Alken

A TTRPG setting built for a vast array of adventures.

Alken is my first venture into tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) design. I aimed to create a setting that facilitates slower-paced political dramas, where high-charisma characters can thrive, while also providing opportunities for high-stakes action and combat for more martial characters. In developing Alken, I had several goals:

  • To feature a wide variety of realistic biomes that inspire creative storytelling.

  • To craft a world that encourages questions, allowing both players and the Dungeon Master (DM) to build upon each other's interpretations.

  • To fill the setting with characters that had clear motivations yet were easily adaptable to a specific campaign.

Narrative

Alken is the name of both the enormous sea creature, resembling a turtle, and the continent that rests on its back. Alken floats slowly along the water’s surface, surrounded by three smaller, livelier islands that orbit it. Alken is broken into a number of provinces, with the environment of each being impacted by both its placement on the creature and its connection to the magic that permeates through the ground. Some of these biomes include

  • The Spear: The northernmost province, acting as a shield against the infinite ocean Alken treads through. Frozen spikes point southbound, and artifacts wash ashore often. The people of the spear are accustomed to the cold and the winds, and have many emergency procedures in case of impossible scenarios, such as the Isle diving. But surely that would never occur?

  • Cor Canopy: Fed by the water of the spear and empowered by the magic flowing from the Isles heart, the Cor Canopy is a rainforest of impassable vegetation. The large trees of the Cor and linked directly to the Isle, and bleed its blood when cut. This makes the Canopy a deeply spiritual place for many, and one where even the least magically talented individuals can often find themselves channelling small spells unknowingly. Not many people can travel through the Canopy due to the vegetation, and the natives to the provinces are extremely reclusive, especially to the ruling family of the Mire.

  • The Mire Moore: Many generations ago, a family known now as the Mire claimed a province-sized section of land, extracting it from the Yard, and built themselves an enormous fortress city. It now acts as a central hub for the island and a trading waypoint for almost all other provinces. The Mire now live dead center in the moore. The Mire isn’t a blood family as much as they are a group of like-minded individuals that amass magical artifacts and political power. They maintain trade routes, settle civil disputes, and talk much of maintaining the health of Alken.

Sprites

As part of WayStones creation, I made and animated the sprites.

Tools used

In creating WayStone I used the P5 JavaScript library for programming and animation, and the sprites were made with Adobe Illustrator. After the initial project was completed, I ported the code and assets to the Processing language.