New World - Dragonsmoke Archipelago The New World

W   e, the game masters and administrators of the New World, a Bermuda Triangle-esque archipelago named Dragonsmoke lost in the oceans of Faerûn, would love to extend a heartfelt welcome. We hope that you can find as much enjoyment in the setting that the players have helped construct as we have. Dragonsmoke not only offers you, the player, ample opportunities to jump into a group play-by-post and DM-led adventure, but you also have the ability to play solo. Tell your own story. Be your own gamemaster. Play on your time, your way (following some specific guidelines contained in the Getting Started article, of course).   As you construct your first character, be sure to follow the information contained in the Character Creation article. Think about how they got to Wildcross. Did you venture into this new world from outer Faerûn? Or have you grown up your whole life on this strange island chain...?  

Option 1: Venturing Into a New World

  You have just arrived at Wildcross Harbor after two months at sea. It was a rough and weary trip; more than once you thought you wouldn't reach land... but you made it. You left the main continent of Faerûn for reasons of your own (maybe you fled for your life, were hired to explore the two lands, sent by your deity, banished, sentenced to travel due to a crime you committed, or any number of reasons). All you know is that you are headed to the largest island in an archipelago that has a mystical origin and rumor has it that it's very difficult to traverse. The seas are nigh impassable due to monsters, storms, hidden rocks, and pirates. Most travel happens with the aid of magic--if you know the right people and can pay the high fees.   You will find that the roads around Wildcross Harbor are wandering. You may travel down it to find a village or camp, but the next time you travel that way it leads to completely new places. The actual size of the island that Wildcross Harbor inhabits is unknown and difficult to map because of the wandering roads. Adventurers have the currently inexplicable ability (lore WIP) to tag locations, so that they might re-navigate to places they've visited in the past. These types of places are often dungeons and monster lairs that they have found in their exploration. Many factions in Wildcross Harbor will pay for such places to be mapped and cleared.    

Option 2: Living On this Strange Island Chain

  You have grown up amidst an island chain with dynamic seasons and environments. Most of the islands are lush with coastal, jungle growth, but some islands reach over 15,000 feet into the sky. Some islands contain sandy desert dunes, others boggy swamps, and still others drifting glacial flows. Magic is not foreign to this place, as the roads themselves appear to change their course daily. The geographic region about seems inconsistent, too, though more regular than wandering roads... Did you grow up on the fey-touched Thetwick Isle, home to the centaur capitol of Thas'ru? Or among the dragon-claimed mountains about Bellrock? Perhaps you lived on an island yet unheard of and undiscovered among the explorers in the archipelago's capitol of Wildcross Harbor. Or maybe you call Wildcross itself home, the only place within the archipelago that seems untouched by the region's subtle changes.   Whatever or wherever it was, you're accustomed to the chaos of constant change, where nothing you've experienced in life is confidently certain. You've set out to do something about it, to live a life greater than wondering and suffering in settlement-isolation, wondering when the next foreigner would stumble into town or rare shipment of much needed goods would arrive. It's time you reign in the uncertainty and chart your own course...