Ok, so in another thread someone said they wished they had time to create a sandbox world to run D&D in ( ok so it was me ) but there is limited time. Other people expressed interest.

So my idea is that we create a sand box world. Start at one location and expand outward with maps of cities, dungeons, wilderness locations, etc...etc... Throw in NPCs that live there what their goals are, what plots are happening, what secret groups are around, etc..etc...

The basic rules would be no editing what another person wrote. So like if I created a scheming Wizard in a tower just outside of town, you couldn't go and turn him into a lich or something (not in the main sand box world anyway, you could in your personal game).

So who is interested? Also can someone go onto the WotC boards and link to this for me?

I'm in, and I guess I'll start us off as well.

Our sandbox begins in the Wolf's Cry Woods. These woods are as peaceful as can be expected in a frontier area. Nearby settlers have reported goblin sightings in the past, but the little green buggers have been mostly too shy to mount a formal raid on anything. The focal point of this location is the legend of a great silver wolf that stalks the misty woods during the Spring and Harvest festivals. Locals call this creature the Ghost Paw, and are quick to end their festivities at midnight when the mists begin to roll in from the forest and the wolf's cry sounds. Some villages around the forest have taken to leaving an offering to the wolf, believing it to be a form of guardian spirit that keeps the goblins at bay. Others believe it to be a monster of the Feywild, sent to punish those who would harm the forest.

Nice.

Ok lets see:

Tens of miles to the west of the Wolf's Cry Woods where the trees thin and the ground becomes rocky the foot of the Dark Spire Mountains slowly rises up to towering precipices and cliffs of exposed raw obsidian where stout hill Dwarf laborers chip off chunks of it while hanging from ropes. On the tops of the cliff sides stone giants roam looking for unsuspecting dwarves to grab and eat. They wear obsidian stone armor and wield large clubs made of chunks of the stuff.

The Tower On The Tor

At the northern end of Wolf's Cry Woods the forest begins to give way to rocky scrub land littered with boulders and small hills that are the furthest reaches of the Dark Spire Mountains. It is here that the ruins of a cyclopean tower can be found atop a massive stone hill. None of the villages in the woods know who built the tower, or when, but due to its near inaccessibility they've mostly left it alone. Sheer rocks faces surround the base of the hill on all sides, and climbing via rope is the only way up to the grassy top where the ruins lie.

The ruins themselves are worn by the elements after years and years, but even then its evident that the stonework was rather crude to begin with. The side of the tower is split open, and the first several floors are visible from outside. In the center of the bottom floor there is a round opening, similar to a stone well, beneath which can be found a series of tunnels that snake through the hill to chambers unknown.

nice. Now all we need are some maps and possibly some specifics...

The Witchsands

Beyond the Dark Spire Mountains lies the desolate grey wastes known by the Arumee tribes as The Witchsands. The pale firmament of this foreboding location is not actual sand, as the name would suggest, but more of a silty ash, left behind by an apocalyptic conflagration ages ago. Sharp winds move tons of this fine dust around the constantly shifting desert, revealing, and then quickly reburying long lost acropoli and vaults. Thrill seekers can often be found traversing The Witchsands in hopes of looting ancient treasures when the sands part. A few of these grave-robbers, however, have failed to get out of their excavation sites in time, and now their bleached bones are all that mark their passing when the sands shift once more.

Local nomads speak of strange lights that sometimes lure the unwary out into the sands at night, never to be seen again. There is also talk of a dark coven that roams the wastes, searching for dangerous artifacts from a bygone age.

*shrug*

nice. which parts are which?

Phone post:

Woods are green, lake is blue, mountains get lighter with height. I need a better color for the Witchsands.

I do a quick mock up in paint while I still dont have a finished product. Then photoshop later on for detailed map.

A finished map can look like this

Nice...

OK so we need to fill in the area north and south of the witch fens.

Any objection to putting a Dwarven town to in the walls of the mountain pass and possibly a human settlement to the north or south of the witch sands? maybe with some other feature between?

Blackrock City

A mighty dwarven city built into the walls of the Dragon Spine Pass. Their king is Danthos Deepstrike who is a descendant of the mighty Dohvan Deepstrike who's pledge of warriors and arms helped turn the tide in the human war against the encroaching orc armies from to the south west that aimed to invade the Wolf Cry Woods.

Lake Tathar

Near the southern edge of the Wolf's Cry Woods lies a large lake which is fed by various streams that come tumbling down the mountains from the west. The villages through out the woods rely on the lake for a fresh source of fish and construction of a levy and mill have began on the eastern edge, further harnessing the water to aid the rough life of those in the forest.

Jawson's Mill

A lone house at the eastern edge of the lake and the half finished mill are owned by a man named Lester Jawson. A human in his late twenties with a muscular build he spends his days hard at work to provide for his wife and two sons who live with him. He family line comes from one of the small villages in the forest, but he has always preferred life on the lake. He is quite the fisherman and his sons seem to be taking after him.

So, I can't edit what others wrote but I can add to it right?

Memnon Graythorn (NPC)

Memnon Graythorn was a wandering Elf Wizard who vanished some thirty years ago in the Dark Spire Mountains while looking for some rare fungus to use as a focus component for a new ritual he was working on. He fell into a crevice where he was stuck and could not climb out. His saving grace, and also his curse, was that he has a magical ring of sustenance so he won't die of starvation or thirst. Unfortunately, thirty plus years in a hole you can't get out of has a way of driving people mad, so now the Wizard is quite unfriendly to any passer-by wanderers who happen upon his hole. He's fond of using illusion spells to trick anyone who is walking by of falling into the crevice as well.

Yup, you build on top of what everyone else has done, but try not to go changing their work or destroying it.

East of Wolf's Cry Woods is the Blood-Scarred Plains. It is known for its deep green grass, broken up by areas of eroded red earth hills, rumored to be so because of the number of creatures that have died and still die fighting on this land. While many militaristic nomads walk these lands, two tribes are more dominant than others. One is the Calam Roosk an predominantly Orcish tribe of Warriors, bloodthirsty and savage. They fight taking advantage of the landscape for ambushes often overwhelming their foes with thrown weapons long before any enemy can reach them. The other main tribe is the Langratham Th'uul centaur fighters well versed in the ways of the bow. Their in born ability to outrun most creatures is what has given them the edge in most fights as they can either close the distance faster for melee than most other races or even imploy hit and run tactics when it better suits them. Most travelers in this region pay tribute to one of these two tribes for safe passage with varying results. This is one of only a few options of safely crossing as there are few places of refuge along the way. Also of note is the reluctance of these tribes willingness to enter Wolf's Cry Woods. Despite the fact that some tribes relish the chance to engage something as dangerous as great dragons, rare as they maybe in the area, they have a deep seated superstition of an unkillable creature lurking there and only the most fearless, or ignorant, in there minds would ever travel into the woods.

Grimir Goldeneye

A middle aged dwarf who is rather slender for his race, Grimir has dark brown hair that is kept neatly trimmed at a length of about two inches. His beard however is as large and as boastful as any you'd find in the city, decorated with golden bands that keep it into a pair of neat braids. On any given day Grimir can be found at his shop in the city where he sells gems and jewelry mostly targeted at the humans who find themselves passing through. He wears a pair of spectacles with a thick metal frame and on his left-hand side a jeweler's loupe is attached with several lenses ready to be swung into place to inspect whatever may find itself on his counter top. His shop is small but welcoming and the lights from several lamps dance across the golden bands and perfectly cut stones which he takes great pride in keeping immaculately clean.