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12/21/2014 10:53 am  #1


Swords of the Savage Coast!



Gaius Gooch, devious chieftain of the Ravens, has opened a trading post for foreigners in his clan's village at the mouth of the Big Thunder River.  No one knows why he has done this, nor do all of his folk agree with this innovation.  Yet it is so, and at long last a foothold exists for adventurers on the Savage Boreal Coast.  Will they uncover its secrets and claim its wealth... or fall prey to the darkness that broods in both the trackless forests and the savage minds of the Picts themselves?

Last edited by Blackadder23 (12/23/2014 9:17 am)


Michael Sipe 1979-2018
Rest in peace, brother.
 

12/21/2014 9:10 pm  #2


Re: Swords of the Savage Coast!

this looks awesome (both map and text) interested to see what unfolds. I give you 3:1 that they fall prey...

 

12/23/2014 8:44 am  #3


Re: Swords of the Savage Coast!

Blackadder23 wrote:

Gaius Gooch, devious chieftain of the Ravens . . .

No guys, seriously, a goocher! That's really bad! Remember when Clint Bracken and those guys got wiped out on Reed Hill in Durham? Billy told me they was flippin' for beers, and they came up with a goocher before they got into the car, and bang! They all got totaled! I don't like this, man, sincerely...

This is excellent, BA23! Do you have a new campaign going? Exciting stuff!
 

 

12/23/2014 9:19 am  #4


Re: Swords of the Savage Coast!

The first session should be a week from Saturday.
I updated the map above - apparently the first version (supplied by the treacherous Picts) was a little inaccurate.

Last edited by Blackadder23 (12/23/2014 9:19 am)


Michael Sipe 1979-2018
Rest in peace, brother.
     Thread Starter
 

1/17/2015 2:28 pm  #5


Re: Swords of the Savage Coast!



Excerpt from a letter written by Kol Dannos, a sea captain of Port Zangerios:

"As I mentioned before, the village is open on the seaward side, but protected on the landward side by a thirty-foot palisade and seawater-filled ditch.  Gates at either end of the ditch can be closed to prevent access to this moat from the sea, but this is rarely done; as a consequence, it is not uncommon to see the Picts fishing in the ditch from atop the palisade.  The towering trees and giant ferns prevalent throughout the Boreal Coast can be seen at no great distance from the wall, and they seem to creep nearer each year despite cutting and burning by the Picts.  Any horror emerging from the trees is met with a hail of poisoned arrows from the wall and guard towers... if Rel is good, it will be of a kind that is vulnerable to such weapons...

"The Picts themselves dwell in a maze of squalid cabins, from which mad laughter, the reek of cooking fish, and the bestial sounds of the Picts loudly breeding their dual offspring are wont to emerge at all hours.  They pour forth from their hovels on the night of each double full moon to spill blood in the fane of the Spider Goddess... the twin moons are of especial significance to the Picts of the Boreal Coast, for reasons too obvious to mention... Victims of their religious zeal are most often other Picts taken in raids, though all are welcome to die on their altars.  Though Tlakk-Nakka is their chief idol, attention is lavished as well on their clan fetish, the raven.  Totem poles topped with the leering visage of this devious beast are seen everywhere...

"Much has been made of the savagery of the Boreal Coast Picts, and it is true they are among the most wretched folk in Hyperborea.  Yet few observers have noted the most maddening thing about them: their duality.  Twins are everywhere, in an unnatural and sickening profusion: dirty twin children racing through the mud with fiendish laughter, saucy twin wenches fetching water in loincloths or less, shouting twin fishermen returning from their canoes laden with their catch, smirking twin bravos stroking their knives and eyeing the outsider with speculative contempt.  For one who hails from a more normal land of predominantly single births, this doubling of humanity is nigh madness-inducing...

"I know little of Gaius Gooch, denominated 'the Big Raven' by his savage folk.  Seen from a distance, he appeared as a dignified man of middle age - to the extent that any of these brutes can be said to possess any dignity... I know not what activates his unusual willingness to trade with outsiders, but it can in no wise be for the benefit of any other race of man but the Picts... or rather, it can only benefit the Raven clan, for the Pictish clans hate each other as fiercely as they despise outsiders... Oddly, the Big Raven seems to have no twin, nor has anyone ever mentioned such... his twin may have fallen in battle, perhaps, or been taken by disease...

"All in all, these folk are near unto the most brutal in Hyperborea.  Worse alone, in my experience, are their cousins, the Picts who dwell across the sea in New Pictland.  Those red-haired beasts are veritable fiends incarnate.  If I never make landfall in Fidib again, it will be too soon..."


Michael Sipe 1979-2018
Rest in peace, brother.
     Thread Starter
 

1/17/2015 2:50 pm  #6


Re: Swords of the Savage Coast!

Interesting piece. It reminds me of a lot of the journals written during the time of George Vancouver who searched for the fabled "Northwest Passage".


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

1/17/2015 4:27 pm  #7


Re: Swords of the Savage Coast!

Yes, that's exactly what I was going for: "explorer with a bad attitude about the natives".


Michael Sipe 1979-2018
Rest in peace, brother.
     Thread Starter
 

2/21/2015 6:32 pm  #8


Re: Swords of the Savage Coast!

Presenting the initial party for this campaign!


Dain: A fighter from the subterranean warrens beneath Khromarium.  Came to the Savage Coast in search of gold and jewels.

Kor: A fighter from the Skarag Coast - 18 strength and constitution but 6 intelligence and charisma.  Came to the Savage Coast as Rafnhildr's personal bodyguard.

Rhun: An assassin from Port Zangerios who has recently sailed with Redbeard the pirate.  Came to the Savage Coast in seach of gold and rare poisons.

Rafnhildr: An illusionist from Erikssgard in Vikland.  Came to the Savage Coast in the hopes of using her magic to dupe the superstitious savages out of their valuables.

All of the PCs are Neutral "with evil tendencies", so this should be fun!  Look for the first session report... hopefully after the first of March.

Last edited by Blackadder23 (2/21/2015 6:35 pm)


Michael Sipe 1979-2018
Rest in peace, brother.
     Thread Starter
 

2/22/2015 12:01 am  #9


Re: Swords of the Savage Coast!

Blackadder, I have a question about your 'Lands of the True Folk' map; how did you draw those mountains in? I can see a pattern to them, so I presume you're using a stamp/brush tool in Photoshop? 

 

2/22/2015 12:29 am  #10


Re: Swords of the Savage Coast!

All the graphics in this thread, including the character portraits, were made with the infamous Campaign Cartographer AutoCAD program, plus various add-ons.  (I say "infamous" because Campaign Cartographer is notorious for its hatefully counter-intuitive interface, useless documentation, and precipitous learning curve.  However, once you get past all of that, it's a great program.)  Then I usually do some tinkering in Office Picture Manager and Paint.


Michael Sipe 1979-2018
Rest in peace, brother.
     Thread Starter
 

2/23/2015 5:55 pm  #11


Re: Swords of the Savage Coast!

Exciting! Can't wait to see how they punish villain soliloquys this time around!

 

2/27/2015 5:11 am  #12


Re: Swords of the Savage Coast!

Blackadder23 wrote:

All the graphics in this thread, including the character portraits, were made with the infamous Campaign Cartographer AutoCAD program, plus various add-ons.  (I say "infamous" because Campaign Cartographer is notorious for its hatefully counter-intuitive interface, useless documentation, and precipitous learning curve.  However, once you get past all of that, it's a great program.)  Then I usually do some tinkering in Office Picture Manager and Paint.

Haha! I love that description: 'hatefully counter-intuitive'. I do most of my mapping in Photoshop, so I always am interested what other people's processes are. 
 

 

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