2014-03-30 Switzerlad D&D

Recently I found this blog post about Localism which ended in the question what a campaign would look like if it were located in the area you live in.

blog post about Localism

For the north of Switzerland:

• Forested hills*. Dark and forbidding forests full of bandits. Trails connecting villages across along the ridges. Difficult terrain. Deer. Bears. Mostly bears.

• Rivers*. A large network of rivers flowing towards a distant sea. These rivers are hard to ford. They present major obstacles for the armies on either side. Where the rivers can be forded or bridged, they are. Toll towers control these choke points, small villages support these local lords.

• Lakes*. This is where people do their fishing and trading. The large cities are all built by a lake, usually by the river exit. Boats, rafting. Stilt house settlements. Small lakes up in the hills may be the homes of water witches, cursed, sunken castles, devils.

• Castles and towers*. Rocks and cliffs protecting fortifications high up overlooking the valleys, far away from disease. Petty power struggles. A distant emperor.

• Swamps*. The wider valleys are full of infested, treacherous swamps. Eels, trolls, will’o the wisps. Pots of gold buried to appease the water spirits. The drowned witches, bound and restless, struggling underground.

• Cairns*. Hidden up in the hills, ancient stones marking the ley lines of the land. Grave markers of the rich.

• Mountains*. On a fair day, you can see the wall of world. Up there, fell spirits guarding the passes. Devils. Giants. Blood pacts and cannibals. Dwarves and pots of gold, again. Caves. Waterfalls. Water spirits. Cows, sell cheese, buy salt.

• Winter*. The winter is cold. Snow covers everything, isolates people. The wolves cross the frozen rivers. When spring comes, we need to wear masks, burn effigies, ring cow bells and scare the winter spirits away. The living triumph, for an additional year.

Stilt houses

Stilt houses

​#RPG

Comments

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Heh, I had one campaign in a quasi historical Holstein of the 10th century... swamp, moors, water, woods, and one major river and a lot of small ones. And the not too far north sea. No dikes yet, so drowned river lowlands by saltwater storm floods every autumn and spring. A very distant emperor, saxon and slavic tribes. Some frisians, some vikings (a recently sacked Hamburg). Wooden tower forts. Fairy people with gold in the barrows. Aurochs. Didn’t last too long, sadly.

– Rorschachhamster 2014-03-30 20:49 UTC

Rorschachhamster

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I want to go to there.

– Harald 2014-03-31 06:59 UTC