Schattrand is a homebrewed world, vividly blending dark fantasy, gritty medieval history and Lovecraftian inspired elements – created for the world-renowned tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons.
A passion project since Autumn 2021.
The World of Schattrand is until now my biggest and very own project I have ever worked on. Emerged of a then newly discovered hobby for tabletop role-playing games, years of engaging with various fantasy media and the long-awaited spark of creativity to write and evolve a very personal world finally led me into world building and hobby writing.
Thanks to my years of experience in illustration and digital art, I was able to contribute further visual concepts and artwork to support my ideas, not only in terms of world building, but also for developing new game mechanics and storytelling methods, creating immersive experiences and detailed environments to run games digitally as a dungeon / game master.
As overview for my players and myself, I created a sort of ‘wiki’ on WorldAnvil. The homepage of Schattrand contains detailed lore and mechanics essential for a homebrew game: Locations, cosmology, faiths and pantheons, as well as playable heritages (formerly ‘races’), feats and house rules.
At first there was only the Unbound Shroud, an endless storm of formless elements, time and fate. When the Archdragons arrived, two of them entwined their tails and began their eternal dance. Together they formed the Greater Law, a spinning, incomprehensible force that wove, shaped, shifted and coloured the nascent tapestry of the many cosmic aspects.
– First part of Schattrand’s commonly known creation myth
World map of Schattrand: The continents Rondon, Ikhoron and Empyron offer a vast and diverse landscape of a mostly unexplored world at the edge of the great shadow.
Complex and deep narrative: The Incarnation of Men began when the Mask of the Seamster was shattered around a quarter of a century ago – resulting in the Greater Law infecting the ungifted with its arcane talents. The practice of magic was for the privileged no more, and even the ordinary folk was now discovering their nascent abilities.
With every dawn, new adventures await and the Greater Law spins along the threads of time and fate, and no mercy lingers under the watchful eyes of the aspects. Yet the Hearth smoulders on. For hope.
The freedom of the virtual tabletop: On Foundry VTT, players can explore a rich and dark world as they please. Full of secrets, wonders and magic… but also full of horror and consequences.