Generating the Northern Marches

So with our warband generated, next we move on to generating the region they'll be exploring. Not being a particularly great hand at art, I went back to the source I'd used to generate the map for our previous campaign:  "Perilous Shores", a fantasy region generator. This can be found, along with other random generators for villages, one page dungeons, etc on the highly useful watabou site.

I generated a few images till I came up with a map that caught my fancy, then added a map key to it.

The basic beginnings of the Northern Marches

A heavily wooded region, with numerous swamp and fens, the centre of which was dominated by a large lake. I then added a few islands to the main lake and another to one of it's smaller cousins.

Next I rolled up the regions settlements. The dice gods gave the region one hamlet, two villages and one town. Then generating the settlement types I ended up with:

Hamlet:  Monastery

Village:  Manor

Village: Military Outpost

Town: Trading Hub

In 5 Leagues, along with all the various other monsters, marauders and maladies in the region, three enemies are considered the main dangers in the area. Forces actively trying to corrupt and overthrow the lands to their own ends. Two of these are the Foes Within, threats that lurk within human civilisation, seeking to undermine it. The other is the Foe from Without, forces from beyond the borders creeping in to infiltrate and invade.

Then, mostly determined by what miniatures I already had painted up, I settled on the Threats in the region.

The first Foe Within, and strongest threat in the region, are The Whispers from Beyond, and the crazed cultists who heed them.

The second Foe Within are the Outlaw Bands, followers of a loose alliance of robber barons and bandit chieftains. 

The encroaching Foe Without is present in the form of Duskling Warbands, fierce raiders led by marauding warlords.

In a base game of 5 Leagues each of these foes has a set Threat Level. The main foe is normal set at a starting level of six and the remaining two at level five. Reducing these threat levels, and thus eliminating the threat, is usually a main campaign goal. However in the "Paths in the Wilderness" expansion an alternate method to combating the regions threats, "Fight against Darkness" is offered, which I decided to adopt for the main threat for a bit of variety. I kept the Threat Level reduction method for the Outlaws and Dusklings, thus setting both at five.

Another concept from the "Paths in the Wilderness" I'll be adopting is that of "Local Enemies"; Threats that while undoubtedly dangerous confine themselves to certain, specific, areas of the region. To keep things on a reasonably gothic vibe, the two I settled on were:

 "The Bloodstained", the descendants and followers of a long since vanished Duke who still roam his former domain.

"The Silent Battalion", the long dead army, that fought in a forgotten war, who still haunt their final battlefields.

All these things generated, I will make two more narratively focused posts introducing our Protagonists (time will tell if they are heroes or not) and the Northern Marches(with updated map), respectively, before we get to their actual adventures later in the month.

5 Leagues Warband Creation

  As mentioned in my first post, Don and I decided to run this campaign as a co-op affair, splitting the initial warband of heroes between us – 2 heroes and one follower each. We decided to take an “avatar” each, rather than the usual one per warband, to both generate a little more backstory and add a little more “ownership” on both our parts. I initially wondered if this would give our warband too much of a power boost, but in our previous campaign it certainly didn't seem to have done so.

Another conceit we decided to add to the campaign was naming or basing the various followers our warband attracts after different people in our gaming circles. Throwing in our various friends and associates into the game as lackeys and hirelings who may, or may not, weather the trails of the harsh lands our warband travels. 

So in this post I’ll go over our initial warband creation and cover the generation of “The Northern Marches” region in the next post. Starting with our four heroes we rolled them up and equipped them from the war band's communal stash, as follows:

(Don) Sigurd, Skysworn, with the Mountain background.

 +1 Combat Skill and Toughness, +1 XP, 1 Skill: Leadership.

Fine Axe, Partial Armour, Shield, Helm. 

Avatar Background: The first time you receive a quest, immediately roll on the quest find table

(Don) Yoiss, Dwarf, with the Mountain background.

+1 Agility, +1 XP, Skill: Speech. +1 Gold Mark.

Light armour. Crossbow, light weapon, standard weapon.

(Me) Bran, Human, with the Mystic background.

Speed increase, +2 will, +1 XP. +1 Gold Mark

Light Armour, Staff.

Spells:

(Me) Gretchin, Human, with the Zealot background.

Speed increase, +1 Luck, 2 Skills: Expertise and Wits.

Partial armour, Fencing Sword.

Avatar Background: begin with +3 XP

Our two followers are:

Gregor. An wandering drifter with aspirations to becoming an artist. Armed with a self bow and a light weapon.

Bob. A little too long in the tooth to really be called an Urchin, still we recruited him begging on the street. Armed with a Staff (crutch)