So, I love taking things from around me and using them as a part of my world. When I was thinking of a new continent for my players to explore that would have new lands, new monsters, new things to explore I started looking around me.

There’s a street near my house called Ivory Coast. This seemed to be a perfect name for a bustling, growing town for this new continent.

On our way to Mammoth one year, I saw a town/city named Ridgecrest. To me, this was yet another great name for a city/town. Ridgecrest became my version of “Waterdeep” for the Forgotten Realms – the largest city on this new continent, laid up against a massive mountain.

Ridgecrest got further development when I saw these condos near where I live called High Ridge. I thought, “Amazing idea! Ridgecrest is so large it’s split into three caste level areas – High Ridge, for the rich; Mid-Ridge for the middle class/business folks, and of course Low Ridge for the slums. And since it’s laid up against a mountain, the filth, through the cities sewer system, literally rolls down hill.”

On this new continent, there’d be a massive forest area known as The Fern Dale, based off this street.

This forest would be home to many elves and fae as well.

I have a large area on the map called “The Broken Lands” – which was once a large, lush forest, but a large scale war of great magic ripped the land apart – and cursed the land. Though it’s, by slang called “The Broken Lands” the Sand Dunes, by the natives call it the “Gold Coast” (for its golden sands) which came from this street.

When I started an Off Week Game, I wanted to seclude it onto an island – and it was named Eagle Rock because of this street – with the name coming from the fact it was home to massive rocs (giant flying birds in D&D) who served the lord of the island.

The town on Eagle Rock called “Greenhaven” was inspired by a comic book spin off of Elflord entitled Greenhaven.

The Swamp of Despair on Eaglerock is a reference to the Swamp of No Hope from EverQuest.

The Eight Roc Riders found on Eagle Rock is a reference to The Chosen Eight from ElfQuest.