Finger Lakes Area as a possible setting?

[Sir Elton]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_Builders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_Lakes

Having read a clear argument that the Mound Builders were an advanced civilization, I think I can do something around the Finger Lakes area as a possible 2nd Atlantean campaign. The resources are all there to support an advanced civilization.

Thoughts?

 

[Gallo22]

I live in that area! It's a beautiful place. Lots of woods, rivers, lakes, etc. Oh, and don't forget the snow!!!!!

 

[Sir Elton]

I live in that area! It's a beautiful place. Lots of woods, rivers, lakes, etc. Oh, and don't forget the snow!!!!!

Snows good for you, as long as it doesn't come all at once.

 

[drothgery]

Snows good for you, as long as it doesn't come all at once.

But in that area, it tends to snow a few feet at a time...

 

[Tharian]

That area sounds like a good setting. I've even been considering using the Ithaca area as a setting for a one-shot against a white dragon and it's minions I plan on running over the summer.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_Builders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_Lakes

Having read a clear argument that the Mound Builders were an advanced civilization, I think I can do something around the Finger Lakes area as a possible 2nd Atlantean campaign. The resources are all there to support an advanced civilization.

Thoughts?

Take a look at America B.C., Saga America, and Bronze Age America — all by Barry Fell. There’s compelling evidence for Viking, Celt, and Mediterrean visitations if not outright colonisations in the New World. At the very least the books have a number of sites that could spawn adventures.

In Grymwurld™ I use a map based on the Ohio River Valley and all the mounds are indeed remnants of an antedilluvian civilisation. Personally I find using real-world maps and real-world sites works much better than anything I could imagine.

And finally take a look at Cahokia which is the largest archæological site related to the mound building culture.

 

[Mighty Halfling]

I grew up in the Corning area (just to the South) with grandparents that lived at Seneca Lake.

Lot's of neat stuff to add to that sort of area ...

• Glaciers carved out the lakes, so they might have some Frostburn-style artifacts around.
• One Lake -- Cayuga, I think -- is overrun with a sort of seaweed. Is it actually a monstrous plant?
• All the lakes are overrun with Zebra Mussels -- obviously the plot of some Demon lord. They aren't mussels, they're eggs!!!!!
• With the glaciers, most of the top soil is filled with rocks of all shapes and sizes. I think a Galeb Duhr would like that.
• Seneca Lake is eerily deep. Like 700+ feet down. Rumor for a long time was that the Navy did submarine-skills training in it. (Don't ask me how that could have happened). Anyway, makes you wonder what else could live down there in the cold, cold water.
• All the hills-n-hollows in the area make great places for little bands of beasties to hide.
• All those streams offer lots of opportunities for water-based Fey.
• You can adapt elves and make them into lodge-dwellers a la the Iroquois.
• There's a beautiful Gorge at Watkins Glen, the Southern base of Seneca Lake, that would serve as a perfect "open-air" dungeon because the sides are about 100 feet high. Lots of climbing. Lots of slippery rocks.
• It's grape-growing country. That means it would be valuable to a civilization that couldn't trust it's water supply.

As a minor plug, check out my Dungeon magazine adventure, "Throne of Iuz," in issue No. 118. I based my idea of the Serpent Mound off the Ohio Serpent Mound, which was constructed by one of the ancient mound-building cultures.

Hey, does anybody want me to write it as a campaign setting?

 

[Sir Elton]

Oooh. All of these are great ideas.

I initially thought of a Greek Settlement circa 600 B.C. in the same area (the settlers are Archaic Greeks). Then they expanded and founded other settlements in the Upstate New York area and Pennsylvania area. This makes it a Helenistic campaign (Like Michael Morris' Dusk). Using the Adirondack mountains as a source of granite, these Greeks have enough stone to build stone cities. Not to mention the plentiful timber in the region.

As a minor plug, check out my Dungeon magazine adventure, "Throne of Iuz," in issue No. 118. I based my idea of the Serpent Mound off the Ohio Serpent Mound, which was constructed by one of the ancient mound-building cultures.

Hey, does anybody want me to write it as a campaign setting?

I could. I may have to write Atlantis Campaign Setting 2 while Atlantis Campaign Setting 1 runs. In Atlantis Campaign 1, The City of Atlantis is located where New York City stands. If I do this one, the land will be Atlantis but the cities will have different names.

 

[drothgery]

Also, actual salt mines to send prisoners off to...

 

[Sleepy Voiced]

Hey, I live there too!

I actually ran a campaign using a map of the fingerlakes for a brief period a few years back. Basically I just used the terrain and some of the area's more inspiring oddities (white deer between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, mines under Cayuga lake, Vineyards -a relatively recent industry in this area, all the gorges and waterfalls, the canal, etc.) Otherwise it was pretty much your standard D&D psuedo-medieval place.
I did put two rival magical colleges where Ithaca would be though.

Good luck with your campaign, if I can think of any of the other game-inspiring oddities of this area I will try to post again.