!!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?

12/31/2017 12:08 am  #1


Swampgate Log Palisade

I've been thinking about Swampgate, trying to anticipate questions from players.  One of the things I've been wondering about is the log palisade that surrounds the entire town.  That's a LOT of logs, and the Lug Wasteland isn't particularly known for timber.  Where did they come from, and who paid for shipping them?  

 

12/31/2017 3:17 am  #2


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

jcstephens wrote:

I've been thinking about Swampgate, trying to anticipate questions from players.  One of the things I've been wondering about is the log palisade that surrounds the entire town.  That's a LOT of logs, and the Lug Wasteland isn't particularly known for timber.  Where did they come from, and who paid for shipping them?  

It depends on how you view the Lug Wasteland. If it's a featureless bog as far as the eye can see (I don't envision it that way), importing all that timber would be costly (paid for by the city-state of Khromarium).  In any case, Swampgate makes a lot more sense when you view it as a settlement that's on a total war footing backed by a city state. It's incredibly expensive to support all those armed men to sit around and do nothing at a time where 90% of people have to produce food or everyone starves.
 

Last edited by Brock Savage (12/31/2017 3:19 am)

 

12/31/2017 10:51 am  #3


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

Please bear in mind that we are loosely using a model of hex icons on the map (though admittedly employing artistic expression and variability throughout). The hex system is intended to express / exhibit the dominant terrain of the represented hex. This allows for individual flexibility on the part of the referee -- care to place a one-square-mile pine forest in the middle of that wetlands hex? By all means, feel at liberty to do so. Want to add a small lake, or a patch of scrub-shrouded hills? Be my guest! The idea is to create and present a baseline from which you, the referee, can extrapolate and "make it your own". Cheers! 


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

12/31/2017 10:52 am  #4


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

Brock Savage wrote:

jcstephens wrote:

I've been thinking about Swampgate, trying to anticipate questions from players.  One of the things I've been wondering about is the log palisade that surrounds the entire town.  That's a LOT of logs, and the Lug Wasteland isn't particularly known for timber.  Where did they come from, and who paid for shipping them?  

It depends on how you view the Lug Wasteland. If it's a featureless bog as far as the eye can see (I don't envision it that way), importing all that timber would be costly (paid for by the city-state of Khromarium).  In any case, Swampgate makes a lot more sense when you view it as a settlement that's on a total war footing backed by a city state. It's incredibly expensive to support all those armed men to sit around and do nothing at a time where 90% of people have to produce food or everyone starves.
 

Nicely said!
 


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

12/31/2017 6:12 pm  #5


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

I don't readily answer this type of question. My response is usually something like "Your PCs have no idea how the Swampgate palisade was built. Do you want to look for someone who knows the answer, or do you want to look for an adventure?" Usually they choose adventure. If not, I give them the runaround until I think of something that satisfies me (which in this case would probably be "The logs were brought into Khromarium on ships and hauled to the site by thew waggons").


Michael Sipe 1979-2018
Rest in peace, brother.
 

1/01/2018 2:22 pm  #6


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

I'm with Ghul. The Lug is mostly wet land but I've but low rocky hills, copse of trees, and such. Also lots of grassy lands that are a pain to get through.

Here's a picture of an Irish peat bog. Looks like one might get a decent sized palisade out of it. I bet Swampgate doesn't have a lot of trees around it anymore.

Last edited by gizmomathboy (1/01/2018 2:23 pm)


What? Me worry?
 

1/01/2018 6:13 pm  #7


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

My vision of the Wastelands was based on Dartmoor, as portrayed in The Hound of the Baskervilles.  Hills and valleys, streams and ponds, and lots of bogs to get stuck in.  But few if any trees suitable for a palisade.  .  

     Thread Starter
 

1/01/2018 6:20 pm  #8


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

jcstephens wrote:

My vision of the Wastelands was based on Dartmoor, as portrayed in The Hound of the Baskervilles.  Hills and valleys, streams and ponds, and lots of bogs to get stuck in.  But few if any trees suitable for a palisade.

There's nothing wrong with that, make Hyperborea your own! Part of the setting's genius and charm is that it was written with just enough evocative detail to inspire the imagination. Ten different DMs running Hyperborea will have ten different games- this a feature, not a flaw. 

@gizmotheboy Thanks for the pic. I envision the terrain of the Lug Wasteland as several varieties of bog along with forests, lakes, hills etc. I imagine a great deal of it is dangerous or otherwise unsuitable for human activity save for hunting, trapping, or peat harvesting, hence the "wasteland" moniker.  

Last edited by Brock Savage (1/01/2018 6:25 pm)

 

1/01/2018 11:28 pm  #9


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

2nd ed., page 589, entry #14 = Timber warehouse; with loggers. They obviously log somewhere...

When describing the surrounding territory, just include the fact that there are a lot of tree stumps.


"I, Satampra Zeiros of Uzuldaroum, shall write with my left hand, since I have no longer any other, the tale of everything that befell Tirouv Ompallios and myself in the shrine of the god Tsathoggua..."
 

1/05/2018 11:42 pm  #10


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

I think the most effective strategy is to have someone tell the characters that the logs are from trees that asked too many damn questions. Helps if you have a white cat to stroke while you say it.

 

1/08/2018 3:57 am  #11


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

Handy Haversack wrote:

I think the most effective strategy is to have someone tell the characters that the logs are from trees that asked too many damn questions. Helps if you have a white cat to stroke while you say it.

That deserves a quote just so I can ROTF and LMAO.
 


"I, Satampra Zeiros of Uzuldaroum, shall write with my left hand, since I have no longer any other, the tale of everything that befell Tirouv Ompallios and myself in the shrine of the god Tsathoggua..."
 

1/08/2018 1:23 pm  #12


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

It just seems to me that if a town has a log palisade, there obviously must be logs available from somewhere. It's not reasonable for players to expect a dissertation on ordinary building materials IMO. It would be a different story if the town had an unusual wall (e.g., one assembled from pieces of broken masonry that were apparently taken from a Hyperborean city sunken somewhere in the swamp) that might lead to adventuring hooks.

Last edited by Blackadder23 (1/08/2018 1:24 pm)


Michael Sipe 1979-2018
Rest in peace, brother.
 

1/08/2018 9:22 pm  #13


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

Oddly specific player questions about the log palisade can be a hook as well:
"We useta get dem trunks from da Ebon Mere up north, but sometin up dare got piss-drunk mad atus, so we stopped. Day waggon dem in from da east now. Best ya stay away from dat Ebon Mere place..."


"I, Satampra Zeiros of Uzuldaroum, shall write with my left hand, since I have no longer any other, the tale of everything that befell Tirouv Ompallios and myself in the shrine of the god Tsathoggua..."
 

1/10/2018 7:23 am  #14


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

foxroe wrote:

Oddly specific player questions about the log palisade can be a hook as well:
"We useta get dem trunks from da Ebon Mere up north, but sometin up dare got piss-drunk mad atus, so we stopped. Day waggon dem in from da east now. Best ya stay away from dat Ebon Mere place..."

That's what's going on here.  I like picking at the background, and encouraging my players to do likewise, as it gives me inspiration to expand on things.  For example: after thinking about who paid for the wall I've decided that the merchants of Khromarium (who put up the money) are having second thoughts about the survivabilty of Swampgate, and are trying to get their investment back as quickly as possible.  They've been taking peat moss and bog iron as payment, but in order to accelerate the process have persuaded the K City Council to start sending up debtors and petty criminals to work in a chain gang.  The locals aren't going to like it...

     Thread Starter
 

1/10/2018 10:29 am  #15


Re: Swampgate Log Palisade

jcstephens wrote:

foxroe wrote:

Oddly specific player questions about the log palisade can be a hook as well:
"We useta get dem trunks from da Ebon Mere up north, but sometin up dare got piss-drunk mad atus, so we stopped. Day waggon dem in from da east now. Best ya stay away from dat Ebon Mere place..."

That's what's going on here.  I like picking at the background, and encouraging my players to do likewise, as it gives me inspiration to expand on things.  For example: after thinking about who paid for the wall I've decided that the merchants of Khromarium (who put up the money) are having second thoughts about the survivabilty of Swampgate, and are trying to get their investment back as quickly as possible.  They've been taking peat moss and bog iron as payment, but in order to accelerate the process have persuaded the K City Council to start sending up debtors and petty criminals to work in a chain gang.  The locals aren't going to like it...

Love this idea. Might do it IMC, too!
 


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

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.