Urd

Map of the Azure Sea is licensed under CC-BY 4.0. 

This is the province of Urd, a home province I wrote for D&D. It shows the idea of zooming in  -- you start with the map, and then flesh out detail as needed, as well as of growing out -- you add additonal  bigger picture context or neighboring cultures as needed. On the Darlene map of Greyhawk, it is located south of Celadon Forest, nestled between the Bright Desert and the Gnatmarsh.

[Players in my Greyhawk campaign: stop reading here, unless you want to spoil your fun of discovery.]

The province is a sleepy backwater that harbors a big secret. Eons ago, a wizard of epic power lived here and forged a ring that granted immortality through godhood. The gods were not pleased, and sent a terrible three-headed dragon to punish the land, which led to the desolation now known as the bright desert, nearby. (No lame scropion crown. That was one of the most disappointing artifacts I ever saw.)

With time, the wizard tired of immortality. He forged a lance tipped with the ring, and a valiant knight, Sir Karl von North, used it to kill the dragon. The ring's fragments were forged into three lesser rings to grant near-immortality to the wizard's sons. Three huge dragons crawled from the corpse of the dragon as a result, and now terrorize the bright desert, the Yortmil Mountains, and the jungles in the far south.  

Sir Karl rammed the lance with the remaining fragment into the rock and fastened his banner to it, and a fountain sprang forth that is said to grant health and long life. Around it the town of Northflag grew. Only a true heir of Sir Karl in free will can pull the lance out.

In the god-wizard's keep, the secrets to re-forging the ring from its fragments still await. Before he died, the wizard gave care of the keep to his apprentice, whose family safeguarded the secret entrance for many generations. A couple of years ago, one of the two sons of that family turned evil and slew his father by collapsing the family tower. The son, now an evil necromancer, wants to reforge the ring to attain goodhood. To this end, he plans to conquer the area with his undead hordes, secure the rings of parts, and manipulate a true heir of Sir Karl for the band. (In the campaign, the players beat back the undead invasion before he could get all the rings, delaying this for now.)

You can tell I like wizard towers, but there is a reason why there are so many here. Three of them are the sons of the god-wizard, two are the two rivaling brothers, one is the ghost of the father. Leaving only one abandoned tower unaccounted for.

I like giving background information and maps to the players. This enables them to find interesting places to explore, in free choice.

• Player Intro
• Campaign secret
• Player Map
• Master Map 
• Random Encounters & Holidays
• Province Knights
• Northflag Map (Main Town)
• Town Cathedral and patriach
• Town Mage
• Town Traders
• Town Crime Scene
• Thorp of Urdingen
• Druid Grove 
• Village of Furton (from Beyond the Glittering Veil)
• Leuchos' House (original scribble notes)
• Winterland* Extra-Dimension
• Hamlet of Anforst (Luskwald from Redacap's Rampage, Dungeon #54)
• Player Map
• Master Map
• Extra NPCs
• Chapel  in woods with secret tunnel to ruins
• Village of Walden (or Buhr Ailgra, Delminster from Horror's Harvest, Dungeon #38)
• Forest of Urd
• Entry to Underdark (from Witches Fiddle, Dungeon #54)
• Abandoned Mage Tower
• Keep of Sir Macelot (region's abducted feudal lord)
• Towers of the Brother (in perpetual winter)
• Tower of the Wizard of Urd
• Mad Mage of Charburner Rock
• Ruined Ghost Tower
• Margarethe's Cottage
• Old Mill
• Ghost Mountains
• Goblin Peak (NPCs, background)
• Map
• Map Goblin Town 
• Mount Hammer (NPCs, clans, history)
• Map Old City
• Ventilation Shafts
• Key and random encounters
• God-Wizard's Keep at Sorcerer's Pass
• The dream jewels of Utnampitschi
• Taxes 
• Traveling Circus 

Growing out of the province

• Bert, the hill giant (wandering the hills to the West and South)
• Map of the Great Magic Forest (Southern Celadon Forest, to the North)
• Hut of the Little Witch
• Ruins (from The Seventh Arm, Dungeon #88)
• Entry to Underdark Map (from Headless, Dungeon #89)
• Druid Cave (from Hunt for a Hierophant, Dungeon #63)
• Encounter with Sir Karll von Urnst, hunting (from Greyhawk adventures)
• Map of Hills and Hillsport (to the South)
• Monastery of Montenegro (from Unhallowed Ground, Dungeon #54)
• Wild Boar Inn (werewolf detective adventure)
• Crypt in the Hills*
• Necropolis (not detailed yet)
• Palace of the Twisted King, Dungeon #116 on the road south
• Hillsport (Scalabar from The Scourge of Scalabar, Dungeon #74)
• Vampire Adventure (with Old Captain's house, Villa, Ship, Island, Vampire Castle etc.)
• Villager's safety cave for Sahuagin raids
• Pirate Beach and Pirates
• Map of the Bright Desert (to the West)
• Vassar Desert Elves
• Sighting of Zaxxar, Curse of the Bright Desert (Ancient Blue Dragon)
• Old Sepron & Telar Ruins (from Telar in Norbia, Dungeon #31)
• Omt (Athkatla from Thirds of Purloined Vellum, Dungeon #88) 
• Oasis of Khaldun & Valley of Mists (from Blood & Fire, Dungeon #63)
• Map Gnatmarsh (to the East - nobody goes there due to the Necromancer)
• Tower of the Necromancer (with surrounding swamp, NPCs, etc.)

Growing out of the region

• World Map (I used the Darlene Map)
• Player World Map - Nyr Dyv
• Major Religious Faiths in the region
• World Design (concept of culture spheres and growing out)

This area served as home turf for several groups of adventurers, the first assembled from accross the province, the second from Northflag, the third from Walden, the fourth from Northflag again. The tax calculations were added, as some players came from one of the noble families (Sir Herman von North, the son of the missing lord among them). 

The town cathedral was an example of unneeded effort. As there was no adventuring in its crypts, there was no point to create the floor plans in the first place (but I was on vacation in Navarra, Spain at the time, with many wonderful examples of Cathedral architecture). The same was true for the druid grove. Goblin Town is still waiting to be played, as is the final assault on the tower of the Necromancer, and the keep of the god-wizard (to which you ascend through a number of pocket dimensions with altered rules, similar to the tomb in desert of desolation). As none of the groups even came close to getting to the keep, I never worked that out.

* There was a side story of an evil overlord who had been defeated long ago, with his generals entombed as major undead in seven crypts, waiting for his return, guarded over by an old order of druids. I placed one of the crpyts and the wintery dimension where the evil overlord was jailed away in a chest hidden on an attic in one of the villages. The only other crypt worked out was the one where that backstory came from, the beer adventure. One more crypt was put into the rolling hills. I handed the players a treasure map in two pieces found in different places, that allowed them to put it together and locate the crypt (see above). They found it, but the gorgon at 4. petrified the wizard, and at that point they had enough of it and beat a retreat.