Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 16

Day 16 - Direct Threats

Day 16-Are there any direct threats?
Who or what in your campaign actively means the people in it - including the PCs - harm?

Elowen’s Journal

"When people ask about threats, they usually mean something with teeth. An army. A monster. A name you can point to and say, 'that one.' I don’t think it works that way here.

There are names that change a room's temperature when spoken. You can feel it in your skin, like a window just opened somewhere you didn’t see. Even the ghosts react to some of them. They fall quiet. Or they leave. That scares me the most. 

Kelek is one of those names. I don’t know much about him. Only that he hates witches, and that hatred feels old and practiced, like a blade sharpened over generations. The ghosts that remember him do not scream. They whisper. That somehow feels worse. 

I also always hear awful things about Skylla, but the few times I have met her, she didn't seem that terrible to me. 

There is someone called the Bone Man. I don’t know if that is his real name or just the one that survived him. He wants the magic of West Haven. Not the people. Not the land. Just the power that leaks out of everything here, whether we want it to or not. Ghosts do not like him. They do not like to say why. They do not like to be around when he is talked about.

East Haven scares me in a different way. Not because of monsters, but because of certainty. There are men there who believe witches should not exist at all. Not regulated. Not controlled. Erased. The ghosts from East Haven carry a lot of unfinished anger, and none of it is aimed at the right people.

Then there is Katrina.

She is on our side. I know that. She has saved my life. She has saved Aisling's life more than once. But she wants a world that belongs to witches alone, and when she talks about it, I understand why. I also understand why Larina listens carefully and says very little in response. Those two are going to have a fight one day, and I am not sure who is going to come out on top. 

The most frightening threat does not have a name I am supposed to write down.

There is something the ghosts sometimes circle around without touching. Something they remember only in pieces. A presence that does not rage or conquer or declare itself king. It waits. It remains. Even Larina does not speak its name. At all.

If there is a single truth I have learned, it is this: West Haven is not threatened by invasion. It is threatened by people who want to define it. Control it. Simplify it. Turn it into something smaller and easier to rule.

The monsters are real. So are the ideologues. But the most dangerous things are the ones that believe they are right forever."

Designer’s Notes

Direct threats in West Haven are intentionally asymmetrical. Some are personal. Some are ideological. Some are cosmic. None should be what the characters or even the players expect. 

Kelek represents institutionalized hatred of witchcraft through arcane authority. Skylla is a cautionary tale for witches. Normally I have been avoiding "other IP" in my West Haven, but these two have been such a staple in my games for so long it is hard to part with them. 

The Bone Man embodies predatory magic seeking to extract power from place and people alike. He used to be a citizen of West Haven. He had been in charge of the gravesites, and for a while, he ruled as Lord Autumn in the Autumn sector. But his desire for power, both necromantic and political, drove him out of West Haven. Some say he left to find better ways to seize power; others say he was forced out by the Witch Queen at the time. He shows up occasionally, attempting to sow discord, but has not been seen in years now.

East Haven’s Patriarchy reflects systemic, conservative opposition to witches as a social and spiritual force. Thankfully, they do not represent all the people of East Haven, but they are rather vocal. They are followers of Providence Stoughton, one of the founders of the original Haven settlement and village. Stoughton was a devout member of the Lords of Light and the spiritual founder of the Church of Light in Old Haven. The Temple of Light in East Haven was dedicated to his memory. While Stoughton was a moderately conservative priest, he was not a fanatic. The Patriarch of East Haven though feels that since he founded the Haven Settlement all these lands, including West Haven, belong to him and therefore belong to his legacy, which they claim. 

Katrina exists as a morally complex internal threat, an ally whose vision could become tyranny if unchecked. Sadly, if the Patriarchy were ever to become a true threat again, Katrina's position would grow more attractive, especially to younger witches.  One thing I hope to convey through Elowen is that Katrina has some good points. It is through older witches like Larina and Esmé that we see what threat Katrina really brings. 

The greatest long-term threat is The One Who Remains, a force that does not attack directly but erodes reality, memory, and identity over time. It is not always visible. It does not always act. But it is always present. The One Who Remains is also the threat that could cause all the participants above to put aside their differences and fit this greater foe.

West Haven survives not because it is strong, but because it refuses to be defined by outsiders.

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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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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 23

Day 23 - Exports

Day 23-What are the major exports of the region?
A campaign can be big and different places within it will be known for different products. Pick a few of the best sellers or most interesting things and tell us about them.

Elowen’s Journal

"I already talked about the soil, but it really does explain a lot.

On paper, West Haven’s main export is produce. The Haven Valley grows things easily, eagerly, like the land is trying to make up for what it once took. East Haven has good soil too, but they settled on higher ground after the Flood and missed out on much of the rich earth the mountains carried down. And if I’m being honest, witches have always been better at growing things. We listen to the land rather than argue with it.

Most trade still runs through East Haven. That’s just geography and habit. Every so often, someone there tries to raise taxes or impose tariffs, and every time it gets shut down by saner heads. The two towns function best when trade stays free and open. Everyone knows that, even when they pretend not to.

West Haven’s other great export is an open secret: magic.

Sometimes it’s small things. Potions for sleep or luck. Card readings. Crystal gazing. Blessings whispered over tools or doorways. Other times it’s bigger than that. People come here the way my parents did, looking for answers they can’t find anywhere else. You can always tell who they are. They look hollow, like something important has gone missing, and they don’t know how to name it.

There are witches trained to spot those people. Larina calls them ambassadors. Their job isn’t to sell magic, but to listen and decide what kind of help is actually needed. Katrina used to be one, apparently, though I have a hard time imagining her being patient with non-witches. Cassandra and Celeste are very good at it when they aren’t in the Library. Esmé does it too. She says helping people reminds her of why she stayed.

West Haven doesn’t export spells so much as it exports intervention. If you come here and leave changed, no one is surprised. That’s the real trade. The rest is just what shows up on ledgers."

Designer’s Notes

Exports in West Haven are designed to reinforce the theme rather than the economy. Agricultural abundance provides a believable foundation, while magical services operate in a semi-formal, socially regulated way. Magic here is not commodified wholesale. It is mediated through relationships, ethics, and judgment.

The concept of witch “ambassadors” exists to prevent exploitation on both sides. Desperate outsiders are guided, redirected, or turned away as needed, and witches are protected from becoming transactional service providers. This supports a tone where magic remains meaningful rather than routine.

Trade tensions with East Haven provide ongoing low-level conflict without requiring open hostility. The two towns are interdependent, and both know it. West Haven’s greatest export is not goods or spells, but change, and that is something no tariff can easily contain.

West Haveners are very much aware of their interdependence on East Haven, even if witches like Katrina believe they go it alone. That's a topic for tomorrow.

An aside: I am beginning to think that Elowen here might be a Pumpkin Spice Witch. As I have been using her this month, I see her less and less as a witch who commands armies of the undead, and more as a witch who drinks lattes and talks to customers, both living and dead. 

Not every witch needs to be a world-shaking magical powerhouse.

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 4

Day 4 - Is There a Map?

Day 4-Is there a Map?
Give us a visual! Show us a map of your setting! Don't have one? WHY NOT?!?

Elowen’s Journal

"I never cared much for maps before I came here. I grew up knowing where things were because someone told me, or because I walked there often enough that my feet remembered. I do not think I ever once looked at a map of my home village. It felt unnecessary, maybe even rude, like questioning something that had always simply been there.

West Haven changed that.

The first maps I saw were the ones made after the Great Flood. Clean lines. Familiar shapes. Lake Haven drawn the way it is now. Later, Esmé showed me the older ones, the maps from before the water rose. That was when things finally made sense. I had been seeing ghosts along the lake shore since I arrived. Quiet ones. Confused ones. People who seemed to be looking for doors and streets that were no longer there. When I saw the old maps, I understood. The original Haven settlement lies at the bottom of the lake now, and some of the dead never realized the world had changed around them.

Maps help me make sense of the land when the land does not make sense to me. They explain why a ghost lingers in the wrong place, or why a road feels older than it should. I have maps made by scholars, by merchants, and even by goblins, whose sense of distance and importance is… creative. I love all of them. Each one tells a slightly different truth. I think that is why I look at maps of West Haven so often. I am still learning how this place fits together. And maybe, by learning that, I am also learning how I fit here, too."

Designer’s Notes

So. I have maps of the Haven Valley, both current and prior to the "Great Flood," the disaster that destroyed the original Haven Settlement and created Lake Haven. I am not sure where they are at the moment. I knew one of them was in my car, but I can't seem to find it. ETA: Found it!

I really should get on commission someday. Better than the sketches I have on legal pads. There hasn't been much need for one, since I have a clear idea in my head of where everything is. 

The Broken Mountains are to the far north. East Haven is, naturally, to the east, on the other side of Lake Haven. It's not directly across, in some maps it is North East, other South East. I like the idea that the North East is slightly higher ground than West Haven. The Goblin Wood is to the North West of West Haven. It is old, once an elven forest until the elves abandoned it and the goblins moved in.  The Maiden Wood is to the South West of West Haven (and south of the Goblin Wood). Named for the dryads that still live there, but don't seek them out or even go into the wood unless you get permission from their leader, Mellenpei.  

The village of West Haven itself is divided into four quarters: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. The central plaza is dominated by a large fountain.  The central circle, named "Fountain Circle", is also often called "The Square" despite the fact that it is a circle, is home to the farmer markets during the day, and the goblin market at night. 

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 24

Elowen's Newest obsession

Day 24 - Imports

Day 24-What are the major imports to the area?
What is it your campaign region needs but doesn't have and how do they get it? Maybe it's not a need but a want? Some other place has the very best something and the people of your campaign desire some of that action.  

Elowen’s Journal

"I suppose I should mention that I have a job.

I work part-time at Renee’s Tea Shoppe. Larina thought it would be good for me, a way to interact with both the living and the dead without hiding behind my journal all the time. She was right, of course. And the extra spending money doesn’t hurt either. What does this have to do with imports? Everything, as it turns out.

West Haven’s most important import is tea. I’m not exaggerating. This village drinks three or four times as much tea as anywhere else I’ve ever seen. Twice as much as East Haven, at least. It’s borderline alarming. If the tea supply ever dried up, I’m fairly certain there would be an uprising. Coven-wide. Possibly armed.

I work with a girl named Rebecca. She’s friendly, kind, and endlessly patient in a way I envy. She isn’t particularly academic, but she knows tea the way some witches know spells. She can look at someone for five seconds and hand them exactly what they didn’t know they needed. She introduced me to something called a chai latte, and now my life is divided into before and after. Some of the spices grow here, but many don’t. Cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger. More imports. Rebecca says she’s a “Pumpkin Spice Witch.” I don’t know what that means, but it sounds wonderful.

There are other things we bring in, too. Fine textiles like silk. Certain building materials we can’t get locally. We have wood in abundance, and the mountain dwarves supply more stone than we could ever need, but not everything can be pulled from the valley or the mountains. That’s where the markets come in.

Market days are my favorite. Our open-air market is just that: open. Anyone can sell. Anyone can browse. Goods come in from places I’ve never seen and probably never will. I’m not even sure East Haven has the same variety we do. I think people just want an excuse to visit what they call “Witch Haven,” even if they pretend otherwise.

West Haven grows its own food. It makes its own magic. But it imports comfort. Flavor. Texture. Little luxuries that make the days gentler. I think that says something important about the kind of place this is."

Designer’s Notes

Imports in West Haven are intentionally modest and specific. The setting doesn’t rely on exotic goods to function, but it eagerly embraces comforts and cultural exchange. Tea functions as both a literal import and a social ritual, reinforcing community, rest, and conversation. Renee’s Tea Shoppe acts as a crossroads for locals, travelers, and spirits alike.

Market days emphasize openness rather than control. West Haven’s lack of restrictive trade policy allows for variety that even larger, more structured cities like East Haven struggle to match. This reinforces the idea that flexibility and hospitality can be more economically and culturally resilient than rigid systems.

Day 24 complements Days 22 and 23 by showing that while West Haven grows much of what it needs, it deliberately welcomes what it lacks. The town survives not by isolation, but by selective openness.

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 18

Day 18 - Getting Around

Day 18-Forgot to ask; How do we get around?
What modes of transportation are available to people in the setting. 

Elowen’s Journal

West Haven is small enough that you can learn it all on foot. 

You can walk everywhere here. It surprised me at first how close everything feels. The streets curve, but they always seem to bring you where you need to go. The South Road, coming out through the Beltane Gate, is the busiest and safest. In East Haven, they call it the West Road, or the Western Trade Road, which feels like a small argument in itself. That’s where the Drunken Orc Inn sits, and where most travelers first arrive. It feels like a threshold more than a road.

People cross the lake all the time. Boats go back and forth, especially during market days. I don’t like it. The water feels crowded to me, and not in a friendly way. I prefer to keep the lake at a distance, even if that means walking farther than necessary.

A lot of witches fly. More than I ever imagined. Brooms, charms, whispered spells, things I don’t fully understand yet. Because of that, many buildings have entrances on both the upper floors and the ground. It took me a while to stop being startled by someone stepping out of a second-story door like it was the most natural thing in the world. I hope someday I’ll be able to do that too without thinking. Gaining your first besom, or witch's broom, is something of a milestone event for a witch.

Larina has a Gate in her cottage. She uses it to travel to distant places, even other worlds. She says I’m not ready yet. I want to argue, but every time I look at it too closely, I get dizzy, like the world is tilting sideways. So that feels like a fair warning. I’ve also been told there are Gates hidden in the Library, but the librarians, Cassandra and Celeste, won’t tell me where. Though I did find out by accident that Larina used to be the librarian before she became the Witch Queen. That explains a lot.

Doireann says there are Gates in the Labyrinth, too. I don’t know if she’s teasing me or not. With goblins, it’s always hard to tell. But goblins seem to have a way of moving all over, so maybe she is right.

For now, I walk. I watch the sky. I learn the paths that don’t show up on maps. West Haven makes getting around feel like part of the adventure, even when you’re just going home.

Designer’s Notes

Travel in West Haven was designed around two core ideas. First, everything important should be close enough that play does not get bogged down in long, uneventful journeys. Second, the setting needed to acknowledge the reality that witches fly.

West Haven is walkable by design, but vertically layered. Upper entrances, rooftop paths, and night-time travel through the air are common for witches, which changes how the town functions socially and architecturally. This idea was inspired by my time at the University of Illinois at Chicago while working on my first Ph.D.  The East Campus buildings were connected by elevated walkways, creating an entirely different sense of movement than ground-level travel. They were there when I did my first campus visit and gone before I started attending some 6 months later. 

That physical East/West divide also fed directly into the conceptual split between East Haven and West Haven. Though Lake Haven is a bit more dangerous and has fewer restaurant choices than Chicago's Little Italy, which splits the campus.

Gates exist, but they are deliberately restricted, hidden, or guarded. Easy teleportation solves too many problems too quickly. In West Haven, magical travel is powerful, tempting, and dangerous, something to grow into rather than rely on from the start. Movement here reinforces one of the setting’s core themes: magic expands possibility, but it also demands patience. Esmé is my expert on Gates. I am sure she will teach them all to Elowen someday.

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 21

Elowen

Day 21 – Organizations

Day 21-What are the major organizations of the campaign? How do they deal with visitors?
Corporations, guilds, secret societies; what groups with influence exist in the campaign and how do they interact with the setting and its denizens? 

Elowen’s Journal

"I used to think organizations were neat things. Boxes you could label. Lists you could finish.

West Haven cured me of that.

There are covens, traditions, lodges, guilds, circles, and groups that insist they are none of those things but somehow still meet every week. Some overlap. Some pretend they don’t. Some share members and pretend they don’t notice. I have stopped trying to keep a perfect list.

The easiest place to start is my own. I belong to the West Haven Coven. Larina is our leader and High Priestess, though she rarely acts like either unless she needs to. Our coven includes me, Grýlka, Doireann, Celeste, Cassandra, Amaranth, Aisling, Esmé, and Katrina. Katrina also has a Lodge of her own. They are mostly alchemists, so people like Émilie. She says it’s “just practical,” but I think she likes having something that is hers.

The Rangers of the North Star patrol the frontier north of the towns. I see them sometimes on the roads or near the mountains. They are grim, quiet, and always polite. Not everyone trusts them, but everyone respects them. Even the ghosts give them space, which I have learned to pay attention to. I admit they fascinate me. 

There’s a Thieves’ Guild, too. They call themselves The Beasts. I only know that because Amaranth told me, and not to ask questions. Their territory includes the Drunken Orc Inn, somewhere behind doors I’ve never noticed before. The guild is one of the reasons the inn feels safer than it should.

The Druids here aren’t quite what I expected. They call themselves the Ban Drui, and they’re a mix of Druids and Witches. Their coven is the Daughters of the Flame, led by Saileach and Teamhair. There is a quiet power between those two. It's like you can see the magic dancing around them. I wish I could see auras like Aisling can. She always seems happier and sadder when she sees them. She says it because their auras are so bright. 

There are other witches, too. The Strixes, who turn into giant owls when they fly. The Daughters of Diana, who look like they’re always heading to some athletic competition and all carry bows. The Mara… I don’t like the Mara. They keep trying to recruit me. Ghosts follow them everywhere, thick as shadows. Larina says I need to wait before having any serious dealings with them. I would rather not have any dealings with them at all. There are also the Pumpkin Spice Witches. I am not sure if they are a real coven or a social club. 

Once, a group of elves calling themselves the Court of Swords came to West Haven. They were already established here somehow, though I didn’t understand how. Larina dealt with them directly for a week, and Katrina and Esmé took over my lessons. No one explained why. I didn’t ask.

And then there are the Westhaven gnomes. They pretend to be innkeepers, traders, and hosts. They are also a cabal entirely unto themselves. I am convinced they know everything that happens in the valley before anyone else does.

That’s just what I can name. There are more. Covens I recognize by habit, by the way certain witches always sit together or walk home at the same hour. I don’t know all their names yet. I think that’s normal.

East Haven is different.

They have organizations, too, but they are sharper, more formal. The Church of Light dominates much of public life there. Priests, lay-priests, councils, and rules that are meant to apply evenly, even when they don’t. They deal with visitors politely, as long as those visitors behave correctly. Witches are tolerated at best, distrusted at worst. The ghosts from East Haven remember a lot of sermons.

West Haven doesn’t ask you who you answer to. It asks who you sit with when you’re tired. I think that tells you everything you need to know."

Designer’s Notes

Organizations in West Haven are intentionally overlapping, informal, and relational. Power flows through trust, shared history, and social gravity rather than rigid hierarchy. Covens, lodges, and guilds often intersect, and membership is fluid. This allows characters to move between groups organically and gives the setting a lived-in feel.

East Haven provides a deliberate contrast. Its institutions, especially the Church of Light, are centralized, doctrinal, and rule-driven. Visitors are assessed by conformity rather than connection. This tension reinforces the ideological divide between the two towns and provides ongoing sources of conflict.

Not every organization needs to be fully defined. Some exist simply to be noticed, feared, or hinted at. West Haven is a place where influence is sensed before it is explained, and where belonging matters more than titles. 

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 3

Day 3 - Where the heck are we?

What is the campaign's location and where is that location in related to other important places. 

Elowen’s Journal

“West Haven feels out of the way on purpose. Not lost, exactly, just set aside. Like someone took the world and folded one quiet corner inward so it would not be stepped on too often. I think that is why witches find it. And why so few other people do.

East Haven sits across the lake, larger, louder, always visible but never close. The Goblin Wood presses in from the northwest, dense and watching. Even when the trees stand still, which is rare, it sounds like a living breathing thing. To the north, the Broken Mountains rise like a warning no one remembers giving. Every direction feels different before it looks different, as if the land makes up its mind about you long before you arrive and decides how to appear. My friend Doireann looks to the Goblin Wood and calls it home. She looks at the Broken Mountains as if they were a holy land. Both places scare me a little. 

This place is on the far edge of everything. Far from where I grew up. Far from what people mean when they say normal. There are ghosts here, of course, but they are the quiet kind. They linger. They listen. They do not scream at me the way others do. It makes West Haven feel less lonely, somehow. Like, even the dead know this is a place meant to be left alone.”

Designer’s Notes

I intentionally keep the location of West Haven vague. I usually say it is "on the frontier." When I was using it in my Mystoerth games, it was west of Glantri City. In NIGHT SHIFT it was the far western portions of Massachusetts in the 17th Century. A place where witches could seek refuge. 

There is something about the place that normal folks ignore, but witches and other supernatural creatures find compelling and safe. 

In general if asked where West Haven is the stock answer is "out west." West has always been a standign for new lands, the frontier, the undiscovered country. It was also the metaphor of the lands of the dead for the Egyptians and Tolkien. Lands of discovery for the old Norse. West Haven is all of that. 

The history of the palce, which I am sure I'll get to detail more later on, has groups of settlers moving west and settling in a valley they call Haven. Naturally enough, for a place where disparate groups of people meet after a long, arduous journey. But their new home has troubles and it goes from my retelling of the invasions of Ireland to Salem, Mass. But like I said, there will be time to detail all of this during this challenge.

Since I use West Haven (and often East Haven gets dragged along with it) with many systems and games, its precise location varies, but they are all connected. In fact, due to places like "The Library," all West Havens are connected. 

--

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 19

Day 19 - Must-See Sites

Day 19-Any 'Must See' sites?
Are there any places or things a visitor to the setting just has to check out?

Elowen’s Journal

"If you only have one afternoon in West Haven, go to the Fountain Circle. Or Fountain Square as some witches still call it. I have not figured out why. 

That’s where everyone ends up eventually. On warm days, it turns into a kind of living map of the village. Farmers resting their feet, witches arguing good-naturedly, children daring each other to toss copper coins just right. The statue of Maiden faces east, the Mother north, the Crone west, and somehow it always feels like someone is watching over you, no matter where you sit. I like to people-watch there. It makes me feel less strange.

The Library is the other place I always recommend. It might not have the book you came looking for, but it will absolutely have the book you need. Sometimes it finds you instead. I don’t understand how it works, only that it does. Knowing that Larina used to be the librarian explains a lot. I always leave with more questions than answers, and I think that’s the point.

Everyone says you should see the Cailleach’s Bones. They’re right. They’re ancient, and powerful, and full of history. I have seen them. Once. That was enough. Some places don’t need revisiting to be remembered.

Émilie’s apothecary is quieter, but no less important. I like visiting with her sister Céline. She is the strangest witch I have ever met, and after three years here, that is saying something. She has everything you could want for an alchemy lab, a healing kit, or a kitchen that takes herbs seriously. Omar’s, of course, has everything else. If you can’t find it there, you probably don’t need it yet.

Renee’s is perfect for lunch. The Purple Dragon for dinner. That’s just how the day flows. In summer, everyone drifts back toward the Fountain Circle again for evening music. Lanterns go up. The air cools. It feels like the town is exhaling.

I haven’t been to the observatory yet, but I’ve been told the stars look closer from there. I am not sure I want to see them that close. What strange ghosts inhabit those worlds? Am I meant to know?

East Haven has its own sights. A zoological garden that people speak highly of, though I don’t like seeing some of the animals in cages. They look… diminished. That would never work in West Haven. Their library is large, orderly, and very good at helping you find exactly what you're looking for. It’s just not very good at surprises.

Doireann has promised to take me to the Goblin Market one night. She won’t tell me when or where. Just “soon.” I am trying very hard to be patient. Amaranth tells me it is a great place to get ripped-off, but I am not listening to her."

Designer’s Notes

West Haven’s must-see sites are intentionally layered. Very few are strictly tourist attractions. Most are places that reward lingering, repeat visits, and emotional engagement. The Fountain Circle anchors the social life of the village. The Library reinforces discovery over acquisition. Shops like Émilie’s and Omar’s blur the line between mundane commerce and magical infrastructure.

East Haven serves as a contrast. Its attractions are impressive, curated, and well-organized, but often lack the intimacy and improvisational magic of West Haven. This distinction reinforces the broader thematic divide between control and emergence, certainty and discovery.

Many locations are invented as needed, on purpose. West Haven is meant to feel alive, responsive, and slightly unfinished, like a place that grows around the characters rather than ahead of them. If it feels like there’s always one more place to see, that’s working as intended.

Join Adam Dickstein of Barking Alien, and his RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE 2026!

Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 17

Day 17 - Wars & Battles

Day 17-Can you tell us about any famous battles or wars?
Tales of conflicts and combats abound across the multiverse! Any interesting ones in your setting we should know about?

Elowen’s Journal

"Witches do not remember wars the way other people do. Neither do ghosts.

The living talk about who won. The ghosts talk about what was never recovered afterward. Fields that never grew back the same. Songs that stopped being sung. Names no one says anymore because it hurts too much to remember them. Witches talk about what was lost.

I do not read about wars. I walk through them.

There are still ghosts here from what the historians call the Elf-Goblin Wars. That name is wrong. It always was. It was really a war between the elves of the old forest and the Mountain Orcs, long before humans ever came to the Haven Valley. The goblins were caught between them, and so were the dwarves. The dead remember confusion more than hatred. Orders that made no sense. Allies that vanished overnight. I cannot tell how long ago it was. A thousand years, maybe more. Time blurs when everyone involved is gone.

The conflict that shaped West Haven most was not really a war at all.

Before there was an East or a West, there was just Haven. One village. One valley. When fear took hold, fifteen women and men were accused of witchcraft by a mob led by a lay-priest of the Church of Light. The night they were meant to burn had already seen three days of heavy rain. Somewhere in the mountains, a glacier finally broke loose. The flood came down the valley and erased the village before the fires could be lit.

The witches survived. Most of the townsfolk did too. But Haven did not.

Afterward, people did what they always do. They moved apart. Humans went east to higher ground. Witches, both human and gnome, went west. Two towns grew from the same grief and the same blood and convinced themselves they had nothing left in common. When I walk near the lake, I can still see the old streets beneath the water. The ghosts remember when it was all one place."

Designer’s Notes

West Haven’s conflicts are defined less by battles than by their aftermath.

The Elf-Goblin War predates human settlement in the Haven Valley and was, in truth, a multi-sided conflict involving Mountain Orcs, Haven Elves, Goblins of the Wood, and Dwarves of the Rock. Its echoes linger in the form of lingering spirits, ruined sites, and long-standing cultural tensions that never fully healed.

The defining event for human history in the region is The Founding and the Flood. Originally settled as a spiritual utopia by followers of the Lords of Light, Haven later absorbed a second group of pagans, mystics, and practitioners of the Old Ways. Though uneasy, the two communities survived together until fear triggered witchcraft accusations and attempted purges. The Great Flood, whether an accident, fate, or an intervention by the gods, destroyed the original village and ended the violence.

It didn't end the distrust.

The resulting split gave rise to East Haven and West Haven. Both towns share laws, bloodlines, and trade, but diverged culturally and spiritually. That divergence, rather than any single war, is the wound that still shapes this setting. In West Haven, history is not past. It lingers, watches, and sometimes, if you know how to listen, it speaks.

Join Adam Dickstein of Barking Alien, and his RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE 2026!

#RPGaDAY 2020: Day 6 Forest

“A witch ought never to be frightened in the darkest forest, Granny Weatherwax had once told her, because she should be sure in her soul that the most terrifying thing in the forest was her.”

― Terry Pratchett, Wintersmith

From the primeval forests of our genetic race-memories to Sherwood to Mirkwood, to forest-covered moons in a galaxy far, far away.  The Forest has long been the boundary between what is civilized and safe to what is uncivilized, untamed, wild, and most definitely, not safe. 

The "Goblin" Forest of Haven

The forested area outside of West Haven in the Haven Valley is an old-growth forest of ancient date.  The expanse westward left this forested area surprising untouched.  Located north-west of West Haven the forest has always had a reputation of being haunted by all sorts of unsavory creatures. 

In the mid to late 1600s when the Haven Valley was first settled, the local parish in what would become East Haven decried the forest, claiming it was the abode of Satan himself and set to burn it down.  A tree, that was by all claims to be healthy and sturdy, fell and killed three of the parishioners include the town's Calvinist priest.  Several other "bizarre" accidents and people began to claim that the forest was inhabited by goblins and other foul creatures.  It was here it earned the name "The Goblin Wood" or "The Goblin Forest."

Even when the Industrial Revolution hit in the 1800s and trees for miles around were fed to the Gods of the Furnace and Industry, the Goblin Wood remained untouched.  

Now in the 21st Century, the Goblin Wood remains but there is still an air of mystery and danger about it.  While the general population doesn't believe in goblins, ghosts or even witches anymore there are still plenty of strange occurrences.  

The local USGS office claims the area is rich in naturally occurring magnetic ore.  They claim that the particular features of both the forest and the Haven Valley, in general, disrupt cell phone coverage and GPS signals.  One surveyor even claimed he could see the laser he was using for measuring "bend," though no amount of ore outside one as massive as a black hole could do that.  People walking into the wood with cell phones or GPS devices will find themselves going in circles rather than a straight line.

While scientists, meteorologists, and geologists have all come up with interesting theories about why the Haven Forest is the way it is, the people of West and East Haven know the truth.  And staying out of the forest at night is the one thing both communities can agree on.

If you don't think I have witches guarding all my forests and wild areas in my games you have not been paying attention.

Everything Old is New Again: The Original Known World

 The original Known World by Tom Moldvay and Lawrence Schick. 

The Known World Replica Map by James Mishler

It's no lie. I love maps. As a kid, I would read over maps, follow roads to see where they lead. I had a map of the city of Chicago hanging up in my room that I would just stare at and imagine what those streets were like from hundreds of miles away. I still have a map of Victorian-era London in my office that I still stare at.  Just the other night I spent hours pouring over a map of Westeros which has put me into the mood to reread A Song of Ice and Fire. 

So while back there was some new discussion about the Orginal Known World from Tom Moldvay and Lawrence Schick, the one that was the precursor to the World of Mystara of later BECMI use.  James Mishler, who also knows a thing or two about Mystara, put together a hex map of this world and I just can't stop reading it.  Such tantalizing treasures here.  Demi-orcs? So many Orc clans! A city called Keraptis? Tharks!  So many familiar names all in different places.

I know I talked about this one before but it still fascinates me.  The map covers an area about 2,400 miles east to west and 850 miles north to south. OR, about the same size as the continental United States (2,800 miles from furthest points east and west, 1,500 north to south).  

While I enjoy all of this it was largely academic interest. I mean after all I have plenty of worlds. Come Endless Darkness takes place in Oerth/World of Greyhawk, the Second Campaign is primarily a Mystara one, and Into the Nentir Vale is a solid Toril/Forgotten Realms campaign.  So my players are used to the idea of multiple universes and worlds. The characters of War of the Witch Queens are now beginning to learn about this.   So adding a new world only makes things difficult for me and really, it's not all that difficult.

Since "War of the Witch Queens" is my ode to both Basic-era D&D (currently using B/X as the rules base) AND to the many wonderful products in the Old-School scene I always felt I needed an old school world to fit the bill.  I had thought about using the BECMI "Urt" which gives me the same Mystara maps but make it a little different. Mystara we would later find out is hollow. Urt is a living planet akin to Mogo.  I do have a living planet I use in my Sci-fi games, Gaia, so I don't necessarily need another one.  Though Gaia is living in the sense there is a planetary wide consciousness as opposed to a living being.

While Urt, or even Urth, is fine, it isn't really what I want.  I want something old, or at least has a proper pedigree?  Why?  Because this campaign is not really about what I can make up. I have dozens of worlds, places, maps, you name it, but I want something different than what I can do.  

It was while reading a series of posts (links below) from Jonathan Becker on B/X Blackrazor that gave me an idea. 

Why not use this Moldvay/Schick Known World as the PC's world in War of the Witch Queens?

Sure. I should really use Mystara or Mystoerth for a proper B/X feel, but yet this map calls to me. It begs me to explore it.  It isn't the whole world, of course, it is just the known world.  Sure it's not my world.  But I also had no say in being born in Illinois and as a longing for a magical place called Chicago.  BTW Chicago did in fact live up to (and down to) my dreams of it.

I get some familiar names, remixed in new ways.  I already established my East Haven and West Haven towns and how East Haven in my "world" is in the same spot as Haven on Krynn. West Haven of course is West Haven in every world; it is a Nexus Point.  

There is a lot going on this map and it really works for me.  It comes from a time period I really want my Witch Queens campaign to be all about.   Plus it makes Glantri (and Darokin) into a Welsh-like kingdom (and BEGS me to make the ruler King Llywelyn the Great).  Gorllewin even means "West" in Welsh.  This really appeals to me. Glantrin as a Welsh city instead of a faux-Italian one?  Yeah! That sounds fun. I get to use Glantri again, but this is a very different one that the Glantri of Mystara run by xenophobic mage-Princes.  

Then there are all these other details in a map that is just 200 by 200 miles. Deep Ones living nearby? Hell yeah! Again I could spend hours on this map. I mean what the hell is Nanq-Rubbob?? I must know! Looks like some sort of Russian/Slavic Empire to the northeast. Fallen Thyatis to the west. Welsh halflings? Sounds like hobbits to me! Malpheggi Clans? Sounds like swamp hags live here next to the Deep Ones. There are those demi-orcs again. What are they? I don't know but I can't wait to find out!

And really that is it isn't it?  What is out there? I don't know, but I can't wait to find out!

Links

• Moldvay & Schick’s Known World, Atlas of Mystara
• The "Known World" D&D Setting: A Secret History, Black Gate
• Let’s Map Mystara Together, The Piazza
• The Original Known World, Adventures in Gaming v2
• Dragonsfoot Discussion
• JB's posts on B/X Blackrazor:
• Dragons of Insanity
• What Matters
• Reclamation Project
• Adventures by Lawrence Schick
• Adventures and Books by Tom Moldvay

Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 11

Day 11 - Where to Find Adventure?

Day 11-Where would we go to find 'adventure'?
We've left the relative safety of the starting area and now we're looking for action! 

Elowen's Journal

"Adventure seems to be everywhere near West Haven.

The Goblin Wood is the obvious answer. It always feels like something is watching you there, even when the branches are still, and the paths look clear. The lake seems safer, wide and open, but it is not. There are so many ghosts in the water, and not all of them are quiet. Some of them remember drowning. Some of them are still trying to get home. The Maiden Wood frightens me more than either of those places. It is too calm, too deliberate, as if it is waiting for permission to be dangerous. And the Cailleach’s Bones… I do not linger there. Some spirits are old enough that they no longer remember being human, and that is not the kind of attention I want.

My first real adventure did not even involve leaving the region. Aisling and I took what we thought would be a harmless weekend trip to East Haven to see the markets. Somewhere along the way, we ended up with someone else’s pack full of stolen jewels. By the end of the day, we had the town authorities and the thieves’ guild both looking for us, and I learned just how uncomfortable a jail cell can be when you can see the ghosts pacing outside it. Katrina had to come get us out, and I do not think she has ever let us forget it. We did manage to sort it all out and even got a reward. 

That is the thing about West Haven. You do not usually go looking for adventure here. It finds you first."

Designer's Notes

West Haven was built to make adventure feel close at hand. The surrounding locations, the Goblin Wood, the lake, the Maiden Wood, the Cailleach’s Bones, even the Broken Mountains, and the larger presence of East Haven, all sit within easy reach, but none of them are truly safe. Each presents a different kind of danger, and witches in particular learn to read those dangers before swords are drawn or spells are cast.

One of the design goals was to ensure that adventure did not always require long journeys or epic quests. Trouble can emerge from a simple trip, a bad coincidence, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. For witches, danger is often social, spiritual, or situational rather than purely martial. West Haven supports this by placing mystery, conflict, and consequence not just beyond the village gates but with the alleys and buildings of the village as well. It is a place where the world presses close, and where players quickly learn that staying alert matters more than seeking glory.

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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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Elowen Hale: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

“Elowen walks like she knows where the puddles are going to be before the rain even starts. She never yells when things go wrong. She just smiles and says we’ll fix it. And then we do. I like going on adventures with her. The ghosts don’t bother her, and she always remembers to pack snacks.” - Doireann, Goblin witch

In many ways, this is the core Elowen, the one I think of when I talk about her.

Elowen died, but she returned changed. Animals respond to her in uncanny ways. Certain undead recoil. Divination spells sometimes yield contradictory results when cast upon her. Detect Evil finds nothing. Detect Magic sometimes flickers.

Among her coven sisters, she is treated with reverence and caution. The Old Religion teaches that death is a doorway. Elowen has stepped through it, and then turned around and stepped back. That doesn't happen, not without a good reason. 

Elowen has a Witch Mark. In this case, the Witch Mark of Sight. Her sight allows her to see ghosts, spirits, and any incorporeal undead, even when they are invisible.  The downside is that they can also always see her. 

Elowen Hale
1st-level Human Witch (High Order), Neutral Good

Secondary Skill: Initiate

S: 10
I: 16
W: 15
D: 12
C: 14
Ch: 17

Paralysis/Poison: 13
Petrify/Polymorph: 13
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 14
Breath Weapon: 16
Spells: 15

AC: 10
HP: 6
THAC0: 20

Weapon
Dagger 1d4/1d3

Familiar: Cat, "Mirepoix"

Spells
Cantrips: Detect Curse, Ghost Sound, Chill, Mend Minor Wounds
First level: Ghostly Slashing, Detect Spirits, Minor Curse

Witch Mark: Witch Sight (see spirits)

Theme song: Home (Prospertine)

This is Elowen at the very start of her adventures. She is currently traveling the world with Doireann and Aisling as they travel with the Free Elves. 

--

Witch Marks are something new I am working on. Elowen has the Witch Mark of Sight, and it allows her to see ghosts, spirits, and any incorporeal or invisible undead. It means they can also see her and know she has seen them. Aisling also has the Witch Mark of Sight, but hers allows her to see auras. The side effect is that Aislign is looking at someone with her witch sight, they know they are being watched, and it makes them uncomfortable. 

Elowen speaks Common, her Alignment Language, Elven, and Draconic. She still has three more languages she can learn. I am fairly sure that if she continues to hang out with Dori, she will learn Goblin. I am saving the other two to figure out later on.

I am also finally detailing where she is from. She is from one of the richer sections of East Haven, or maybe just outside of it. Her family is well off; I figure her father is some sort of import/export merchant. Not someone who sells things himself, but manages a lot of merchandise for others to sell. It would also explain why they knew of Larina, or at least the witches of West Haven. It also goes to show how much the people of East Haven try to avoid thinking about anything that might remind them of West Haven, given how little Elowen first knew about things. 

She wears a witch hat that looks like Larina's. Makes sense since it was a gift from her mentor for her adventures. 

Other Stats

• Tales of the Valiant
• Pathfinder 2nd Edition

Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 15

Day 15 - Things Best Avoided

Day 15-What are some things in the setting that are best avoided?
Dangerous terrain, haunted places, angry natives, and even unpleasant beverages; name some elements in your campaign that should be given a wide berth. Obviously these are beings and things in the setting the tourist should avoid but which Player Characters would likely run towards. 

Elowen's Journal

"People warned me about West Haven when I first arrived. They said it was dangerous. Haunted. Wrong. I think that’s funny now.

The places I avoid are quieter than that.

I stay away from the lake. I can’t explain it properly, only that the ghosts there feel unfinished in a way that makes my chest hurt. Not loud. Not violent. Just… stuck. Some of them don’t even know they’re dead. Others know too well. I can stand at the shore, but I never linger. I don’t like how the water remembers.

East Haven makes me nervous. I can walk its streets. I have. But it feels like a place that watches you back. The rules are clearer there, sharper somehow, and I am never quite sure which ones I am breaking just by existing. My first real adventure started there, and I learned quickly that “safe” and “familiar” are not the same thing.

I will not go near the Cailleach’s Bones. Everyone says you can feel them before you see them, and they are right. The spirits there are old and proud and very sure they were right to die for what they believed. That kind of certainty frightens me more than anger ever could.

The Maiden Wood is worse. Everyone avoids it. Even people who pretend they don’t believe curses can affect them still take the long way around. I know better than to ask questions. I have seen Larina walk into that forest more than once, calm as if she were stepping into her own kitchen. That does not make me feel safer. It makes me feel like there are rules I do not yet understand.

What surprises me most is that people think West Haven itself is frightening. They whisper about witches and ghosts and strange folk in the streets. To me, it feels honest. The dangerous places announce themselves here. The truly terrible things do not bother with disguises.

If I have learned anything, it is this: not everything dangerous feels threatening, and not everything that feels safe actually is. West Haven taught me that. It also taught me how to listen when the land says, quietly but firmly, do not go there."

Designer Notes

This day reframes classic adventure locations as lived warnings rather than explicit hooks. Elowen’s perspective emphasizes instinct, emotional danger, and spiritual weight over physical threat. Places players will be eager to explore are introduced as areas locals avoid for reasons that are felt rather than explained. 

West Haven is a paradox: widely feared by outsiders, yet experienced by residents as a place of clarity, where danger is visible and negotiable. This reinforces the setting’s core philosophy: witches and ghosts make the world safer not by removing danger, but by naming it. This is a "witch village," the villagers are not afraid of the same things.  

This sets up future adventures while reinforcing trust in intuition, boundaries, and the idea that some places are not meant to be entered until you are ready—or ever.

There is an ancient elven ruin in the Goblin Wood. The Lake is cursed, as are the Callieach's Bones. The Maiden Wood isn't cursed, but the dryads are violent to outsiders. There are more haunted houses in West Haven than in cities five times larger. 

There are wererats fighting aligatormen in the sewers and septic pits under the village. Werewolves roam north of the village, and they are barely contained by the Rangers of the North Star. There are enough undead to keep the Church of Light and the Knights of St. Werper busy for decades. 

There's a lot to do here, and almost none of it is safe. Elowen might avoid these places, but I suspect adventurers won't. 

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Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 28

Day 28 - Parting Thoughts

Day 28 - Is there anything else we should know before we head home?
Any parting knowing you want to leave us with that didn't fit anywhere else?

Elowen’s Journal

"My parents left after their visit.

They wished me well. They told me they thought I was doing really well here. My mother hugged Larina. Larina, even after everything I’ve learned about her authority and power, smiled and hugged her back with the same warmth. I think my father wanted to as well. He hesitated, then laughed, a little embarrassed. That felt important somehow.

I’m getting ready for my first real adventure now. Larina says there’s only so much I can learn in books, though I’ve seen her library and I’m certain it would take several lifetimes to master even a fraction of it. Still, she’s right. I’m heading out with Aisling and Eoddard. They travel with the Free Elves when they pass through each spring. Doireann is coming too. She’s never left the Haven Valley. I haven’t either, not since I arrived here three years ago. She’s scared but excited. So am I.

The last time Aisling and I went on an adventure together, we ended up in an East Haven jail. I’m hoping this time we make it a little farther down the road.

The ghosts surprised me most of all. They wished me well. Even those who had never spoken to me before offered quiet blessings as I passed. That felt…like the end of something, but in a good way. Renee hugged me so tight I thought she was going to choke me. She is quite strong for such a small woman. She gave me a bag filled with little satchels of different teas. She said I'll know which ones to brew when. She also packaged up a bunch of her little pumpkin muffins. Though I think Dori and I ate half of them before we got back to Larina's cottage.

I know that no matter what lies ahead, I have a home to return to. I also hope I can come back with enough gold to get a place of my own. I loved Larina’s spare room, but it’s time. Change is part of the work.

I’m leaving this journal here for safekeeping. Omar stopped by earlier with some gear Larina purchased for me. On top was a brand-new journal and a new witch's hat.

I can’t wait to fill that one too."

Designer’s Notes

West Haven is not just a “Witch Haven.” It is a crossroads and a home, a place where witches from different editions, systems, and eras can meet without explanation. The lens is always whatever game I’m playing at the time, but the world remains consistent. NPCs may follow different rules than the player characters. That’s intentional. Mystery matters.

I wanted to involve as many characters as possible. Some appear more than others. Elowen and Aisling naturally surfaced together. Others, like Rána, remained distant by design. She belongs to the Maiden Wood, and Elowen’s fear of that place keeps them apart, so their tales rarely intersect. BTW I have had more ideas about what the Maiden Wood is all about, but that will be for another time I think. 

Most importantly, I wanted a place characters could call home.

The Lord of the Rings is ultimately about returning. Odysseus is nothing without Ithaca. West Haven exists so characters can leave, grow, break, change, and still have somewhere that remembers them.

Finally, this series is tied directly to Advanced Witches & Warlocks. While I avoided direct statistics, nearly everything described here emerged from those rules or their playtests. This is an invitation, not an explanation. If you want to know how this world works, the door is open.

-

And that is a wrap on another challenge! Thanks to Adam Dickstein of Barking Alien for this challenge; it was a lot of fun. It was great reading others' posts and meeting their Tour Guides. This came at the right time, really. I had just thought up Elowen, and she turned out to be perfect for this task. She is going to be a great character, and I hope she has many great adventures.

Elowen and Shae. May they have many adventures!

Join Adam Dickstein of Barking Alien, and his RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE 2026!