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

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.

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)

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.

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!




 

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."
 



 

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.

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.
 

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.