Year Zero World Building creates campaign settings using Free League’s RPGs. This month looks at The Bloodmarch, a realm in the world of the Forbidden Lands. This dry, dusty land is plagued with a twisted landscape and a conquered people vying with foreign invaders to determine the future of the realm.
Thanks to Free League for sending me RPGs to help in writing these articles. As a frequent customer of their kickstarters, pre-orders, and webstore, I really appreciate their customer service and attention to detail. The Bloodmarch bundle includes the book and poster map.
The Bloodmarch is a dark setting with a conquered people, invading forces, and body horror monsters with a Lovecraft feel. The native Vasnians oppose the clans of horse folk who have been in the Bloodmarch long enough to claim it as home as well. And foreigners from Ravenland have entered the Bloodmarch via Shadowgate Pass. The realm is full of conflict, intrigue, and horrific monsters and landscapes.
The Bloodmarch includes a pre-written adventure as well as locations and random encounters. A campaign can be run either way. Running an open-ended campaign can be a great choice for a GM wanting to world build.
The Included Campaign: The Legacy of Horn
The Legacy of Horn involves a search for five holy weapons. PCs can directly search for these artifacts and become directly embroiled in the campaign, or the PCs can go their own way, and the campaign can happen in the background to bring verisimilitude to the world. For the GM making their own world, the second option will work well.
Horse folk will want the weapons to determine the overall leader of their clans. The native Vasnians want them to help reclaim their land. There is also a religious component to the weapons, with outsiders either trying to bring back a god or stop his rebirth altogether.
Where to Start a Vasnian Campaign in the Bloodmarch
A campaign can certainly start with outsiders from Ravenland passing through Shadowgate Pass in the east to enter the Bloodmarch. However, a campaign could start with native Vasnians and allied orcs and wolfkin. These underdogs want to reclaim their homeland. Most Vasnians are found in Vasnia in the northeast, and a campaign could kick off in that location.
Early in the campaign, the PCs are likely going to run up against monsters in the Crimson Forest. They might face plant predators like the bloodbeech and the grave lily. The forest star is a truly fearsome beast in the Crimson Forest which has an attack that could rip a PC in two. Sporewalkers are monsters that spread the Crimson Forest and might be creatures the PCs decide to hunt down. Slime snails are another gross creature that might attack PCs visiting a Crimson Forest.
The Seventh, worm creatures, are particularly weird and horrid enemies. They would make a great penultimate end-game nemesis for PCs. They are going to be seeking moon elves, and the Eighth Mother could be rumors and threats heard through whispers and rumors.
The Eighth Mother could be the ultimate end-game enemy. Details are found at the adventure site Agnostica which could be used to finish a campaign.
The Settlement of the Watch of the Sisters
This adventure site would be an interesting location to kick off a new campaign. It has the poisoned landscape common to the Bloodmarch and a real chance to make future positive changes in the realm.
A campaign could kick off with Konana, leader of the Vasnian, asking the PCs to retrieve the Book of Winds from the Watch of the Sisters. This book is half of what is needed to help the Vasnians reclaim their lands. In exchange, she will give them the Goblet Staff of Have.
This location is filled with interesting NPCs like red elves and a deranged noble, dangerous flora, and ancient legends. The healer Protelas also needs allies, and could lead to connections with the elves of Ravenland.
An adventure here could lead the PCs to other settlements. They might seek the kogler at the Tribolia of the Kogler on behalf of murdered priestesses or escort Protelas to Taregyll so he can return to Ravenland. More adventures can spin out from there. A variety of random encounters can also be added to an ongoing campaign.
If the PCs make enemies of the red elves, they may become targets of future attacks. Red elves riding a sarcopte might pay the PCs a visit. Sarcoptes are large, almost round eight-legged arachnids. They can squirt acid and crush opponents.
New Rules
One of the advantages of starting a campaign with PCs that hail from the Bloodmarch is that they have access to new magic. Magma Song could be known to dwarven priests of Horn, and Mentalism is known to moon elves.
There are also new drugs and potions. Blue Tar is sacred to priests of Have, and both damages demons as well as healing the Crimson Plague. Crimson Ooze is found in Crimson Forests and can be found in slime snail trails. An elven ruby placed in Crimson Ooze grows into a red elf.
Journeys in the Bloodmarch include not only the normal terrain types but also active volcanos, Ashlands, Firelands, and Crimson Forest. The PCs themselves might spread the crimson forest if they receive and use the Goblet Staff of Have. These terrain types are dangerous and have their own mishap and campsite tables.
Should You Get The Bloodmarch?
If you already enjoy Forbidden Lands, then yes, you’ll want this new setting. But even if you just want to give Forbidden Lands a spin, starting with this setting might be an interesting choice. It is full of horrific foes, plenty of competing factions like the horse clans versus the native Vasnians, and the potential that the PCs might actually be able to make things better. This setting also has the unique features of active volcanos and the Crimson Forests. A unique setting well worth having in your RPG library.
Picture credit: Pixabay
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