So I was looking for a means of connecting characters from previous campaigns together to bring into Golarion and this is what I came up with using a town and it's surrounding landscape. I posted it on Reddit and got zero feedback. I'm interested in thoughts and concerns or comments.
Journey Town
There once was a Mage named Corvus and a Sorceress named Sileena. They both were once adventurers in a land torn apart by a Tarrasque. Due to a conflict of interest in the management of their small but growing town the two had a powerful battle right where that set of statues is between the famous Outsider Inn and the Arena. See Sileena had some kind of fire blood and a minion who was probably more made of stone than flesh, and Corvus had a pet Behir. Spells flew, buildings caught fire, lightning crashed down, and the other fellows of their party spent the whole battle trying to keep the refugees safe from the battle. When the dust settled the Behir had been turned to stone and the others had all died in the fight. As a memorial to the good they had accomplished before such a wasteful power struggle their compatriots paid the refugees to construct that memorial. They also laid out sketches for a wall and roads and sections of the city for the refugees to start working on so they could begin living there. The party then headed off to fight the Tarrasque. They never returned.
Now, a few years passed and the folk that use to run the Outsider Inn had become the de-facto leadership and were becoming increasingly worried that the Tarrasque would be heading their direction at some point and they had no idea what to do about it. As it turns out Corvus’ wizard tower was considered haunted and the townsfolk never went near it, so it was extremely surprising when a tall man in wizard robes and a missing pinky came out of the tower with a rather large group of companions. They apologized for disturbing the townsfolk and requested the assistance of a powerful Cleric to resurrect an elf in their party. About a week after that the group, who were quite knowledgeable and experienced said they needed to be on their way. They gathered around the memorial, joined hands and this Wizard casted some spell and POOF everything went black for everyone in town. When we awoke, because everyone I could see was laying on the ground, the sky was different than it had been and the Wizard and his friends were still there, but whatever he was holding to cast his spell had shattered.
That is the story of how Archmage Conrad and the Hands of Justice Adventuring Company came to rule our fair city. See ever since then the city moves, between planes and worlds. I’ve been here since the beginning, I watched the wizard battle at the start. For the past decade this town and a large chunk of the surrounding land shift. We don’t know if the Archmage is controlling it or if the magic just got stuck, but either way we move. I’ve seen it as short as seven days or long as two years.
--- Old Man George (Bard 3)
Current Town Size: Land 314 Sq Miles. The center of the circle is the memorial.
Somehow the mages have found the means of keeping the rivers and lakes from drying up as the water also flows out of the land mass. The South contains a portion of the Great Desert. The East holds some moderate hills, the only major elevation change in the circle. Most of the area is a great forest.
The original city laid out by the Outsiders was a perfect circle with the memorial in the center. Stone walls, and spacious enough for about 500 Residents. The “new” city section is outside the stone walls, fortified with wood Ramparts and sprawls west with a much more Rectangular shape designed to make a grid out of streets for future expansion. Some locals built farms in the western portion to farm and raise livestock. Current population of Journey is 4000.
At least one tribe of Goblins lives in the forest, they are mostly harmless.
People of Interest:
Hands of Justice Organization (Previously Adventuring Company):
Conrad the Great Wizard – Founder. Leader of Journey partial recluse last few years. Declared Archmage in the Great city of Silverymoon in the world of Toril.
Taris the Insane – Founder, said of been resurrected so many times he is not quite all there in the head. Originally from Toril, but currently missing (on Golarian).
Drasdel the Fighter – Founder, Master Archer current Master at Arms for the organization. Originally from Toril.
Allonon the Druid – Founder, In charge of sustenance and the ecosphere to insure it’s continued survival through the travels. Originally from Toril.
Burne of the Pale Lands-Defender of Light – Founder, Paladin of Helm. Current Commander of the City Guards and Tactical commander of all Journey’s forces when under siege or assault. Originally from Toril.
Cornin Healer of Wounds – Founder, Cleric. Originally from Toril. Viet (cong) Dwarven Ranger – Founder, Reclusive spends most of his time in the forest with several other woodsmen. Originally from Toril.
Boris Healer of Good – Founder, Cleric. Originally from Toril. Arendel Fist of Corellon Larethian-Uncrowned Prince of Tethyr – Founder, Fighter Paladin Elf Prince. Second in the command of Burne. Ambassador when encountering foreign Elvish populations due to their prickly nature and distrust of strangers. Originally from Toril.
Lathious Steelheart – Master Artificer, Warforged race. Considered the leader of the Artisans in town. Originally from Ebberron. Kaedus Fist of Tempus – Founder, Fighter Cleric of Tempus. Originally from Toril.
Other members include: Tidas, Aust (not kingmaker Aust), Akaros. The Hands are now expanded to include numerous people throughout the town. Mostly those that have decided to join the city guard or adventurers who have gotten stuck visiting town during a transportation.
The madstalker Lads: This tribe of goblins have gotten trapped in Journey for about two years now, they seem perfectly comfortable fighting amongst themselves in the hills on the west side of journey in some caves. According to a report from Viet they seem to number around 50 and have no desire to raid town or the farms. The one time they are known to of attempted to raid and possibly leave Journey was during a span of 10 days that Journey was stuck in the Abyss. After the horrors of that encounter and the massive battle the town survived against the demons the goblins seem to stay underground as much as possible and seem to of started mining in the hills. According to Viet he has yet to see any female goblins so the potential threat of this tribe is considered low. Bullgriff – Chieftain of the Madstalker Tribe.
The Grey Order: A potential faction popping up in the city. Rumors only
Places of Interest: The South contains what was once known as “The Great Desert” luckily the magic that transported Journey appears to of only taken a small amount of this with it. Over the years the Desert appears to not be expanding. In fact as a desert that was mostly sand this feature appears to be wearing off as the land travels. Allonon and some other druids have been working to see if the uncovered land is usable for planting. A mysterious group of ruins have also appear through the diminishing sands.
The West fields contain mostly prairie and farmland along with one lake and a river that heads out of the area. A small amount of the population (about 100) commoners take care of the needs of the town.
The East hills and forest contain the Madstalker tribe, several veins of precious metals and mostly wilderness. A few streams, but no large pools of water. Here about 100 yards from the edge of Journey is the first partially built tower envisioned by Conrad to guard the border. It was started and conceived during the two years they spent on Ebberron. Ideally these towers would be high enough to see one on each side and circle the entire place near the edges with a means of contacting the city should trouble arise. Conrad plans to enlist the help of outsiders should they end up in a place longer than a year.
The North is mostly dense forest two moderately large lakes and large paved four wagon wide road that use to lead to a major city. Part of these woods houses a lone plateau that slopes down into the forest at the west end. Here the original owners of the Outsider Inn carved a fearsome dungeon filled with traps and the occasional magical creature. They then stocked it with minor treasures and left rumors of the place in the Inn for visiting adventurers to “clear out”. The idea never got very far before the designers died fighting the Tarrasque, but a group of entrepreneurs in Journey spent the first few years rebuilding and stocking the place and have since used it to test the mettle of adventurers that wander into town. Aside from the dungeon and a small lumbermill used for building the town not much goes on in these woods. Few townsfolk besides the Rangers spend much time there and many strange beasts like to make it home during the travels.
The underground is not explored or known to the vast majority of the townsfolk or the Hands of Justice. Conrad, Burne, Kaedus, and Lathious alone deduced that since the edges of Journey are 10 miles in every direction from the memorial that they might be hauling 10 miles deep worth of land as well. Since they never get to see the giant hole in the ground that the city leaves behind when it moves they don’t know for sure, but they can assume 10 miles of earth and stone under ground. With their knowledge of the Underdark in Toril they are unsure and unable to verify if they are carrying any underground cities, or civilizations with them, but space is sufficient for many residents to be hiding down below. Old city: While Journey is referred to as the town, and the circle of land that moves with it, most residents still call the original stone walled section of town the old city. In the old city is a massive stable, the Outsider Inn, Conrad’s Tower, The Arena, a small Castle built to house the Hands of Justice, and several other small blocks of houses, shops and other buildings. No warehouses or other inns or taverns exist in the old city. Every building is made of stone some up to three or four stories tall with tile roofs. The roads are paved with cobblestones and the buildings are given space to breath from each other with lots of trees and grass. The Walls are two and a half stories tall, crenelated and possessing a squat tower at each point of the compass. The only physical gate is to the west. New constructions in the old city are assisted by Conrad and other mages to give the buildings a fluid look similar to Silverymoon.
New city: The new city is a rectangle that attaches it’s wooden palisades to the stone circle of the old city. Near the gates the buildings look hodgepodge and haphazardly placed. This district contains one Inn and several Taverns attempting to compete with the Outsider Inn. This section was built before Conrad came to the city. Once the hands of Justice realized this was now their responsibility for creating a traveling landmass they stepped in and laid out a plan to organize all future construction of the new city. This has turned into a standard grid format. Most of the streets have been paved, including small sections outside of the palisades to ensure people know where the buildings will eventually stretch. Slowly but surely the wooden palisades are being replaced by stone, and the goal is for the buildings to as well, but wood is much more plentiful at the moment. Also after the Abyss incident Conrad has put a halt to further city construction until his watchtower project is completed. The surveys are taking place on where to place the towers, but constructing and manning them is going to take some time.
I might be able to get through this wall of text, but in the meantime:
I didn't notice any question marks when I skimmed through. Did you have anything particular you wanted feedback on?
I might be able to get through this wall of text, but in the meantime:
I didn't notice any question marks when I skimmed through. Did you have anything particular you wanted feedback on?
Not particularly, unless any of it is unclear.
I can re-format it to be less wall of texty, but I was trying to keep the tone of most of the paizo descriptions of places.
Important people, vague adventure hooks, location basics.
Demography nitpicking: 100 farmers supplying 3900 townsfolk suggests modern age agriculture, or that magic supplies most of the needed food and other resources. That might not be a problem, but if it's magic it begs the question why not all food is produced by magic. Or alternatively why the 100 farmers are 'commoners' and not highly skilled magical-agricultural engineers.
Concept-wise, moving towns are cool. The inclusion of highlevel ex-adventures do raise questions on what the PCs will do for the town, but those can be solved.
One B, two R's in Eberron.
There's a lot more than water and agricultural produce which goes into a town even if that's the most important. Metal, ideally iron, pottery if that's not made locally (requires good quality clay), all that stone you're using for paving and building (it doesn't sound like the local area is good for quarries), salt for preserving food, etc. How does that get to Journey now?
Have you thought about how Journey travels? Perhaps it's not something the PCs and players should find out about immediately, but I think it's something you should know beforehand.
How often do the »jumps« to other places happen? Are we talking hours or months? Can Conrad the Great Wizard control it - the length of a stay, the destination? Does the city return with some regularity to the same planes and places?
I think the answers to these questions will should a large impact on the feel and make-up of Journey. A city that returns to, or at least stays for awhile in the same place will work as a city. There can be trading opportunities with the residents of the plane. A city that's hurled through cosmos without control, with extended periods in inhospitable neighbourhoods (you mentioned the Abyss) etc. will not be a city, but an isolated village.
Thanks for the replies. Good point on the Farmers, my idea was more that some of these people are trapped here accidentally and they want to do what they know. But perhaps I need to rework that part.
Eberron, lol I always mess up the spelling. They do have trade when they come to places and scavenge what they can during hops, but you make some very strong points that I didn't think of. I will need to work on that.
How journey travels is that the site of the statue is a place of power that somehow (plot magic) broke the Arch Mages' Amulet of the Planes and twisted the power of it. I can't find the reference and my books are packed up, but I remember the 3.5 or 3.0 Amulet had a charge time of like 7 days or something similar. The fastest they have ever moved between planes is 7 days. The longest so far was 2 years. The Arch mage can't control it, but they know when they arrive at a new place they have at least 7 days to do stuff.
I think that maybe the 10 year timeline is a little too long for my current development. 5 or 3 is probably better.
So the original thought was that if they do return to a place they've been before it would be extremely unlikely they would land in the same spot they last were at.
What's the climate like?
How does it work when Journey appears on another plane? It's basically a semi-sphere. Does it appear in the sky like a floating city? Or does Journey »replace« existing terrain when appearing - terrain which is restored when Journey leaves?
If I were living in Journey, I'd strongly consider leaving at the first safe »port«. Why do the population stay? Do they feel safe? The visit to The Abyss sounds rather horrible ...
If Journey offers unprecedented trading opportunities I'd set up temporary market camps at the edges of the circle of land (assuming its actually relevantly closer to a prospective trading partner, flight and teleportation might change such assumptions). When jumping to a nice destination, outsiders could come to one of these market camps to trade. They'd have an easier time getting back (especially if Journey is reeling to jump to another dimension, I hope there's some warning!). The final transport of goods into journey can take place in good time while Journey is in an inhospitable environment and nobody has much to do anyway.
I think some sort of frequent visits could really help with the idea of a thriving market town. Like, 25% of the time Journey jumps it goes to one of the last 10 places visited. Maybe with some system behind it, if you've got mathematicians at your table who want to figure stuff like that out.
For demographics, I'd consider reducing the population considerably, like down to 2000, and move the other 2000 to half a dozen to a dozen smaller villages outside journey. If Journey actually models a pre-modern society without much magic assisting in everyday tasks, the urban population shouldn't be greater than 10% of the total, but 50% is enough to keep people like me from baking. This has an added advantage of working better if you go for a more isolated Journey.
See, a town is somewhere people go to exchange goods and services. That's the textbook definition. If Journey itself is self-sustained then it's actually not a town, but just a big village. You'd expect to find very few specialised, skilled people in such a place. Most everybody would be a farmer. If you have a sizeable rural population around Journey, the town can actually function as a town - the villages travels to the the town (perhaps at weekly markets?) to sell their produce and you get that bustling feel you associate with towns and cities.
Blymurkla you have given me a ton of things to think about that I wouldn't of before. Thank you.
My original idea is that they appear in the ground in place of whatever was in the way before. Even if the border of Journey's sphere would cut away part of a mountain. They do not know if when they teleport the land they replace switches places with them (probable) or they leave a giant crater (that would suck for the realm they left). I'm still thinking of how that works. The 7 days in the Abyss was supposed to be horrible, one of the few extremely dangerous times they've teleported and one of the major reasons for the citizens to be uncertain in wanted to stay. Even if the timeline is reduced to 3 years from 10. I think that most of the remaining population stay because they feel safe or want the adventure. Anyone not interested in it would of long left.
The system for the jumps was based on the old Amulet of the planes that required a recharge time. 7 days I believe was the fastest you could use it. My thought was that journey's movement would be more plot driven than true mechanics. The party is itching for a fight, spend 7 days appearing on a dangerous dimension. Want to explore Forgotten realms, well Journey can sit in the Silver Marches for 3 months. Want to rob a train? Back to Eberron. Need to solve the mystery of a 10,000 year old crashed spaceship guess Journey has landed in Golarion.
As far as returning to the same planes, I think that would definitely happen to realms that are massively known. Landing near Sigil perhaps? Greyhawk, Earth, Wheel of time, Middle Earth, Narnia?
I like the percentile idea, since it can put randomization into the plot driven jumping.
Most of the people in journey were there before this happened because the capital city and was destroyed by the tarrasque. Journey was originally a very small waystation to travelers crossing the desert. The player's built the Inn and then turned it into a refuge for the displaced survivors. The town or village then grew up from this.
The refuges came mostly from a metropolis so I think it can be justified that a lack of farmers would make sense.
Expanding on what you've brought up, lets assume the timeline since the incident is 3 years. Lets say Journey has jumped 7 times. 7 days in the Abyss. 7 days in some other antagonistic plane. 2 years in Eberron. 4 jumps that lasted several weeks or months.
As far as knowing when it moves, my original idea was that after 7 days...good luck if you leave the circle, this might be a problem, but maybe not. I like the idea that people from new worlds could get stuck traveling, but leaving players behind would be annoying so maybe some kind of 1 hour notice. Very important idea there, I will work on that.
While not fantasy per say, there are a couple of comic book things that this reminds me of. There is a bar that serves as a waypoint between worlds in the DC Universe. The Oblivion Bar, which only magical beings could enter without invitation. Basically the bar can be entered from one of many realms, and folks can even get lost and leave into the wrong place. There are also a couple of sentient houses which are infinitely large on the inside, The House of Mystery and The House of Secrets. In the case of the Houses they each have a care taker, and loyalty to whomever "owns" the house at the time, generally listening to their directions or serving their needs, though sometimes the Houses have their own interpretation of what those are.
I would definitely check those out for some ideas. Particularly the Houses.
Also I seem to recall I think in 2nd Ed that the Githyanki and Githzerai had moving cities in the astral plane. Maybe see if you can get any ideas from there.
As far as leaving people behind, you could steal a trick from Fae legend. If anyone eats, drinks, or accepts gifts from the town, they are bound to it as a matter of hospitality. No matter where they go or what means they use, they will always be called back.
I will check that out. I believe the Gith cities moved due to the nature of the astral plane being fluid. I recently played through Planescape Torment again and the Gith have a ton of lore there. Definitely worth borrowing some ideas from.
The downside to people being tied there is that I like the idea that people can get left behind if they aren't careful. I also don't want people to be too afraid of leaving after the first 7 days and I'm unsure how to deal with that fear. You don't want a group of people who all refuse to step outside after 7 days otherwise no one will want to trade with them. I like the idea of some kind of warning, a 1 hour warning would give a hustled horse, if I'm reading travel rules correctly, exactly enough time to go from the center of Journey to the border since there are roads leading north and west. Technically the road goes south too, but then hits the remains of the desert. I need to finish my map and upload that somehow.
I like this idea, it sort of reminds me of Sliders and Voyager(new planet of the week). One suggestion, the Archmage or someone has figured out a way to calculate how long it will be before the town jumps, or at least a close approximation. That will let the pcs know how long they have to look around before getting back.
Reminds me of Briggadoon.
Reminds me of Briggadoon.
Oh thanks for this, I hadn't heard of it before, but I like the idea. For some planes Journey could arrive like clockwork. The residents don't spend 100 years traveling, but every time they hit this one realm they land at the same spot exactly 100 years from the last time they landed there or something similar.
@Valandil, Slider's was probably a subconscious influence for sure. I like that eventually they will be able to judge the time before leaving. Definitely still thinking on it.
I updated the time frame thanks to some advice here, it needs polished though
[spoiler] Time since the incident 3 years instead of 10. 7 Jumps. 156 weeks.
1) Journey first traveled to Greyhawk for 4 weeks (152).
2) Then they spent 7 days in the Roman empire with Magic! (Adventuring party landed there during gameplay when we were using the amulet to try and get home, they hate elves) Lots of fighting because the town had non-humans. Not a hell dimension, but a rough time of it. (151)
3) They then spent 12 weeks in a forest world that they didn't find a single intelligent creature (139).
4) Then Eberron for 104 weeks (2 years) need to pick where (35).
5) Then 8 weeks on the southern side of the sea of Fallingstars. Faerun (pick a location) This is where the Goblins moved in (27).
6) 7 days in the Abyss. Goblins tried to flee and came straight back. Tons of battle. (26)
7) 26 weeks in a ,homebrew setting kingdom of humans and dwarves are in a war against the orcish hoards. This is where partial tower construction started. (0)
That's our 3 year timeframe, next jump will be wherever it gets used in a campaign.
If you meant for that time frame be in a spoiler
Go to how to format your text
If you meant for that time frame be in a spoiler ** spoiler omitted **
Bah forgot to end tag and can't edit after an hour. Oh well it's not as wall of texty as the OP.
If you meant for that time frame be in a spoiler ** spoiler omitted **Bah forgot to end tag and can't edit after an hour. Oh well it's not as wall of texty as the OP.
It's fine (the wall of text part) I only learned to use spoilers a month ago and my posts in that thread were character creation.
I get the feeling of going to the mall and somebody saying, "Remember where we parked the town."
The children of such a city would have a cosmopolitan/ aloof/ self sufficient attitude that military "Brats" have. I apologize to any military brats out there, I couldn't think of a PC way of noting you.
Have you read the 1632 series by Eric Flint? In those books, the 20th-century West Virginian town is stranded in 17th-century Germany permanently (or so the reader is led to believe). But still, their entire town got moved to a very different culture/tech, and they had to deal with it. With massive changes for the surrounding country in just a couple of years!
Grantville, led by Mike Stearns, president of the local chapter of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), must cope with the town's space-time dislocation, the surrounding raging war, language barriers, and numerous social and political issues, including class conflict, witchcraft, feminism, the reformation and the counter-reformation, among many other factors. One complication is a compounding of the food shortage when the town is flooded by refugees from the war. The 1631 locals experience a culture shock when exposed to the mores of contemporary American society, including modern dress, sexual egalitarianism, and boisterous American-style politics.
I'm bringing this up despite the fact that your Journey Town (I keep thinking Sojourn) has a very different kind of tech/ feel from Grantville. Three centuries removed is different enough that the town might as well have traveled to a different plane, and the interactions may well give you inspiration for the kinds of conflicts your town is going to engender in the various locales it lands in. And the kinds of crises (like setting up food trading) that will be necessary for the residents to solve at each move. Besides which, the novel is a great read!
"There once was a Mage named Corvus and a Sorceress named Sileena.
Sounds like someone likes the Underworld movie series. :)
"There once was a Mage named Corvus and a Sorceress named Sileena.Sounds like someone likes the Underworld movie series. :)
While that is true, Corvus was a name used by a friend of mine since his AD&D days in the 80s, full name Corvus Corax (scientific name of the common raven). Sileena was my sorcerer Fire Genesai, I have no idea where I got the name, but the campaign was run around 2004/5 so Underworld might of influenced me there.
@bitter lily, I read the wiki page, that is a very interesting sounding series. I added it to my list, but since I just started Wheel of Time again...it will be awhile. That being said it might be cool to run into the New United States with Journey at some point.