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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shady" data-source="post: 1537068" data-attributes="member: 13536">After a little more thought ... if you are settled on the mountain range thing this may not work ...  For the Atlantic use a great desert, impossible to cross on foot, but the wizards of the civilised world have created vast construct creatures to carry relatively small numbers of citizens (say 100 a time) along specific routes (of magical power, to fuel the constructs).   At the other side of the desert they find a strange and fertile land, already settled by ancient settlers (who migrated across before the climates shifted to create the desert). In the intervening time great empires have risen and waned, and the ancients have fallen back into barbarism and internecine wars.   The civilised world, with its advanced weapons and powerful magic, gains initial footholds in this new continent, but can only move small numbers across the desert ... additionally the colonies are dependent on trade with the "old world", and so the initial spread is desertside. Different nations/races establish colonies according to their access to specific desert routes. The first few waves of colonists are assorted malcontents, merchants, slavers and pirates. As the colonies grow, it's clear where riches are to be had - new crops, slaves, pillaged riches from ancient ruins. Pirate bands and privateers haunt abandoned caravanserai along the desert roads. Colonial wars break out, dragging in both the colonising powers and the colonised nations, to pursue old tribal disputes through new means. Some of the colonising powers are driven out in this new stage.  A vast war breaks out in the old world. The balance of power tips in the new. After a brief period of stability, the remaining great powers call their legions home, and the remaining colonies strike for their own independence. In the absence of competition from the established powers, barriers to expansion are removed ... the only remaining barriers are the few competing or remaining colonies, and the trifling matter of the indigenous tribes. At the same time, vast waves of new colonists are travelling, away from the war and along the trade routes through the deserts. New, smaller constructs are created to carry colonists from desertside into the New Territories.   The various transportation mechanisms can emulate wagons, trains (and wagon trains) as well as ships. The geography provides its own barriers, but the world needs to have a way of mass transporting people to form new colonies faster than it can move its own infrastructure (eg law and order). The number of "kingdoms" needs to be relatively small, otherwise the "feudal feel" becomes invasive.   Resources: as well as the already mentioned Spellslinger, you might want to look at Arcana Unearthed (the totem warrior would be good for the natives), Monsternomicon (good on constructs, there are probably a bunch gone bad). Also Runequest (obviously not D20) uses native American civilisation as the basis for the tribes of Prax (mostly totem warriors and tribes, there is also a tribe of intelligent tapirs who herd degenerate humans for food).   Racial picks ...  - depends on the mix of "old world" nations - bear in mind some colonisers have been and gone - the colonisers might be human + dwarves, say, but there are abandoned elven colonies and some remaining groups in particular niches (say, along a particular river) - enslaved races may well have been brought from the old world also - could use goblinoids as the natives, which might be interesting in terms of breaking traditional templates - could raid dark sun if you want to make the desert more interesting ... bear in mind the desert itself can't contain anything particular attractive (eg large rich cities) as that would have made migration easier. - to make a milieu interesting, throw in a "major" race which is unusual or unexpected ... so it doesn't feel like FR. Or modify one in an unexpected way. Unearthed Arcana has good rules for creating variant races, for example.  Also - think of things that make small patches of territory worth fighting over, or worth starting a territory over. New crops that can only grow in certain lands, particular points on transport routes which are useful for trade, mines (which mine out and leave ghost towns), maybe magic can only be used in certain areas (need to make life difficult for the colonists).  A good basis for a campaign would be for the PCs to escort a train of settlers, like in the old "Wagon Train" TV show. You'd then have a regular group of NPCs, and a regular flow of new scenarios as they moved towards their eventual destination, through the native-infested badlands that exist between the just or not-quite forts and towns of the frontier.  Star Trek was originally pitched as "Wagon Train to the Stars" ... I guess you already knew that though.</blockquote>

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