!!insidediv!!



Being the Official Discussion Forum for HYPERBOREA®, a role-playing game of swords, sorcery, and weird science-fantasy


Visit us at the HYPERBOREA web site!


You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?

2/27/2015 11:34 am  #1


Larchmere Yys

Our game might be heading up into these parts soon. A question for Ghul:

"In recent years, these folk have engaged in trade with a small, reindeer-herding village of Esquimaux discovered
upriver, whom they hope to convert to Apollo"--is this village the next "dot" to the Hyperborean east from LY, in the fork between the brances of the river? Or is it too small to make the map.

Relatedly, is the dot on the Lizard Coast a lizard-man community or a human town? Anyone have any thoughts on that?

I'm trying to figure if there's a reason periodic caravans might make there way from the coast (or perhaps from the settlement at the H-east end of the lake that borders the Red Desert?) to Larchmere Yys, up the river, and then through a pass to Yithorium and the Zakath Desert. Has anyone done any development in this area? Ghul, want to share any of the ideas that you had when placing those settlements on the map?

 

2/27/2015 3:16 pm  #2


Re: Larchmere Yys

I was tinkering with this area before I decided on the Savage Boreal Coast (I even made a rough map of the region - the lake near Larchmere Yys was called "Crystal Lake" and one of the evil villages was named "Vorhees").  I agree with your placement of the Esquimaux village and on regular caravans to Yithorium.

My main question for Jeff is: how the heck does he pronounce "Yys"?  For some reason I want to pronounce it "Ees" (maybe because "Y'golonac" is pronounced "Ee'golonac", at least according to Chaosium) but maybe it's more like "Ice"?  Or maybe the y is a consonant form, so you say it "Yiss" or "Yice"?  Inquiring minds want to know...


Michael Sipe 1979-2018
Rest in peace, brother.
 

2/27/2015 4:50 pm  #3


Re: Larchmere Yys

I use a the voice of a supervillain saying "yes." Kind of like the guidance counselor in A Clockwork Orange. "Yiiiieeeis, Alex-boy, yiiiiieeeis."

     Thread Starter
 

2/27/2015 5:54 pm  #4


Re: Larchmere Yys

I promise to answer all of these questions as soon as I sit down at my desk with my gazetteer and map at the ready!


HYPERBOREA- A Role-Playing Game of Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Science-Fantasy
 

2/27/2015 6:06 pm  #5


Re: Larchmere Yys

Ghul wrote:

I promise to answer all of these questions as soon as I sit down at my desk with my gazetteer and map at the ready!

Not good enough! Be an encyclopedia!

Blackadder23 wrote:

I even made a rough map of the region - the lake near Larchmere Yys was called "Crystal Lake" and one of the evil villages was named "Vorhees").  I agree with your placement of the Esquimaux village and on regular caravans to Yithorium.

OK, I'm in! Vorhees it is. I imagine it as an evil and opportunistic caravanserai. Lots of pilgrims of weird sects heading to Crystal Lake and ore coming out of the Red Desert. The few trade goods from the hamlet at the bay (Kugelberg), Larchmere Yys, and the Esquimeaux, and then on through the pass, skirting Death Valley, to Yithorium for gems and other, weirder things. Sort of an adventurer mover, too.

     Thread Starter
 

2/27/2015 6:45 pm  #6


Re: Larchmere Yys

I'm working on something at the moment set on the eastern coast of the Zakath desert (it will be either where the dot is to the south-east of Yithorium, or located in an unmapped area further up the coast). It's a large coastal town. 

Larchmere Yys seems like an interesting locale. I remember reading it in the gazetteer. Are you going to run a homebrew adventure or a published one Handy?

 

2/27/2015 8:19 pm  #7


Re: Larchmere Yys

Man, I never know *what* I'm doing! I'm planning on having one of the random "Around the Ruins" effects be translocation to the Slumbering Ursine Dunes. I'm also planning on having it be not so random next session because I'm excited to play SUD. Once they're there, though, I have no idea what the players might decide to do, and if they strike out into Greater Hyperborea, I'd like to have some idea of what's going on. I'm vaguely considering using "Taken from Dunwich" and moving it to Larchmere Yys. I also think an evil Vancian caraVANCErai town could be a lot of fun, so I'm considering that for the newly named Crystal Lake. And I'd love it if they eventually ended up aimed toward Yithorium because I get real good feeling about this whole Witch-Queen like. So. Wheels within wheels. This is a very complicated case, Rastus. You know, a lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous. And a lotta strands to keep in my head, man. Lotta strands in the old DM's head. Luckily I'm adhering to a pretty strict beer regimen to keep my mind, you know, limber.

Edit:

Rastus_Burne wrote:

I'm working on something at the moment set on the eastern coast of the Zakath desert (it will be either where the dot is to the south-east of Yithorium, or located in an unmapped area further up the coast). It's a large coastal town.

Also, Dude, "south-east" is not the preferred nomenclature. Hyperboreanly, I think that dot is due west!

Last edited by Handy Haversack (2/27/2015 8:23 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

2/27/2015 10:05 pm  #8


Re: Larchmere Yys

Hah. That all sounds fun, and by the sounds of it your beer diet will pay off handsomely. How would you describe SUD? I like the cover art! 

 

2/27/2015 11:17 pm  #9


Re: Larchmere Yys

I think it's a great product, yes. It's modular in the best sense of the word. Pretty much no matter what flavor of campaign you're running, it provides one "hex" worth of detail on it. It has things that very clearly relate to the campaign of the fellow who wrote it, but they are presented in such a way that it's easy to come up with ways to fit them into your game or drop them. It's set up as a point crawl, which works really well: 25 locations in a weird-inflected dunescape on the shores of a strange sea. There are two small dungeons in it and several outdoor encounter areas, a small base of "normality," and several factions that are in more or less alignment-based conflict. There's a really nice (and adaptable) system of rising weirdness that's responsive to player actions. And there are a lot of ways a group of players could interact with it. Plus some cool monsters and races. A solid buy. I'd say at least get the PDF, what with shipping costs to your part of the world!

Mind: limber.

     Thread Starter
 

2/28/2015 6:23 am  #10


Re: Larchmere Yys

Thanks for the insight Handy. I'll have to place that on the 'to buy' list. I vastly prefer physical products so if I get it, I'll probably bite the bullet and get it shipped to the netherworld of NZ

 

2/28/2015 10:34 am  #11


Re: Larchmere Yys

Handy Haversack wrote:

Our game might be heading up into these parts soon. A question for Ghul:

"In recent years, these folk have engaged in trade with a small, reindeer-herding village of Esquimaux discovered
upriver, whom they hope to convert to Apollo"--is this village the next "dot" to the Hyperborean east from LY, in the fork between the brances of the river? Or is it too small to make the map.

Yes. In fact, I had Andreas add that dot just for that very prupose, as I recall.

Relatedly, is the dot on the Lizard Coast a lizard-man community or a human town? Anyone have any thoughts on that?

Human. But do what thou wilt, shall be the whole of the law.

I'm trying to figure if there's a reason periodic caravans might make there way from the coast (or perhaps from the settlement at the H-east end of the lake that borders the Red Desert?) to Larchmere Yys, up the river, and then through a pass to Yithorium and the Zakath Desert. Has anyone done any development in this area? Ghul, want to share any of the ideas that you had when placing those settlements on the map?

My idea thought is that the settlement on the lake near the Red Desert and the communities that border the River Yys would have a healthy amount of trade. Regarding expanded trade with Yithorium and the desert nomads that wander the Zakath Desert, I would think that glaciation largely prohibits such; isolation becomes the norm, except, perhaps, for the warmer years, but even then, there could be great hazards, such as avalanches and flash floods. In my imagination, I start to think about the 1890's Klondike gold rush, and what those people risked to make their fortune. Crossing those glaciated peaks could be much like that, if the reward is worth the risk. Of course, that's what I think -- increase the hostility or dampen it to suit your own purposes, of course!




 


HYPERBOREA- A Role-Playing Game of Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Science-Fantasy
 

2/28/2015 10:36 am  #12


Re: Larchmere Yys

Handy Haversack wrote:

I use a the voice of a supervillain saying "yes." Kind of like the guidance counselor in A Clockwork Orange. "Yiiiieeeis, Alex-boy, yiiiiieeeis."

I've got angel harps and devil trombones, and you are invited!
 


HYPERBOREA- A Role-Playing Game of Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Science-Fantasy
 

2/28/2015 10:39 am  #13


Re: Larchmere Yys

Blackadder23 wrote:

I was tinkering with this area before I decided on the Savage Boreal Coast (I even made a rough map of the region - the lake near Larchmere Yys was called "Crystal Lake" and one of the evil villages was named "Vorhees").  I agree with your placement of the Esquimaux village and on regular caravans to Yithorium.

My main question for Jeff is: how the heck does he pronounce "Yys"?  For some reason I want to pronounce it "Ees" (maybe because "Y'golonac" is pronounced "Ee'golonac", at least according to Chaosium) but maybe it's more like "Ice"?  Or maybe the y is a consonant form, so you say it "Yiss" or "Yice"?  Inquiring minds want to know...

I actually think of it as "EEs" but then again I thought the "Yggs" in Yggsburgh was was rhymed with "figs," but then Gary  said it rhymed with "eggs."
 



 


HYPERBOREA- A Role-Playing Game of Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Science-Fantasy
 

2/28/2015 3:49 pm  #14


Re: Larchmere Yys

Thanks, Jeff!

OK, I definitely see room for a caravan circling from Vorhies to Larchmere Yys, Kugelberg, and then the town on the Lizard Coast. Rumors suggest narrow dangerous passes through the mountains to the Zakath Desert and its opportunities for riches upriver from the Esquimeaux. I think that around Crysal Lake there are many ancient and abandoned shrines and so the caravans coming back from the Lizard Coast are often full of pilgrims going there for weird rites and propitiations. Did I mention the thew wagons? You better believe there are thew wagons. The caravan masters and townsmen of Vorhies are for the most part an evil and disreputable lot, but they make an OK living from the pilgrims and transshipment and some mild extortion and racketeering so they can be relied upon to an extent. There is some definite weirdness around Crystal Lake, of course,

The town on the Lizard Coast--hereby named Copen--is a mixed bag racially. The permanent residents are strict anarcho-syndicalists (see the violence inherent in the system!). There is no fixed government or militia but every man and woman is fiercely loyal to the others and determined upon independence. It's become a haven for all sorts of transients, who are left pretty much to their own devices as long as they don't cause trouble. It is not uncommon to see lizard-man bravos and shamans in the town, riding in on giant draco lizards and bedecked in tribal finery. They lead the great thew wagons that they harvest from the swamps and trade these and lotus petals for steel and other civilized goods. An uneasy peace holds between the Copen and the lizard-men as long as the territory of each is respected. Copenites make it clear to adventurers that once they are in the swamps, it's lizard-man territory and they should expect no help. While Lunaqqua worship is prevalent in Copen, it is rumored that many residents slip into the swamps and join the lizard-people in their ancient Xathoqquan rites. The town's basically independent attitude also means that it's a base for adventurers and often swarms with travelers and even Zangeirosian pirates.

What think? Some scope for adventure?

     Thread Starter
 

2/28/2015 6:59 pm  #15


Re: Larchmere Yys

Hell, yeah, that fuels my imagination alright. Love it. Do you know where I got thew wagons from? I was on a real JV (not junior varsity) kick when I wrote that one up.


HYPERBOREA- A Role-Playing Game of Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Science-Fantasy
 

2/28/2015 7:00 pm  #16


Re: Larchmere Yys

Ghul wrote:

Hell, yeah, that fuels my imagination alright. Love it. Do you know where I got thew wagons from? I was on a real JV (not junior varsity) kick when I wrote that one up.

Jack Vance?

 

2/28/2015 8:40 pm  #17


Re: Larchmere Yys

Rastus_Burne wrote:

Ghul wrote:

Hell, yeah, that fuels my imagination alright. Love it. Do you know where I got thew wagons from? I was on a real JV (not junior varsity) kick when I wrote that one up.

Jack Vance?

Absolutely.
 


HYPERBOREA- A Role-Playing Game of Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Science-Fantasy
 

2/28/2015 9:28 pm  #18


Re: Larchmere Yys

Totally. There are so many animals in Vance stories that need a control rod passed through their brains. I remind my dog of this every day.

     Thread Starter
 

3/01/2015 9:17 pm  #19


Re: Larchmere Yys

Handy Haversack wrote:

Totally. There are so many animals in Vance stories that need a control rod passed through their brains. I remind my dog of this every day.

You are a riot, Handy. I can't wait to share a beer with you at Gary Con.
 


HYPERBOREA- A Role-Playing Game of Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Science-Fantasy
 

3/02/2015 8:22 am  #20


Re: Larchmere Yys

Ghul wrote:

Handy Haversack wrote:

Totally. There are so many animals in Vance stories that need a control rod passed through their brains. I remind my dog of this every day.

You are a riot, Handy. I can't wait to share a beer with you at Gary Con.
 

I wish GaryCon was happening right now. Another 4" of slush to wade through in the city, and I'm ready to get the hell out, even to Wisconsin! Is it still winter there? Maybe I could move to Larchmere Yys.

     Thread Starter
 

Board footera






© 2009-2024 North Wind Adventures, LLC. “HYPERBOREA” is a registered trademark of North Wind Adventures, LLC. “Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea,” “AS&SH,” and all other North Wind Adventures product names and their respective logos are trademarks of North Wind Adventures, LLC in the USA and other countries. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.