Mr. R

Summerlords Day is said to have come about when the annual appearance of the steppe raiders was met by an enterprising (and brave) clan chief who convinced the raiders to give up the annual pillage in favor of a party and peaceful trade.  Centuries later it persists as a beginning-of-summer festival featuring cessations of hostilities, drinking, music, horse racing, trade and haggling, drinking, dancing, contests of archery and wrestling, and also drinking.
 
Loosely based on the Metallica song.

As I have a Large collection of old Modules from D&D and elsewhere, I plan to use some in my game as enticements for my players!
 
So some entries 
Ruins of the City of Tenryk, old capitol of the Tenryk Empire that was overrun by Goblyns and is now surrounded by a dark goblyn infested forest (This is one I don't have any material for, but I love the idea as it is a common trope)
 
Phantom Pirate Isle (inspired by a skeleton infested island from an Old Adventurers Club!)
 
Ghost Castle on the coast of Ruecha.  (I plan to use an Oriental Adventure module about a ghost castle)
 
Ruins of Dorethal (this one is in the module I am using, is a magical city on one of the southern islands.  The island partially sank and most of the city in now underwater)
 
Lost City in the northern jungle (Dwellers of the Forbidden City)
 
City of the Storm in the Bola Desert (inspired by an adventure from one of the Al Qadim modules)
 
Cavern of Wonders in the Wyrmian Mountains (Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth/ minus that Artifact)
 
Stairs of the Gods (Again hinted at in the module I am using.  Some out of the way islands with some strange ruins on them)
 
The Floating Island of the Black Ocean (Also from Al Qadim.  Is actually a GIANT sea turtle that was used as a base by some pirates.  Then it dove under water.  Now it has resurfaced!)
 
Any other Ideas!

As I have a Large collection of old Modules from D&D and elsewhere, I plan to use some in my game as enticements for my players!
 
So some entries 
Ruins of the City of Tenryk, old capitol of the Tenryk Empire that was overrun by Goblyns and is now surrounded by a dark goblyn infested forest (This is one I don't have any material for, but I love the idea as it is a common trope)
 
Phantom Pirate Isle (inspired by a skeleton infested island from an Old Adventurers Club!)
 
Ghost Castle on the coast of Ruecha.  (I plan to use an Oriental Adventure module about a ghost castle)
 
Ruins of Dorethal (this one is in the module I am using, is a magical city on one of the southern islands.  The island partially sank and most of the city in now underwater)
 
Lost City in the northern jungle (Dwellers of the Forbidden City)
 
City of the Storm in the Bola Desert (inspired by an adventure from one of the Al Qadim modules)
 
Cavern of Wonders in the Wyrmian Mountains (Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth/ minus that Artifact)
 
Stairs of the Gods (Again hinted at in the module I am using.  Some out of the way islands with some strange ruins on them)
 
The Floating Island of the Black Ocean (Also from Al Qadim.  Is actually a GIANT sea turtle that was used as a base by some pirates.  Then it dove under water.  Now it has resurfaced!)
 
Any other Ideas!

Humanity being the wonderful creature we are love any reason that we can obtain to celebrate.  Among the greatest of these reasons is holidays.  There are many reasons for such days,  ranging from simple people decided to mark this day special for some lost reason (traditional excuses) to more complex examples involving a conglomeration of different groups that are intermingled together.  This could include the extended continuation of some one-time event.  While most of the time fantasy campaigns will essentially use RL holidays and reskin them in some form,  this doesn't need to be the case.  I would like to hear about some of the celebrations/holidays that have been created for your world.  Are they regional, worldwide,  religious,  secular,  something else? Anything else that you would like to mention about them would be greatly appreciated. 

An option I've considered is to make "Orcs" undead - basically zombies.
 
The inspiration is the term "Orcneas" from Beowulf, which roughly means "demon corpses" or "monster corpses".
 
This makes Orcs nasty - your friend who fought next to you yesterday is fighting against you today, while avoiding the "evil race" issue. And sometimes they smile when you kill them... 

I know quite a few gamers who are uncomfortable with the "born evil" trope for fantasy races. But it strikes me that this is an area where the aforementioned Unlife could be a useful plot element, as the force whose influence is keeping these creatures evil, to work its will for chaos and death. And that hearkens back to Dean's question as to why the world's broken, and how do we fix it? If the influence over the goblyns, trolls etc. can be broken, it's possible they may be redeemed, and peace achieved, at least eventually. That makes a good long-term goal for the campaign to strive toward.
 
Mind you, you can still have higher-ups in the "horde" who have willingly given themselves over to evil, and use the lesser creatures as pawns. PCs can beat them up and even kill them, and actually feel good about it.

Another place:
 
Appliance Store.  Here have a new dishwasher!

In the supplement Rasul is a theocracy, dedicated to the god of commerce where strict religious and statutory laws keep people in place.  Is very divided, with clergy at the top then, far below them the tradesmen, then a bit lower serfs and slaves and finally females.  But they are known for being the best merchants on the continent.  But merchants have no political or economic power.  (Non sequitur, must analyze.  Faulty, faulty!  Must Sterilize!).
 
So how do I keep  them as a mercantile city, where Tobaris, God of Commerce, Travel, Exploration is still held in high regard, merchants have more of a say in the affairs of the city and finally where females have a greater share of the power.
 
I was going to use a system of government taken from a city in the Turakian Age supplement.  But now I think I will add as a wrinkle, the wife may vote in place of her husband, if they declare she has his proxy vote before the council before he leaves town.  And the reverse is true also.  
 
 
HMMMM!   Ideas welcome.  
 
OH OH OH.
 
Is actually a matriarchy today.  The men got so full of themselves and the majority left town to fight the goblyns, and got destroyed.  Now we have a city of mostly females who have been taking the reins of government because they have no other choice.  Even if some of the men make it back, the city has been irrevocably changed, and refuse to go back to their tidy small existence.  

A combo of
1- the world is broken and needs fixing.  Goblyns overrun parts of the Basin area.  Up in the northern jungles are rumours of lost cities with treasures and goblyns.  Even the Coastal cities and the Divided Plains are not safe, and the Bola Desert has a large contingent of them.
2- finding and exploring those cool places like : the former capitol of Tenryk, now a ruins inside a goblyn forest   A mythical island of a pirate king and his treasure, just beware he may still be guarding it   A city surrounded by an ever storm in the Bola Desert.  If you can get in, what treasures await.  Also rumoured to hold the Library of Readaer.   

Hmm... maybe an occasional dragon, or something as bad as a dragon, might spice things up a little.
 
Thinking about Essence Flows, it might be interesting to introduce a bit of occasional instability to their paths, so they actually have an impact on the continent itself. For example, one shifting over a former trade route could severely undercut the economy of one realm or region, while the diverted trade causes another to flourish. Perhaps a city which had been overwhelmed by a Flow becomes accessible when it moves off, with treasures to be looted... but perhaps still housing things altered by Essence.

I have to concur with Dean's point. I'm also not familiar with this setting, but it seems to lack a distinctive vision or flavor that would make it stand out from many other fantasy worlds.
 
Rather than concentrate on adding specific details, it might help to give some consideration to the overall "meta" of this setting. What kind of experience(s) would you like your players to have in it? Epic quest? Political intrigue? Picaresque exploration? Conflict between great powers? Conquest and kingdom-building? How did your world get to the configuration and condition it's in now? What direction would you like it to go in future? Are there events happening in the wider world, or going on hidden under the surface, that are impacting the scene at the local level?

Which is why you're here, trying to go beyond what's provided!
 
I've done development work for pay. It may not be fair to judge this supplement (what's its name again?) by your short summaries, and I haven't followed all your redevelopment threads, but what I've seen of the source material doesn't impress me. I think you'll need to do quite a bit of work to make this a setting that will wow your players. I'll try to point you toward the questions to ask, but in the end you're the one who needs to answer them.
 
Dean Shomshak

I had forgotten about that group.  it would be perfect.  Consider it sto.... errrr Borrowed!

For the God of Commerce, folklore and literature already provide the Goblin Market: the place where you can buy and sell anything. It is always dangerous. For the foolish or greedy, the price that seems right always turns out to be very, very wrong. But sometimes the pure of heart or quick of wit can buy miracles.
 
(You probably don't want to call it the Goblin Market unless your goblyns, for all they seem to be a significant threat to several societies, bear a special connection to the God of Commerce.)
 
Tales differ about the location of the Market. Some say it's an oasis in a desert beyond five mountain ranges. Others say an island surrounded by five whirlpools, and only a blind steersman can find the way. Some say if you toss a coin into a certain well at the dark of the moon, the path to the Market opens before you. And there are many other tales. Are you clever enough to unriddle the clues, or savvy enough to buy the secret from one who truly knows and not be cheated?
 
Dean Shomshak

Actually, I have a floating location like that on a lot of my campaigns (inspired by a line or two in one of May favorite guilty pleasure movies).
 
"Between the Joshua trees." 
 
Moon's up, so you'd best mind the path.  After about thirty minutes, you'll round a bend that carries you near a lone Joshua tree.  Whatever you do, don't stop, and don't leave the path until either you're standing in sunlight or you pass the second Joshua tree a short piece later.  Just don't do it, Son.  Stay on the path, and keep moving.
 
And of course, things conspire to make the Players seriously consider doing both. 
 
 

You've got to have a special Crossroads somewhere out there. Maybe one where there was an already natural "crossroads" based on the geography, then over time it became first made by animal trails, then human trails and pathways, and now dirt roads. 
 
This Crossroads is the special place of Lady Luck/Trickery. It symbolizes: the unknown future/destiny and paradoxally also choosing your own fate/direction in life, chance encounters, the road less traveled, adventure, the unknown, and so on. 

For the sun god, how about an underground chamber with an opening to the surface, through which the light of the sun pours; but the light is continuous, whether clear or cloudy, day or night. Something like a permanent version of the lava tube at Mojave National Preserve:
 

When it comes to a god of justice, I was thinking of a "place of testing," where a person accused of a serious crime could petition to undergo an ordeal to prove their guilt or innocence. For example, an eternal bonfire they walk into, which doesn't burn the innocent; or a pool into which a weighted-down person would be thrown, but who floats to the surface if free of guilt. There are historical parallels to such tests, but in your world the test actually works as advertised.
 
Clearly, someone would need strong faith in both the god and their own innocence to request such an ordeal. It's also unlikely just anyone could ask for it. Like other extraordinary measures, it's usually the prominent people who are considered.

Nice list!
 
For what it is worth, I would think that the god of just endings and the god of feuds would be one and the same, what with each side praying and fighting for their "just ending."
 
In fact, you can consider that idea stolen,,,,   
 
 

Coleen Wing and Misty Knight.  Have to have KnightWing Investigations!

Koy is having the problem that it is a border town and the goods are drying up.
 
Koy is the last town on its river that eventually leads to the Gefting Sea and Aerelios.  is is also the end of a pass through the nearby hills that leads to the plains that are Kerq.  So before there was trade through the hill to the other side, as well as some small mining.  Also the River leads north to a set of mountains rich in minerals and precious stones.  But the goblyns have cut them off from all that and are moving south, threatening the pass as well as the town.  Koy is a city in need of heroes.  Both the goblyns and the undead are making life difficult.  If some people can free the upper river from goblyns and open up the other two passes and get mining operations going again, well......
 
Koy is not meant to be flashy, it is meant to be that decent, hard working place where honest people can make a living.  Yeah that can be boring, but it is a nice boring!

I'm curious as to whether the mercenaries draw their recruits from immigrant fighting men, or the native population, or both? And what effect does that have on their wider society? If a citizen isn't an "active soldier," are they treated as lesser by the fighting men?
 
For my own most frequent fantasy setting, I developed a small kingdom with a reputation for producing quality fighters. It controls an economically and strategically valuable pass through extensive mountains. In the past it was part of a larger realm, and that realm and its foremost rival would frequently fight over control of the pass. The local people adopted a militaristic tradition to prepare them for battle, and even though those rival kingdoms crumbled long ago, the tradition remains.
 
Most of the land's males, and some of the females, are trained from childhood in weapon use, tactics, and military discipline. While most of them choose to serve at least some time in their country's army, many will sell their services as mercenaries to other lands, or become professional adventurers. As mercenaries they're widely well-regarded and sought after. Even after they retire from battle, they remain ready and able to defend their homeland from any threat.
 
Hero Games' sword-and-sorcery setting, The Valdorian Age, offers another precedent. The people known as the Amyklai have long been ravaged by warlike barbarians, and established the practice of volunteering every fourth child born in their communities to a common army to defend their lands (the term "Amyklai" properly belongs to said army, but outsiders often call their whole people by that name). The Amyklai are raised with nearly Spartan rigor, and are reputed over the known world as unsurpassed warriors.
 
As with your "City of Mercenaries," the Amyklai exercise a military dictatorship over the whole land, but merely to assure that the army is well supplied and their homeland behind them remains peaceful. The civilians are free to govern themselves as they see fit aside from occasional edicts from the Lord Marshal.
 
 

This is it.
 
Fine, you've got the basic nuts'n'bolts of politics and economy. Some economic troubles from circumstances outside the residents' control, some more stress from goblyn attacks, and social stress makes some people double down on the social strictures. Especially the ones that distinguish them from those other people, such as the more egalitarian Aerelios. (They're stealing our women! They're stealing our property! They're reminding us that for half our population, our cherished social rules are total bullpucky!) And then a great and terrible MIRACLE happens. Real, no kidding wrath of (at least one) God.
 
... And some people still refuse to get the message.
 
On the micro level, this has adventure uses. For a start, female PCs might find themselves under special attention, not all of it friendly. On the macro level, it reminds players that this isn't just a low-tech place with a bit of magic; this is a Fantasy world with active gods, magical down to its bones.
 
Dean Shomshak

Ok some extra info about Danica.  Because of its position halfway to the Northern Jungles it was (and is) the clearing house for all the goods coming down from the north.  Also it is the start point for any caravans heading north east to the Bola Desert and even further, the Divided Plains.  
 
But the current goblyn attacks make both more dangerous, and are cutting into their profits.
 
Add the stop to the Norther Slave Trade with the Anti Slavery City at the terminus to the Kulana River, where Danica was the location to which these slaves were first brought and sold.  This further has cut into their bottom line.
 
In addition Danica until recently was EXTREMELY patriarchal.  Women were little more that baubles used in political games.  They had little rights and even less education.  This resulted in a brain drain to Aerelios, which was much more egalitarian.  Thus greater restrictions were placed, until the ladies begged the gods for aid.  Thus the week of Red Blindness.  ALL males went blind, with only a red haze in their vision.  Though called the week, it lasted a bit longer.  During that time the city almost fell apart as the only ones who could see were totally incompetent to any type job due to lack of education and training.  If not for a number of trained female visitors to the city, who were able to help rally people, the city would have fallen apart.
 
Thus some are deciding that females need to be educated, but some are still resisting the idea.  (If you think this is far fetched, just remember we have people today in Canada who think a woman's place is in the home).  
 
Thus Danica is a place that is undergoing social change while its economic base is being undermined!

Danica mostly seems rather generic and boring (sorry), apart from the Week of Red Blindness. Whatever that was, it's interesting because ir's forcing significant social change... which some people are resisting. Here's your drama; this is worth developing further.
 
LMB addressed the placement of Koy. I'm not even trying to keep track of the geography, so I have no comment on that score. But while the linformation given is necessary, there's nothing very interesting about it. Of course, it may be that there genuinely is nothing very distinctive here. Not every place in the real world is obviously interesting, either.
 
Kerqod has some good social change with the craft guilds supplanting the (mostly dead) aristocracy. Not everyone will be happy with this change, though -- notably whoever's left from the aristocracy, and whoever owed their wealth and status to them -- which is a conflict worth developing. But the city could use something more unusual and distinctive.
 
Ison's pretty good because it's the odd man out, an outpost from a country that's mostly tied to a different region. NBobody's going to trust these guys much, though some people might be cultivating alliances with Ixon against local rivals, on the theory that Faydon has enough power to be a spoiler, but not enough to become locally dominant. Being built/carved into a cliff also makes it "visually" distinctive. And being a Magocracy means visitors can see all sorts of miscellaneous magical coolness.
 
Reuchia is moderately interesting as a collapsed state. Who's making a play for Reuchian territory?
 
Thomar's split between the "official" power elite, convulsed with infighting, and the bureaucracy that actually runs everything, has dramatic potential. But what was the basis of the former ruling class? What are the offices for which people compete? On the other side, how cohesive is the bureaucratic coalition? Is anyone talking about having the high bureaucrats try to sweep away the remnants of the old regime?
 
Diltren: Nothing very interesting or distinctive here.
 
Rasul: Your basic mercantile city, nothing very distinctive here, either.
 
While most of this hits the basic, obligatory marks for Fantasy setting design, a lot of it seems colorless. I don't see much beyond standard tropes. What is unique about each location? It doesn't have to be big or obviously important for adventurers to be memorable for players.
 
(I gather this is based on something published elsewhere? If so, I think you'll have to put a lot more of yourself into it. The setting *will* be better as a result.)
 
Dean Shomshak