Happy New Year, to those who observe linear time! The last few weeks have been a bit of a doozy here in the Liechtenauer household. Between the holidays, some deeply unfortunate personal incidents, and general malaise, I have been slacking off mightily with my blogging. No more! My hiatus is broken, and the worldbuilding continues.

This week, I tackled part 2 of the Gygax 75 Challenge, which is to create the rough surroundings of the campaign world. As previously described, I’m playing a sort of freewheeling combination of ancient history, weirdo science fantasy, and a dash of modern UFOlogy lore for flavor. Thus has been born the Northern Hold, a region roughly equivalent in climate and somewhat related in culture to ancient Libya during the height of the Carthaginian Empire. The most obvious reference to this comes in the names scattered about, but it will come through much more clearly in actual play as the delightfully named Old Tophet is fleshed out as a city with politics and a history of its own.

My methodology was fairly simple. Using Hexographer 2 in a scale of 3 mile hexes, I sketched out sort of what the coastline of Libya would look like if it were in the Southern Hemisphere (hence why north is hotter) and God were drunk. Then, I smacked down some points of interest and just used free association to come up with something that sounded neat. This map is by no means ready for actual play. It’s missing mechanics, it’s missing more concrete prep, and none of these locations are actually sketched out beyond the very simple description provided here. That’s what the next weeks are for. What this will serve as, hopefully, is a nice list of inspirations for adventure seeds to drop to players. Others may find the locations interesting enough to take and flesh out on your own, though I doubt a Bigfoot Sage or an abandoned mine full of radioactive waste will fit in the majority of campaigns. I’d love to see the results if anyone does decide to riff on any of these ideas!

The southern half of the map is the Hold itself. Solid green represents cultivated farmland, dotted with hamlets and villages but with little of interest to the average adventurer. The lighter green shrublands are wild and uncultivated, and where wild animals become fiercer and monsters roam. The hills and mountains to the south are equally wild and monster-filled, while being also significantly dryer.

On the other hand, everything outside the boundaries of the four border towers of the Hold, that is, everything in the north that’s desert or that’s gray, is referred to as the Realm of Chaos, where the law of the tyrannical Great Lugal is not recognized. This is a place both of great freedom and great danger. Many are forced to live in these harsh lands because they cannot or will not be accepted in “civilization”, while others use it as a personal playground of violence. The most dangerous location on the entire map is the Great Scar, the gray section in the middle. Once a powerful nation, centuries ago it rebelled against the Great Lugal and was utterly wiped from the world through the use of horrific weapons of mass destruction. The undead, magically warped monstrosities, and ancient war machines still carrying out their slaughter are the primary threats in this region.

The key, simple as it is, is as follows:

Hex	Name	Description
A2	Corinia’s Cove	A small cave along the coast at sea level. At low tide, it houses a cult of crab worshippers. At high tide, the emissaries of the Abyssal Mandate come to collect offerings.
A3	The Youngest Sister	One of three lighthouses named the Viglant Sisters. The only one not currently undergoing a crisis. Friendly lighthouse keepers will offer dinner in exchange for news.
D3	Tylea	Hamet of about 800 people. The port by which farmers in the southern half of the Hold sell their produce. Wracked by religious conflicts.
D11	Coastal Stylite	A sage lives alone in the wilderness atop a pillar overlooking the sea. He hasn’t left in ten years. Admirers from G13 bring him food every few days.
E2	Judge’s Keep	Seat of the Hold’s government. The Lord is currently away, waging war against his own liege to the south. A skeleton garrison protects the Hold in the meantime.
F4	The Scorned Sister	Formerly the Middle Sister, renamed after a long-ago battle. The lighthouse keepers are under siege from giant firecrabs who have mistaken the lighthouse as potential mating competition, who also have driven off the farmers who once cultivated the hex.
G4	Sesuria Ruins	Ruined remnants of an ancient metropolis, now the scene of charming pastoral scenes among the ruins. Workers tearing down buildings for building materials have recently uncovered a passageway deep into the earth. The workers sent in to investigate did not return.
G12	Last Chance	A semi-permanent settlement of hunters and herders. The last chance to buy supplies in civilization before fully entering the Realm of Chaos.
iI8	Ayem’s Wake	Supposed site of the sunken treasure barge Ayem’s Wake, lost at sea while collecting tribute for the Great Lugal. The exact location is unknown. The gold was long ago stripped away by the Abyssal Mandate, but a lockbox in the ruins contains a powerful laser rifle intended as a gift for the Lugal.
i10	Yulen	Small fishing village. The villagers do not belong to the Hold and may use those who insist it does as bait. Goblin Saucers have been sighted recently, and the villagers fear potential raids.
J2	Three Circles	Three concentric circles of standing stones, built in the ancient past as a focus to absorb astral energy. Rival gangs of wizards are feuding over who will control it.
J4	Wise Man’s House	A Bigfoot Sage lives here. He will answer the questions of anyone who can stand his terrible odor in exchange for a suitable offering of hunted game.
J5	Old Tophet	Largest town in the Hold, and center of the campaign. Named for the large graveyard on the northern edge of town, which is a frequent source of ghosts and ghouls. Child sacrifice strongly discouraged by current inhabitants.
J6	Eldest Sister	Third and largest of the Three Sisters. The lighthouse keeper has spent too long staring at the sea, gone mad, and is trying to turn the lighthouse into a conduit to summon Abyssal Powers.
K4	Endless Rest Cave	The upper levels of the cave are home to a group of goblins trying (and failing) to build a power plant. The lower levels of the cave are an ancient grave complex, now infested with undead due to the desecration.
K9	Homilqart’s Tower	Former border station seperating the Hold from the Realms of Chaos. Ruined, but still managed by a skeleton crew of the Hold’s troops. They think this posting sucks and will readily sign on as hirelings.
K10	Ashen City	Former capital of a rebellious civilization, reduced to blackened rubble by the lasers of the Lugal. Ghosts and phantoms haunt the ruins.
K13	Red Prince’s Fortress	Ruined pleasure palace of a rebellious civilization. Now half-swallowed by sand and home to a manticore who fancies himself ruler of the castle, and is looking to attract/kidnap a court.
M1	Temple of Pure Waters	Small monastic community that worships the river. In conflict with a group of frog-people who wish to use the river as a spawning ground.
M8	Temple of the Victorious King	Temple dedicated to the Great Lugal and maintained by his priesthood. Under lockdown due to the vanishing of the Lugal. Actually a megadungeon, containing the prisons of ancient gods and idols that the Lugal warred against.
N9	Azrubaal’s Tower	The only intact and fully operational border guard, futiely checking people’s papers and patrolling the wastes as everyone else just walks around. They are recruiting help for an assault on the ruined fort at Q9, which is infested with Space Pirates.
O7	Space Pirate’s Saucer	Crash site of a saucer of space pirates answering calls from the Realm of Chaos but who were a bit too buzzed for landing. They have taken a village hostage to conceal their presence and buy time to figure out what to do.
O10	City of Glass	Ruined city, marked by heat so intense that the sand around has fused into slippery glass. Infested with undead.
P3	Magon’s Tower	Former border station. Now sacked and used as a base for a raider clan from the Realm of Chaos.
P6	Hannobaal’s Tower	Former border station. The soldiers here have mutinied and have established themselves as the nominal rulers of the two nearest hexes of farmland.
P8	Spire of Salt	A wizard’s tower encased in a protective layer of magical salt which spared it from destruction by the Lugal. The entrance is partially visible by close inspection, and can be chipped out by hand. The wizard inside is still alive and has completely lost his grip on reality after centuries of isolation.
Q2	Stain’s Cave	The upper levels have some nasty wildlife. Lower levels lead to the Hollow Earth.
Q9	Fort Tigurnia	Ruined fortress. Inhabited by Space Pirates from the Realm of Chaos who are theoretically looking for the crash at O7 but who are too busy partying and taking potshots at the soldiers at N9.
Q12 (approx.)	Lellen’s Camp	Small village in the Realm of Chaos. Friendly so long as you’re friendly. To avoid wandering monsters and to give the small springs they rely on time to replenish, this camp drifts one hex a week in a random direction, never returning to a hex it has previously been this year. This is where it is the first time it is encountered.
R4	Skyfire Cave	Contains a buried and forgotten Goblin Saucer in good working order, which is almost worth braving the Wights.
R7	The New City	Ruined city. The undead here have free will, and avoid the living to prevent being discovered and driven out as abominations. Friendly when you get to know them.
S6	Highmount Oasis	A small village has been built around the oasis. The inhabitants are deeply worried as the oasis has been drying up recently, caused by a curse laid upon the village.
T2	Folly Mines	A failed mining venture. Half of a mountain was bored through before the project was abandoned for lack of results. The cave then served as a dumping ground for waste and experimentations, leaving it highly radioactive and filled with glowing radiation monsters.
T8	Locksmith’s Watch	A community of scavengers have set up a camp around the exposed entrance to a great ancient vault. None have managed to crack the strange runes on the exterior of the door, but everyone agrees a vast wealth must be located within.
U1	Sarati	A small community of shepherds and herders scratch out a living in a mountainous valley.
U11	The Untouched	A circle of perfectly healthy grass surrounded by seemingly unblemished standing stones. None who have entered the circle have returned, save for one scavenger who appeared three months after his expedition vanished. When he was killed after attempting to eat the first man he saw, it was found that all of his organs were on the wrong side of his body.

And that’s really it! A map, some adventure seeds, and a rough idea of where I’m starting and what I’m doing. Old Tophet will be the center of the campaign to begin with, with Endless Rest Cave and the Temple of the Victorious King serving as the most likely candidates for dungeoneering.

Next week’s post will NOT be the first level of a dungeon. That will come in the weeks ahead. Instead, please look forward to a short little ramble about why one’s choice of tabletop system matters, why system mattering doesn’t matter, and why Everything Is A System.