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)

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!
 

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)

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)

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.

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)

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...