Kingsbarrow: A Point of Light

[Reynard]

KINGSBARROW: A Point of Light
4E Setting Project
Start Date: 01-30-08

INITIAL THOUGHTS

I am very conflicted about Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition. While there are some ideas and mechanical aspects of the game I like, there are also many I don't. I had originally written the new edition off, but have come to the conclusion that the only way to know for sure whether 4E is for me is to run a game in it. As such, this project will ultimately be my “make it or break it” test for 4E.

My intent is to create a mini-setting, a “point of light” and its surrounding darkness, that meets both the basic assumptions of 4E (as I know them, based on previews and leaked info) and my own preferences as a DM. My ultimate goal is to have a setting and adventures that are ready to go once launch day hits, or shortly thereafter, so that I may give 4E an honest try before I ultimately decide whether or not to embrace grognardism.

Initially, I will be painting in broad strokes – a necessity due to the limited amount of specific information available. I will add finer detail as more information comes available. Where setting aspects of 4E are appropriate, I will use them. Where they are inappropriate, I will toss them and replace them with something of my own creation. I will invent and “borrow” as needed, or as it strikes my fancy as I have done with all my settings. Most of all, I will attempt to keep in mind that what I am creating is not a world for fiction, but one for gaming – nothing exists that doesn't serve as a springboard to adventure or at least make those adventures richer for the players.

My progress is likely to intermittent and disorganized. This is just a function of my creative nature. I apologize in advance.

 

[Reynard]

PRIMING THE CANVAS
Date: 01-30-08

This isn't even broad strokes, but more like “priming the canvas” as a method of getting my initial ideas for the setting down. Nothing here is set in stone; everything is subject to change.

THE TOWN: Kingsbarrow is a town of about 1000 people. It is protected by earthen walls. there are two gates, one in the northeast and one in the southeast where both the Old Road and the High Road (see below) cross through the town – or, rather, where the town was built up on the Roads. It gets its name from the many ancient barrow mounds of long forgotten kings that dot landscape all around. The population is mostly human, but members of all races are represented in the community, even if in small numbers.

THE LOW ROAD: Kingsbarrow sits along an ancient road from a long lost empire known as the Low Road. It is seldom traveled and weeds grow between the broken granite paving stones. It runs Northeast into the Juntarch Mountains and Southeast down into the Pitchmoors. other than small farmsteads, there are no communities within 100 miles of Kngsbarrow.

THE HIGH ROAD: Along the Low Road runs the most impressive and enigmatic feature of the setting: The High Road. An massive and ancient aqueduct, the High Road is supported on unidentifiable stone columns 100 feet in the air. It is 50 feet wide in most places, but within the area of the setting there is a massive cistern where water once collected known as The Basin. The basin is 100 yards in diameter and long ago sediment collected within. Now the Basin is overgrown, teeming with trees and vines. Both the High Road and The Basin are home to some enigmatic, dangerous humanoids (I haven't decided what yet) that occasionally attack travelers or even Kigsbarrow itself.

THE BARROW MOUNDS AND STANDING STONES: Barrow mounds of ancient kings and enigmatic stone circles (think Salisbury Plain) are found everywhere within the region. Local people believe them to be haunted, and indeed they are, but what haunts them is different: in the barrow mounds, the dead guard ancient treasures, but the stone circles are gateways to the Feywild.

THE WITCHWYRD WOOD: This dense patch of forest is an archtypical “fairy tale” wood, but in the Grimm sense rather than the Disney one. Here, the veil between the Shadowfell and the World is thin and things slip back and forth. The ruins of a once proud Eladrin city are found deep within, however, along with the elves who have long since been twisted by the Shadowfell that guard it.

 

[Reynard]

Geography

GEOGRAPHY

Kingsbarrow is located in a shallow valley between ridges of wooded mountains. The valley is about 20 miles wide on average and about 60 miles long (at least as far as the campaign “area of interest” is concerned). Elevation rises to to the northeast and falls to the southwest, generally speaking, but the land of the valley is rolling with a few high hills and law depressions. Long ago, when the world was still civilized, the vast majority of the valley was clear cut for farming (except the Witchwyrd Wood and the Blackmoor Swamp) but forest has reclaimed most of these farmlands. Throughout this wooded terrain ancient standing stones and burial mounds, as well as more recent, but still ruined, manor houses and keeps can be found. The Slow River runs the course of the valley, roughly following the Low Road, and there are many streams and ponds throughout the valley that feed it.

At the northeast end of the valley there is a mountain lake called Gotterdrown and the mountains suddenly spike upward beyond the lake. The High Road was once fed by the spring overflow of the lake (due to rains and snow melt) but the last mile or so of the High Road has completely collapsed. Now, when the spring comes, the Slow River floods. This is a boon, actually, as most of the farms that feed Kingsbarrow are located along the river and the floods replenish the soil. Though none in living memory have explored the Gotterdrown, tales speak of an ancient, enormous keep on its far shore and something mighty and immense living in its waters.

The slopes of the mountains that form the valley are mostly forested and largely untouched. One clan of dwarves, numbering a little less than 100, has established a quarry about 30 miles from Kigsbarrow, however. Theirs is a difficult, dangerous life, as monsters prowl the mountain slopes and often come to the quarry settlement to feed. There are other mines on the mountain slopes, all long abandoned and inviting prospectors to investigate.

In the southwest, some 30 miles along the Low/High roads from Kingsbarrow, the slope of the land becomes steeper and the Slow River becomes a raging whitewater. Travelers rarely visit and the Low road is overgrown and narrow, but occasionally peddlers and pilgrims, refugees and raiders, and others will appear from the lowlands. At the precipice of this slope sits Kingsbane Keep, an ancient watchtower where a treacherous warlord allowed an invading army to cross into the valley at the end of the era of light for the kings of Kingsbarrow. Kingsbarrow staffs one tower of the Keep with watchmen, but the vast majority of the Keep is unexplored and believed haunted.

CLIMATE:
Winters are long and snow is heavy, but the temperatures are relatively mild (20s).
Springs are very wet.
Summers are humid, though not particularly hot, and often dry, so much so that the Slow River often stops running.
Autumn is also wet, but generally pleasant.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I think this is really good and you're approaching this the right way. I read that article a while ago on the Wizards site (from Dave Noonan, I think) about starting work on a "points of light" setting before 4e comes out and this inspired me to start writing about Parsantium . The trouble is we don't know much about what's going to be in 4e to start with so it's hard to work on a setting now that's going to be completely 4e compatible, particularly seeing as I haven't bought the two preview books. I decided not to worry about this, referring to races, monsters and classes I liked, figuring I can always tweak things later if I end up running the setting under 4e. The difference for me is I'm writing about a big city-state and I'm not sure how well this fits into "points of light". You've actually put some links in to 4e concepts which will make things easier.

So, what monsters do you think live in the valley? What haunts the keep? Are there conflicts going on in the town that will lead to adventures?

Cheers


Richard

 

[Reynard]

The Covenant of the Soul

ORGANIZATION

The Covenant of the Soul

The Covenant of the Soul is a militant sect recently separated from the Church of [a god with a big anti-undead mission]. Like the orthodox members of that Church, the Covenant's mission is the destruction of undead and the strengthening of the veil between the World and the Shadowfell. However, the Covenant has another mission: the eradication of the Animus in total, if not literally then at least spiritually and symbolically.

The Covenant believes the Animus to be the root of all mortal evil. In the doctrine of the Covenant, the Animus causes all passions, all desires and all wickedness. It is the Soul that holds the Animus at bay and allows for righteousness, and only through the cultivation of the Soul can the Animus be suppressed, paving the way for a righteous life. As such, the righteous must drive out all passions and desires and basic mortal emotions, through self denial and flagellation. Moreover, the Covenant believes that their message must be spread and their doctrine enforced, even among – especially among – the unwilling and the wicked.

The Covenants operations in Kingsbarrow is typical of their mission: a small company of soldier-priests arrives in town and sets up a temple to [the God]. they begin providing support to the poor, patrolling the outskirts of the town to protect the locals from foul creatures. They cleanse and consecrate haunted tombs and other locales. As they gain notoriety and the trust of local people and officials, drawing converts across all social classes, they begin to spread their doctrine and turn their attention from wandering horrors and haunted locales to the people of the town in which they have established themselves. In many cases, by this point the local leadership is strongly in support of or even members of the Covenant and harsh laws against wicked behavior are enacted. At first, these laws seem just: harsh punishments for thieves, rapists and murderers. Those laws begin to spread, however, to purveyors of pleasures (physical and otherwise) and those whose businesses revolve around the accumulation of wealth. Soon, these towns are embedded with strict moral laws, punishing any and all displays of passion, emotion and desire. Once a town has fallen fully under the heel of the Covenant, a small company, usually new converts, is sent out to find another Point of Light in need of moral guidance.

Kingsbarrow only recently saw the arrival of the Covenant sect. They have just finished their temple and begun their “good works” and are slowly building a following among the townsfolk. Not yet strong enough to eradicate the evils of the Witchwyrd Wood or the Barrow Mounds, they are establishing themselves in the area and hiring local adventurers to investigate these and other and report back to them. At the same time, they are treating with Kingsbarrow's powerful, beginning the process of insinuating themselves in local government.

 

[Reynard]

So, what monsters do you think live in the valley? What haunts the keep? Are there conflicts going on in the town that will lead to adventures?

Like I said, I am still painting with a broad brush. I don't want to over-do the undead nagle, so I want to make sure that what's in the Withwyrd Wood isn't the same thing that's in the Barrows or the Kingsbane Keep. "Haunted" can mean lots of things, especially to rubes living out in the wild and woolly wilderness (I know, I know -- 4E peasants aren't suposed to be superstitious; psha, I say).

There's some 2400 square miles of area in the valley -- plenty of room for some humanoid tribes, some giants, some strange creatures (owlbears better be in the 4E MM), and some non-monstrous enemy groups (bandits and the like) -- not to mention a few crazed warlocks and dark cultists.

As to conflicts within Kingsbarrow -- I like Nobility versus Merchant Class versus Clergy as a three way conflict that can drive adventure, as well as secret societies and powerful, independent entities.