Lands of AHR, Part II

And here it is...the new map for Axe, Hammer, and Rune .

"Hand drawn" in photoshop based on the sketch I posted a while back.

The Lands of AHR

As mentioned in the previous post, I've decided to revisit the AHR map from the perspective of the Dwarves from Gimboldek. A central conceit of the setting is that maps of lands have all been lost, and their former home lands are overrun with goblins, preventing new maps from being made.

That being said, what should such a map look like? What details would it give? Well, I present to you my first sketch of such a "map".

 

As I refine and eventually start to replicate it digitally, I shall post WIP.

Cartography and Gaming

"Maps are not neutral, nor are those who decipher them. This is what "mapping the world means" - uncovering the buried myths and legends and retracing the sequence of political, religious and economic history and the slow evolution of the scientific mind that patiently searches the land, sky, globes, atlases and maps to decipher and to understand the universe in order to answer humanity's ultimate questions: Where are we? Who are we?" - from Mapping The World by Caroline & Martine Laffon

In revising Axe, Hammer, & Rune, I took a look at the original map to determine if I needed to update it. In the intervening years since I first released AHR, I've witnessed a fair number of maps for different gaming products. Whether they were hand drawn, the product of hex-software, or photo-realistic monstrosities (my opinion of course), and some of them, especially the hand-drawn, could be absolutely gorgeous pieces of art, but what they all had in common was a certain authoritarian creation.

That is, the maps were created by authority of the GM (usually) who knows exactly where everything is, and despite any artistic flourishes, can be counted on for accuracy. They are intended to be used in a game, by players, and GMs to organize adventures. The thing is, original maps of the past where pieces of puzzles put together as best as possible and contained many errors. This is what made traveling beyond the safety of your known lands so dangerous, it was the search of the unknown. Here Be Monsters, indeed!

It's not enough to have a fully functional, beautiful map. The style of the map, the presentation, and the intended audience must be considered.  Is the map for players or the GM or both? An argument can be made for the GM's map to be as detailed as possible, but that also robs the GM of his ability to fill in the blanks with his own ideas.

It's something I finally learned after struggling with concept for a long time.

I went back to the map I originally had for AHR, and asked myself these important questions.

Who is this map for?  The map is for players.

In game, who drew the map? Dwarves of the city, Gimboldek.

What is the context of the map? The original maps of their empire are lost, so they simply drew what they could see from their mountain home, and remember from tales.

Does my current map resemble that context? No

What do I do now? Make a new map to fit context.

To be sure, the new map will be unreliable, but that's part of the adventure.

It's the difference between this...

and this...

Thanks for reading,
-Brent

Projects

I've got far too many irons in the fire, and I need to clear some of it out.

Most likely the next thing to actually get completed is the Advanced Axe, Hammer, & Rune. Which is just a funny way of saying revised and reorganized.

The new version includes more monsters, treasure tables, and a few other goodies. Still just 10 pages.

This will be followed shortly by another 10 page addition to AHR which details dwarven society of the three nations, including new example cliches, details for societies and orders, a magical metal, and a map of Gimboldek, the dwarven fortress mountain.

Soon. Soon. Hopefully soon.

Cowboys of the High Seas - Map in progress

It's a work in progress still, but this is the old-timey version of the Cowboys of the High Seas map.

[Risus] A random sampling of characters

These are some random characters for various Risus settings I've developed. I already posted them on G+, but not here...so here they are. Cabone and Flabberbarst are for Full Contact Magic. Cpt. Donald Frazier is from NightWatch, and Dr. Newton Lennox is from Brave The Impossible.

Of Risus, Savage Worlds, Money, and other minutia.

I've been doing a lot of hard thinking the last couple of weeks about where I am going with Truckee Games, but before I can tell you what decisions I've come to, I need to tell you a story.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

Years ago when Savage Worlds by Shane Hensley was in its infancy, I was absolutely privileged to have been brought on board to help edit, do layout, a little bit of writing, and so on. It was stellar and I owe so much to Shane for that experience...but...I wasn't really ready for it. Being 'behind the screen' for the first time clouded my judgement and did weird things to my ambition. I still recall vividly a conversation that reflected my thinking (though I wouldn't see it for what it was years later).

Friend: "Hey, you think you can make a Star Wars campaign for Savage Worlds?"
Me: "Sure, but I'm not going to. At this point, I'm not creating anything where I'm not going to get paid for the effort."

Yes...you can see I had become mercenary and oblivious to what I should have cared about: Creating for myself. If it's something people like, that's great, but getting paid shouldn't have been my primary motivation (or secondary, or tertiary, or...).

It's stuck with me, and I can recognize now that anytime I start letting the idea of money come into the gaming equation, I start drifting in that same mercenary direction. I don't like it, and it actually ruins all the joy I take in gaming. It's not that I'm adverse to getting paid for my efforts (more on that some other day), but I simply have to remove money from the creative process. If you want to donate (money, cars, food, beer, games, et al), I'm not going to say no, but it can't ever be the goal.

TRUCKEE GAMES

Truckee Games was never created to actually be a game company but rather to create a brand, an identity for the worlds I create. It is not tied to any specific game system. The medium - as it were - that I haven chosen to express these worlds so far has been Risus by S. John Ross. It's absolute simplicity allows me to explore worlds without getting hung up on the rules. 

I don't know what the future holds. I've never given up on Savage Worlds, or any of the old games which fall into what most call the OSR, and they all still hold a special place in my dice-rolling heart. I've just run out of free time to devote to lengthier rules, but do not be surprised if some of my settings get converted. Don't get your hopes up that these will appear in any timely manner as I am still constrained by being a father, husband, employee, and college student. My time is limited. When/if they do get converted, they will get their own links on the right hand side.

FORMAT & CRITERIA

I've played around a lot with formatting, layout, graphics, and even the downloading part - I created a downloadable boxed set for the settings, but the effort involved to make it work takes away from creating worlds - but I've decided to stick with a certain familiar format that you can count on which also serves to keep me accountable. To wit...

• The size of the documents will be 8.5" x 11" with full on color graphics. It will be layered so you can turn graphics off. The intent is to be printed on paper, bound however you like, to become a physical artifact of the gaming table.
• Each setting will be no more than 10 .pdf pages. This fits my design criteria because 10 pages allows me to explore an idea without becoming committed to designing a full setting all in one go. Later, if I should decided I have more to say on a setting, I can extend with further .pdfs up to 10 pages, but these are optional. Limiting the page count allows me to say what I have to say and then move on to the next setting. 
• As Savage Worlds and other games are a good deal crunchier than Risus, I'll burn that 10 page bridge when I get to it.

...

So that's about it really for this update. I just wanted to get somethings I've been thinking about out in the open. Thanks for reading.

-Brent