Sword and Planet Pt. VI: The World in Which We Live

Sorry sorry, I know it's been a long time. I said it would be awhile since my last update, but I didn't know it would be this long. I've relocated back to Seattle, settled in a new apartment, and dived headfirst back into uni for the summer. Hopefully it makes a decent excuse.

So what have I been working on? Not as much as I would like, but I've begun working on what I hope will become the first playtest map to be physically printed out and used. As always, I've probably overdone it again. I'm most likely going to desaturate it and then increase the contrast to make a decent black and white playtest map, but I wanted somewhere to start from. I think it came out pretty interesting.

Since I don't have a lot more to add, I'll give a runthrough of the key features of the map.

This is going to be the area of the entire map. The key features are mountains in the north (which probably need some more work to make them actually look like mountains!) bordering the plateau and the river which runs down into a swamp at the bottom of the map. These features define all culture in this region of the world, with all people's from the mountains and northwards "barbaric" and the river splitting east and west. The eastern lands are much wealthier, but are fractured into small, warring states, with a stalemate having drawn centuries ago. The western lands are larger, but more scattered, nomadic and riding peoples.

The river is the source of all life within the region, as it is the only flowing watersource that is known to exist on the whole world (albeit, most inhabitants of the region depicted on the map have a very narrow definition of the world) and all cities are fed by its flow. The river flows down from the mountains, forming into a small lake and into a swamp in the southern central map. The ancient capital city and fortress, now simply known as "the Guardian" lies on a man-made island in the center of the main lake (although I haven't added it on there yet). The guardian is near-impenetrable and guarded by mechanical sentries who serve long after their ancient masters have passed into the other worlds. It is said that by capturing the guardian, the glory of the ancient Empire can be restored and a new Emperor shall sit upon its throne, ruling over all. This is yet to happen in the six millenia since the fall of the Empire.

Free flow of the river is one of the most heated political stakes of the day, and it is feared if anyone may control the northernmost fortresses, they could prevent the flow of the river, choking all the southern peoples. This would spell disaster, hastening the destruction of an already frail peoples.

The crags are a natural defense, protecting the northwest from barbarian invasion. Their vast mineral and material wealth however, creates a natural lure for enemy attention. They may prove advantageous for a physical defense, but their value will undoubtedly draw the king of attention most struggling Kingdoms hope to avoid.

- - - -

Alright, I hope I can keep people interested in the project, even when I'm not able to update with new rules or ideas. Right now I'm in the worst phase - most of the loose ideas exist, but they need to be codified into a rule book and brought to the table in a semi-working form. Right now, I'm going to build a very rough playtest kit and a rules summary so I can get this out and working. Then I can get to the hard part of actually building a solid rulebook. I worry about writing the rules because of my writing style is a long shot away from technical writing, and it may be difficult to create a solid and clear rule book. We'll see.

Work will continue, and I plan on continuously updating when I have new things to show off.

I'll do my best!