(TFT) Using the Real World...(was Mapping Cidri / Campain proposal)

["Ty Beard" <tybeard@sbcglobal.net>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Gfoeller" <johng3110@hotmail.com>
To: <tft@brainiac.com>


> The tentative result I had was something like this:  Elves living in
> tribes and loosely organized kingdoms East of the Mississippi and north of
> the Ohio; Orcs dwelling south of the Ohio and the Arkansas Rivers;
> Centaurs living in the Great Plains; Dwarves living in the Appalchians,
> the Rockies and the Iron Mountains of the UP of Michigan; a goblin city at
> New Orleans and Salt Lake; Gargoyles and orcs in the desert west; an elven
> kingdom in California (where else), Reptile Men in the souther swamps and
> in the jungles of south America, and Humans as the variable.  I would have
> Aztec / Mayan / Anastasi humans living in their native areas; and I would
> have Woodland Indians livingt along the river systems; and I would have
> medieval type Humans --descendants of refugees from Tanader--
> establishing kingdoms (and displacing both Elves and Orcs)  roughly around
> New York City to Baltimore areas and proceeding east along the Ohio River.
> And, to make it intersting, I would have everyone in all kinds of
> alliances and one Human kingdom (in Illinois ?Iowa?) being a kind of
> capstone in an arch of Human expansion.

I did something like this -- campaign world was centered on a confederation
of city-states on the Mississippi. I was inspired by the novel The
Roadmakers. My setting did not use much of that novel's setting, but it
would make a fine RPG setting.

There were five city-states -- the northernmost was at Memphis, the
southernmost was at Vicksburg. The area outside the cities was heavily
wooded, though the ancient road net had survived to some extent.

Of course, everything had different names. The time was several thousand
years into the future. A meteor strike (which then caused a bio-nuclear war)
had wiped out early 21st century civilization and all the fantasy races +
magic existed. (I never got around to justifying that -- maybe they were all
mutants or something). A geological catastrophe flooded most of Southern
Louisiana and there was a large inland see starting just south of the ruins
of Natchez. Inspired by the Runequest supplements Pavis and Big Rubble,
Memphis was called The Rubble and was the site of numerous dungeons, etc.
There was a small port town somewhat like Pavis on the Mississippi at the
edge of Memphis.

North America was dotted with relatively isolated empires, confederations,
etc. There were large Dwarf communities in the Appalachans and the Ozarks.
Orcs would occassionally swarm down from their cities around the Great
Lakes. Etc...

I didn't tell the players that they were adventuring on Earth circa 4000 AD
and they never really figured it out. They knew that the Ancients had been
largely annihilated in a War with the Gods thousands of years past. There
were also extensive Ancient ruins and roads still in existence (most 4 lane
highways survived, more or less). With no large scale map of the continent
available to them, all they knew is that the campaign was centered on a big
river. Plus, I'd postulated enough geologic changes (particularly on the
coastlines; I simply raised the water level and plotted the new coastline on
a topographic map) to conceal the fact that they were in North America.

Unfortunately the campaign didn't last long enough for the secrets of the
Ancients to really come out.

There were some very interesting benefits to using the real world:

1. The terrain was far more varied and detailed than it would have been had
I created it.

2. Things were logically placed -- large cities at trade nexuses (sp?),
rivers running correctly, etc.

3. Maps were available in numerous scales and sizes. I even piddled with 3d
mapping programs...

4. Overland adventures were assited by the aforementioned detail -- every
day of travel could turn up interesting features that appeared on the real
world maps -- ruins of towns, bridges, a dam (still working, but now an
artificial waterfall), ancient monuments, etc.

5. I'd been to many of the places I described, so there was a lot less work 
required on my part. I could wing it easier.

--Ty
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