Spes Magna Games

The first Tuesday of June 2025 is here, and I’m on summer vacation for reals. No summer teaching for me. Huzzah.

So, my challenge becomes how to stay busy. One part the answer? Well, I found out I have a Substack. I’m also going to Learn Latin better since I’m teaching Latin to 5th and 6th graders starting in August. On the gaming front, I’m heading off to North Texas RPG again this year, and I’ve got good intentions to run several games on-line. Click to see my summer gaming calendar.

Also, I’m making a hexcrawl, starting with this, made via Deck of Worlds from The Story Engine (which I talked about here).

Nature’s beauty and danger both adorn the Bayou of Feathers, home to a myriad species of colorful birds. Legend says that Droainon, Goddess of Water and Sorrow, created the Bayou of Feathers as a gift for Tronsos, God of Thieves and Beauty, who failed to be moved by Droainon’s display of unrequited love. The region had been rolling plains and forests divided by a mighty river. Droainon dammed the river with great granite blocks decorated with an enormous bas-relief of thousands of birds in flight. Hurt by Tronsos’s derision at her gift, Droainon wept bitter tears into the bayou’s waters, and these tears turned the water brackish and pestilential.

Refugees fleeing a nearby region have moved into the Bayou of Feathers, encamping a few clustered islands. The establishment of their new community has not been easy. The bayou’s waters are not safe to drink unless properly treated; what’s more, the brackishness makes agriculture difficult.

Next up? A hexmap of the region!

Tags: Bayou of Feathers, Deck of Worlds, places of power, Sandbox Campaigns

So, I purchased Deck of Worlds from The Story Engine. It arrived in a sturdy box.

Inside the box, six unequally sized decks of cards rest in separate niches. Each deck came shrink-wrapped, which I understand why, but, man, do my old fingers have a hard time with shrink-wrapping. Each deck is one of six different types of cards: Regions, Landmarks, Namesakes, Origins, Attributes, and Advents.

The basic use of Deck of Worlds is to create microsettings. This is done by dealing out one card from each deck in the order listed above. Below are the six cards I ended up with.

Once the cards are dealt, cards two through five are “built” up around the Region card, making choices for each card as seems best. Landmarks and Advents come with two options. The other cards present four options. Once the choices were made, I ended up with this configuration of cards for my first Deck of Worlds microsetting.

Thus, I have the Hissing Grassland with its Village Built with Blood Money. The Region is subject to Seasonal Flooding. The Contents of an Important Archive Are Being Held Hostage in the Village.

I like it.

If you’re interested in more information, check out this ten-minute tutorial as well as the links in the first paragraph above.

Tags: Deck of Worlds, Sandbox Campaigns, The Story Engine