The Thulean Frontier

A land of adventure in the far north

The harsh northern continent of Dagriland is dominated by the Boreal Mountains, bound in eternal winter and encircling the polar regions of the world. In the shadow of the Boreal range, facing the inhabited world, the nations of Mitteland hold a tenuous existence. Winters are long, and the soils poor. The commoners eke out a meagre existence under the threat of endemic war.
But a beacon of hope calls from beyond the Boreal Mountains. The rapid retreat of a glacier has revealed a hidden pass, and beyond, a great vale of unsettled land sheltered on all sides by icy peaks. Old maps identify this frontier as what was once the kingdoms of Thule, the first beacon of civilization in the north. Thulean ruins dot the untamed landscape, and the siren song of treasure and magical weapons calls out to princes and paupers alike.
Settlers and treasure hunters have flocked to this new frontier, founding settlements such as Gladford and Blackhall. Enterprising explorers have built numerous smaller settlements around the region, flickering candles of law in the vast, chaotic darkness of the wilderness that was Thule.
Outside these small walled towns and hamlets, the Thulean frontier is a place of danger and uncertainty. Resources are taken from the wilderness or from those too weak to defend them. Armed ruffians prey on the weak in pursuit of treasure. Foul monsters lurk just out of sight of human settlements. And the Thuleans, in the dying days of their civilization, set lethal traps and eldritch hexes to guard the riches they could never take beyond the grave.

The campaign

• The wilderness known as the Thulean Frontier is sparseley populated outside of a few walled settlements. Beyond these sanctuaries, the land is untamed and dotted with the ruins of the ancient Thulean civilization. Within these ruins is known to be a vast wealth of treasure waiting to be claimed by those brave and cunning enough to seize it.
• Player characters are low level. They gain experience points primarily by recovering treasure from dungeons and the wilderness, with smaller experience rewards for slaying monsters and accomplishing other goals. Characters develop by accumulating magical items, retainers, and other unique rewards, not by fulfilling "builds" from feats and multiclassing.
• The world is dangerous. Monsters are rare but highly threatening. Non-player characters will fight and conspire for their own survival, and traps will produce dangerous effects beyond mere damage. Rule variants such as massive damage, lingering injuries, and fewer opportunities to rest make surviving an adventure a real challenge.
• Magic is miraculous and strange. People rightly fear magic, and its presence and use may have consequences beyond mere damage dice and rules-as-written spell effects. The superstitious common folk have many mistaken preconceptions about the state of the world. Rightly or not, they tend to distrust outsiders.

Inspiration

• Anglo-Saxon England and early medieval Britain: a populace mixed of freemen and thralls, the clash between Christianity and paganism, and the struggle through violence to establish legitimacy in an unstable land.
• The colonial period of North America, especially pre-Revolution: cold, huddled frontier towns surrounded by a vast, dark wilderness and natives of uncertain inclination. The fear of witches and the devil. Resource scarcity, localism, and distant imperial powers.
• The stone age and its portrayal in pulp fantasy: primitives gathered around a fire, their crude spears oriented outward against the encroaching darkness.
• Heavy metal music, especially The Sword and their albums Age of Winter, Gods of the Earth, and Apocryphon.
• The Conan, Bran Mak Morn, and Solomon Kane stories of Robert E. Howard: the unstable balance of order and chaos, the treasures of lost civilizations, and the danger and violence of the frontier are themes shared between these stories and Howard's fiction.
• The Second Apocalypse novel series by R. Scott Bakker, particularly the sections in which characters traverse the ruins and dungeons of the Ancient North.
• Darkest Dungeon, for its grim tone, emphasis on light and darkness in underground areas, and the high risk of death or trauma.
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: the settled lands of the Thulean Frontier and its inhabitants take inspiration from the war-torn, monster haunted land of Velen.