The geography of Dawn of Legends is similar, but not quite the same as, our counterpart on Earth. A close look at the included maps will reveal a close similarity to the main part of Britain in the overall shape of the island. However, locations and sizes of forests, mountains, rivers and other geographical features are a little different. An accurate representation of what Britain might have looked like in our own past history would be highly subject to a lot of guesswork anyway.

The detailed maps of the various kingdoms all are overlaid with a hex pattern. For your convenience, I have designed them such that each hex corresponds to roughly 3 miles along their width. It’s easy to imagine people traveling by foot or ox about 12 miles a day in good conditions and in open terrain -- that translates to 4 hexes a day on the maps. You’ll also notice that an average unencumbered person generally has an effective MOVE of 4. With these basic figures as a guide, it can be seen how the Movement section in the Running a Kingdom chapter was derived. Terrain simply modifies how far people can travel in a day. Beyond the chart displayed for you in that section, the GM can adjust the distance traveled further in cases when there was less than a full day’s travel, or travel was hampered by winter’s shorter days. In addition, the GM may increase the distance traveled if the characters involved are in a full-out panicked flight or forced march. Also note that the GM should use the MOVE of the slowest character to determine distance travel. If the entire party is mounted, he should use the mounts’ MOVE instead. (That might not be strictly realistic, but a tangible return in a game sense for the use of mounts is much more satisfying for players.)

This sourcebook focuses on the areas of Britain that would include England, Wales and southern Scotland. These areas include a wide variety of terrain, a large number of small kingdoms, and a good deal of cultural diversity thanks to the native Celts, remnants of Roman civilization, and the Saxon culture. In addition, several Celtic and Romano-Celtic kingdoms maintain trade with lands as far away as the Mediterranean.

At first glance, it would seem that the generally Celtic kingdoms would always be politically oriented against the Saxons and vice versa, but this is not always the case. Although the Saxons and Celts tend to disagree on whom should be ruling what, it also sometimes happens that alliances of convenience will occur to oppose a particularly threatening neighbor. This can sometimes make for some highly unusual army compositions, and some rather unlikely alliances among the various religions. After all, at this point in time in the Dawn of Legends setting, a very delicate balance has been set. A disruption on one side or the other could lead to unpredictable results. But of course that’s where the Heroes come in!

These lands often are invaded by mists and rains, which add to the mystical flavor of the time. Wildly extreme temperatures are quite rare here, since this island receives much temperature regulation due to a prevailing current flowing up from the southwest across the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, terrible snow bound winters and blistering hot summers such as those found in lands in central areas of continents (like the American Midwest) are almost never seen here. Summers tend to be warm and wet and winters cool and dry. Floods are common enough in the lowlands, and a drought now and again is not unheard of.

Future expansions will focus on the Pictish lands of the north, Ireland, lands on the European continent, and special Otherworld kingdoms.