Bioware, can we have a map of Kirkwall, please? - One GM's efforts

 Upon conception of the campaign, I knew I wanted to expand Kirkwall beyond what we see in the game. I wanted a greater understanding of the districts, noble houses, and various factions at play.

For anyone wanting to run a campaign in Kirkwall, I would recommend looking up any pre-made city RPG in any system. I settled on Ptolus: City by the Spire because upon finding it, it seemed to have everything I was looking for. But that doesn't mean it was my only option. Waterdeep and Freeport RPG cities are two that immediately come to mind. (Also, the Waterdeep City Encounters book is excellent, and I am totally stealing ideas from there).

Ptolus vs Kirkwall

Using Ptolus (an adventure designed for D&D) as a source book for Kirkwall means having to reflavor a lot of things. For instance, one of the noble houses in Ptolus are literally dragons who live as humans. They even have dragons openly playing on their lawn. Everyone in the city KNOWS the family are dragons, but to suggest such to their faces would be insulting to them. To fit in the Dragon Age universe, this family became one of old Tevinter lineage. Everyone in the city KNOWS they still worship the draconic Old Gods, but to suggest such to the family would be insulting. They also have a pet wyvern, named Draco, who openly plays on their lawn and is like a puppy among family but can be vicious to strangers.

There's also a lot in Ptolus I'm straight throwing out. For instance, Castle Shard doesn't really fit in my mind (I'm sure someone could reflavor it, but I tossed it). I'm keeping Zavere, though. He's an interesting NPC I want to throw in somewhere. Also, the Spire itself, just straight up does not exist.

What's fun about using Ptolus and Kirkwall is a lot of the more higher powered fantasy stuff that one might not find in Dragon Age can be attributed to "well, this city was once inhabited by Tevinter, and they got up to some crazy sh*t." So if you're a stickler for cannon, you can stretch the rules a bit and still have things make sense. (The canon is also constantly expanding, so "stretching" things might not be that much of a stretch in the long term.)

For instance, there's a lot of secret shadow magic reservoirs in Ptolus that has to do with demons and dark magic and such. Well, Kirkwall is supposedly where the Magisters used a bunch of lyrium and blood to enter the Fade. So yeah, the Veil is thin, demons exist in places they shouldn't (canon) and maybe all this shadow magic is... blood magic? Blight? Some kind of residue from their experiments? There's room for getting inventive here.

A Map of Kirkwall

Kirkwall is in desperate need of a map beyond the in-game menu. This is the map of Ptolus that I ended up editing into the map pictured at the top of this post.

I recognize there are flaws with this map. I spent A LOT of time trying to figure out what an accurate map of Kirkwall would actually look like, and I think it would be closer to the bellow map by @visceralcoma.

I mean, when you look at some of the concept art of Kirkwall and even the in-game map menu, those winding rivers make a lot of sense. You can view the thread here trying to make sense of how Kirkwall actually works.

If the end of day, going with a bay shaped map like Blue Rose's City of Aldis or Absalom from Pathfinder's Agents of Edgewatch might at least be a more accurate shape than Ptolus.



But the Ptolus map (with a few personal adjustments) is much more simple and straightforward and it fits the purposes of the campaign. Trying to figure out the logistics of an accurate map of Kirkwall was hurting my brain, and honestly sometimes simplicity is just better to go with.

Districts of Kirkwall

I was, at first, going to omit the Temple District of Ptolus. Being in the D&D universe, Ptolus's Temple District consists of temples dedicated to all the various religions. Well, the Chantry in Dragon Age won't stand for that! So.... This Temple District was once dedicated to the various Old Gods of Tevinter. The Chantry came in and repurposed it. So an old Tevinter temple to Toth (associated with fire) is now the Chantry's healing temple of the Sacred Flame (The House of Sacred Heat in the Ptolus book). Also, there's TWO chantries in Kirkwall now, the one we know of in Hightown from the game, and one in Lowtown to keep the rabble from mixing with the nobles (and who wants to climb all those stairs away?).

Also, a necropolis??? The Chantry burns their dead! Well... did you know the practices of the Mortalitasi were actually started by a Tevinter mage? (I didn't). So yeah. Let's say Tevinter buried their dead before Andraste, did all sorts of demon/spirit rituals, and now the people of Kirkwall have to deal with it. I think I'm moving Xebenkeck from Sundermount to the Necropolis to give the party an excuse to go in there.

Did I mention how much I am loving Ptolus source book? So many fun ideas in there. SO MUCH I am just straight throwing out, but so much I am also claiming and reflavoring. It's great. And I'm so excited to share it with my players.

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