Book of the River Kingdoms ideas

[Werebat]

I'll be running an E8 Pathfinder campaign shortly, roughly modeled after the Age of Ice scenario from the Beyond the Sword expansion for Civilization 4. I've purchased the Book of the River Kingdoms from Paizo (a compilation of their rules for kingdom building from their Kingmaker adventure path).

I'm well on my way to fleshing out the first map they will need to explore and possibly expand their nation into... But I need some ideas. Essentially this is an ice age map, somewhat protected by a mountain range, with a good amount of grassland, hills, forest, etc. In particular I need some ideas for fleshing out grassland hexes. Some ideas for ruins that could be inhabited by monsters or even potential allies of the PCs and might be used to build new structures would be cool.

Any ideas?

 

[SSuser]

I'm currently playing in Kingmaker, so this sounds like a fun idea. I once wrote up a city in an arctic region. The city was built from the remnants of an abandoned prison. It was built within the ice of a mountain, so it felt very much like a dungeon. But, that was a long time ago, back in 2nd edition. I have no idea what ever happened to the map or the notes.

You can't go wrong with dwarven ruins. Especially since you mentioned the mountain range. Add in some cultists (or whatever's left of them) worshiping an ancient evil being. One part dwarf, two parts dungeon, a pinch of demonworship, and voila! The recipe for dwarven ruins.

Polar owlbears! You could add fur to the monsters, and make the demi-humans blue. For example, you could have blue skinned elves, orcs, and goblins. Hunters/fur traders, gold miners, a small neutral demi-human village like halflings. Is it near a bay? There could be coastal issues, pirates, a privately operated fishery.

 

[Systole]

Glacier Keep is a free download for the Iron Heroes setting. Should be easy to adapt.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

For grasslands, maybe...
- burial mounds, barrows
- astronomical or ritual sites (eg, Stonehenge);
- tells
- ancient refuse pits/mounds
- unused roads to nowhere (as well as accompanying drainage ditches, bridges, etc)
- navigational aids (eg, tall columns, signposts, waypoints)
- old signal towers, bonfire sites, etc
- shrines (abandoned or not)

 

[Werebat]

For grasslands, maybe...
- burial mounds, barrows
- astronomical or ritual sites (eg, Stonehenge);
- tells
- ancient refuse pits/mounds
- unused roads to nowhere (as well as accompanying drainage ditches, bridges, etc)
- navigational aids (eg, tall columns, signposts, waypoints)
- old signal towers, bonfire sites, etc
- shrines (abandoned or not)

Thanks, this was the kind of thing I was looking for. I should have mentioned that there is a fair amount of tundra on the edge of the map and I have put at least one barrow there, although there can always be more than one. There is also already a ruined shrine on the map.

What exactly is a "tell"?

A stonehenge type monument might be interesting. I wonder what sort of creature might enjoy living at such a site?

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

A tell is more or less the mound of foundations, abandoned building structures, and pottery/ash/brick/bone/etc waste, that slowly builds up as a settlement ages over the centuries. The end result is a hill, often with a modern settlement perched on top. Tell are pretty common in the Middle East. I think (?) I've also heard the term used in reference to the artificial "islands" of waste materials built up by certain Native American tribes in marshy areas like Florida.

Of course, by fantasy logic these tells would be riddled with open chambers-- pehaps entire ancient buildings and roads connecting them-- that became encased and cut off from the sky by later development, rather than filled in with debris.

Re: Stonehenge - The inhabitant that springs to my mind is fey, especially if the thing is aligned with the solstices, sits on a ley line, or whatnot.

Depending upon the cultures in your world, there might be things like totem poles scattered about, too. Perhaps one is carved into the chest of an (irate?) treant who derives mystical powers from it somehow?