Melwan and travel links to Dearg

[FantomPencil]

Is there a map of the vale of Melwan in existence anywhere?
I've done a quick search of the forum but nothing obvious appeared.

Started running the Poison scenario at the weekend (so far so good!) and a map of Melwan and its surroundings would have been very useful. I guessed that Melwan was about two days foot travel from Dearg. Correct..?

Also, how do the roads connect with Loch Varn, Melwan and Dearg? Is the Abandoned Inguard #3 on the Dearg Vale map the same as the Inguard of Dohag's Pass in the Loch Varn map & scenario in Book 0? Or is Dohag's Pass further south?

I did say I'd have some questions...

[Clovis]

The closest thing you'd have are the maps of the Vale of Dearg included in Book 3 - Dearg (p. 17 and 260-261) that you've mentioned. For the time being, no map of Melwan in sight... though there is a Melwan book in the works! It'll be a while, though.

I don't remember by heart whether the distance between Melwan and Dearg is specified in Prologue or Dearg, but if it is not, feel free to establish whatever you deem most fitting—and convenient!

How the roads connect the villages together isn't established either, so you can come up with what you like. You can even use that to introduce or spice up scenarios!

Dohag's Pass and its Inguard are definitely meant to be further south compared to the Abandoned Inguard. However, again, you can consider otherwise if it suits your purposes!

[StripelessTiger]

Melwan, Fearil, Dearg, and Loch Varn are very close to each other because they gather for joint celebrations (Book 3, p.98 - Gaol: Of Love and Fury resurgence). Dearg acts as the central point between the other three. Melwan is past Neart's Stronghold (map on p.17 of Book 3), and southwest of Dearg.

To answer your other question, Dohag's Pass (used in the Loch Varn scenario) is shown on a mini-map on page 39 of Book 0 - Prologue. It looks like it is south of the Vale of Melwan, but I think it is rotated because Loch Varn is almost directly East in relation to Dearg. I think the pass is between them as you exit the Vale of Dearg. You can clearly see an Inguard on the mountain-tops in Book 3 that kinda matches the one in the Prologue book diagram.

I'm assuming true North based on the pennisula and continent map, not the zoomed-in versions in the books. A compass might have been nice.

As for the Distances...

According to the Map Tool, Dearg and Melwan are exactly 23.368 km (14.5 miles) apart on their own road (not the one linking Melwan to Loch Varn). Assuming a normal walking pace on Flat terrain (3 mph), it will take 6 hours. I think the Map Tool always uses Forest terrain for some reason (2.5mph) so its more like 5 hours, which makes more sense since according to the map the roads runs along a mountain through woods.

Book 2 - Travels has the walking speeds on page 50.

Alternatively, I printed a map and used a ruler to make a inch-to-mile scale and made my own set of "makeshift values" and they came damn close to the official ones.

My value for Dearg is 18 miles and makes for longer trips than the official distances. I rate the difficulty as being Forest terrain (2.5mph on Foot) which should take 7 hours instead when using my value.

However, it all depends on the Travel skill of the players and how many hours they can walk in a day.

Travel 0: 2 hours/day
Travel 1-3: 5 hours/day
Travel 4-5: 10 hours/day

BUT BUT BUT keep in mind that the Map Tool uses 8 hours to calculate its "day" total. So 1 day, 2 hours is actually 8 hr + 2hr = 10 hours, which an expert Varigal can do in a single day without having to rest for a night.

Hope that helps!

[Clovis]

Thanks for your input, StripelessTiger. How thorough of you! That's impressive!

And doh, of course there's Esteren Maps! How remiss of me!

[StripelessTiger]

Thanks for your input, StripelessTiger. How thorough of you! That's impressive!

And doh, of course there's Esteren Maps! How remiss of me!

I love the Map Tool, and I'm surprised I never knew about it. It is the best kept secret of Esteren! It took me some time to find the English version of the site. I was translating the french side of this forum and stumbled on it.

I've looked at the GitHub code and it is quite nice, but even still, it needs alot of work. It is occasionally incorrect, or fails to load completely. The GUI needs some overhaul. I'm curious how it was created. I think it is official, but I'm not sure. Did the Kickstarter include funding for it?

Back on topic:
I would say the map kit and contents and the illustrations in the various books are meant to be aides and not cartographic diagrams. They are slanted, rotated away from North, and typically embellished to make the items fit the page and look interesting. Not very useful for hard numbers, more of a generalization.

When I first was coming up with my own numbers in my reading, I used a reference in canon of someone's travel time. Equating a day's worth of travel in Esteren and using 4 mph (15 min/mile) I came up with vastly larger numbers than the official ones before I had access to better map materials.

Looking back, it makes more sense for shorter time because a) the scenarios need to be less focused on walking for 3 sessions to get from one place to another, and more on the narrative, and b) Esteren's Pennisula is modeled after Ireland or Scotland, which are islands/peninsulas and small, so travelling should not take very long.

[Clovis]

Esteren Maps was indeed funded through Kickstarter and was initially only meant for backers. However, as things are, there is no reason for it not to be available to the whole community. We definitely need to advertise it more!

If you would be interested in bringing your ideas to the board, feel free to contact Pierstoval, who is the programmer behind Esteren Maps, either by PM here or directly on the Esteren Discord.

And yes, the maps and illustrations are present to give a general idea of the environment the characters are exploring, not to be perfectly accurate. As I mentioned, the Game Leader is free to eyeball the distance and traveling times to best fit te chronology they want the game to follow.

[StripelessTiger]

Esteren Maps was indeed funded through Kickstarter and was initially only meant for backers. However, as things are, there is no reason for it not to be available to the whole community. We definitely need to advertise it more!

If you would be interested in bringing your ideas to the board, feel free to contact Pierstoval, who is the programmer behind Esteren Maps, either by PM here or directly on the Esteren Discord.

And yes, the maps and illustrations are present to give a general idea of the environment the characters are exploring, not to be perfectly accurate. As I mentioned, the Game Leader is free to eyeball the distance and traveling times to best fit te chronology they want the game to follow.

There is a Discord channel! Hot damn. How do I be a part of that? UPDATE: Oop, nvm, found it.

[Clovis]

We'll be happy to see you there, then!

[FantomPencil]

Just reading the Dearg pdf, and on the bottom of page 194, in the section Optional Scene, the opening line of the third paragraph states that "Getting to Dearg will only take three days."
Makes sense, otherwise why mention the PCs sheltering in a mountain chapel at the start of Poison..?
I thought that pass looked steep and winding...

[StripelessTiger]

Just reading the Dearg pdf, and on the bottom of page 194, in the section Optional Scene, the opening line of the third paragraph states that "Getting to Dearg will only take three days."
Makes sense, otherwise why mention the PCs sheltering in a mountain chapel at the start of Poison..?
I thought that pass looked steep and winding...

Oh wow, nice catch. Travelling on mountains is rough, but both weather and steepness could be factors in lengthening their travel time. Point A to B is X miles, but going uphill then down, the actual walked miles Y is going to be much larger.