Map of the Axe Lands (in progress)

I have begun a new mapping project for my face-to-face game of B/X D&D (played with some old friends and our kids). The Broken Bay lies to the east of the Axe Lands (land of small petty kingdoms "points of light in a harsh world"), the eastern lands are known as the Grey Wastes. Once a thriving land of enlightenment now a cold desolate realm covered in ash.

Ruins of once great cities dot the lands, and bands of mutants (humanoid races) haunt the landscape scraping to survive.

The islands in the Broken Bay are the Dread Peaks, once part of the range that was above the water here before the deluge in the age or ruins that cracked the land and the great sea flooded in.

This is all just conjecture for now...

The scale is 1 Hex = 10 leagues (or 30 miles).

Friday night D&D

The stage is set, I have invited two old high school friends (and their kids) over to begin some new B/X D&D action tonight. I have bought a new vinyl grid and dry erase markers, as well as sets of dice for the kids. I have pre-generated over a dozen 1st level characters and dug out my old (mostly unpainted) minis.

I am using my Axe Lands setting (home of the G+ jousting tourneys now that I have moved on from Normandie). For this adventure I am using the castle & dungeon maps from Bone Hill, but have edited to fit my setting.

The witch Ravina of House Bracken has returned to her ancestral home, Castle Bracken. The castle was sacked over 25 years ago when House Bracken joined the ill-fated Wildfire rebellion. When house Karson tried to take the throne from the ruling Fulwell clan. Like much of the losing noble houses, Bracken lands were pillaged and the castle laid to waste.

Ravina was only a child at the time and was away in her studies when the rebellion began. Now, much older and wiser, she has returned to her home with her rag-tag bunch of brigands to look for lost family treasures. She has charmed the leader of a local brigand group and with help from a scroll she has animated a long dead uncle to serve as her body guard (now known as Sir Dread).

She has taken residence in the upper floors of the castle, but is in contention with a group of undead and a small host of Rock Baboons that seem to have taken up a home in the dungeon proper.

With her brigands, she has been pilfering from the local farmsteads of the nearby Ashford Holdfast (home of House Ashley), and the local population has demanded aid from their lord, who seeks outside adventurers to explore the once forgotten castle...

Kids home game.

I promised the kids that I would run some D&D for them, they have already created 2 characters each (I told them to expect character death) and have started mapping a smallish dungeon. The dungeon is called the "Monster Plantation" - taken from a ride (now renamed) at Six Flags over Georgia (I worked there as a teenager).

The Monster Plantation was once the mansion of a mad-wizard known for his biological monstrosities. It is a ruined building in a old marshy area, a lowland where the Sweetwater creek flows.

To the north is the home castle-town of Mirah (our local city is Hiram Ga.), a small border castle of the Go'eriag kingdom. There are 6 banner castles of the kingdom. ;-)

Just south of the marsh in the grassy hills, is the small hobbit town called the Hill Shires (they are farmers), their Mayor/Sheriff is William Beau Boggins (commonly called Will-bo).

Recently a small tribe of bogglins (swamp goblins) have moved into the area and have stolen the giant queen bee of Will-bo's honey farm. He is providing a reward of 150gp to any individual that can return his queen bee.

The Bogglings have taken residence in level 1 of the dungeon and their chief  has a staff of animal charm (he has charmed the queen and she controls her small hive of giant bees). The staff has 2 charges left.

So level one has a small group of goblins, and giant bees. I am itching to run this for the kids, if they didn't have so much homework this week....