Today marks a year since I started working on Godsbarrow. It’s been a consistently fun process, and even when I’ve banked my creative fires I’ve still done something to make forward progress every single day. You can find links to all of my Godsbarrow work, loosely organized, on the Godsbarrow handbook page. Here’s my first […]
A year of Godsbarrow worldbuilding Read More »
After roughing in the map and concept for my fifth Godsbarrow region, Middenglum, I tucked into doing proper write-ups Name the region. Middenglum is the colloquial name for a region which encompasses the lawless, sparsely populated western hinterlands of Ahlsheyan and Myedgrith, which in turn bleed into territory claimed by no nation — Middenglum proper,
Middenglum, part 1: overview, geography, nations, and gods Read More »
After wrapping up my fourth region, the Ice Courts, I wasn’t sure what to work on next. I slept on it and decided to fill in the blank tile on my poster-size map. Growing up on TSR box sets, with their gorgeous rectangular poster maps, I couldn’t resist the urge to finish out a map
Roughing in Middenglum, my fifth Godsbarrow region Read More »
The final region-level step in Worlds Without Number [paid link] is to define the relationships between nations and one thing each of them wants from each of the others. Because of the sheer number of things I have to create, this step usually takes me longer than the others. If you want to read the rest
The Ice Courts, part 4: national relationships and wants Read More »
My slow march through the “double-sized” Ice Courts region continues! I’ve now wrapped up the historical events for each nation (as always, using Worlds Without Number [paid link]). Part 4 will cover the relationships between these nations — and then the Ice Courts will be done (at least at the regional level, and for the foreseeable
The Ice Courts, part 3: historical events Read More »
Writing yesterday’s post about banked fires and leaving countries partially unmapped made me realize how much I’ve thought about this stuff over the past several months, and how non-obvious some of it might be to anyone outside my personal flesh-prison. I’m sort of mapping Godsbarrow the least efficient way possible . . . but stitching
Godsbarrow: Why not create a world map first? Read More »
I never get the roads, rivers, etc. on the “tile” boundaries quite right, but nonetheless I get a thrill out of seeing Godsbarrow start to come together as each region is added to the larger map. Here’s a (clumsily) stitched-together map showing the first four regions: the Unlucky Isles (where I started, top center), the
Godsbarrow map: the first four regions (plus noodling on banked fires) Read More »
Happy new year, Yore readers! My fourth region in Godsbarrow is two map “tiles” wide, sitting south of the Unlucky Isles and the Gilded Lands. It’s the map where most of Ahlsheyan sits, plus the rest of Lonþyr and most of the rest of Yrfeđe — and new nations, of course. As you can see
Godsbarrow’s Ice Courts region: overview and geographic features Read More »
I’ve been more in the mood for cartography than writing, so I’ve finished — at least in draft form — the map for the Ice Courts before the region write-up is done. The Ice Courts sit just south of the Unlucky Isles and the Gilded Lands, and this region occupies two map “tiles.” (You can
Map of the Ice Courts, Godsbarrow’s fourth region Read More »
At 2:30 this morning I woke up from a dream about the dwarves in Godsbarrow and the Snarl, realized it was an idea I’d never seen anywhere before, and knew this was a chance to contribute to the collective lore of my favorite fantasy species. So I grabbed my tablet and wrote it down, couldn’t
Dwarves in Godsbarrow: poignards and the Snarl Read More »
