Canonfire!

While looking through a stack of old dragon and Dungeon magazines that my wife stuffed in my stocking this year, I came across this little gem in Dungeon #19: By the Wayside by Tim Villademoros.

this module takes place in the Hool Marshes (hex b5-127 on the darlene map to be pricise according to the entroduction), and includes a village called "Braken" which stradles the Javan river. Yes you heard correctly, straddles the Javan river, and has a bridge over it in the middle of town... appearently (According to the map of 'Braken' in the module) the Javan river is no more then 40 feet wide right where it enters the marshes.

Reading throught the module it seems in most other ways to be a fairly solid peice of work... but the river is much smaller then I had thought (Having heard Maldin et. al. compare it favorably in size to the mississippi in size during chats and what not)... perhaps it is realy loacted on a tributary of the Javan, or on one of the numerous other rivers that flow through the marsh (Such as the Dunwater).

Mon Jan 03, 2005 9:10 am

Kewl - don't think I've got any information on that village. Any chance that you could let us have a bit of gazeteer information such as population, names of notable npcs etc. I'm trying to stitch together a gazeteer from all available sources and I'm pretty sure that I don't have the issue with Braken in it.

Mon Jan 03, 2005 10:38 am

You must have nice, I got socks. I have been checking around for that issue. As you point out, there are several ways to tweek that conflict, but I agree that it needs to be tweeked. Everything I have read indicates that the Javan is a big river. There are a lot of cultural implications to that, which I think are worth preserving.

Well, I built me a raft and she's ready for floatin'
ol' Javan River, she's callin' my name
Catfish are jumpin' that paddle keeps thumpin'
Black water keeps rollin' on past just the same
Old black water, keep on rollin'
Javan River moon won't you keep on shinin' on me?

Adapted from The Doobie Brothers' Black Water

Mon Jan 03, 2005 11:48 am

Dungeon 19 was well before anything was "official" for the setting. Obviously that author has the Javan being a small river. The official version is that the Javan is a much larger river. That is not an impossible conundrum.
I would note that the Javan is definitely established as open to ocean going vessels as far north as Cryllor. It would be quite a trick to get them past that bridge.

Mon Jan 03, 2005 11:56 am

Mon Jan 03, 2005 11:59 am

Nice find Wes, now we can call it Javan Creek! Laughing

Mon Jan 03, 2005 12:41 pm

For PaulN6 (and anybody else who might be interested):

Bracken

Bracken is a seedy fly-spec of a village, it is a depressingly drab place with run down wooden shacks scattered amongst trees and dense foliage. A rough dirt track, seldom used from the looks of it runs east-west through the town, (crossing the bridge). There are no hard population numbers given, but an eyeball estimate would put it into the 50-60 person range (including children). Along with a dozen or so houses there are a few places of interest.

The first is the Gallows Tree Tavern and Inn, a ramshackle single story roadside structure run by a former smuggler named Penard (LN human male Rogue 7). The tavern is always bustling, despite the fact that the prices are on the high side and the fare substandard.

The Second is the Garrison, a squat stone structure that appears in ill repair, all windows are narrow and barred. This place hold the pitiful garrison of troops that protect Bracken, 19 guardsmen under the command of Fengren Turisad (LE human male Fighter 8) and his lieutenant Felloyd (LE human male Fighter 3)

Lastly is the Alligator Farm, a rough 2 story structure right on the edge of the marsh, run by Leghera (LN human female Expert 1) the local leather worker, and her two sons Yukel (LN human male Fighter 2) and Quelson (LN male human Fighter 4). They keep and train alligators there, and even have a giant alligator in their pens.

It is noted that smugglers, slavers, and bandits often use Bracken as a base of operations, and that criminals from the Sea Princes as well as Keoland often come here to “hide out”.

Mon Jan 03, 2005 6:19 pm

alas, Bracken is nowhere to be found on the new GH map from Dungeon magazine... wmm, I wonder why Wink

.................................Omote
FPQ
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Prince Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Castles and Crusades Society

Mon Jan 03, 2005 7:55 pm

maybe Erik doesn;t have Dungeon #19 Wink

Tue Jan 04, 2005 12:23 pm

I'll then just chalk it up to a tiny, tiny tributary of the Javan River. So small in fact that it doesn't even warrent it's own name. *shrugs*

Bracken not on the map... *shakes fist at EM* WHY OH LORDS OF GREYHAWK, WHY!!! Hee hee. Happy

..........................Omote
FPQ
_________________
Prince Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Castles and Crusades Society

Tue Jan 04, 2005 2:14 pm

I was thinking more along the lines keeping the bridge on the Javan, making it huge and having such a massive public works investiment justified by a seemingly inexplicable interest of Niole Dra courtiers in alligator skin chaps. Embarassed

Maybe not. Wink

Tue Jan 04, 2005 10:35 pm

One possibility is that the river in question is a tributary, that is, it flows into the Javan river. Another possibility is that it is PART, but not ALL of the Javan river. When a river flows through a marsh, it often breaks up into many different channels. There could be a "main stretch" of the Javan that can accomadate ocen-going ships, and many smaller backwater channals that flow out from the main river, meander about in the marsh, and eventually feed back into it. The bridge by the town could be over one such small section, not the main section, of the river.

IIRC, the Velverdyva shows similar features as it exits Lake Quag - many small meandering channels that eventually meet up to form the river.

Such habitat, of course, is prime real estate for Bayou Halflings and other marsh dwellers.
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Wed Jan 05, 2005 12:46 am

Great stuff guys - thanks for the assist!

Wed Jan 05, 2005 7:45 am Bottleneck

Here in Georgia we have a river named the Altamaha, which is very broad and shallow, though it moves a massive amount of water at a fairly slow pace. On average it is probably 150 yds wide. Last year when i canoed it's length, I noticed one odd point where it was under 50 yards wide. There was a hill on each side, the river speed increased dramatically, and the depth was significantly more than any other portion of the river. There were also pilings of a very old bridge, apparently built in the 1800's. Maybe this village is built at just such a bottleneck.

Thu Jan 06, 2005 10:58 pm That is sooooo coooooool

There is nothing cooler than having a wife who puts Dungeon mags into your stocking. Cool

Sat Jan 08, 2005 1:15 am

Ah !! background inconsistency is at the roots of all GH canon. But it is how we love our setting. Laughing

Javan river problem, but what about the Selintan. We have here a river where large ships can go up to Greyhawk harbour, but which cross at least two or three fords less than 6 feet deep.

In my campaign, fords have been replaced with ferrys. And so the towns name with "ford" in it have changed accordingly ...

Mon Jan 10, 2005 12:10 pm