is slow and loud, and unless you have a ranger or something in your party you might emerge from the plains 1d90 degrees off-course.
17. Danbrangoire (Conspirator): soybean farmers and gardeners, the descendants of the Cognomen survivors of Tadyffire. Hidden in attics and cellars are valuable mechanisms, strange weapons, and clockwork creatures. Unwholesome and poisonous gasses sometimes float down from the Cognomen ruins in the mountains (1-in-6 chance per Turn), and those who breath them in must save vs death, getting a mutation on a successful save. The ancient Cognowoman Langwain seeks to gather an expedition to retake Tadyffire.
18. Tadyffire Gate (Conspirators): the ruins of a city that ran under the mountains, a wonder of brass and fire. The Cognomen once facilitated trade between Astos and its neighbor across the mountains, Hest, but some great doom befell them and none have managed to solve the child-grade riddle on the gate to pick through the ashes. Someone who manages it will find a dungeon-type environment populated by salamanders who have repurposed the great machines to their own uses, but may find the route through to Hest, a region of free towns, renowned falconers, and gregarious river magicians.
19. Amber Coast (Crown): the last prosperous province of Astos, a breadbasket so fertile that its stiff-necked city-slicker ruler, Count Brover, can't mismanage it so badly that the gold doesn't come rolling in. As long as we get a spot of rain soon. The pub is the center of public life here.
20. Grand Port (Conspirators): once a great trade port, now much diminished by the slow worsening of the world. Very few ships come into the bay from foreign lands these days, and even fewer head out. Many of the remainder are unsuccessful second-generation buccaneers, and PCs are liable to encounter 1d20 of them soon enough. Grand Port sits between the coast and the southern extent of the mountains, and serves as a gateway to the Hestian hinterlands.