Re-inventing the Wilderness: Part 5 - Regions

Before we dive into wilderness regions, a brief note on the Bloggies. I was absolutely shocked and honoured to win BEST ADVICE POST OF THE YEAR and BEST BLOG POST OF THE YEAR. Read the Acceptance speech here but the key takeaway is “start blogging”. I’d been following OSR blogs for several years before I started sharing my ideas. And my first ever post won best of that year!

If you start blogging now, you should be in-time to get a nomination for 2024 (and I’m the host this year)! Get on it, folks :)

In this blog series, I will dissect the spatial elements of wilderness environments and explore how tabletop-friendly prep and mechanics could be leveraged to revise exploration procedures. If you’re looking to start from the beginning, you can find Part 1 here.

The crags of the mountain were ruthless in the moon; cold, deadly, and shining. Distance had no meaning. The tangled glittering of the forest roof rolled away, but its furthermost reaches were brought suddenly nearer in a bound by the terrifying effect of proximity in the mountain that they swarmed. The mountain was neither far away nor was it close at hand. It arose starkly, enormously, across the lens of the eye. The hollow itself was a cup of light. Every blade of the grass was of consequence, and the few scattered stones held an authority that made their solid, separate marks upon the brain — each one with its own un duplicated shape: each rising brightly from the ink of its own spilling.

Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan (1946)

A region is an identity. It’s the character sheet of the setting, marked with features and items that are both descriptive and prescriptive. They tell a story of the past and help us create new stories at the table.

Argenfell, Land of Songs. Every breeze carries with it the strains of a thousand songs. At the heart of Argenfell stands the Great Chime, a towering metal column that pierces the sky like a beacon of light. Legend has it that in the days before it was struck and from its sounds the world sprang forth. It still resonates, but those born within our age cannot hear it as its everpresent tone is all they’ve known.

Regardless of whether a region is formed by geographical borders or political lines drawn by stuffy rulers. Over time, it has formed a unique identity expressed in a few ways:

Terrain and Areas: This is the colour palette of the region. I recommend three and they can be complimentary (icicle-laden forests, snowy peaks, and glacial ravine) or contrasting (green fields, looming volcano, baking desert).
People and Factions: They bring the region to life. There are people of all kinds, with differing opinions, priorities, and composition. They form groups known as “Factions” which provide unique gear, special objectives, and (biased) information.
Rules and Ecosystems: This is what separates the outsiders from the locals. Navigational experience is only one component of exploration in a new region, understanding the rules of nature is the rest. This “ecosystem” knowledge is rarely transferable as they are unique to the encounters, terrain, weather and phenomena found only here.

Areas

Hexcrawls alternate terrain like a colourful mosaic, but in a pointcrawl we can either use terrains as path taxonomy or as subregions. I prefer the stronger identity that subregion terrain grants and the clarity makes it more gameable.

Once you have your concept for your region, define the three main areas. Give them an evocative name and a short description. This will be the blueprint by which we’ll design the local encounters and sites.

The Mists of Mordavian Marsh. Known to the locals as The Mists, this area is identified by its impenetrable fog and twisting marshlands. It is said that the fog is all that separates the marsh from the land of the dead and many spirits have been sighted here. Once, long ago it was home to the principality of Mordavia.

Repeat this two more times to complete your region’s Areas:

The Crystal Caverns. This area was carved over centuries by a fabled river undine. It is now a twisting network of tunnels containing precious teardrop jewels that melt away in sunlight. Famed for its appearance in the dwarven ballad, “Eyes in the Dark”.

Zephyr Isle. This area’s sensitive desert sand emanates an eerie hum as wind, fauna and footfalls disturb it. It is said that beings of sea and sky respond strangely to the songs that whistle from this strange isle.

Don’t be shy about stepping into world-building fluff. We’re writing these descriptions first so the gameable content can follow the themes and patterns we’re setting out before.

On an actual map, these three regions resemble a sort of messy Venn Diagram, where 3 unique shapes segment the region, slightly overlap at their border. I find that running the main paths along those borders is most effective as it creates a clear division between Areas (across the tracks, other side of the river etc). Here’s the region above as a basic outline, without POIs/paths/landmarks etc.

Argenfell Region Outline

Factions

Time for factions! I prefer to have five in total but their presence doesn’t need to be equal. A ruling faction may be present everywhere, some factions may even be a remote hermitage with wild designs in the region. No matter the size, though - they have a vision for the region. They want change.

For each faction, we’ll write their name, description, presence and goal.

Ashul Syndicate. A powerful consortium of miners, gem-cutters, and merchants who control the extraction and trade of the precious teardrop jewels found within the Crystal Caverns. Presence: Command vast wealth and political resources. They are known for their ruthless business practices and willingness to eliminate rivals by any means necessary. Goal: To stripmine and exploit the magical teardrop jewels for profit and influence.

Luminary Church. A religious order of scholars, sages, and historians dedicated to unravelling the mysteries of Argenfell and preserving its rich cultural heritage. Presence: Operate research facilities across the region. They are revered as guardians of knowledge and sought out by adventurers for their expertise in all matters relating to Argenfell. Goal: To uncover the tragic history of Marovia and establish a great library in the region. Also, to protect the Great Chime.

Mistwalkers. A small covenant of magic-users who have mastered the art of navigating the Mists of Mordavian Marsh. Presence: Dwell in restored Mordavian watchtowers. Their mist magic makes them logical guides, but they only use their powers for their own ends. Goal: Unlock the secrets hidden within the fog-shrouded marshlands.

Those-who-live-on. A clandestine society of outcasts, rogues, and aimless undead who dwell in the shadowy depths of the Mordavian Marsh, beyond the reach of civilised law. Presence: Operate from concealed lairs within the marshlands, where they can be employed for clandestine activities such as smuggling, espionage, and assassination. Goal: To establish a haven for those who are not accepted by society.

The Elves. A small community of masked elves (the Zephyri) that commune with spirits of wind and water. They are deeply mistrustful of outsiders. Presence: Their speedy sand-ships cut across the isle to assail any intruders who bypass their summoned storms and sea monsters. Goal: Use the land-rituals of Zephyr Isle to create an impenetrable barrier and prevent interference from the syndicate and church.

From there you can build out relationship diagrams and flesh out the NPCs/POIs related to them - but let’s not get distract too much. On to…

Ecosystems

Play occurs in the space between rules, and to create interactivity and depth into the natural world, we need to insert some laws of nature. There are a few ways we can bring the natural world to life.

Laws of the Land

I’ve shamelessly borrowed the concept of ‘Laws of the Land’ from this excellent post, so I highly encourage you to read more there.

Each ‘Law’ should be specific and have three parts — a statement starting with Always or Never, which action you take, and the consequence of ignoring this law. There should also be a situation where it is important (eg. when swimming, at sunrise, during rainfall) or tie it to a specific Area:

Mistwalker’s Creed (Mists of Mordavian Marsh): Never bring animals or livestock, for they will disturb the spirits that dwell within.
Crystal Cave Etiquette (Crystal Caverns): Never carry light brighter than a dwindling candle, as the delicate teardrop jewels will melt away in the presence of heat and brightness.
Zephyr’s Dissonance (Zephyr Isle): Always move slowly and softly to avoid disturbing the harmonious melodies that resonate through the island; otherwise you risk an unwelcome curse.

I recommend one per Area, but you could have several region-wide ones instead.

Ecological behaviour

Encounter behaviour allows us to simulate a simple food chain:

monsters → people → predators → prey (→ flora*)

This order has exceptions and complications, but roughly it follows these descriptors.

Apex Predators: Super-predators that have no predators of their own within their habitat, except ambitious adventurers (dragon, kraken, aboleth). Typically 6+ HD.

People: Humanoids that seek out fauna and/or flora. Typically 1-4 HD.

Predators: Carnivorous beings that hunt prey and attack people (owlbear, wolf, stirge). They likely have predators of their own.. Typically 3-5 HD.

Prey: Herbivorous beings that predators hunt and kill (deer, goat, unicorn). Typically 1-2 HD.

Flora: Trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers, and fungi. They grant limited effects when prepared correctly. Rather than sitting on an Area’s random encounter table, they grow in specific circumstances (see ‘Unique flora (and other resources)’ below).

The boundaries are blurred here… dragons employ more intelligence than some humanoids, such as ogres. Some plants like the assassin vine can be considered a predator. However, looking at this spectrum can help you build gameable details into your regional bestiary.

For each creature, you can consider how it avoids or protects against those higher-up the food chain… and why it hunts those below it on the food chain.

I hope to revisit this in another post - but for now, consider having doubles/triples on your 3d6 encounter roll triggering a new paired encounter that resolves simulataneously and follow the logic below:

	Flora	Prey	Predators	People	Monsters
Prey	-	Competing if same, if not abundant	Predators → Prey	People → prey	Monsters → prey
Predators	-	-	Competing if different, if not abundant	People → predators	Monster → predators
People	-	-	-	Collaborating People	Monster → people
Apex Predators	-	-	-	-	Competing Monsters

Unique flora (and other resources)

A side-point regarding flora. A dungeon is a location for a handful of sessions (barring megadungeon play), but a region is the focal-point of a sandbox campaign. For this reason, creating a consistency amongst the resources across the whole region rewards long-term play significantly. I am a huge fan of DG Chapman’s Modular Ecology post, and I wanted to share how I use it.

First, identify 6 key resources (typically flora, but it could be some other natural or magical phenomena). Next identify how each is found or gathered (again, check DG Chapman’s post for great examples). And finally detail two uses for them (make sure these are gameable / “toyetic”).

Then for each of those facts (Source, Use A, Use B) assign whether it’s landmark (everyone knows this), hidden (encountered during play), or secret (encountered by challenging investigation).

Example:

Salt-rice. In a coastal village devastated by a storm, the sea god Hulanti granted the people a crop that thrived in salty waters, to ensure their survival during the Sea Season.

Source (Landmark): Other than on coastal farms, it is found natively as a coastal weed, where sand meets grass.
Use A (Hidden): Used to enrich food, allowing uncooked rations to be treated as preserved rations.
Use B (Secret): Used as a charm against temperamental weather. A bundle kept around your neck keeps rain off you (though it can still make your pack wet).

Weather and seasons

Weather and seasons help us give unpredictable timing to our exploration. Traditionally, this comes in the form of bad storms that hinder traversal or transport. That’s already taken care of, so I’m going to flip it on it’s head. Weather and seasons can grant unique opportunities for savvy adventurers.

Consider each Area above, let’s highlight an ecological phenomena that call players to adventure at each:

Solar Eclipse (The Mists): Once in a great while, a solar eclipse occurs, causing the already gloomy marsh to plunge into darkness. During the eclipse, the boundary between the living world and the land of the dead weakens, allowing spirits to materialize more easily. Additionally, the sudden darkness can disorient creatures and alter their behavior, leading to unexpected encounters and challenges. Fancy walking the halls of sunken Mordavia?

Bioluminescent Bloom (Crystal Caverns): Following a heavy rainstorm, a rare and magical phenomenon known as a bioluminescent bloom occurs within the caverns. Fungi and mosses trailing the cave walls emit a soft, otherworldly glow, illuminating the tunnels with a faint blue light. This illumination doesn’t harm the teardrop gems and the mining operations and adventurer delves increase in zeal.

The Windchord (Zephyr Isle): Every winter, a gusty storm rises harmonising with the eerie hum of the desert sand, creating a new symphony. During this season, the Zephyri elves cannot launch their land-ships. However, the storm uncovers hidden mechanisms beneath the sand, as long-buried ruins and artifacts to emerge from the earth. Adventurers navigate the shifting sands and tempestuous winds to explore the unveiled arcology site before it’s buried again.

This is also a great way of adding new POIs to an existing area. Building on your region during the campaign is an important opportunity to have it evolve and grow. Consider also how does weather and seasons and other environmental phenomena change the context of an area and the POIs within.

What’s to come…

Sorry about the long wait on this. It’s only my 5th post and I’m still trying to find my groove (it’s been in my drafts for months). I hope you find it helpful and it prompts your own interesting ideas.

Next up, we will explore Micro Meso and Macro Landmark and their role as navigational aids in the overworld.

Re-inventing the Wilderness: Part 5 - Regions

Areas

Factions

Ecosystems

Laws of the Land

Ecological behaviour

Unique flora (and other resources)

Weather and seasons

What’s to come…

Further reading

Date

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Previously