One of the projects for later this year is a new campaign, set upon the Isle of Dread. The island will be the region for the entire campaign!
All of the PCs will be inhabitants of the human villages on the SE peninsula of the island, with stone- and bronze-age tech. Very limited magic, using the forthcoming World of Weirth Swords and Sorcery Magic System.
I am using the Goodman Games version of the module, plus some fun fictional sources for additional inspiration, to create this setting. Without giving too much away, here are some pics to show what I’ve been up to, and to set the tone:
WIP of the Players’ Map:
WIP of the GM’s version of the same map:
For the Human Archipelago I have added a couple of small villages, only 150-200 ppl, to increase the general population of the human clans. While each village is composed of two to four clans, there are also going to be various patron deities for each village, plus religious cults and sorcerous orders. This should create plenty of factional friction for a rollicking good campaign.
Island pics for inspiration:
Maps and notes are being kept in this notebook, which I got from the River Site, in an attempt to keep everything together and to satisfy my need to start a notebook for every single project.
In case anyone is interested, these are the pens I used to create the color map of the peninsula, IIRC all available from Michael’s.
I may be borrowing some Character Class ideas from Paleomythic, here, and the naming conventions are coming from In the Courts of the Sun, a fantastic science-fantasy novel by Brian D’Amato.
Here is the naming convention chart:
| Birth Order | Color | Element | Clan |
| 1 | Ruby | Earth | Pangolin |
| 2 | Orange | Ocean | Muntjac |
| 3 | Topaz | Wind | Leopard |
| 4 | Gold | Fire | Nutria |
| 5 | Jade | Lightning | Peccary |
| 6 | Sapphire | River | Harpy (Eagle) |
| 7 | Cerulean | Stone | Ocelot |
| 8 | Indigo | Coral | Cockatoo |
| 9 | Grey | Obsidian | Dragon |
| 10 | Pearl | Shadow | Hippogriff |
| 11 | Oyster | ||
| 12 |
A tribesman of Tanaroa will have a name like 3 Topaz Harpy, or 5 Lightning Ocelot. The three parts of the names are, first: Birth Order; second: Element or Color for the birth month; third: their Clan. There are no distinguishing characteristics for gender in the naming conventions.
There are three clans whose members may not actually share a bloodline, Dragon and Hippogriff clan names are reserved for those children born during a lunar eclipse, and Oyster is for those very rare children born during a solar eclipse.
These children are treated as beings of magical power and influence, and as such are often placed in important and/or powerful roles within the larger Clan.
In the next installment, we’ll go over the various clans, and their roles in Tanaroan society.
