I am new to Earthdawn, but I've been doing some reading as well as listening to podcasts and watching live-plays. The best and worst things for GMs running FASA games are always the huge amount of source material.
As you do with starting characters to show them the world slowly (and maybe hide the fact you aren't actually omnicient), I was going to start the characters in a kaer. I thought that having a map of the pre-scourge world would make sense: they could know what used to be where, but not how things changed over the ~500 years the kaer was closed. The major issue is I know things have changed a lot, but not what or how much.
It's easy enough to remove the names and locations of kaers, change the Bloodwood back to the Wyrmwood, and Parlainth is just an innocuous smudge. What about forests and rivers? Other towns and cities? The population should have been larger pre-scourge, so there should be more stuff on the map, but where would I put it? I've done some looking, and haven't found anything of the sort.
Does anyone with more experience have anything similar, an idea where to find something like what I want, a list of changes that would need to be made, or at least a pointer for where to start looking?
Pre-Scourge Map
Re: Pre-Scourge Map
I'd advise giving them only a map of the immediate environs of the kaer, rather than of the whole province. And even then, make it vague and unreliable, as if generations of scribes had duplicated it while slowly forgetting what the original referred to.
It's possible only the great libraries and largest kaers have detailed and precise maps (and even these are rare); smaller kaers are likely to have only hand-drawn maps similar to the one from the ED1 adventure Infected for instance.
It's possible only the great libraries and largest kaers have detailed and precise maps (and even these are rare); smaller kaers are likely to have only hand-drawn maps similar to the one from the ED1 adventure Infected for instance.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
(Groucho Marx)
(Groucho Marx)
Re: Pre-Scourge Map
I think Marzhim is right but if you really want to use a detailed map I would use any of the current ones with the following modifications:
- Rename Blood Wood
- Remove Heaven (near Parlainth)
- Paint over the Badlands and the Wastes in a lush green to represent that they were lush, fertile lands
- Remove Urupa
- Remove any references to Kaer Eidolon, Triumph and of Ishkarat presence at Lake Vors.
- Maybe remove the Iopos canal to the Serpent river? Can't remember if predate Scourge or not (anyone?)
- Similar question: did Bartertown exist before the Scourge?
- Rename Blood Wood
- Remove Heaven (near Parlainth)
- Paint over the Badlands and the Wastes in a lush green to represent that they were lush, fertile lands
- Remove Urupa
- Remove any references to Kaer Eidolon, Triumph and of Ishkarat presence at Lake Vors.
- Maybe remove the Iopos canal to the Serpent river? Can't remember if predate Scourge or not (anyone?)
- Similar question: did Bartertown exist before the Scourge?
Re: Pre-Scourge Map
Given the presence of the Grand Bazaar at the Gates of Throal and Bartertown's complete lack of stone buildings, I'm of the opinion that Bartertown sprang up only after the First Theran War ended and peace was declared throughout Barsaive. Throal therefore becoming the de facto Superpower, Bartertown's status as an entrepot would allow commerce to thrive under the shadow (but not jurisdiction) of Throal.