Filling In Brackenwold from Dolmenwood

In their wanderings around Dolmenwood, the player characters in our campaign eventually wound up in Brackenwold. As home to the Duke, Brackenwold serves as the seat of power in Dolmenwood.

Unfortunately, the Wormskin zines don’t say much at all about Brackenwold. While I look forward to seeing what Gavin comes up with when he releases the full Dolmenwood sourcebook later this year, in the meantime I found myself on my own.

My first step was to survey the Wormskin zines to see what information I had to work with. It wasn’t much. Beyond a few points of intrigue and quest hooks (detailed later), the city itself is devoid of detail.

However, Gavin’s blog once made mention of Professor Woglemain, who presides over the Royal College of Sorcery in Brackenwold. I also decided to place the headquarters of Dolmenwood’s Bardic Guild here, given the city’s importance, as well as the bishop for the Church of the One True God.

With this as a start, I liberally used the city generation method described by the Collaborative Gamer here, particularly the part about hex grids. I then superimposed the hex grid on a historical map of Wittenburg in Germany, as it seemed to fit the setting. The resulting hex map is below.

A hex map of Brackenwold.

Brackenwold has a population of 4500-5000 people. It has a regular army / city guard of 115, but can enlist a militia of 460 more in times of need.

Furthermore, here are some details of the city.

1.      Castle District: Guards watch the city gate and portcullis, assessing merchants and treasure-laden adventurers for taxes. The twenty-foot statue of angel overlooks the entryway, simultaneously placid and judgmental. Castle Brackwold squats, round and intimidating. A church is under construction in its confines. Quiet, orderly, upscale houses. People walk exotic pets and miniature dogs (they’re the latest fashion).

2.      Market Square: Bustling. A large merchant guildhouse overlooks two identical fountains. Temporary stalls fill a square surrounded by permanent stores. Hawk-eyed enforcers from the merchant’s guild and armed city guardsmen watch for misconduct. Notable shops include Hatter’s Halberds, J. Harkins Snuff Shop, the Optical Objects Trading House, and Warred’s Perfumery and Incense Emporium. Sounds of haggling and clinking coins.

3.      Town Church: For all the normal people. Its altar is a holy font decorated with whorls and patterns said to cure the curses of anyone who drinks from it. Regularly distributes alms and food to the poor. A cemetery lies behind the church, filled with a mix of ostentatious mausoleums and simple, unmarked stones. Its bells ring to sound the time in town.

4.      Royal College of Sorcery: A square academic building surrounded by gardens on every side. Students study, lounge, and slack-line on the grounds. Sound of hushed conversations, books opening and closing, and magic-users practicing spells. Students sell magical services (ex. identification) to pay off student loans. Professors purchase magic items for obscure experiments.

5.      Bardic Guild: A large, open-air theatre surrounded on three sides by a great building. Sounds of singing, acting, and kissing. Bushes rustle with clandestine lovers. People congregate here to watch theatrical performances regularly, though the clientele varies widely depending on the nature of the performance (ex. high-minded tragedies, slapstick comedies).

6.      Middling Houses: Half-timber houses. Laundry hangs out on clotheslines. Children play in the paved streets, running up and down. Holy symbols decorate most doors. People eye adventurers with curiosity and admiration.

7.      Cinder Ward: Second floor of houses extend over street, blocking out light. Everything is covered in ash and soot. The streets are unpaved and muddy. Dogs and rats the size of dogs wander the streets. The people, streets, buildings, and goings-on are all shady. People eye adventurers as potential marks.

Of course, the PCs are probably going to ask about a place to stay. The most famous inn in town is the Jolly Friar. The sign depicts a friar riding a spilling barrel of brew like a horse. A half-timber building with a cantilevered second floor. Every inch of the wooden tables, chairs, floor, utensils (including cups) and beams inside are carved with proverbs from church saints pertaining to drink. Some examples include:

• Drink and be merry!
• Raise your spirits by drinking them
• Beer is proof that God loves us
• I quench my thirst with the waters of life   
• Life is a cup, and I drink deeply from it

Every time the church bells toll, all the clientele pause their conversation, raise their glasses, and drink at the sound’s conclusion with a raucous roar. The owner Pyotor has a beer gut and straight brown hair in a bowl cut. He doesn’t trust anyone who is sober or of another faith. He tries to seem less intelligent than he really is.

Some random city encounters:

1. All commotion stops as procession of monks passes by carrying Bishop Calvin on a litter.	7. The town crier makes announcements. Among other news, he urges citizens to submit any evidence or suspicions of heresy to Inquisitor Rosicrucian.
2. The PCs see two magic-users in a heated debate about whether the witches participated in constructing the Witching Ring or not. If not de-escalated, they engage in a fabulous duel.	8. Some bards practicing for a performance ask a passing PC for help. They give the PC the script for a performance, but it’s a bit bawdy (like Tartuffe by Moliere)
3. A bard recognizes the PCs and interviews them for song material from their adventures.	9. A noble’s Pomeranian is threatened by a mangy stray dog. The pet-owner beats the stray with a cane. Either dog might die.
4. Two magic-users practice spells on a green somewhere nearby. One of them fails to properly ward themselves and gets injured.	10. A man stabs a city guard, then disappears in a gout of green flame. A note on the dagger tells the Duke to surrender the bones of the drune or suffer the consequences.
5. The PCs encounter a long line of indigent people waiting for stew distributed by a friar. An altercation erupts when someone “cuts” line.	11. A procession from the Church passes by carrying candles and chains that clink in a cacophony. They exhort listeners to receive “enlightenment” and rid themselves from the worldly chains of sin.
6. A dog follows the PCs, begging for scraps.	12. A child offers to carry the bag of a PC in exchange for nominal coin. They may or may not try to steal it.

Lastly, here are some rumors. Most are supplied by info from the Dolmenwood zines.

1.      Professor Woglemain was expecting a shipment of buns enchanted to facilitate communion with astral intelligences, but the merchant delivering them was waylaid on his way from Prigwort by the Baker’s daughters.	2.      The Duke commissioned a church built in Castle Brackenwold as a show of solidarity with the Church (and quiet approval of their persecution of the Drune)
3.      Every woman in Castle Brackenwold is a witch.	4.      The libraries of Castle Brackenwold might be more extensive than those of the College of Sorcery.
5.      The Duke of Brackenwold sacrifices his daughters in a secret chamber under the castle.	6.      Professor Woglemain is looking to hire an expedition to the house of Merridwyn Scymes in Hag’s Addle. Apparently he was working on some research of interest to the College.
7.      The Duke has the bones of a Drune man and retains them, hoping to draw the Drune into a trap.	8.      The Bardic Guild has a bounty of 5000gp for Farthigy’s fiddle. It’s said he lives on the east shore of Lake Longmere.
9.      The Bardic Guild will host a performance re-enacting the plight of Sir Chyde (from Winter’s Daughter)	10.  The Watchers of the Wood have infiltrated Castle Brackenwold. No-one is safe.

Of course, all of this will likely be abrogated by Gavin when he publishes his more brilliant stuff later this year. However, it got me through two sessions with our group in Brackenwold, so hopefully it'll help you do the same (: