The Dhogem of the Deeps, Pt. 4 – The Sea of Madness

Surrounded on all but its western coast by lava flows, the great Sea of Madness is a stormy, fog-shrouded, and bubbling body of salt water as vast as the Great Chasm and filled with a greater ecological variety than one might expect given the ambient temperatures — though the waters’ temperature is cooler than one …

The Dhogem of the Deeps, Pt. 3 – The Great Ford

A huge, underground river flows just east of the barren tunnels at the edge of the Serpent’s Vaults, and a mighty keep rules this river, serving as massive dam, castle, and center of irrigation all at once. The Dhogem that live in this region are an odd juxtaposition — both simple-minded and cosmopolitan at once. …

The Dhogem of the Deeps, Pt. 2 – The Vaults of the Serpent

Beneath the dense granite mountains that rise out of the white sands of Ticonderos’ western shores hide an abundance of labyrinthine tunnels filled with gemstones and valuable ores. The Dhogem who dwell in these vaults are the most “human-like” in their culture, using their abundant material wealth for technological advancement, for trade, and for carving …

The Dhogem of the Deeps, Pt. 1 – The Great Chasm

The Dhogem, an intelligent, humanoid race thought to have evolved over time from moles, live almost exclusively underground congregating into one of a few major ecological systems. For the most part, they are a merit-based, egalitarian people who tend to exalt those most qualified into positions of leadership and power; though there are some exceptions. …

Magic in Ticonderos

I realized last night that, before I begin to delve too deeply into the socio-political landscape of both the over and under worlds of Ticonderos, I had better get a more concrete grasp of what magic exists in the setting and how each of them works. Being a “classic fantasy” setting with some twists, and …

Welcome to the Guts Between

Let’s peel back some of the obtusness of my project and get into some of the details of what I’m planning, what I’m doing, and how things feel, man. The Waybetween is my “space opera,” you might say, it’s a universe filled with what used to be whole worlds in various stages of development, reduced …

Shardbuilding: Ticonderos

“Ticonderos” is the codename I’m working with, until I come up with the actual name, for the “classic fantasy setting” I plan to launch The Waybetween tabletop RPG and website roleplay community with. The idea is to launch three, perhaps four, shards of different genres, size, and depth for players to dive into and create …

Cratertown, an Introduction

What they do, it’s not so much terraforming as it is pumping atmo into and around the rock. Results in a heavy increase in seismic activity, the emergence of trapped liquids and gases, and it’s not exactly energy efficient, but it makes a place livable in less than a thousand years. You can pump a …

The Crucible of Coal

CLANK! The souls of this dark, lifeless world have long since passed. CLANK! The world itself warped and broken. CLANK! It has been taken by the Abyss. Clink! Clink! All save the dilapidated castle that floats through the nihilistic morass of time decayed. Clink! It is nothing more than a Shard now. But deep within …

The Switchboard

Yeah, yeah , hello. My name’s Ziegander. So, you’ve been tangled in her webs too, have you? Well, where are you headed, then? You like swords and magic? Or is it fear that drives you? Barren moons and ray guns, maybe? Or… perhaps you’ve come to walk the Dark… I could show you how, you …