Where we come from...

So I lived for several years as a teenager in a place called Bland County. I graduated High School from a place called Rocky Gap High. It was a beautiful place to be as a teenager...and it makes for an awesome background landscape for a Dungeons and Dragons game!

Here is a quick map of the area showing creeks that run through it with the mountains and place names of major settlements (I can't call any of them towns...because they aren't that big really).

Some of the names on this map lend themselves DIRECTLY to a D&D game: Bastian, Rocky Gap, Hollybrook, Wolf Creek and more.

The BIG thing about Bland County is that it is the ONLY United States county that is entered AND exited on the Interstate by going through long tunnels beneath mountains! Both of these lend themselves wonderfully to Dwarven Fortresses!

So I cleared a few things off this map and zoomed in a bit to create:

Now, all I need to do is add some settlements!

I'm going to be keeping a few:

Rocky Gap is going to be a trading village. It will have humans, dwarves, elves and even halflings and gnomes. It will be sitting where the real Rocky Gap is: at the meeting of the Clear Fork Creek and Wolf Creek and where Laurel Creek and Dry Fork Creek come together and merge into the greater Wolf Creek. It will be near to the North Gate (a dwarven town/mine where the East River Mountain Tunnel sits). The gnomes here say that once long ago they were ruled by the Prince of Clan Arnar (see below) but now are independent.

Bastian is going to be a human fort/tower. Built by humans and dwarves as a defense against bands of orcs raiding out of the northern forested hills/mountains to protect the trade route across the pass between Round Mountain and "Ogreback" mountain where ogres live (previously Hogback Mountain). It will sit at the base of Round Mountain where Hunting Camp Creek flows by before heading north and joining Wolf Creek.

I never liked the name Bland (heard lots of jokes on that one from a rural county with zero red lights in the whole county!); so I'm going to go with Walker's Hold.

Walker's Hold is going to be a human dominated settlement with extensive farming and pasture land around that was originally settled by frontier settlers pushing into the area against the native sylvan elf tribes. Things have settled a great deal in the past couple hundred years (most elves moved across Round Mountain into Grapefield to live with the High Elves there) and so the land is mostly quiet. Walker's Hold has a humble (but sprawling) fort that allows security against raiding orcs and the rare ogre that wanders down into the lowlands in the winter. It sits where Big Walker Creek is fed by a tiny tributary from Round Mountain. Walker's Hold is surrounded by several Halfling burrows as well and the small folk here claim they were once ruled by the Prince of Clan Birnir (see below).

North & South Gate are both reclusive dwarf holds. The two clans do NOT like each other at all. The dwarves of North Gate trade willingly in Rocky Gap and the dwarves of South Gate trade willingly with the folk of Walker's Hold; but should a dwarf from either clan meet the other, there may very well be bloodshed (though death is not usual as the two will fight with fisticuffs). North Gate is ruled by the Arnar Clan (Arnar is Icelandic for Eagles) and the South Gate is ruled by the Birnir Clan (Birnir is Icelandic for Bears). The Arnar do indeed ally themselves with Giant Eagles and the Birnir have great mountain bears that they associate with. Each of these clans claim they are the "Rightful Ruler of the Dwarf Kingdom" that once filled the hills and mountains around, but they split long ago when two twin brothers could not settle on who should rule. Each Clan is now ruled by a Prince and not a King.

Grapefield is a valley at the headwaters of Wolf Creek where the High Elves hold sway. They are the declared "protectors" of free ranging Sylvan Elves. Grapefield is not a single settlement, but a series of "Tree Towers" that stand on the edges of the valley where wolf creek runs through. In the fields between these many tree towers will be where the elves grow their grapes for the fabled Elven Wine so prized by other races for its intoxicating power. The High Elves of Grapefield have their own "King" and brook no intrusion without invitation into their valley. I picture it much like this image:

That is where I'm at right now. I'll be making a detailed Hex map (using Hexographer) pretty soon though!

View from Big Walker Lookout