I'm thinking I want to run a Kingmaker-style campaign but with a dwarven kingdom. An inspiration for this idea is the computer game Dwarf Fortress, wherein you build a Dwarven Settlement. I'd like to run it in Golarion, because I find Golarion cool but have let to run a campaign in it. I'm likely running this via Play-by-Post, so I'm also looking for players.
One of the things I need to figure out is where to put it. The Stolen Lands are a theoretical possibility, and good in that they are already detailed, but I'd rather have an area more thematically approprate for the campaign idea. So we're looking for lands that would be desirable for dwarven colonization and also available, i.e. not already inhabited and either close to or claimed by dwarven lands/dwarves or allies of dwarves that would be open to supporting a dwarven colonization effort.
I have a couple areas in mind already. I'm pretty sure there are areas of the Five Kings Mountains that are either loosely settled or wilderness areas claimed by the dwarves, but not currently settld (perhaps having dwarven ruins that can be claimed and resettled by the new dwarven land). The Lands of the Linnorm Kings have a dwarven population and lots of wilderness, so that's a possibility. Varisia is a land ripe for colonization and there are dwarves in Janderhoff.
There's also the matter of the "story". Since I'm not going to be publishing this I do not need, nor do I desire, as planned out of a story as Kingmaker was. For the most part the PCs will decide which direction te story takes. However as they seek to establish they're new dwarven nation it is likely that various threats will arise. So I'll need to figure out what those are.
Somewhere in Garund might be amusing, if I wanted to have a reference to Dwarf Fortress and have the dwarven pioneers have an encounter with the bane of Boatmurdered- elephants! In Avisan I could have a body of water inhabited by unusually fierce carp.
In Avistan I could have a body of water inhabited by unusually fierce carp.
The giant gar is exactly what you're looking for, sir.
I'm doing something pretty similar as a PbP right now - which is an expedition to reclaim Zolurket, an old dwarven platinum mine that's over-run with gnolls, and a variety of other beings both fair and foul. But that is more of a room by room clear out the mine and reclaim it jobbie.
Any of the big mountain ranges could likely easily support something like this.
Perhaps the Menador mountains that are wedged in between Molthune and Isger? - Cheliax to the SW and Nidal to the NW so no lack of antagonists.
One idea that's really caught my imagination right now is the Northern Mindspin Mountains, later expanding into the Hold of Belkzen and maybe even being able to retake Koldukar. However the closeness of the new land to Janderhoff would likely make it more or less just an extension of that state. Not necessarilly a bad thing, but I'd have to consider how it would effect things.
