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Brimstone
Great Reader
USA
3290 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Jul 2011 : 09:14:11
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The Points of Light World!
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"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep |
Edited by - Brimstone on 19 Jul 2011 09:15:01
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Hawkins
Great Reader
USA
2131 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2011 : 15:23:42
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| Wow. I seem to remember them saying 4 years ago that they were not going to develop this setting. It looks interesting. I am glad that they changed their minds. |
Errant d20 Designer - My Blog (last updated January 06, 2016)
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back. --Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
"Mmm, not the darkness," Myrin murmured. "Don't cast it there." --Erik Scott de Bie, Shadowbane
* My character sheets (PFRPG, 3.5, and AE versions; not viewable in Internet Explorer)
* Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document (PFRPG OGL Rules)
* The Hypertext d20 SRD (3.5 OGL Rules)
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My game design work:
* Heroes of the Jade Oath (PFRPG, conversion; Rite Publishing)
* Compendium Arcanum Volume 1: Cantrips & Orisons (PFRPG, designer; d20pfsrd.com Publishing)
* Compendium Arcanum Volume 2: 1st-Level Spells (PFRPG, designer; d20pfsrd.com Publishing)
* Martial Arts Guidebook (forthcoming) (PFRPG, designer; Rite Publishing)
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GRYPHON
Senior Scribe
USA
527 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2011 : 15:49:50
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| Cool... |
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Gray Richardson
Master of Realmslore
USA
1291 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2011 : 08:28:42
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I'm pretty sure that's just the map for the boardgame "Conquest of Nerath." Sort of D&D meets Risk. Here's some info here: http://critical-hits.com/2011/06/21/review-conquest-of-nerath-dd-boardgame/
Not sure that it is meant to be a definitive map of the world, so much as a "possible" map of how the world might be arranged.
Everything is spread out and arranged in such a way as to facilitate the boardgame. What works for a boardgame may not work for a campaign world map. In a board game you want all the countries evenly spaced, compact and comparable in size. If you were really doing the world up for use in a campaign, different gaming priorities might suggest a different configuration more conducive to RPG campaign play.
That said, it wouldn't surprise me if someone decides this map is the canonical representation of that world and institutionalizes it in future products. But it would also not surprise me if that map is never referenced again or if alternative configurations appear in the future that look nothing like this map.
Even still it's pretty to look at and gets the imagination flowing.
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2011 : 09:51:36
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Greyhawk called. It wants its iconic adventure locations back.
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4459 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2011 : 14:52:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Gray Richardson
I'm pretty sure that's just the map for the boardgame "Conquest of Nerath."
......
That said, it wouldn't surprise me if someone decides this map is the canonical representation of that world and institutionalizes it in future products. But it would also not surprise me if that map is never referenced again or if alternative configurations appear in the future that look nothing like this map.
Even still it's pretty to look at and gets the imagination flowing.
Having seen a few DDI articles discussing various parts of their PoL setting, this is a map they refer to quite often. For example, Merindaelion, Barony of the Emerald Blade (featured in this month's Dragon) is an excerpt about a specific place in the PoL setting, and the article draws from the map seen in Brimstone's first post. |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3247 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2011 : 16:40:00
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quote:
Originally posted by Eltheron
Greyhawk called. It wants its iconic adventure locations back.
I didn't want to be the first to say it... |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Brimstone
Great Reader
USA
3290 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2011 : 18:43:27
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I am glad that POL Land didn't kill the Realms and take it's stuff like it did to poor old Greyhawk. |
"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep |
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Gray Richardson
Master of Realmslore
USA
1291 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2011 : 08:04:48
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quote:
Originally posted by Diffan
Having seen a few DDI articles discussing various parts of their PoL setting, this is a map they refer to quite often. For example, Merindaelion, Barony of the Emerald Blade (featured in this month's Dragon) is an excerpt about a specific place in the PoL setting, and the article draws from the map seen in Brimstone's first post.
Oh, no doubt that many, if not all, the named places on that map are actual locations in that world. But I was under the impression that all those places were meant to be modular, good for inserting into any world wherever you have room for them or where they make a good fit. Wizards has published many local maps and I am guessing the local maps correspond fairly well to how they are displayed on that world map. I just don't know if all the individual pieces of that puzzle fit together in exactly that way. I'm just saying that the world map as shown was developed for the boardgame and may not be meant to be the actual representation of the world.
Originally, it was their avowed philosophy not to do a world map. They would give you names that you could drop into your world and a few modular pieces--a village here, a dungeon there, a mountain or two--and the rest was to be left to the DM to map out his world the way he wanted.
Oviously, if they actually intend for the world map above to be canonical, well, then they have reversed themselves 180° on their initial policy. Which is totally their prerogative to do, I am just not sure that is what they have done here.
The map above was developed for a Risk-style boardgame. I just don't think there was any intent on the RPG side of things to let the boardgame developers determine the shape of the entire POL world. (I have no inside knowledge, though--I could certainly be wrong.) Maybe they will decide it looks good to them and they will adopt it as canon for the RPG. And there is so much turnover at WotC, you may get new staffers that just assume that it IS canon without knowing the context, and they may use it that way in the future. But at this point I don't think we can know either way, unless we see them continue to use the map or large chunks of it to represent the world in future publications.
I don't really have a dog in this hunt, because I am a Realms fan through and through. The one time I used a 4e supplement, I changed all the names to Realms locations and worked it into a place in the Dales.
Personally, I see the advantages of keeping the Points of Light world vague and unmapped. It offers a DM material he can drop into the game or not and the freedom to develop the far flung corners of the world however he likes. Making the map canonical could be limiting and stifling to a DM's creativity.
On the other hand, I see the attraction and benefits to WotC of developing a canonical POL world. A 4e setting could be something desirable, and developing that product identity could provide value to WotC in the way of intriguing fans and selling more supplements, or even fiction set in that world. Maybe they see that as a way to compete with the success of Golarion.
I would prefer that they develop the Realms as the official setting. But I can see the appeal of starting from scratch and the desire to plow new ground in a fresh world with untrodden soil. |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4459 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2011 : 10:46:26
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@ Gray Richardson: Very true about keeping things vague. However, when they put out novels involving the PoL world, I think the map helps the reader get an idea of what is where and so forth. For example, they mention Bael Turath in their supplements (a fallen kingdom of Tieflings), it could be placed anywhere in any location ( in my Realms games I put it somewhere in Nar) but the map clearly indicates where Bael Turath is.
So if you wanted to run a campaign using the DMG's Fallcrest and Nentir Vale, you could do so and have a larget overview of the surrounding land for other adventures. |
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Map of the POL (Points of Light) World
