Restructuring the Clusters (or the Core, even)

[Morte Rouge]

How have the various DMs made the Demiplane their own? Bluetspur-as-moon is one change mentioned, and somewhat reflavoring Kalidnay to be the Sumerian component of the Amber Wastes is another. Both are good ideas, and I'm using them both. I rather like the idea of the Shadow Rift replaced with a huge forest.

I liked the old South feel for Arkandale from the old Lonesome Road site. If I use that, which I mean to, I'm mulling over reworking the geography a bit and adding it as a second domain in a mini-cluster with Souragne.

I've dismantled the Steaming Lands cluster: I just don't think Saragoss fits, and IMO the Wildlands is just stupid. I've used the map from the old Black Box for Sri Raji, and placed the domain of Dorjiloka (Tibet) in the mountains.

I've reworked Saragoss as a floating pocket domain that can appear in the marine sectors of any domain that has them - there's something much more horrific, to me, in never knowing when or where you're going to stumble into the weed-sea. Same with the abyssal deep domain (whose name escapes me) from the Nocturnal Sea netbook.

I'm also considering eliminating Markovia - it just seems to me to be too much of a one-trick pony domain. There's very little to do there, honestly, short of riffing on Dr. Moreau.

What have other DMs done?

[Strahdsbuddy]

I am currently working on a map that would show my Ravenloft in 775, after the ToUD, which for me is really just the congealing of the demiplane into a less mutable world, and the departure of its creators. You bring up some things that are similar to mine, such as Souragne sharing a border with "Arkendale" (Although I call it something else, mainly because the name Arkendale is important in my personal Core geography). they would be across the Sea of Sorrows and would create the "civilized" bastion of a New World cluster which also includes such domains as Mictlan. I suppose since it can be reliable reached by sea, it is no longer a cluster....

Since you're obviously familiar with the Midway Haven netbooks, you will know that Dorjioka is not the only Asian-themed domain Dion introduced. The idea of "Asianloft" might seem a little forced sometimes, but all of them existing together with an I'Cath pocket, etc really isn't that bad. I have no problems with the Wildlands specifically; I think a large uninhabited jungle is important to the setting, as well as some of the other African-inspired domains like Mubonyete. I made the Amber Wastes and the Steaming Lands share a border almost immediately after Domains of Dread was released.

If you're interested in the map, stay tuned, it is coming along nicely!

[ewancummins]

I expanded the mapscale of the Core by a factor of three and the listed populations by a factor of five (in most cases). This gave me a Core roughly about the size and population of the 13 Colonies (not including extensive claims on western tracts of land) on the eve of the Revolution.

I shrank the Shadow Rift in proportion to the other domains. It's a big chasm on the western border of Tepest and 'Keening.' I don't have to deal with silly stuff like rivers flowing up ought of the Rift. Most of the territory that pre-GC canon maps showed as Markovia and G'henna is wild country on my maps.

Farelle juts off Valachan, just as described in the recent QtR (which is where I got this idea).

Following a suggestion from another poster, I placed a 'forest of Ogres' south of Sithicus.

The 'Nocturnal Sea' is the 'Shrouded Sea' IMC. It is smaller. Nevuchar Springs is not a seaport. The sea level is the same for both seas. I elminated Meredoth and his domain, and moved most of the islands to the Sea of Sorrows, which is larger than on canon maps.

Liffe is where recent RL maps show the tropical island iteration of Markovia. The port of Armeikos now faces the mainland.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

Since you're obviously familiar with the Midway Haven netbooks, you will know that Dorjioka is not the only Asian-themed domain Dion introduced. The idea of "Asianloft" might seem a little forced sometimes, but all of them existing together with an I'Cath pocket, etc really isn't that bad.

I had (have?) plans to merge the four Asian-inspired domains I already made up for the "Worlds or Ravenloft" series, and even wanted to add a little more domains to the mix. It was supposed to be called the "Sundered Skies" cluster, due to the fact that a cluster-wide year-round monsoon often blocked out the sun. In fact, if you checked out the "Dorjiloka" update I made last year (for 4th ed), I already gave out hints that Dorjiloka was connected in some way to Kungthrom, Sanzhou and Chamhok Mun.

I was asked twice in the past if I had plans to create a Japanese-inspired domain; I actually had second thoughts for this idea, since we already have a Japanese-inspired domain.

And finally, Igid Rabi-i (the Philippines-inspired domain) won't be connected to the Sundered Skies. I initially had plans for Igid Rabi-i, Charity Cove and Ukhu Pacha to be melded together (along with Ryan Naylor's Mictlan and some other still-uncreated colonial domains I was thinking of) to form the "Forgotten Conquests" cluster; a "Latino-loft" for lack of a better term. In the long run I decided that these three domains were better off as islands.

[alhoon]

If I may ask, why not connect the Phillipines oriented domain to the Japan oriented one?

[Strahdsbuddy]

And finally, Igid Rabi-i (the Philippines-inspired domain) won't be connected to the Sundered Skies. I initially had plans for Igid Rabi-i, Charity Cove and Ukhu Pacha to be melded together (along with Ryan Naylor's Mictlan and some other still-uncreated colonial domains I was thinking of) to form the "Forgotten Conquests" cluster; a "Latino-loft" for lack of a better term. In the long run I decided that these three domains were better off as islands.

This is essentially the same idea I had regarding a New World "cluster" a good month's sail west on the Sea of Sorrows. I thought the conquests of Matherion's followers would work well as its own landmass. They would really be conquerors that were cut off from their parent nation, which gives them a unique plight among the people of the Demiplane.

Maybe I should step on the accelerator a little with this map. Lostboy coached me a little in drawing and the maps I drew for the Core Genesis Project look like cave paintings by comparison with what I'm learning to do. I don't suppose Dion would be kind enough to share maps of those Navigaccio, et al domains? Or perhaps collaborate?

[Dion of the Fraternity]

I don't have a map of it, but if you need more details of Dorjiloka beyond what's written in Navigaccio, you have to download the 4E Dorjiloka entry for "Worlds of Ravenloft: Final Edition" at the Midway Haven blog. I added in more details to the geography, as well as renaming the monk titles to names less confusing to pronounce, and giving a clear motive to the darklord's anger.

Of course, being 4E, the deva are now present in Dorjiloka, with one particular deva having the potential to interrupt the balance of power in the domain.

[DasSoviet]

Well, I've done the usual things with Rookhausen and Farelle as part of the core, alongside of Bluetspur as the moon (which is one of my favourite ideas ever... War of the World Ravenloft style!).

For a bit of variation, I got rid of the Shadow Rift and shoved the Shadowlands and Sanguinia in there... Sanguinia in the north, due to the 'suggestion' from Gryphon hill that the rivers of Sanguinia line up well with the rivers of the Core if Sanguinia was plopped down where G'henna once was - it fit geographically, and also considering Vorostokov's deal is the cold isolation of the winter, having a semi-successful realm six times it's population to its north seemed to kind of defeat the whole purpose. Sticking another vampire into the core might be a bit much, but Ladislav could be reworked, and giving yet another nation to be the target of the Falkonreich's ambitions is never a bad idea - though, of course, one of my players - being a history buff - immediately seized upon 'crazy German fascist failing to invade cold Slavic nation' and ran with it... meaning in my player's eyes, Ladislav is now Stalin. Which could really work from a horror angle, if I wanted to develop his totalitarian schemes and sentencing dissidents with katorga in his many gulags in the frozen mountains...

South of that, I've got Nidala, bordering on Tepest, giving the two Belenus-worshipping domains a common border. Nidala also borders on Nova Vaasa... something that just seemed to click, in terms of tone and thematics. South of that, Avonleigh borders Barovia, Borca, and Nova Vaasa... and the Kings Highway of Avonleigh then becomes a major highway between the east and west... if it wasn't for the horrible reputation of the Phantasmal Forest of the Balinok's northern foothills. Indeed, many traders prefer dealing with Strahd and the Vistani over risking... whatever lurks in those wild woods.

To the southwest of Farelle is the recently emerged Kingdom of Cyre, a war-plagued land filled will magic gone awry, horrible destruction, and technologies far beyond what the rest of the core has ever dreamed of - though to risk mutation, madness, and death in this apocalyptic land keeps most away from its wonders.

Minor changes include the Vuchar River east of the Korst not existing... and thus Nuchavar Springs is on the sea, not on a giant bluff supported by a magical tree - bit too high fantasy for my liking. The Core is about five times as large and populated, with many more villages and towns lying about - adding a bit to the 'realism' - or at least 'real-world-like' factor, in my opinion. The Shining Bay Cluster is to the west of Ghastria, and participates in a very profitable marintime trade with Dementliue, Mordent, Sourange and Farelle. Sourange itself is a mirror of Vechor, far west of the smoggy Isle of Zherisia.

I've also considered swapping in Ricoba for Richmulont, and throwing the Amber Wastes in south of Hazlan and Nova Vassa - just as the Middle East is south of Turkey and Russia! I am so creative! However, as neither of those have cropped up yet in any of my campaigns, haven't really seen the need to press forward with those revisions.

[Germaine]

Well, I've made quite a lot of geographical changes over the years, some of which include:

1. Expanding the Core by a factor of about 2.5 (although this can vary), increasing travel times, and playing fast and loose with populations.
2. Greatly expanding the Sea of Sorrows and considerably blurring the line between the Seas and the Mists, so that certain islands and clusters are more readily accessible-at least in theory...
3. Adding a pseudo-African cluster, as well as a version of the Scattered Lotus Cluster (including the fan-made domains of Sanzhou Grove, Xi'anlin, and Igid Rabi-i) and several new islands- most of them mistbound.
4. Adding a rather large "Holy Empire" cluster- for the "seat" of which I largely appropriated Ricoba, but made it more arid and more isolated, and did away with the wererat concept.
5. Adding Vin'Ejal to the Frozen Lands and semi-permanently closing the borders of Vorostokov.
6.Adding the islands of Darkblade, Fowlochov, and Ramsay Isle to the "map area" of the SoS.
7. Giving Port-a-Lucine a "Souragnean quarter"-complete with Cajun/Creole food, the Vardain family, and "Voodan" material pulled from DT&DL, Skull & Crossbones, and IRL religion and folklore.
8. Adding a great deal more detail to Mordent.
9. Using John Mangrum's "bubbles in oil" idea for the Phantasmal Forest.
10. Adding both a post-CoD. G'Henna and another pseudo-Egyptian domain-with a port- to the Amber Wastes, and expanding somewhat on the near-nothingness that is Har'Akir.
11. Expanding Mordent's sea border and adding a number of small islands- at least two of whicg which are domains in their own right.
12.Resurrecting a handful of mostly forgotten or unused domains-most of which I left mist-bound, although I placed Staunton Isle off the coast of Mordent, renaming the village of Willisford as Staunton Bluffs.
13.I also blended a little of the Old South feel of the Lonesome Road's Arkandale with the Gazetteer version of Verbrek to create a somewhat Manly Wade Wellman-like domain infested with werewolves under the name Verbrek.

[DasSoviet]

Here... been working on a map of my core for future games - hope to have it finished up by summer's end for general use! Started off with the maps at Gryphon Hill, edited some details to match the Gazetteers, and then threw in my own customization for great justice. This is at a moment just the base draft, but figured I'd show it off anyways. Final version will have all the locations in there, as well as properly textured terrain and water, and other such necessities. Basically, make it look prettier.

VIEW CONTENT:

[The Wolfman]

I haven't had much of a chance for my players to go all over the place, but I have done a bit of mental redecorating.

My biggest change was to get rid of the memory wipe in Darkon. Let's face it, as soon as it became known that people who go in usually forget who they are and were, and that sometimes, when people leave, they go mad from suddenly having two sets of memories, Darkon would become a no-man's-land. At best, you'd have a lot of border towns that people would nip across to for a day or two before skedaddling back somewhere "safer."

I also want to up the number and reliability of Mistways. For instance, I believe that Staunton Bluffs should be linked directly to Mordent, and Mordent should be linked to Paridon. After all, if Mordent is "sleepy English town," then it should be relatively close to the London of the game. I'd also include a Mistway between Tepest and The Shadowlands.

I have seriously increased the rural population of each Domain (not so much the cities, but I plan on going back and upping the population of the larger cities a bit). My Core population (discounting Keening, Forlorn, Verbrek, and Sithicus, as I play a human-only game) is over 5.6 million.

I plan on going through the various domain netbooks and importing some of those, too.

[Strahdsbuddy]

Very nice map, Das Soviet. As it turns out I am doing the exact same thing, using the exact same sources as a stencil. ::Raises glass to Gomez for those maps::

While there are some differences in our maps, I'm interested in your method. PM me if you are interested in trading secrets. My map is incomplete and currently ENORMOUS, so will need some fiddling before it is in a viewable state.