I have been toying around with an idea for a campaign I call "the 40 families." I originally had it set in 9th century Wales, with Irish, Britannic, Pict, and Viking families, each with allegiances and vendettas, various plots of land, and various levels of influence over a sort of central court or king.
It was too complicated to write up and draw a proper map the way I wanted it.
But then one day I was browsing on DeviantArt and I came upon the most beautiful political map of Europe in 1648- the end of the Thirty Years' War. The way the. Holy Roman Empire was constituted (take a minute and look) was exactly what I wanted in a 40 Families game. Just perfect!
So I busted out the Outdoor Suvival map and tried to figure out where I would go. Bohemia, or maybe western Poland... Or looking south, there was the modern day Balkans...
So I looked into wikipedia's take on the Thirty Years' War (yeah yeah, I know, never trust wiki- but it's not like I'm trying to learn real history here). Article led to article led to article and eventually I found myself in 16th century Transylvania.
Which just blew my mind. It was a cosmopolitan place, made up of several ethnicities, with a strange mix of tribalism and democracy... And it was constantly at war with the Ottomans, to which it was technically a vassal state. Furthermore, four different kinds of Christianity were recognized and tolerated. Not bad for 1593.
It also warred with its sister principalities, Wallachia and Moldavia. These three were briefly united by a warlord in 1600. They would court the favor of the Habsburgs, who of course hated the Turks.
This was the kind of setting rich with adventure! Rich land, a rich people, lots of fighting, strange and dark history, multiple religions, and an evil horde just over the river to the South.
The venerable Outdoor Survival map fits very well with the real world terrain in southeastern Transylvania, on the border of Moldavia and Wallachia c. 1593, in what is now Romania. This time period gives access to guns, but marital prowess of the medieval kind is still critically important. The forests are thick; the mountains are inhabited by cunning hill folk; there are swamps and badlands to be challenged.
Even better, the land is ruled by a Chaotic prince who won his crown through diplomacy with the Turks as well as great martial prowess. There are warlords and cardinals and aristocratic families and political intrigue and wars of conquest and the existential threat of the southern horde.
And the outdoor survival map.
It's coming together now.
It was too complicated to write up and draw a proper map the way I wanted it.
But then one day I was browsing on DeviantArt and I came upon the most beautiful political map of Europe in 1648- the end of the Thirty Years' War. The way the. Holy Roman Empire was constituted (take a minute and look) was exactly what I wanted in a 40 Families game. Just perfect!
So I busted out the Outdoor Suvival map and tried to figure out where I would go. Bohemia, or maybe western Poland... Or looking south, there was the modern day Balkans...
So I looked into wikipedia's take on the Thirty Years' War (yeah yeah, I know, never trust wiki- but it's not like I'm trying to learn real history here). Article led to article led to article and eventually I found myself in 16th century Transylvania.
Which just blew my mind. It was a cosmopolitan place, made up of several ethnicities, with a strange mix of tribalism and democracy... And it was constantly at war with the Ottomans, to which it was technically a vassal state. Furthermore, four different kinds of Christianity were recognized and tolerated. Not bad for 1593.
It also warred with its sister principalities, Wallachia and Moldavia. These three were briefly united by a warlord in 1600. They would court the favor of the Habsburgs, who of course hated the Turks.
This was the kind of setting rich with adventure! Rich land, a rich people, lots of fighting, strange and dark history, multiple religions, and an evil horde just over the river to the South.
The venerable Outdoor Survival map fits very well with the real world terrain in southeastern Transylvania, on the border of Moldavia and Wallachia c. 1593, in what is now Romania. This time period gives access to guns, but marital prowess of the medieval kind is still critically important. The forests are thick; the mountains are inhabited by cunning hill folk; there are swamps and badlands to be challenged.
Even better, the land is ruled by a Chaotic prince who won his crown through diplomacy with the Turks as well as great martial prowess. There are warlords and cardinals and aristocratic families and political intrigue and wars of conquest and the existential threat of the southern horde.
And the outdoor survival map.
It's coming together now.
Southeastern Europe Campaign Setting
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