*** April 2010 Challenge - Brewhome ***

[Ascension]

Boran Coalbeard's Gazetteer of Beers, Ales, and Brewed Beverages

This month's Challenge will be to create a map for a fictional fantasy world. Flesh-out, in detail, at least one continent and have some other continents at least sketched out. The theme here revolves around beer - sweet nectar from the gods. There should at least be humans, elves, ogres, and dwarves...others are up to the creator. The sponsor is looking more for ideas than a finished product but if you choose to polish it off then have fun but more on that later. There needs to be at least 13 interesting places to travel to...be they ruins, towns, or whatever but here are the required ones:

Dwarves
The dwarves have at least one major city called Heimmaerr and they brew English-style brews: Braggot, Barleywine, English Bitter, Porter, Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Old Ale, Imperial Stout, Winter Warmer.
They also have some dwarven holds (cave clan-forts) named Thorsgrimm and Hallowdwelf.
They also have Burdisson Brewery which is a giant brewery/hold belonging to one clan. You can read more on that here.

Humans
Humans have at least one major port city and many smaller towns. They brew American-style brews like Amber, Red, and Brown Ales, IPA, Pale Ale, Pumpkin Ale.

Elves
Elves should have a small city where they are known for their Honey Mead.

Ogres
Ogres will be more primitive tribes scattered around the land rather than big, mean, nasty baby-eaters. Barbaric, uneducated, superstitious warriors. No particular beer style has been selected yet.

Any other places and names are up to your imagination.

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The winner will receive $50 US and possibly a lucrative commission to do the finished map but that will be for PlayinItCool to decide at a later time and will be discussed privately. The style should be medieval, hand-drawn, or antique...nothing modern, sci-fi, or satellite-style but shaded relief might be able to be worked in somehow by a good artist.

Any questions will be answered by PlayinItCool, the sponsor of the Challenge, or by the Community Leaders for technical issues. The sponsor's website is here.

[PlayinitCool]

Hey everyone! Just wanted to drop a line and say hi... we're very excited about this challenge, and can't wait to see your ideas!

The book itself will be an authentic gazetteer. It will be based in a fantasy setting, but will be edited and published as if it were a professional piece from that world. To build on the characters, we are presenting it as Boran's personal copy which contains many of his notes stuffed in the sidelines, and inserts throughout the book.

Here's a little something to set the tone of what we're looking for:
Boran Coalbeard, renowned Dwarven beer connoisseur, is taking a beer odyssey, traveling to areas not previously explored, interested to see how far his renown actually stretches. The beers he plans to write about in his Gazetteer are limited to a region of the "main" continent of the world, and his goal is to visit the brewery homes of some of the land's most interesting and famous beers, giving readers of the book a unique look at the people, ingredients, and brewing techniques employed to make the most popular beers and brews in the world. Boran's renown at this point is far stretching, and he hopes the gazetteer will serve to strengthen his position as the premier beer to date.

[Coyotemax]

This is one of the niftiest challenges to date, and I look forward to seeing the entries! (and thanks to Fantasy brewmasters, you've got the coolest marketing I've seen in awhile). I was worked up over this one, and I've got ideas brewing (hah, pun!) but I may not be able to enter in time.. this week is loaded down with things that need to be done, and the wife sprung a surprise vacation on me, so I'll have less then 2 weeks to work on it if I do start, plus there's other work waiting for me when I get back. So there's still hope, though if I do enter, it will be a late one.

Good luck to everyone who's throwing their hat in!

[ravells]

I agree, it's a great marketing programme and fun too.

[PlayinitCool]

New this week is the story of The Stout Lady's Secret. In it, we introduce a new city that could be incorporated into the map. For now, it is called Boars Head, though we're not sure if that will stick or not I like the name, but it makes me hungry

While many of the details that Dave has provided for Boars Head will not be evident at the mapping level we are currently working on, it might still be a helpful for the big picture.

While we're at it, here is a link to the "official" pieces of Boran's Gazetteer. Anything found there will eventually be a part of, or suppliment the book.

[Gamerprinter]

Well it looks like you guys are free from me entering the challenge (and maybe the rest of the year) - I was giving thought to entering, but I'm way too busy now.

Gamer Printshop business has quadrupaled just this month alone. My publishing project with Johnn Four and Mike Bourke is in full swing and I'm doing more than maps, I'm writing articles some of which will be included in the publication, some of it as free extra material through blogs, bonus free content, etc. I just learned our first product will have an intro by either Monte Cook or Wolfgang Baur (though that's still up in the air.) We'll be creating new products each month. So it looks like my professional cartography/publishing aspects are taking all my time. It looks like 2010 is my year!

Good luck everybody - I can't wait for the vote on this one!

GP

[PlayinitCool]

GP, it's so exciting when you see things come together like that... congrats man!

[torstan]

That's fantastic news GP. Congratulations!

[Djekspek]

Aye, great to hear the publishing project is comming together GP. So gratz! cheers

[Jaxilon]

Yes, Congrats GP, be sure to keep us posted in the news section or something. Glad to hear you are headed into exciting times!