Part 6, On the Plains of Qaen, Flying Cities, and the Mountains of Beldestan A traveler who leaves Rhaga to journey eastward rides for seven days across the Plains of Qaen. No lodging houses operate in this land except in a few remote locations. Many beautiful groves of date palms grow here and abundant wild […]
Midgard Expanded: The Travels of Lucano Volpe, or Cities in the Sky Read More »
Part 5, On Parthia and the Fire-Worshippers of Atashkala Upon leaving Tabur by barge, it’s a twelve-day journey upon the Lumeta River. We fended off centaur raiders twice before reaching the eastern edge of the empire at the fortress town of Kazan. An impressive fortification, the town rests on both sides of the water and
Midgard Expanded: The Travels of Lucano Volpe, or Parthia’s on Fire Read More »
Part Four, On Traveling Eastward Let us pause a moment and speak on the decision to leave for the East via the city of Tabur. There are some who would advise a traveler to depart instead from the fortress city of Sarkland in the Gizmiri province. This advice is the height of folly. Though it
Part Three, On Betik, Province of the Book A prominent province indeed, Betik is well known as one of the greatest provinces of the entire Mharoti Empire. The road from Qiresh to Betik runs some 550 miles through high passes of the Dragoncoil. Yet this is not a hard journey as well-appointed hostels and waystations
Midgard Expanded: The Travels of Lucano Volpe, or Betik and the Book Read More »
Part Two, Qiresh and the Roads of the Mharoti Empire On the coast of the Ruby Sea is the town of Qiresh, which is a bustling centre of trade. You may depend on it that spices and cloths and all manner of valuable things from the interior are carried to this town. Qiresh possesses a sheltered harbor
Midgard Expanded: The Travels of Lucano Volpe, or On the Road to Mharoti Read More »
Introduction, In Which We Meet Our Narrator and Learn Of His Reasons YE emperors, kings, dukes, marquises, earls, and knights, and all other people desirous of knowing the diversities of the races of Midgard, as well as the diversities of kingdoms, provinces, and regions of all parts of the East, read through this account, and
Midgard Expanded: The Travels of Lucano Volpe, or So It Begins Read More »
In the Southlands Kickstarter, backers just unlocked some martial traditions for the blue turban warriors. To give you a sense of what’s in store for the blue turban paladins, Brian Suskind provides you with another quick peek! Read on! Wearing indigo-colored cheche, a garment that is both veil and turban, and flowing white robes, the
The Imajaghan: Blue Turban Paladins of the Desert Read More »
In the center of the Southlands is the great Kusini Plains: a serengeti-like savannah home to countless numbers of wildlife, megafauna, and towering dinosaurs. Many kingdoms and civilizations have risen and fell in this massive area, leaving only remnants and ruins behind. With the detritus of so many destroyed and once overlapping cultures littering the
Oddities and Items of the Abandoned Lands Read More »
Join us for another look at the colorful and evocative gaming options provided by the Southlands project, which is currently being Kickstarted. On the opposite side of the crescent desert from Nuria-Natal lies the wondrous sky-city of Aerdvall. Roughly 2,100 years ago, refugees from far Sikkim raised their city to hover high above the foreboding
The Aeromancers of Aerdvall, Masters of Air Magics Read More »
Without looking too hard, you can find tons of adventures teeming with interesting encounters all of which have built-in conflict. They have monsters to fight, devious traps to disarm, and cunning puzzles to solve. But what about the other encounters in the campaign world? What about the traveler the heroes met on the road, the
From Screenplay to RPG: Noncombat Conflict Read More »
Last time we looked at how to construct three-act subplots, and I used three example subplots from my own campaign. Remember, you are not limited to any number of plotlines. It’s just a question of how many balls you can keep track of. Layering the Subplots in a Three-Act Structure Using the examples from my
From Screenplay to RPG: Interweaving Plotlines with a Three-Act Structure (Part Two) Read More »
Warning! Possible Railroading Ahead! Okay, now that the disclaimer is out of the way, we can delve into the realm of plotlines. Interweaving plotlines within a campaign can be amazing, but it can also lead to your players feeling like you are forcing them down certain paths. The trick is to build layered subplots without
From Screenplay to RPG: Interweaving Plotlines with a Three-Act Structure (Part One) Read More »
When I’m writing a screenplay, one of the first things I focus on is how my protagonist is going to change over the course of the story. This is the “character arc.” In Star Wars, for example, Lando begins as a self-centered, selfish rogue, but by the third movie he is volunteering to lead a
From Screenplay to RPG: Character Arcs Read More »
Welcome to the second part of the article that covers character backgrounds for GMs! You can read the first part here. This time, Brian discusses weaving together the backgrounds and more, so take a look. Interweaving the Backgrounds of the Party After you have carefully examined each character’s background, you can then interweave the elements—naturally
From Screenplay to RPG: Character Backgrounds (For the GMs) Read More »
When you get your players to develop detailed histories, they will see them as ways to explore their own characters, but you, as the GM, know what they really are: game generating fodder. When I’m writing a screenplay, I interweave my plot with the backgrounds of my characters. Often I find ways for the plot
From Screenplay to RPG: Character Backgrounds (For the GMs) Read More »
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