Welcome to the first post of 2023 and I wanted to start off with some Soulbound content, exploring the concept of Zones. The concept of a Zone is in its simplest terms the different phases of range for movement, sight and ranged combat. So for tonight I created a desert style map with a little oasis in it to try and get down pat two things. 1, the zones in a typical map and 2, me creating them in Inkarnate.
Soulbound Zones
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Desert Map
The slope downhill towards the oasis is a welcome sight for sore eyes, however the step gaps in the craggy hills makes it difficult to move down to the refreshing water below. However as the Soulbound approach their destination the bestial cry of war sounds from down below and the screech of large birds fills the air. It looks like the party will have to fight for their right to fill their canteens today.

Desert with zones
Zones in Soulbound are generally areas that are broken up by natural formations in the land (as per this example), barricades, bar tables, walls, buildings and so on. This makes it quite easy with a transparent tool on Inkarnate to map out your zones to highlight where movement is possible quickly or when it takes longer.
This also can help stress the lay of the land a bit more. Perhaps its not distance as such and maybe to shoot from 3 zones away (blue to red) it is harder to be more accurate due to trees or weather. Maybe the steep descent and unstable footing makes it hard to move down to engage the Beastmen who have made this oasis’s their camp. What ever the reason the concept of zones helps control the flow and pace of the battle – two important things for us Game Masters.

As we move into the new year and a new set of challenges and adventures I wanted to start off with something simply just fun before we get back into the weekly adventures. Helping myself re-look at some of the basics of a RPG system that I will start to get more involved with this year is just the icing on this cake. If you are interested in trying a TTRPG this year I can recommend D&D (yes there is some changes going on this year), Openlegends RPG and, of course, Soulbound. Each one uses a different system for their mechanics and each is refreshing and rewarding to get involved with.
So come back to check in on this coming weeks content and lets roll into this year with a solid foundation. And with the start of a new year why don’t you look at rolling a luck check and don’t forget to roll it with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe
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