Stories in the Outer Reaches and Off The Beaten Path

July 12, 2022

Everyone understands the value of playing a role-playing game in a familiar setting. The streets are filled with recognizable characters and fruit carts, and who doesn’t want to know the apple they’re buying is top notch, even if it’s a pretend apple?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqRB_luxmK

But it’s not just Skywing elves who have wanderlust. All elves and humans (Xadian and Earthling) know that wild adventure comes with unexplored areas, and some gorgeous official maps of Xadia exist with thousands of miles of uncharted territory.

Narrators, let’s huddle up and talk about how to take players into those mysterious places!

Your Secret’s Safe

Feeling authentic to the show gets tricky! It can feel weird when you invent a city and then while watching a future, hypothetical episode of The Dragon Prince Rayla refers to the area as a desolate wasteland stretching for miles.

Luckily, there are limitless forests, oceans, mountains, and tundras to choose from, each full of unlabeled ambiguity. Want a biome you don’t see? Just get a little vague about where it is on the map, or call it a magic plane. Or do what I did in The Tale of the Lost Oasis and have the town float above the map!

By making the location a great unknown, you can also have fun with the way PCs find out about it. It could be the whispers of a thief or the translation of ancient runes. There’s a reason it’s not on the map! Perhaps it even contains and individual who has worked hard to keep it that way.

Filling The Blank

Just don’t be intimidated by lore. That’s what is key. Lore is to be “respected” rather than feared, so to speak. Use it when you can, but don’t let it ruin your day! Because it’s only there to be loved and enjoyed– this is your big chance to feel empowered by a contribution to this rich world.

Examples of locations you could place on blank map spots could include–

A steamy beach where lava runs into the Gulf of Tenebris
A tiny, hard to see island in the Independant Isles
A town hidden deep in the Evenerean jungle swamp
A magical Neolandian city that only appears in close proximity, like a reverse mirage
Underwater ruins under the sea amongst the Shiverglades

None of those places is canon, not at all. I made them up just for you while looking at the official Xadian map available on thedragonprince.com. I’m sure you can magic up something yourself with an illustration that rich!