Homebase (Hex 0) (0101): Muddeskip - H A rough and dirty village of crude huts, a couple of long halls and even open lean-to's, full of humans living in the equivalent of the Early Dark Ages. They are vassals of the nearby Orc Warlord (0100), with half-orc outcasts in charge of the villagers who work the rough land in exchange for "protection" and "leadership." Despite the primitive nature of the humans, there are some goods available for "ugthun" (lumps of silver with the seal of an Orc Warlord) or service to the seller.
(Hex scale is 24 miles)
Location 1 (0100): Mal-throk - This Orc fortress city is as advanced as the human village of Muddeskip is primitive, serving as a center of technology and education for the area. The Orcs are very pious, very racist and very advanced in their status and station over humans, living in the equivalent of the mid to late Renaissance. Nash-grunz, the Orc Warlord, keeps control with an iron fist, not tolerating human "filth" who make trouble for his people, and all too willing to loose the Orc Legions upon the humans in the area to keep them in line.
Location 2 (0201): Kurnz-nin-wugronz - An Orc temple city, built upon and amid strange ruins that outnumber the homes and buildings of the priesthood and caretakers. Here, the unliving walk freely, allowed to act as they wish upon the lesser races that are brought to maintain and serve the temple. It is here, though, that rebel humans come raiding, for sources of wealth and objects of use in the maze of catacombs and passages underneath, guarded by the unliving and creatures of myth!
Location 3 (0002): Forbidden Area - A wasteland of broken and glassy rock, filled with strange sounds, stranger ruins and the source of wasting illnesses for orc/humans alike. Despite being strictly forbidden by the orcs and a subject of a near fearful taboo, humans have learned that this forbidden area is filled with strange artifacts of power, but only if scavengers can survive the strange and terrible monsters living within! The Orc priests and Nash-grunz have attempted to cut off access to these lands, but the humans have become very good at avoiding the patrols and venturing within to follow up on rumors of strange tall and short beings living within.
Every week, I will be posting "Three Hexes" - simple campaign starters to show that you don't need to do a lot to have interesting settings for people to play in. Feel free to use these in your game, campaign or as ways to spur on your own creativity and imagination!
I've purposefully left a lot of detail out because these are supposed to spur on your imagination! The scale is what I would use in my own world, but if something else suits you better, then go for it. I may have the features moved about on the hexes for clarity, if they don't suit you, move them!
Three Hexes by Michael "Chgowiz" Shorten (chgowiz@gmail.com) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
