Besides all the maps I make for various people around the world, I’m also creating my very own world. It’s called Asnia and everything that happens in that world, is part of the Tales of Asnia.
For many worldbuilders, a map is something that follows the stories that are already created in your head. For me it’s the opposite: while creating a map, the stories are fighting for a prime spot inside my head. I can place when simple village icon somewhere and I instantly think of all the lives that could possible be lived inside that village. And when I make a village map, I only have to add a ruin, a lighthouse, a bridge or a treehouse and there are stories being developed without me actively taking part in it.
The problem with it is that there’s way more going on in my head than I can ever get on paper. I want to great adventures, board games, escape games and stories in this world. And in my head, many of them exist already, but writing it down in a structured way… that’s a whole different thing!
Luckily, not everything has to be finished simultaneously, or finished at all. It’s always good to know more about your (fantasy) world than other people could ever know. The things that take place as part of the Tales of Asnia that I once started are:
- A board game called Beasts & Glory, which is an open world, strategy game and will be absolutely huge (what’s the point of open world if there aren’t many places to visit?). This project has only just started and is still being developed mostly inside my head. The goal is that it contains more than 30 city and village maps and more than 100 encounter maps.
- A board game called Fenna’s Farm, which is a combination of an escape room, a board game and an RPG adventure. This game has been produced and tested as a concept version, but still needs editing and a higher quality production. The development of two expansions on this game has already started, as has a sequel.
- A book without a title yet, which has been a plan in my head for the longest time of all these plans with Asnia. Even before Asnia ‘existed’, I started writing about a world I called Ezra. Later, I ‘inserted’ Ezra as a continent in Asnia, but the stories are the same. It will be an epic story about a continent being invaded by the mysterious Vaagh. It follows different people, from a simple fisherman to a proud king.
- A short adventure for roleplaying games such as dnd called The Man-eating birds of the Puffin Islands. This adventure has already been written and tested and can be received by signing up to my newsletter.
- An escape game, both digital and printed, with the same name as the adventure mentioned above. It’s a story-driven escape game that follows the same story as the adventure, but instead of fighting, you’ll have to puzzle your way through the story.
- Map pack of specific countries or continents of which the first is already available: a map pack of the Kingdom of Ordur. It contains a brief location guide, a kingdom map and 5 city/village maps. Other map packs you can find in the webshop.