Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 10

Day 10 - What’s the First Thing We Should Do?

Day 10-What's the first thing we should do?
When heading out on a trip through the campaign setting (even just the 'starting area'), where should you go first? 

Elowen's Journal

"If you ask me where to start in West Haven, I will always say 'Omar’s.'

Other witches have their own answers. Some go to shrines or groves or straight to the coven halls. I understand that. But Omar’s shop was one of the first places where I felt… normal. He asks questions when you come in, real ones. Not 'what do you want' questions, but 'why do you need it' questions. He listens carefully to the answers, even when they are not very good.

Mostly, though, I love Omar because he wanders around his shop in a fez and bunny slippers, singing dwarven opera at the top of his lungs. I cannot understand a single word of it, but I am certain it is about old battles, lost gold, and making your family proud. He sings while polishing armor, while counting coins, while handing you a coil of rope and telling you not to do anything foolish with it. I think he likes pretending he is not paying attention, but he always knows exactly what you walked out with.

If you are going to leave West Haven, you should stop there first. Not just for supplies. For perspective. Omar reminds you that preparation is an act of care, and that going out into danger does not mean you have to be grim about it."

Designer's Notes

Omar is one of those NPCs who started as a convenience and became indispensable. He is a fourth-generation dwarven goods seller whose shop provides a reliable starting point for adventurers across editions and systems. Out front, he sells mundane gear. Packs, ropes, torches, weapons, armor. Among these is Omar’s Standard, a 50 gp backpack filled with everything a beginning adventurer needs. The contents shift depending on the system being used, but the price and intent never change. It is always useful, always fair, and always exactly what the party forgot they needed.

In the back, Omar deals in magical items. Nothing flashy, nothing careless. His inventory reflects the setting. Practical magic. Old things with stories. Items that have passed through many hands before reaching his shelves. Omar works because he reinforces a core theme of West Haven: preparation matters, context matters, and people matter more than stats. Players trust him quickly, and that trust pays dividends later when choices start to have consequences.

Why does Elowen like Omar? Why should you?

Omar is a bit of absurdity amid an overwhelming number of odd things. Witches, goblins, ghosts, and even devil-people (tieflings) walk the streets. Omar is a weird dwarf with a penchant for fezzes and opera. He is here to make the characters (and maybe the players, too) feel at ease. Because Omar knows happy adventurers spend more money.

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 9

Larina will still read your cards

Day 9 - Who’s in Charge?

Day 9-Who's in charge here?
Who are the major movers and shakers in the campaign?

Elowen's Journal

"If you are looking for a throne, you will miss the people who matter.

Larina lives in a small cottage with a large hearth, a kitchen big enough to seat an entire coven, and a soft chair she favors by the fire where she reads late into the night. There is a painting of her and her daughter above the fireplace, I have not met her yet, but she looks exotic. Larina just looks happy. If you did not know her, you would never guess she was one of the most powerful Witch Queens in the world. Esmé once told me she loves Larina dearly, but that she is also the single most terrifying thing she has ever known. I believe her. I know Larina rescued Amaranth from a terrible life. I know she saved Aisling from something like hell. Katrina calls our little circle “Larina’s Misfits,” and I suppose that includes me now.

Katrina herself is no less dangerous, just sharper around the edges. Where Larina is warmth and gravity, Katrina is clarity. Together, they do not rule so much as define. When either of them enters a room, the conversation changes. Not because people are afraid, but because everyone wants to hear what will be said next. 

That is how power works here. It gathers attention. It does not demand it.

There are other leaders, of course. The Lord Mayor and the Witan Council meet to handle the business of the village. Each quarter has its seasonal figure, Lord Summer, Lady Ostra, Lady Mabon, and Lord Winter, who preside over rites and celebrations and quietly settle disputes when the season demands it. But even they listen when witches speak. West Haven is not ruled by crowns or councils alone. It is shaped by those who keep it from unraveling."

Designer Notes

Authority in West Haven is deliberately layered and informal. On paper, the village has a Lord Mayor and a council known as the Witan, composed of respected elders from each quarter. These bodies handle civic matters, trade, disputes, and day-to-day governance. Alongside them exist the seasonal figures tied to the quarters of the town. Lord Summer, Lady Ostra, Lady Mabon, and Lord Winter oversee festivals, rites, and the rhythms that keep the community grounded in the turning year. Their power is cultural and ceremonial, but it is very real.

Above and around all of this sits witch authority, which is not codified but universally acknowledged. Larina is the most powerful witch in the region, with Katrina close behind, but their influence comes from reputation, history, and trust rather than formal titles. Among witches, power is social before it is magical. Elders lead because others listen. Covens follow because they choose to. This structure allows West Haven to function without collapsing into tyranny or chaos. Power here is not about command. It is about presence, memory, and the quiet understanding of who will step forward when things go wrong.

I wanted a place where if the characters asked, "Who is in charge here?" the answer would be, "It depends on what you want."

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 8

Day 8 - Local Peoples & Cultures

Day 8-Tell us about the local peoples and their cultures.
Describe the people and their Species, Nationalities, and other identifying features. 

Elowen's Journal

"When I first arrived in West Haven, I could not stop staring. I had never seen so many different kinds of people in one place before. At home, everyone fit into neat categories. Humans, a few elves, the occasional dwarf passing through. Here, the streets felt like they were unfolding into something larger every time I turned a corner.

Now I do not notice it the same way. They are neighbors. Friends. People who wave when they see me and ask how my parents are doing. There are tieflings who look like devils but have never once been unkind to me. Goblins like Doireann, who splash through puddles and laugh too loudly. Gnomes everywhere, running inns and kitchens and making sure no one leaves hungry. I even know a trolla, Grýlka, who is bigger than most doorways and a lot smarter than she lets on. Esmé says she herself is from another world entirely and came here by magic. Aisling says the same, but she never talks about where she is from, and I have learned that some questions are better left unasked.  Larina even said she spent a month and a half as a fox, but I am not sure whether she was teasing me or telling the truth. Reality is different for witches. 

What still stands out most, though, are the dead. There are more ghosts here than anywhere I have ever seen. No one talks about it, and yet everyone knows. They linger at the edges of crowds, in doorways, near the fountain. The living make room without meaning to. I think West Haven draws in those who do not fit elsewhere, living or not. And somehow, it makes space for all of us."

Designer's Notes

West Haven is intentionally inclusive in both population and tone. While the mechanical roots may lie in AD&D 1st Edition, the social philosophy leans more toward modern sensibilities. This is a place where misfits, outsiders, and the unusual are not just tolerated but expected. If a species is sentient, whether living or dead, there is a place for it here. 

That inclusivity is not accidental. 

Witches are the cultural glue that makes it work. Their presence normalizes difference, manages spiritual overflow, and enforces boundaries without erasing identity. The unusually high number of ghosts in West Haven is a feature, not a bug. The town attracts the lingering because it knows how to live alongside them. In contrast, East Haven's population dynamics are more traditionally oriented, closer to a classic AD&D model. West Haven, by design, lets diversity run wild. It is a place where the strange can call home, and where players are free to explore identity, culture, and belonging without needing justification beyond the simple fact that West Haven exists.

West Haven is by intent and design a place where the strange, the exotic, and the wonderful can call home.

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 7

Day 7 - Weather

Day 7-What's the weather like today?
Is there a particular climate or weather that's prominent in the region of the campaign? Does it vary? What is it like and how bad does it get?

Photo by Péter Kövesi

Elowen's Journal

"I have learned that the weather in West Haven is not something you check. It is something you listen to.

I feel the seasons in my bones now. Autumn hums, like the air itself is quietly singing. Spells settle more easily then, and even the ghosts seem more alert, as if they are paying attention again. Winter presses inward. Snow piles high against doors and windows, and everything turns quiet and close. Summer storms tear through the sky with no warning, stripping away weak wards and careless protections as if the land itself is reminding us not to be lazy. The weather here is never just background. It participates.

I love the storms best. Doireann always tries to drag me outside to dance barefoot in the rain, laughing like she is daring the sky to strike her. Most of the time, she can only convince Aisling to join her. I usually watch them laughing outside, from under the eaves, feeling the thunder roll through me anyway. Amaranth complains about the cold from Samhain until nearly Midsummer, while Grýlka thrives in it, claiming the snow makes everything honest. You can barely get Esmé away from her garden in the spring. I think she missed her calling as a druid. Larina is...radiant, resplendent in the autumn. Everyone has a season they belong to. I am still figuring out which one is mine."

Designer's Notes

I never wanted West Haven to exist in a single mood. A place that is always sunny or always bleak becomes flat very quickly, both in fiction and at the table. West Haven needed seasons that mattered. Winters that isolate. Springs that promise too much. Summers that remind you how fragile your preparations are. Autumns that feel heavy with magic and consequence.

From a practical standpoint, I draw inspiration from a mix of sources, including the Haven boxed set, various city supplements like those from RuneQuest, and real-world climate patterns. Sometimes, honestly, I just cheat and use whatever the weather is outside and let that be West Haven’s weather for the day. It keeps the setting grounded and unpredictable. Mechanically and narratively, seasonal shifts affect spellcasting, rituals, and ghost activity, reinforcing the idea that magic in West Haven responds to the world rather than ignoring it. The weather here is not favorable. It is part of play.

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 6

Day 6 – Where Shall We Start?

Day 6-Where shall we start?
Where did the campaign begin and/or where should a traveler to the region start their journey through it?

Elowen’s Journal

"The first place I ever went in West Haven was the Drunken Orc Inn, and I still think that tells you everything you need to know about this place. Mother and Father were not impressed, and I think they wanted to turn around and take me home at that moment. 

It is loud. It is crowded. It smells like old ale, wet cloaks, and poor decisions. Voices overlap in ways that make my head ache if I stay too long. And yet, for all that chaos, it feels strangely safe. No spells are cast inside its walls. Not openly, anyway. No grudges are settled there, and no one pretends otherwise. What happens in the Drunken Orc is remembered, and that alone keeps most people careful.

It sits just outside the village proper, along the Western Trade Road, far enough that the laws of West Haven loosen their grip without letting things spiral completely out of control. When I want to feel like I have stepped outside the careful rhythm of covens and quiet streets, this is where I go. Aisling comes with me sometimes. She doesn't like me calling her "Dreamer," but that is what all the ghosts call her. They give her a wide berth and nod in respect to her. I need to find out why. We sit, we listen, we watch strangers who think they are unseen. It is not a safe place, exactly, but it does not threaten the people of West Haven. And that distinction matters more than most travelers realize."

Designer's Notes

The Drunken Orc Inn is a deliberately familiar anchor point. It is the kind of tavern players instantly understand, and that is exactly why it works. By leaning into the cliché rather than avoiding it, the inn becomes a stable social landmark where adventurers, criminals, mercenaries, and outsiders naturally converge.

In practice, the Drunken Orc functions as a neutral zone between West Haven and the wider world. It is commonly run by the local thieves’ guild, who use it to identify marks, recruit talent, and quietly enforce boundaries. Some patrons are fair game. Others are absolutely not. Elowen falls squarely into the latter category. The guild has been warned, directly and without ambiguity, by the Witch Queen herself to leave her untouched. This unspoken protection is why Elowen feels safe there without ever fully knowing why. It is also where adventurers brush up against covens and witch politics without realizing how close they are to real power.

BTW. Ghosts give Aisling respect because, like Elowen, she is half in one world and half in another. Unlike the gentle re-awakening of Elowen, Aisling came back from the dead screaming and covered in blood. Someone else's blood. Her death was tragic, her rebirth was violent, but she wants to live her life to the fullest and is, in fact, a rather sweet and nice girl. She and Elowen are likely to become good friends. Both are good people; they just had terrible things happen to them. 

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 5

Day 5 - Campaign History

Day 5-Can you tell us about the campaign's history?
In the real world and within the universe.

Sweet Home Chicago

Elowen’s Journal

"People ask about the history of West Haven as if it were something written down somewhere, bound in leather, and kept on a shelf. I suppose parts of it are. Dates, names, floods, fires. That sort of thing. But that is not how I learned it.

I learned West Haven’s history by listening.

The ghosts here remember things in pieces. Not years or reigns, but reasons. Why a wall was built thicker in one place. Why a road bends when it should not. Why a family stopped using a name. I have spoken with spirits who remember the first Haven, before the lake swallowed it, and with others who arrived long after, never realizing they were walking streets that no longer existed. They do not count time the way the living do. They remember what mattered to them when they were alive, and that tells me more than any ledger ever could.

I think the village is about three hundred and twelve years old, give or take a season or two. That is what the dead suggest, anyway. I sometimes wonder if I know its history better than Larina does. Not because she has forgotten anything, but because she lived forward through it, while I hear it all at once. The joy, the fear, the mistakes, the moments when someone chose to stay rather than leave. West Haven remembers itself through its ghosts. I just happen to be someone who can listen."

Designer's Notes

The earliest seeds came decades ago, walking through downtown Chicago and wanting a fantasy city that felt lived-in, layered, and resilient. Prior to this, I was working on something I was calling "The Urban Survival Guide" with my old DM R. Michael Grenda. We explored the idea of urban environments as equal to dungeons and wildernesses as adventuring landscapes. 

From those early notes came West Haven and East Haven, separated by Lake Haven and bound together by history, trade, blood, and tension. Over time, West Haven evolved into a witch-centered settlement, a place that outsiders might superstitiously call “Witch Haven” without quite understanding why the name fits. The town's history has since grown organically over decades of play across multiple systems, accumulating layers much like the ghosts Elowen listens to. In that sense, West Haven’s history is not static. It is remembered, retold, and still very much alive. 

Every system I have played it under has added something new. If not history-wise, then via its organic growth. 

While West Haven draws on influences from places like Lancashire, England; Zugarramurdi, Spain; and Salem, Massachusetts, it also owes much to my favorite city, Chicago.

While Grenda was working on his Riverton/Riddleholm, I was working on smaller places. I knew West Haven was the smaller of the two cities. We both wanted lakes, thanks to Lake Michigan, and I wanted to be able to see the lights of East Haven from West Haven. 

I figure that West Haven has a population of about 800-1,000 and East Haven is about twice that, 1,500-1,900. 

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Witchcraft Wednesday: Character Challenge Wrap-up

 Another Character Creation Challenge is in the history books.  Thanks again to Carl Stark, The TARDIS Captain, from TardisCaptain's Blog of Holding.  

Some of the playtest characters

In all, I made 41 characters (with 14 more unfinished), all witches for AD&D 1st Edition and all playtests for my new Advanced Witches & Warlocks: Occult Adventures. All witches from level 1 to level 31.

It has been a lot of fun. Here are all the character sheets (and linked):

Follow Timothy's board 31 Day Character Creation Challenge on Pinterest.

And all of the "Theme Songs" in a playlist:

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!