As previously promised, we are finally going to cover the history of the region, with a view to working on the background and trying to make some sense of it.

For that we are going to roll up a campaign timeline that sketches out the history of a region/kingdom/culture.

It is nothing more than a rough lists of dates and major events, and is divided into three sections; ancient history, middle history and recent history.

The events for each section are a little different; recent history has events that people can recall, occurring in the lifetime of many people, even characters, while the events of ancient times are hay and il-remembered, coming down through the ages as myths and legends.

For each we roll to see how many events happened and how many years apart.  Ancient ages have 2d6 events set d6+4 x 100 years apart, middle history is 4d4 events set d6+4 x 10 years apart and recent history has 2d6 events set 1d6 years apart.

So time to roll and see what we get.

Ancient History

0: Technological Discovery – (An important breakthrough in physical/magical technology took place, perhaps the invention of a new school of magic, the development of the printing press, or the introduction of a new weapon of warfare.)

700: Magical Discovery  – (As above.)

1200: Expansion/Exploration – (An ancient people expanded into neighbouring territory or conducted exploration of nearby lands.)

2200: Migration – (An ancient race or culture passed through, settled or departed the kingdom in question.)

2900: Empire Falls – (An ancient empire rose or fell.)

3800: Epic War – (Epic wars refer to great conflicts of ancient history, in which, (for example) all dwarves and orcs struggle for decades or centuries, or the gods themselves take an active hand.)

Middle History

3860: War, Conquest

3940: Intrigue/Scandal – (Some kind of far-flung conspiracy or shocking behaviour rattled the leaders of the area.)

4020: Plague – (Disease swept the region, decimating the population.)

4090: Revolution – (A revolution seeks to overturn the entire social order and replace it with another one.  For example, the serfs or peasantry might rise in an attempt to drag down the nobility and make their kingdom a democracy)

4180: Magical Discovery

4240: Legendary Character – (A particularly famous or noteworthy person lived during this time.)

4290: Invasion/Raids – (The kingdom in question was invaded at some point, and possibly conquered.  The people may have eventually integrated their conquerors, or fought back and threw them out.)

Recent History

4293: Intrigue/Scandal

4296: Natural Disaster/Plague – (A storm, flood, fire or similar local disaster struck the area in question.)

4299: Internal War – (A civil war, failed revolution or war of succession is an internal war, fought primarily between parties or regions within the same nation.)

4304: Raids/Brigandage – (The kingdom was looted and pillaged frequently during the period by foreign raiders or by large and well-organised bands of outlaws.)

All right, lets have a look at some of this.  I’m not planning on working out all the details of what all of it means just yet, but more the basics, and later on I can go back and fill in details.

The ancient period seems fairly easy – breakthroughs both magical and mundane – probably related to build building and navigation and the harnessing of the magic of the seas – saw people spread out through the archipelagos, settlings new lands and forming a grand empire.

But it fell and turmoil followed in the aftermath of that, culminating in an epic war that saw the gods involved, with the Storm Lord and his daughter at the centre of it.

The turmoil continued on into the middle period,  with wars and revolution following, marred by a great plague the ravished the land.

And while this wad going on, someone discovered the secrets of the magic of the Darkness, unleashing necromancy and dark magic on the world.

In 4240, a legendary female warrior arose, sickened by the conflicts that plagued the land.  She in time grew to be the demi-goddess previously created in the pantheon section.

That was only 64 years prior to current events, and despite her efforts, the recent period has been marred by more conflict, with raiders loyal to the Storm Lord and his daughter threatening to once more destabilise the whole region and plunge it into a war in which the gods are drawn into.

And with that we finish up with the history and mythology section of the book.  It does go on a little bit more discussing things like races and classes and kits, magic and monsters, but it is more hints of what you can do rather than rules, and we haven’t reached the stage of world creation to think about that kind of thing yet.

So next time we go back to one of the earlier chapters and start looking at what the world may or may not look like, and the type of people and nations that inhabit it.