| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| imchrissohi |
Posted - 29 Nov 2015 : 01:56:12
Hey,
Kinda confused because of lack of info. until recently I've been using 4e and hoard of the dragon queen maps to run games. now the sword coast adventures guide comes out and the first thing i notice is that between Dragonspear castle and the winding water, the Trade Way isn't there and the coast way ends at Baldur's Gate.
Was wondering if anyone knew what was going on? |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| The Emerald Sage |
Posted - 01 Jan 2016 : 14:22:28
Officially the trade way runs from Waterdeep south to Baldur's Gate before re-emerging as the coast way south to Amn. Volothamp Geddarm's writings suggest that the trade way itself, made up of the remains of an older imperial road predating our age, disappears upon reaching the fields of the dead, where many seperate trails created by passing caravans run south and east in various directions. The trade route re-emerges as the coast way south of Wyrm's Rock at Baldur's Gate, after crossing the Chionthar and continues under this alias until it reaches the pass at the Cloud Peaks. When the road is taken up again in Amn it retakes it's old title, the trade way.
This was the route as imagined in the second edition. It seems as if the authors have remained true to their stated goal of returning to earlier depictions of the realms for new material. |
| Xnella Moonblade-Thann |
Posted - 29 Nov 2015 : 22:21:18
quote:
Originally posted by xaeyruudh
<snip>to keep creepers from destroying it.<snip>
Creepers (those cute green humanoid beings from Minecraft) exist in the Realms?    |
| imchrissohi |
Posted - 29 Nov 2015 : 05:59:41
thanks, just freaked out thinking there was something i missed |
| xaeyruudh |
Posted - 29 Nov 2015 : 05:36:38
Yea, I was confused the first time I saw that too. No worries, though, the "roads" are there!
You know how, when you're looking at street maps of Earth, freeways are drawn differently than expressways, and sometimes there's a different way to show little two-lane roads? Different line thickness/color, whatever. They kinda do some of that on the Realms maps too, but they haven't invested much thought into it.
The solid black lines are *roads* -- clearly visible wagon tracks, hardpacked earth, maybe rudimentary paving with clay and gravel, etc. Obviously a road.
The dotted lines on the maps represent trails -- I think of them as "a tourist might miss it, but you can easily find it if you know where to look."
No line at all just means that the paths are less clear. This can happen for a few different reasons. Halruaa, for example, has no roads. But there are dozens of towns, and they obviously have to have some kind of paths between them... the answer there is that the roads just aren't marked and wagons haven't cut obvious grooves into the ground.
In the case of the Trade Way and the Coast Way, I think the issue is that the Fields of the Dead and the Trollclaw hills are not an abandoned place. There are farms, and old battlefields, and probably some new battlefields. The roads are disrupted for various reasons, and might have to be "blazed" again each spring. There's way too much hostile human/humanoid activity to do anything like pave a permanent road and post guards to keep creepers from destroying it. There might also be an issue of the roads washing out in heavy rains.
Anyway, the Trade Way and Coast Way (and a couple other roads) *are* there... just... not always exactly in the same places.  |
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