D is for Deathlands

I missed the April A-Z Blog Challenge this year, so I'm doing my own...in June. This year, I will be posting one post per day discussing my AD&D campaign, for the curious. Since 2020, this is the ONLY campaign I run. Enjoy!

D is for Deathlands...the common name given in my campaign to parts east of Washington State. Idaho, in other words.

Ah, the Gem State. I'm not a big fan. Which is to say, I spend as little time there as possible. When driving through to Montana, I gas up in Spokane and don't stop till St. Regis (good huckleberry shakes there). The summer of 2024 was the first time I'd spent ANY time in Coeur D'Alene since...when? '98? '99? And that was because my aunt was in the hospital there, having been airlifted from Missoula to deal with complications resulting from a stroke.

I used to like Idaho...at least well enough to grab a bite at the various truckstops and diners along the way (I do enjoy the chow at a good truckstop). But, you know. Racists. They give me the hairy eyeball when I'm eating dinner with my Mexican wife. I don't need to put up with that shit...and my family DEFINITELY doesn't need to.

Diving into the history of Idaho is both fascinating and depressing. I already had an idea of some of the underlying bullshit that's been going on since looong before the Aryan Nations, etc. started setting up shop there. But it wasn't till today (going down too many rabbit holes) that I discovered the Idaho Territory was originally a haven/refuge for folks fleeing the Confederate South during the Civil War (Lincoln apparently wanted to give the region a path to statehood in order to ensure that its vast mineral wealth would remain part of the Union). If anyone was wondering why so many Dixie flags are found flying around this northern place that didn't even become a state till 1890, you should understand that Idahoans have a heritage that comes from the Antebellum South.

Anyhoo, there is no "Antebellum South" in my campaign world's history...there is only the Pac Northwest. The character of humans living are similar in character and temperament to the people originally granted the territory out of a mishmash of leftover pieces not claimed as part of the Oregon territory: rugged individualists and anti-government types, basically.

Or, described another way: miners and bandits and the people who cater to them.

Idaho, as with most of the PNW, is quite beautiful: rivers and lakes and forests all butting up against the majestic (and absolutely humongous) Rocky Mountains. Historically, the southern part of Idaho was extremely arid and inhospitable until dams along the Snake River allowed for irrigation and growth, turning desert into a "Magic Valley" of rich farmland. 

However, that last bit never happened in my world; we'll talk about it when we get to "K."

All of my campaign's Idaho is known as "the Deathlands," a name that refers to the danger associated with its hostile wilderness and inhabitants. Originally, though, I had envisioned the place as a radioactive wasteland...a post-apocalyptic horror show filled with nothing but cannibal mutants and ruined scrap. A place, perhaps, to be exiled...definitely a place to "abandon all hope" upon entry. Humanoids, too (orcs and goblins and such) were originally going to be horribly mutated humans, desperately needing to be put out of their misery because...well, D&D, of course.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Prince's NAP3 contest...in a fit of insanity/sanity (no doubt due to post-Con induced fatigue) I decided to set my Dragon Wrack adventure (a re-write of the ol' DL14 module) in my own campaign world. And needing a place for the Krynnish city of Neraka, I settled on Moscow, Idaho...and thus the area needed a facelift. While very little "setting material" specific to Idaho can be found in the module, I did write this bit with regard to Moscow (home to the dragon queen's fortress-temple):

Tiamat’s center of power is the city of Moscow, on the eastern edge of the fertile growing plains that cover the Palouse plateau just past the start of the foothills that mark the boundary of the Idaho Deathlands: a region filled with brutal humanoids, fierce monsters, and savage human tribes. Once a haven for miscreants and miners seeking fortunes away from the stifling control of the Inland Empire, the populace has since been converted to worship of the dragon queen.

Of course, this is an adventure scenario...if anyone wanted to use these A to Z notes to do their own fantasy PNW, they wouldn't NEED to put a dragon army smack dab in the middle of the place. Without the Tiamat-thang, Moscow is a walled town of some 1,300 residents, mostly human, and home to a variety of shops and services. For me, real world college towns (like Pullman) are places where magical learning is available (i.e. "wizard guilds") and the U of I would be no exception...though that is NOT a part of my Dragon Wrack adventure. Given the character of the region, it would probably be fun to stat up some really heinous tower of miscreants.

[I should note that I've actually heard very nice things about the real world Moscow. I have many friends and acquaintances that are WSU alums, and they all speak of it as lovely town compared to the "dump" that is Pullman...and these are folks who practically bleed crimson and grey!]

Boise, on the other hand, is the Sanctuary of my campaign world...a real cesspool of villainy, and the last outpost of "civilization" before you get to the broken lands and desert that is southern Idaho. As a long time fan of Thieves World, I need a place like that in my campaign world (I'm no different from any other "vanilla DM" in this regard), and Boise fits the bill, by geography alone. When I re-purpose DCC "Lankhmar" adventures for AD&D, I set them in Boise...it has all the elements I need, including "barbaric hill folk" in the surrounding area and a slave trade (via desert caravan) for the "disappeared." Good stuff, that.

All right, that's enough. I'm sure I've thoroughly offended my Idaho neighbors enough with this post.