Because of its location and how it was formed from inland sea to a glaciated region to the place it is today, Minnesota is a unique place containing many lakes and is the meeting place of four biomes.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/biomes/index.html
The starting point of my Sylvaeon campaign is partially based upon the land that I love :)
I have populated the initial hex crawl with many of the native flora and fauna of Minnesota. The weather patterns mimic those occurring seasonally.
The flow and joining of the Drake's Wash & the Broken Arrow rivers in this starting area are based upon the real world confluence of the Minnesota & Mississippi rivers. The PCs have encountered these large rivers already. I used a riverside cliff cave in the last session based on those that are on the banks of these rivers. One encounter took place in a sink hole, like the ones that are present in various parts of the state.
Hex crawls and world building do not always entail reinventing the wheel. Using what is in the real world can ease the process greatly.
Remember the Giant Beaver in the Monster Manual? We had those things here.In fact, the most complete skeleton of a giant beaver was unearthed right here in Minnesota. The PDF linked below talks about some of the giant mamals of the past that roamed the state. I am itching to toss some megafauna at my players ;)
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/volunteer/young_naturalists/giants_iceage/giants_iceage.pdf
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Really cool stuff! :) Using real-world geographical features not only saves time but lends some serious authenticity and realism to the terrain. Love the giant beaver idea! Yeah, we had some wild stuff roaming around in years gone by.
ReplyDelete@ George: Fantasy is really no more than extrapolation from reality... no matter how far fetched! I think you are right about the authenticity part - it really makes for a "realistic" campaign, no matter how may weird creatures end up in it ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my post... I certainly enjoy your stuff and your input here :)
No problem Jeff! Some times I get so busy writing my stuff that I neglect some really good blogs out there - including yours. I'll plan to stop by more often. Keep it up. :)
ReplyDeletePS: Who's the cute blonde woman on the right side of your blog?
That's the "White Lady" of Sylvaeon :)
ReplyDelete