D&D distraction

So i finally got a group of people IRL to regularly DM for. None of them had any experience, but after a couple months of running a mercenary guild game that allowed us to cycle through 8 different players depending on availability they were starting to learn the rules.

It was nice.

And then Grandfather Nurgle rubbed his bloated hands all over Terra and suddenly no more D&D. So I thought why not build an entire campaign from scratch for when normaity has resumed?

So here I am going to share my progress.

World Map:

I started by making a generic world map at first and named a couple of locations before settling on the different nations and peoples on the Islands of Kalvok. I am intending on drawing maps of smaller regions of Kalvok using this one as a rough guide

The Accursed League of Borne

Known as Alfusaen-tal by the elves that claim Kalvok as their birthright, the Isle of Borne is a hostile hellscape due to the sins of their ancestors. Since the extinction of the Gnomes and the dawning of the Dark Age the land has been ravaged by the restless undead that roam from the Anathema Groves nestled in the feet of the Pillars of Dawn. Among dead trees the sickly mortisblossom is all that grows.

The capital city is drowned in the scalding rays of the Blisterlight Rift, a portal to Baator. Created from necessity to bring food and water to denizens of the isle, the Rift has demanded a heavy price. The once great river is now an outflow of the Styx which flows inland to the Pillars of Dawn and with every passing year more nomadic Tiefling clans ply their privateer trade upon the toxic seas.

The Baronial Confederacy of Renor


The New Republic of Dell


The Grand Duchy of Nuzglor

Established at the end of the Reign of Thunder by the enlightened Ghazrak Nuzglor and the redeemed rust dragon Vaargonis Gildenflame, the Grand Duchy is a haven for the civilised Orcfolk of Kalvok. The Delian virtues of Chivalry have been adopted, adapted, and upheld by the orders of roaving questing knights but with subtle twists of Orcish logic.

The citizens of Nuzglor utilise brightly feathered dinosaurs in every aspect of their lives. Triceratops are known to pull carts. Oversized flamboyant raptors are rode into battle. Originally established to protect the eastern front of the Paradise Kingdom of Dell times have changed and now the Grand Duchy of Nuzglor faces foes on all fronts.

Updated to include a map of the Accuraed League of Borne

Looks interesting! What are you thinking of for the BBEG? (If there is one)

Thank you!

There are a couple of candidates so far that I may use depending on the direction it goes.

The first was an old elven king turned vampire lord/lich who was a warden for all things natural in the world who grew to resent the damage others were doing to the world. His grief caused him to align himself with darker powers and he severed the Fey Crossings of Borne and replaced them with Shadow Crossings, from which his undead legions pour forth to scour the lands.

There is the Elven King's descendent who rules over Borne and ultimately seeks to wage war on a powerful devil in the Nine Hells of Baator. After the Fey Wilds were severed the island would provide no food, which led a former ruler to make a hasty pact with devils that provided them with food in return for a permanent gate to hell in Borne itself.

There is a Blue Dragon that considers itself 'the firstborn of Tiamat' who seeks to free Tiamat from Avernus to usher in an age of dragon tyranny.

Then there is Azrukhal, a Devil who is aspiring to move into Kalvok and make it his own domain.

So the four are kind of interlinked, meaning I can drop the campaign after any of them are scuppered or play it through to the end.

Mmm, I quite like the correlation between them all, something I haven't experienced in my most recent campaigns. It's also a nice way so that your party can settle in a singular area, or choose to explore the whole country

Have you been playing homebrew or a module, out of curiosity?

I didnt want it to feel like a railroad, so I find coming up with a few different big conflicts in the world and then seeing where the players goes helps it feel open but not be 'open world' to the extent where you are having to constantly improvise

I've only really play homebrew. The only have modules I've played were my first and second games ever.

And yeah, I definitley agree. Freedom is always preferable to railroads, which is something that just can't be done with a module.

My current DM is a blessing and has openly stated we can take whatever route we want, hell we can spend the next 6 weeks just running a tavern if we want to.

You are lucky to have such a fluid DM! As long as everyone is having fun all is well! I definitely think homebrew is the way to go from the point of view of running the game. Modules can be rather restrictive. I tried runniny Mines of Phandelver to get my friends into it, and it was going well until they put so much effort into recruiting an ogre into their party that it derailed the campaign.

I was fine with the chaos though, they put a lot of effort into it and I ended up writing a whole storyline based aroubd Gog the Ogre, although his presence did break the module a bit lol

I am currently drawing up maps for the other nations of Kalvok and will update this as they are finished

I like the maps. Quite a bit better than anything I could do on something that isn't a miniature, lol.

Thanks Alino. I am sure you could learn as these were my first two maps and I only learned by watching a youtuber called WASD20

I am working on a homebrew class for this setting that I will be adding soon

Updated to inclued map of the Baronial Confederacy of Renor.

Those maps look great Cavash! I do love a bit of world-building myself, my other half is currently making maps for my Pathfinder game beside me. Which edition of D&D are you playing, and I'm guessing that none of your previous players were inclined towards video-conferencing for games, personally I've found that though it takes a bit more prep on the DM side, and an adjustment in how everyone needs to do things it works pretty well - then again I may be biased as my Pathfinder game has involved video-conferencing for the past couple of years at least.

Thanks PartridgeKing! Pathfinder is great. We play 5th ed at the moment as nearly all of the party have played fewer than ten games each. Easing them in and hoping to get them into Pathfinder at some point.

If your orher half is happy to share the maps I would love to see them when they are done

Unfortunately 4 members of the party are staying in one house currently (they are all healthcare workers) so they just don have the hardware available.

I've just tried 5th Ed for the first time myself and it is indeed quite good fun! Definitely a smart move easing them into things before Pathfinder, though I was (un)lucky enough for my first RP experience to be AD&D... so everything feels easier than THAC0!

Oft, 4 connections would certainly strain the bandwidth!

As to maps, here are a couple related to the part of the world they are in at the moment, and then there is the larger world map that shows one side of the world that is basically a colourised version of my original GM-map, which she is currently working on making into an actual map map as well, rather than the much more basic one she made for me.

Updated to include a map of the New Republic of Dell.

I do love digitally drawn maps! I am fond of the celtic sounding names, they always work well for fantasy. I like them a lot

Looks great Cavash!

Yeah I've got a few island chains that I hand drew from way back when but the other half found some great digital programs to use.

As to the Karvel, they're a mishmash of Faroese, Welsh and Polynesians who the players have just saved from death via crazy Sahuagin 'elder god' cult.

Updated to include a WIP for the map of the Grand Duchy of Nuzglor, as well the early stage of a smaller coastal area for my own purposes.

Sorry for the long delay in replying, PartridgeKing. That sounds like an excellent blend of cultures. Combining such different cultures can make for a really unique feel.

Edit: brief descriptions being added for different nations

Not a problem Cavash! I'm glad to see that things are progressing nicely with your campaign!