Excerpt: Fallcrest

[Aria Silverhands]

I want my first 4e campaign to have a nautical feel to it, where most of the adventure spots are islands and the points of light are literally separated by harsh seas.

However, I want to use as much of the core fluff as possible, so the empire of Nerath was a sea-faring empire, Winterhaven is in the middle of a "starter" islands, and now Fallcrest is the port-city of that island. Of course, I had to modify the map

What do you think?

Just one issue... the road on the lower left hand quadrant of the map leads to the beach... and nothing else. I suggest putting a lighthouse / guard tower there.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Also: West-gate, Water-deep, Shadow-dale, Grey-hawk...

OMG! 4E is so Retro!

 

[Sitara]

I thought 4e was going to deemphasize the 'magic items are sold in shops' bit. Yet now in the dmg we have a magic item selling npc with full stat writeup.

The more things change...

 

[Dacileva]

I also note that the naming convention of 4E continues: Fall-crest; Moon-wash; Brown-bottle; Swift-water; Star-light; Blood-spear; Stone-march; etc. Just an observation.....

Almost as if real-world names were formed that way...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiftwater,_Pennsylvania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownstone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterhaven,_California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairhaven,_Svalbard

Or as if other fantasy names were formed that way...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivendell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyjoy

 

[WyzardWhately]

Just one issue... the road on the lower left hand quadrant of the map leads to the beach... and nothing else. I suggest putting a lighthouse / guard tower there.

A haunted lighthouse.

 

[Andor]

What? I fail to see why that's true. A good size farm with 10 or so people (a large family) can grow many acres of a crop, along with some animals. I see no reason those 900 people can't feed the 2250 in the area, using simple things like irrigation, natural fertilizer, and beasts of burden. Having the local cleric ask for a blessing over the crops and cattle would just be a nice bonus.

Historically the ratio of farmers to city dwellers is about 9 to 1. In the US city populations didn't exceed rural populations until (I seem to recall) the 1950's. So to have better than 50% of the population as urban dwellers rather than food produces implies some factor that greatly enhances food production. Incidently this is also the same reason that having 5% of the population under arms is enormous. (Although Green Knight is correct, it's about 3% if you include the rural population. Which is still large.)

What do you think?

Nice but to make it a desireable port there needs to be some kind of sheltered anchorage. Either it needs an outlying spit or island, or the mouth of the river should be at least a few hundred yards to a mile or two farther away, and the river larger so that ships could shelter away from the ocean breakers during storms. Just my 2 cents.

Oh and the lack of a delta implies an immediate and steep drop off of the seafloor, which may or may not suit your plans.

 

[Dave Turner]

Nice job, Novem5er. I agree with Aria Silverhands' suggestion to do something with that road, too.

 

[Novem5er]

Thanks for the feed back on my modified map (BTW - anyone is free to yoink it and make it their own - I'd be honored!).

Everyone's comments are well taken and I'd thought about most of them already:

1. The road to the beach - I thought it could be a small path that residents used to get to the beach, perhaps to launch dingies, etc. I like the idea of a lighthouse (haunted!), which leads to ...

2. Shelter from the sea - I had to work within the confines of the map, so I didn't have room to add much more. My idea was that there would be a small barrier island just off the map, maybe a 1/4 mile wide and a mile long. The lighthouse (haunted?!) could be on that island and the beach road (see #1) could be the local launch point that ferries supplies back and forth.

If I find time, I'll likely go back and draw over the farmland on the western lowlands, as I doubt they'd be growing crops that close to the sea, especially if all the water south of the falls is brackish. I figured that the fresh water from the falls would have carved a short rut into the earth that carries the water to the sea; no delta, just a quick drop-off . . . which, as was mentioned, could invite some creepy-crawlies and adventure.

If anyone's interested in how I've used the Core Fluff in my own campaign, The Sundered Isles, here's the thread that I first posted last month.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=4198770#post4198770

Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[The Little Raven]

Black-moor...

Dragon-lance.

 

[Fifth Element]

Dragon-lance.

Spell-jammer?
Plane-scape?
Raven-loft?