City Maps: Jackport

[Rafael]

The Drunken Duck Tavern, an item not on the map - is that one a design from one of our games, or from the MMRPG?

I have to confess I don't remember...

[Xylarthen]

Great map, I'm stealing it! LOL! But seriously, I need this for my campaign; my players' characters will soon be reaching Jackport. Thanks for the work put in to this, Havard!

Here are a few other things mentioned in Blackmoor products and MMRPG Episodes as being in Jackport that have not yet appeared on your map:

- Church of the Eternal Spring (main temple of this Hydros sect), ref. Player's Guide to Blackmoor
- the Athenaeum, ref. MMRPG Episode 25
- the Watch Headquarters, said to be over 10 stories tall (and almost as wide (sic)?), ref. MMRPG Episode 25
- the Watch Hospital, ref. MMRPG Episode 25
- the Wizards' Cabal Jackport Adjunct compound, ref. MMRPG Episodes 23 and 25
- many temples and shrines, ref. DAB Campaign Setting and PGTB

It is said that the elven and human areas are at opposite ends of the town, with the area in between being a "melting pot" of the two cultures (ref. DAB campaign book).

The following districts of the town are also mentioned in various products (sorry, don't have all the proper references for these at the moment):

- trade district
- artisan row
- the slums

Additionally, there is at least a South Gate, as mentioned in the Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign setting (both hardcover and softcover) in the "Ties That Bind" adventure, and it is referred to as having a tower on each side of the gate.

To get a feel for the size of the town (not the population; we know this to be 1,500 from the write up in the back of more than one MMRPG Episodes), it is said that it takes nearly half an hour to journey with Kalen (whom the party meet inside the town) to the Font of Dolphins (also within the town). Using a typical character movement rate, and factoring in crowdedness of the town as the Referee wishes, this could determine the smallest possible size of the town, which I guess doesn't do much aside from informing us as to a lower limit on possible size. But better than no information at all.

I have noticed an evolution of Jackport, from an unnamed dot on the Judges map in the First Fantasy Campaign to its most recent rendition. In the FFC, a round unfilled dot, or circle, was used to indicate a castle or stronghold. Using what we know now about the town to inform us as to how it was back in the FFC days, IMC I made it that Jackport was originally just a castle or stronghold during the FFC time, with a population of 300 (which is the population listed as being housed within the stronghold of the Watch Headquarters in the MMRPG Episode 25). By the time of DA1, a town formed around the stronghold, the population increased to 1,200 (as per DA1), and the stronghold became the Watch Headquarters. Finally, the town grew some more, to a population of 1,500 (as we know it most recently).

- Xylarthen

[Havard]

Thanks for the feedback Xylarthen!

Also, you have done some really great research here! That is going to be really valuable. I hope to get around to doing another round of revisions to these maps and will try to incorporate many of the things you mention here.

The question of size is very interesting. The number of temples also factor into this.

It is my personal opinion that some of the d20 Era books and MMRPG modules really tried to make Blackmoor a lot bigger than I think is realistic. The d20 books are set about 60 years after the FFC so it is not unreasonable that populations have grown considerably, even taking into account wars and famine. However, Blakmoor still needs to remain a small independet province of the Thonian Empire though. Making every small town in the Kingdom of Blackmoor a massive metropolis will break some of the premises of the setting.

For temples, I generally tend to reduce the number of them and make those buildings include shrines to multiple deities of the same pantheon. Although unique locations such as featured in an MMRPG adventure could still be included.

The specific size of Jackport on my map is fairly arbitrary though and could easily be changed. In the case of Jackport, I did use the sewer map as a kind of starting point to make sure that it matched the city map. Still, I will take all of this into account and see if I can make the next version of this map even better!

So glad you like it and if you use it in your campaign, please let me know how it works out!

-Havard