A Warm Welcome to Marquet and Campaign 3!
Written by Matthew Mercer on October 18, 2021
I am beyond excited to drive headlong into Campaign 3 and explore the Exandrian continent of Marquet, a place I have been looking forward to bringing to vibrant life since its inception. We’ve only touched on a few locations, largely centered around Ank’Harel within the Rumedam Desert, or the port city of Shammel in the Bay of Gifts beyond the northern Aggrad Mountains. I myself am ecstatic that Ank’Harel itself has been deeply realized and fleshed out with the help of other wonderful creatives in the now announced D&D Adventure Book, Call of the Netherdeep, welcoming all players to explore the streets and mysteries of the lovely desert metropolis.
This new adventure, however, starts quite a ways away from that oasis city. The deserts of Marquet only encompass about a third of the continent, and many wondrous places exist across that land that my players may wish to journey to over the course of this next campaign. From the dusty canyons of the Hellcatch Valley, to the rising plateaus of the Taloned Highlands, many wild adventures and mysteries are waiting to be uncovered. This collection of characters that the players have gathered, by the way? Absolutely delightful (and in some ways delightfully absurd). I cannot wait for you to see them come together!
Marquet is a fantasy continent, and one that (like other places in Exandria) occasionally holds nuggets of inspiration from Earth cultures and locations that I have a deep appreciation for. It is a unique place with unique people and civilizations occasionally woven with touchstones that call to our real world experiences in some ways, lending a familiarity and celebrating aspects of those same languages and cultures without appropriating them. I have been and will continue to be working with professional cultural & sensitivity consultants throughout the worldbuilding and presentation of Marquet to ensure I do my best to do just that.
This campaign is certainly going to be a RIDE, and I cannot wait to take both the players and YOU along for wherever it is going to take us. Abandon expectations, embrace the magic of what happens in the moment, and welcome to Marquet!
<3
Matthew