Ferona

[His Lordship]

Back in 2006/2007, DBN and I were going to create a game called Shadowcast, an MMORPG.
This would have been the map:


^Right click > View Image to expand^

What I love about this map is that it is geographically feasible, unlike Runescape where deserts are a short walk away from icy mountains, and tropical islands that are square in shape.
Geilenor is seriously flawed... seriously.

Mine is all plains and forests, with two great mountains in the middle.
It's only an island, but to give you a sense of scale, the town in the bottom left, Clara, is about the size of Varrock.
So there is a lot of wilderness and no mans land in between, but truly that is where all the excitement is.
I would have placed great roaming boeasts, haunted sections of a forest, travelling minstrels that you could only stumble on by chance etc.
It's a game where the cities are only starting points, and the real adventures are out in the open wilderness.

And please do look at the map and imagine the backstories to it.
I spent at least 30-40 hours inventing this world.
I made sure all the names were significant.
There is not a single insignificant name.

I'll name a few now:

Dendon's Teeth (top of the map) - A series of rocky outcrops in the water. Dendon is an underwater beast that will die if it is ever seen by a human. It is extremely powerful save for this one weakness. It doesn't actually appear in the game, but it causes great ocean storms and whirlpools... so no it is never seen.

Fratres (centre-left, by the lake) - The latin word for "eternal bond of brothers". A community of spiritual men who worship the land's deity, also skilled in a westernised version of ninjitsu. They develop cutting edge methods of assassination (via weapon technique, poison, the lot) but they kill for the greater good.

The Pilgrim's Sea (bottom left) - This land (since it is an island) was undiscovered by man for a very, very long time. The first men who arrived 800 years ago were pilgrims escaping persecution in a distant land. They founded the city of...

Geroba, which in their old tongue translates to the meeting point between the earthly realm and the spirit world, though this is all but forgotten by modern man. The city fell into ruin under mysterious circumstances and was abandoned 500 years ago, and then in the last century reclaimed and rebuilt. The city now looks like a hybrid of the old style and the new style of architecture.

Clara (near Geroba) - The town near Geroba, named after the wife of a ruling elder in Geroba, who reclaimed the city in the last century. It is a new town, built around a giant statue of Clara, who gave her life in exchange for her husbands, who was mortally wounded in a hunt. She was one of the few people who knew the incantation of life, which allows the life force of one person to be moved into another. This incantation of course can be used for great evil, but so good was she that rather than sacrifice any other living thing, she gave herself up to save her husband. When her husband had recovered, he left Geroba and spent all his wealth building Clara in her memory.

Unnammed Village (near Clara) - This is the starting village for all player characters. You wake up on the shore with nothing but a harp-like instrument (but not quite a harp) and a small boat, not remembering anything of your past. The village has the basics of life in Ferona. A chapel for the worship of the diety, docks for fishing, a town hall etc... the whole village is built around the grand oak, next to which is a deep well that draws water from near the oak's deepest roots. It is said to give long life to those who drink from it. This village is made of people who left Clara, seeking a simpler life without the complexities of living in a big town.

______________

Those are six names on the map.
Imagine what I thought up for the rest!

I still want to turn this into a game.
PLEASE comment with your thoughts. Don't just read and close, or tl;dr

[c-3-l]

Do it! i will totally play! Looks amazing! Great detail and work put into it i can see. :D good job

[Keith]

Well if you ever need any advise landscape wise - being a geology major that knows a shit ton, AND have MADE topographic maps, I could probably help you out if you're looking to keep things logical and real and you want to expand.

It actually seems really cool, and I definitely remember you guys talking back and forth about something like this haha

edit: MYYYYY FARONA..M M M M M MYY MYY MYY WOOH!

double edit: Also double advise you to read the wheel of time series, I know you own it but idk if you read it, it has soo many things in it that probably could help with inspiration as well

[Toby]

How will this game be like? Would it be like Runescape, WoW, Skyrim?

It would be awesome if it was like a new improved runescape, bigger, better etc.

Love the map, looks awesome..How are you gonna make a game like that? doesn't it take years to develop?

[Mojo]

Ferona you say. Reminds me of something.

[spoiler]Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.[/spoiler]

[His Lordship]

I realised that retrospectively.
I would rename the land now.
Haven't decided what to.

[Mark]

If you turn this into an alternate Runescape. I'd deffo play, but i know I'm asking too much :P

[Tayzon_Day]

Skyrim-ish online game plz

[Gimingo]

Really cool idea... Is it based 100% off interactions between players (ex. no quests, tasks, etc.)?

[Rachellove9]

That is pretty amazing and the community would have to work together to be good.

[Taibz]

Would there be quests to level up or like in RS where u have to go train on monsters and shit? Quests would be 10x better imo.
And what about bosses? Have you thought of any cool monsters yet? Inb4 'Living Sword' which looks like a Saradomin Sword that penetrates its opponents in a sexual way.

[Kevin]

wow oh boy this is