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Konungr
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The Bitter Reach - Locations

Wed 29 Jul 2020, 20:26

So I have finished pouring over the basics of the Bitter Reach and think I have picked out the locations on the map for the major locations of the story. Oddly, the map for the bitter reach lacks location markers on the edge like the Forbidden Lands map does. So... yeah. These coordinates might be calculated by others +/-1 hex in any direction depending on how you add up the slivers of hexes along the edges.

Anyway...

Here is my list and whys.

Northfall
Ai34
I mean... this one is just spelled out on the map. Nothing to really figure out.

Tower of the Farseers
Ac47
Since the story has this place discovered and the seal broken by adventurers first I wanted it to be closeish to the major city. As the first to break it should be the easiest to access. The tower is near some mountains and up the sheer cliffs of the glacier. It's not EASY. It's just easiER.

Bleakness Keep
J37
As the resting place of Namtarel I thought it would be good to place his keep near the fist of Namtar. This elven ruin is only a couple hexes away.

Field of Swords
T21
The entry in the book says it is built into the base of a mountain. Check. It's also located not too far off from some villages that can be reached by following the rivers from Northfall. People are supposed to KNOW about the field and go there to test themselves. So it's accessible-ish. This is also built on the back of my next entry...

Hope's Last Rest
S26
This village is at near the end of the river that leads farthest into the Bitter Reach. This is it. Any venturing out from here is truly entering the wastes of the reach. I thought it was a fitting spot for a place where you have your last bastion of Hope. And just north, maybe a day or 2s travel if weather permits is the Field of Swords. The players can hear a rumor of the field in Northfall, take a boat to Hopes Last Rest and then get directions from there if need be.

Frostwind Hold
Q34
Tucked away into the mountains here seemed like a good spot for the orcs to have a permanent settlement. It's away from the other races, whom they do not trust, has the lake to help supply food with fishing.

Wyrm's Fist
-
It ends up where ever it needs to be for the story.

Palace of the Ice Giants
F48
I didn't want to place it too close to any other seals and I especially didn't want it close to where I was going to place the Palace of the Winter King. So I moved to the southern side of the map across the most inhospitable sections of the Reach. Most of their interactions should be with nomadic orcs. This location keeps them truly isolated.

Sunken City
Ah3
I looked for a place where I could argue that there would have been land before it sunk and that would have made for a good harbor before the ice came. I liked the idea of it being under the frozen/ice filled sea. The small strip of land jutting to the north is all that remains of the coast where the city once existed.

Palace of the Winter King
C11
Nestled in the cliffs more towards the northern portion of the far western mountain the palace is again very isolated. The players will have to face mountains to reach it. The king himself can leave via his dragon steed. It's far from any seal and the open plains past the mountains could make for an awesome mass battle if it comes to that.



Thoughts? Anyone figure out different spots? Whats your reasoning?
 
Fleuri
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Re: The Bitter Reach - Locations

Fri 31 Jul 2020, 07:59

In my opinion, Frostwind Hold should be somewhere in Barren Hills. Palace of the Ice Giants could also be there, but Alter Mountains is also a good spot as there they could oversee the whole glacier from the watchtower. I think the Palace of the Winter King should be in White Peaks because in the endgame part there's a mention that the renewed army of the Winter Elves descends from White Peaks, plus it's farthest away from Northfall as any keep of the final boss should be. :)

If Palace of the Winter King is in white mountains, the Sunken city could well be in the World's End: It's Ice Sea and somewhat close to the palace.
 
Mr Oldtimer
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 14 Apr 2019, 12:01

Re: The Bitter Reach - Locations

Fri 31 Jul 2020, 11:10

Oh! We needs to hurry! Now you’ve got me intrigued to start the Bitter Reaches and, after a year and a half of play, we’re only halfway through Ravens Purge...
So much games, so little time...
 
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Ebrim
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Re: The Bitter Reach - Locations

Fri 31 Jul 2020, 16:53

My players are most likely heading to Farseer's Tower this Saturday. I have it in the Elven Ruin location directly northwest of the Midden. They're currently in the village to the north/northeast of there which I've named Wolfpine. This will be their first location from the book that isn't Northfall. I've also given them the location of Hope's Last Rest which I'm putting at the settlement on the Silver Coast directly north of Northfall. So far those are my only solidly planned locations and just for this campaign, I'd probably change them (not Northfall obviously) in the future.
 
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Konungr
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Re: The Bitter Reach - Locations

Fri 31 Jul 2020, 17:04

In my opinion, Frostwind Hold should be somewhere in Barren Hills. Palace of the Ice Giants could also be there, but Alter Mountains is also a good spot as there they could oversee the whole glacier from the watchtower. I think the Palace of the Winter King should be in White Peaks because in the endgame part there's a mention that the renewed army of the Winter Elves descends from White Peaks, plus it's farthest away from Northfall as any keep of the final boss should be. :)

If Palace of the Winter King is in white mountains, the Sunken city could well be in the World's End: It's Ice Sea and somewhat close to the palace.

So in order, frostwind hold I did place into more the middle of the barren hills. But on the eastern side. Again Mirror Lake accounts for their fishing and food supply.

Palace of the Ice Giants i placed on the south westen edge of the same mountain range. You don't want to place 2 seals too close to each other.

Winter King. Agreed. Thats where I placed it.

Sunken City i placed in the north east instead of north west. 1) it was supposed to be a major trade port and base for their navel power. The NW doesn't make it a good place for either. 2) there are a ton of hazards the players face just getting that deep into the reach. The sunken city has a ton of its own new issues. The NE kind of relieves a little of the standard preasures so the players can focus on the unique special ones.
 
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Melvin
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Re: The Bitter Reach - Locations

Wed 19 Aug 2020, 13:51

Sorry but i need a little help here, how do you find the hexas with the coordinates? How do you place them on abscissa and on the horizontal axis.

Thanks ^^
 
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Konungr
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Re: The Bitter Reach - Locations

Wed 19 Aug 2020, 18:19

I used the original forbidden lands map system. Along the top and left edge on Ravenland the hexes start at 1 and go south increasing in number and start at A and go up the alphabet as they head east.

So the very top left most hex is A1 (or 1A). And is surrounded on it's 2 inner map edges by 3A (to the south) 2B, (to the south east). 1C is connected at the left most point of 1A.

For some reason the Bitter Reach map does not have the coordinates system on the map itself.

It is not unlike battleship. Except it's not a grid of squares it's hexes. So there is an offsetting effect that happens within the rows.
 
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Melvin
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Re: The Bitter Reach - Locations

Thu 20 Aug 2020, 23:51

Thanks !
 
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BlissRage
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Re: The Bitter Reach - Locations

Fri 20 Aug 2021, 23:59

Two years too late, but I created maps with hex overlays here:

https://www.smokeraven.com/forbidden-la ... paign-maps
 
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narukaioh
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Location: Brazil

Re: The Bitter Reach - Locations

Fri 09 Sep 2022, 22:18

the book says that Bleakness keep is in morma glacier. But I still don't know where to put it

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