U'amea - Campaign Diary: Archipelago Adventures - Pt. 41

I keep saying over and over that this adventure isn’t dead, that it is merely on hiatus until I get back to it. Well, I’m back and I’m here to share what I’ve been doing. Now, I know that my last post here was back in January so it’s fair to assume that I just abandoned this project, but fear not, it’s not dead… merely simmering in a crock pot, slowly melding its flavors together.

I’ve been working on a lot of stuff recently, from doing updates to the Witch and Psion class, to making a Mass Combat system, and even more that it yet ready for me to reveal it - and I’m really excited to share about the massive thing I’ve been working on…

Anyway, I’ve gotten an excuse to work on this adventure a bit more, and I will have more excuses to work on it! See, I have a few players who wanted to do some more mass combat stuff outside of the main campaign, so I decided to incorporate mass combat, this island adventure, and Pathfinder 2e into a singular thing. I don’t know what possessed me to do this, but I think it’ll be fun and it gives me an excuse to devote some of my busy life to this adventure and ensuring that maybe one day… it might be 20% done instead of just 15% done. To that end, let me show you the new thing I’ve made and what my future plans are!

Welcome to U’amea

Before, we renamed Nepu-Nepu (so good it was named twice) to the city of U’amea, a city of iron and rust. This is our starting city in the adventure and is assumed to be a home to most, if not all, the PCs.

What I’ve created is a three page brief document that goes over the basics of U’amea and is something we can further refine in the future. It includes a brief history lesson on the city, including the important individual responsible for it’s discovery, as well as information in regards to the current city.

We talked earlier about how the city is run by the Misa, a royal title for those who are in charge of the city’s interests. The most powerful among them are the Misa of Coin, Iron, and Sword… so taxes, there massive trade good, and the gaurds who protect the island for sea raiders. Pretty understandable why they were choosen as the top of their group. After them are the six minor Misa: Art, Fish, Pearl, Trade, Ship, and Water.

You can probably guess what each of those individuals are in charge of and this also provides the DM with what things that the city values. Having a Misa of Art instead of a Misa of Roads shows that they are more interested in art than they are in transporation on their island, just as having a Misa of Ships and Misa of Water shows that they are focused on not just ships that are built here, but also on the waves and water that goes through their island. The Misa of Water not only deals with erosion on the iron walls but also with sewage from the city.

The next page deals with the districts inside of U’amea as well as some of the outer lying areas to help you build up the city. It also provides a bit of flavor when using this yourself to help figure out how people in this city operate. Afternoon naps, tea, iron, and more are the mainstays of this city as well as the beautiful statues and their interest in art and beauty. It’s a wealthy city that uses iron in much of its construction simply because it is cheaper than wood, though most will build their homes out of stones, clay, and bricks which is by far cheaper.

Our 3rd page focuses and shows off the island itself! A little information is provided on the few villages/important sites of this island as well as one sentence about each of the nearby islands. This page is handy as an easy reference to just look at the island, and if you’ll notice… it’s kind of small. Only about 5 miles across and 3 miles wide at the widest. It’s a cute little island full of iron and stones with little else it can offer the inhabitants. Luckily, the southern hills can actually support farms and so you can grow cereal crops down there.

Our final page is just a little something extra for everyone to enjoy! It helps provide a bit of information about the technology level going on here. Because these are island-focused folk, not many of them are going to be wearing heavy armor, especially not on a boat as they like to live. Of course, not everyone is so scared of a bit of water and the iron-mads are happy to try and make you some armor for the water… it’ll just take some times as well as cost a bit extra.

After that, I’m also throwing in a new weapon - the Belly Bow! Or I could use it’s actual name… the gastraphetes… which is hard to say. I was inspired to make this thanks to this video by Tod’s Workshop.

I’ve never been happy with the fact that the crossbow is so… hand-waved in D&D. Crossbows took a shit ton of time to load and, while yes we are talking about ‘heroes’ (depending on your perspective), still doesn’t mean that physics stops working. Sigh… this is just a hill I’m going to die on, alone and with no one else besides me. I hear you… it’s just a game but… but… sigh. I’m never leaving this hill.

The Adventure Continues

Anyways, that’s what I’ve done this past week and I’m excited to get back to this adventure. I’m not saying there will be a new post every week, but I will hopefully be a bit more frequent than once every 6 months. I need to make some islands and continue this main story of the archipelago adventure. I think there is a lot of hidden potential in this adventure, and I hope you can join me on this crazy ride! If you’ve been working on a few island ideas of your own, I’d love to hear them! The best ones will get added to my list and maybe one day will get revealed to everyone!