The Gift: The Keep on the Borderland Revisited

I'm very excited about this post!

I've been "collaborating" on a little project with a very, very talented artist friend of mine, Scott from DarkFantasyPainting. By collaborating I mean "I point excitedly at one of my favourite Old School D&D Pictures and say can you do something like that?" and then Scott works his magic.

The Keep on the Borderlands

Fifty Word Fiction: The Burnt Skull

Welcome wonderful reader to the next installment of Fifty Word Fiction. Again we visit The Gift, but today we learn about some ne'er do wells who seek nothing but ill will upon the settlers of the Borderlands.

The Ashen Folk

The Ashen Folk are a relatively small cult within the larger organisations of the worshippers of Elemental Evil. The Ashen Folk don’t devote themselves to following a single Element but instead have a pantheonistic approach, blending rituals and beliefs from each of the four powers.

The membership of the Ashen Folk is similarly not drawn from one racial group; their numbers contain cultists from all sorts of racial stocks; goblinoids, orcs, giants, evil humans and demi humans as well as more unusual creatures. 

The Ashen Folk pride themselves as warriors, assassins and thieves. Ostracised by many of the mainstream Elemental Evil devotees, the Ashen Folk are self-sufficient but will work for other groups for wealth and power.

When at war cultists daub their faces with grey ash before battle. All cultists are marked with a brand or tattoo somewhere on their body so as be recognisable to fellow Ashen Folk.

Detailed below is a small war band of the Ashen Folk known as the Burnt Skull, sent to spy upon the residents and locals of The Gift.

The Burning Skull

Fifty Word Fiction: Patrolling from the Keep on the Borderland.

The Keep on the Borderlands regularly sends out patrols through the Gift and into The Dead Lands. A typical patrol is comprised of seven members; a patrol officer, his sergeant, a tracker and 4 troopers.

This week’s Fifty Word Fiction describes the members of one of these patrols; the Black Hawks.

The Black Hawk Colours

Fifty Word Fiction: Artifacts of The Gift

Greeting once again visitors to the Vault.

This installment of Fifty Word Fiction concerns artifacts, constructs and creations of wondrous power that have been made, found or traded within The Gift. I hope something you find something to your liking.

The Crystal Naiad

Fifty Word Fiction: Residents of The Gift

Hello again dear readers; it's time for another thrilling installment of Fifty Word Fiction.

Fifty Word Fiction is  a challenge I set myself whilst setting up the blog to write a brief gaming related piece of text every day. This week's topic has been to capture some of the notable Non Player Character (NPC) residents of The Gift.

I hope you enjoy meeting an industrious farmer and his wife, a restless halfling and a *very* annoying wizard's familiar among others. I'm looking forward to portraying them on the tabletop.

Nevermore!

Fifty Word Fiction: Notable locations of The Gift

Continuing from the first Fifty Word Fiction article I've come up with a number of brief descriptions of locations to be found within The Gift campaign setting.

I've managed to write an entry every day, even if it's only been a rushed 5 or 10 minutes.  The process has been enjoyable, rewarding and actually very surprising. Apparently The Gift holds an annual football match, has a band of close-knit Border Troopers with their own slang, and is home to a very eccentric rancher. I didn't know any of these things a week ago, and this is my campaign!

All good campaigns need a Standing Stone or two!

The Gift: Setting the Scene

Back again? Wonderful, because I've got another post for your enjoyment.

This time I'm covering some Dungeons & Dragons (or D&D whatever you prefer; if I use your non-preferred term imagine I'm using the other; you're a gamer, shouldn't be hard for you).

I want to share something about a campaign setting I'm working on (tentatively titled "The Gift"), and some of the thinking that's gone into it.

Fantastic Castle! (credit Joakim Oloffson, DeviantArt)