Orchard Isles

[Lwaxana]

This little map is for a campaign with my 7 - 12 year old (and the neighbor grandma) group (although I may also use it for a story I'm planning to write).

The Orchard Isles used to be part of a rich kingdom now shattered due to a war. The isles themselves have escaped the carnage, although the troubles have not left them unaffected. Until the fall of the kingdom, the islands provided fish, wood, mushrooms and fruits for the mainland. Now, they are in need to produce a lot of other things for themselves, too, such as grain and vegetables, honey and meat, cotton and wool. Not all of these things can be traded in safely in the amounts needed, as the existence of the isles is to be kept secret. The new despotic rulers of the kingdom might otherwise come and ransack this little refuge as well.

Of course, the players in this campaign play kids who are not just simple sons and daughters of fishers, farmers, woodcutters or city traders. They are actually the children of nobility, hidden away to protect them from the war. And they know nothing of their destiny - yet. Our dear old grandma plays the old witch who is the only one left to know about their true identity.

I tried to give the map a more comic-like feel because the youngest players I have tend to get confused with maps looking too natural.

[Steel General]

I re-uploaded your map as an attachment.

[Lwaxana]

Oops... yeah I tend to not do that

[Gandwarf]

For this map you deserve some rep
I like the look and layout. It looks like a very peaceful place and it's a great map to share with kids and have adventures in.

[nutranurse]

So the game in question has you playing with younger folk? Admirable endeavour that! As for the map itself I like it given what you are using it for. It seems to fit the whole 'comic-ish fantasy land' and makes it seem like how a child would view it! Only qualm I have is the lack of names and the amount of hills There are a lot of hills. Though it's a fun map all in all, what did you make it in? Campaign Cartographer?

[Lwaxana]

So the game in question has you playing with younger folk? Admirable endeavour that! As for the map itself I like it given what you are using it for. It seems to fit the whole 'comic-ish fantasy land' and makes it seem like how a child would view it! Only qualm I have is the lack of names and the amount of hills There are a lot of hills. Though it's a fun map all in all, what did you make it in? Campaign Cartographer?

Yes it was made with CC3.

The lack of names is because each kid needed to pick their homeplace and create a name for it. My games are usually made so that the players create at least half of the set up. This is also why there are so many hills. But it fits an orchard.

i shall add the names in the next few days hopefully.

[Caen]

Great map... I was interested in it largely because of your young players.

I also run a kids' campaign (for 3.5 D&D) - the players are my 13 yr old daughter, 10 yr-old son, and two friends (ages 13 and 12)... they play a "classic" group of characters (Fighter, Rogue, Cleric and Wizard[Witch]) and are now 5th level after 18 months play.

The Greenstone Campaign uses the colours of the rainbow as the basis for the setting.

Greenstone a small island realm that is just a tiny part of a larger campaign world (Silverdawn). Greenstone, "The Isle of Adventure", was intended as a starting area for younger players and is thus very cliched and simplistic.

I used a colour of the rainbow for each of the seven realms:

RED: Esdrath, THE WITCH-QUEEN'S DOMAIN
ORANGE: The Deepheart DWARVEN MINES
YELLOW: THE HORSEPLAINS of Ruhn
GREEN: THE ELVENHOME of Llandor
BLUE: The Narabar PIRATE COVES
INDIGO: THE GIANTS' COAST of Nordheim
VIOLET: THE KINGDOM of Highcrest

The isle of Greenstone is named after the large, moss-covered boulder at its centre that was the site of the first pact between men, dwarves and elves.

The pictures in the frames (all by Claudio Pozas, available on CD) are of the rulers of the seven areas, while those in the four corners are the main NPCs. Clockwise, from top left, these are: Anston, The Arch-Bishop, a high ranking clergyman with an evil secret; Mordrath, the Shadow-King, the defeated arch-enemy of men, dwarves and elves (and father of...); Esderalda, The Witch-Queen, the arch-enemy of the setting, exiled from the Kingdom; and lastly Caen, The Emerald Wizard, the DM's persona in Greenstone.

To continue the rainbow theme, the characters are seeking seven ancient treasures (Sword, Shield, Helm, Magic Map, Ring, Cloak and Belt), one for each colour, that were once used to defeat the Shadow-King and which must now be used to overcome the Witch-Queen, his daughter.

The 'magic map' (the Green treasure) may sound out of place compared to the others, but it can reveal the locations of the other six... and allows the characters to teleport to that location (or nearby)...

Arcane magic is divided into seven colour types; arcane magic-users who are focussed on one colour are called "Wizards" (e.g. Enchanters are Blue Wizards, Diviners are Green Wizards), but those who use magic from all seven Schools are called "Mages", and wear white robes (since combining all seven colours gives white). There is a forbidden school of magic use which is, of course, the black school, necromancy.

Divine magic is also linked to colours and the number seven - there are two main gods (Astra, of Good [white]; and Umbra, of Evil [black]), both of these have seven lesser gods as followers: Saints for Astra and Scions for Umbra.

There are also seven colours of dragons.... as well as undead dragons (or Dracoliches), aslo called Black Dragons. There are rumours that in the far past the Silver Dragons were corrupted to create the seven chromatic types...

But I'm rambling now...

Suffice to say the kids are having fun, and their campaign has restored my somewhat jaded view of RPGs' after 25+ years of DMing.

Carl Green (Caen)

[Ascension]

Pretty cool. The thing about color theory that I've always found interesting is the dichotomy between science and art when it comes to color. In art, combining all of the colors, in theory, produces black...I've never gotten anything but a dark dark brown but I always add too much red. White is seen as the absence of color. In science, color comes from white light reflecting at different wavelengths and black is seen as the absence of, or total absorption, of light. With this in mind, maybe you could spin the tale so that white and black are the opposite sides of the same coin? Or dual personalities. Anyway, looks pretty good.

[Lwaxana]

I used a colour of the rainbow for each of the seven realms:

RED: Esdrath, THE WITCH-QUEEN'S DOMAIN
ORANGE: The Deepheart DWARVEN MINES
YELLOW: THE HORSEPLAINS of Ruhn
GREEN: THE ELVENHOME of Llandor
BLUE: The Narabar PIRATE COVES
INDIGO: THE GIANTS' COAST of Nordheim
VIOLET: THE KINGDOM of Highcrest

The isle of Greenstone is named after the large, moss-covered boulder at its centre that was the site of the first pact between men, dwarves and elves.



To continue the rainbow theme, the characters are seeking seven ancient treasures (Sword, Shield, Helm, Magic Map, Ring, Cloak and Belt), one for each colour, that were once used to defeat the Shadow-King and which must now be used to overcome the Witch-Queen, his daughter.

The 'magic map' (the Green treasure) may sound out of place compared to the others, but it can reveal the locations of the other six... and allows the characters to teleport to that location (or nearby)...

Arcane magic is divided into seven colour types; arcane magic-users who are focussed on one colour are called "Wizards" (e.g. Enchanters are Blue Wizards, Diviners are Green Wizards), but those who use magic from all seven Schools are called "Mages", and wear white robes (since combining all seven colours gives white). There is a forbidden school of magic use which is, of course, the black school, necromancy.

Divine magic is also linked to colours and the number seven - there are two main gods (Astra, of Good [white]; and Umbra, of Evil [black]), both of these have seven lesser gods as followers: Saints for Astra and Scions for Umbra.

There are also seven colours of dragons.... as well as undead dragons (or Dracoliches), aslo called Black Dragons. There are rumours that in the far past the Silver Dragons were corrupted to create the seven chromatic types...


Carl Green (Caen)

Nice, I like that map. Have your players explored most of it?

This is similar to the set up I'm using. Each of my kid's characters is associated with a color, 2 for each color, 12 colors arranged in a rainbow scheme. Each color is associated with a magic quality. We have humans, elves/drow, dwarfs, orcs, gnomes, mrrengar (cat people), Karvuo (dog people), nezumi, Khevar (reptilians), draconians, dryads, sinfae (a type of fairy) and some other races which aren't part of the PC races.

We have several types of dragons, and most of them can be any color. We also have 12 elements.

The large kingdom I'm still designing is split in 13 regions, 12 over the ground referred to by name of the hour (Realm of the 1st hour etc) because the rightful rulers used to be time mages. The 13th realm (in saying always referred to as the 13th hour) is underground, even under the dwarf spaces, and is occupied by former devils and demons searching to redeem themselves. Mostly them trying to help causes more chaos, and they tell bad jokes. But their existence has been forgotten.

For each color, there are two missing items. A coil of rope, a hat, a brush, a storm light, a lighter, a bow, a walking cane, a staff, an incense burner, a belt, a set of boots, a pocket mirror, a hammer, a bracelet, a ring, an amulet, a pair of glasses, gloves, a dagger, a cloak, a chalice, a compass, a pocket watch and a night pot

This all belongs to the arch mage who needs to be recalled to help freeing the kingdom.