I have the rudiments of an idea for a setting. A wilderness not unlike Middle-earth's Wilderlands, but also not unlike America's early frontier between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River--and at a 1820s level of technology. A place of dark forests, mighty rivers, skin-changers, and dragons, but also rivermen in keelboats, ancient mounds, and perhaps the skeletons of ancient giants.
Not really the American Frontier any more than Middle-earth is Europe (and no need to tell me Tolkien intended it to be Eurasia in the distant past, please). No colonialism as we know it, though likely some clash of cultures and plenty of room for man's inhumanity to man, of course. Probably no demi-humans as usually constituted but maybe something with more Biblical resonance. After all, the Garden of Eden could be in Missouri.
Sounds delightful; watching with interest.
ReplyDeleteYou would run an outstanding Balazar campaign!
ReplyDeleteFurther inspiration: My favorite Conan story, REH's "Beyond the Black River".
ReplyDeleteI came to the conclusion, sometime ago, that my best way of creating a campaign setting was to use an area I was most familiar with: in my case, that means Washington State. It's not 19th century Wampus Country fantasy, but it has plenty of wilderness for exploration.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely!
ReplyDelete@Geoffrey - Listening to the audiobook of that right after the Hobbit is probably what gave me the idea!
ReplyDeleteMy own World of Eska is post apocalyptic fantasy earth. My version of the eastern US is very much this. At least in my head, haven't actually gamed there. My current campaign is in the mountains and deserts of the southwest.
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