Thrall and Error - or "How Maya was Birthed."

This campaign was my first proper try at DMing since my days at Soulcraft. On Sunday afternoons at the shop, there were regular sessions fronted by various DMs like Beavis, Frank, and me. And even though it was my own shop, I could never DM much myself, as customers were filling in at odd intervals, interrupting the sessions quite a fair bit.
My longest streak lasted like three weeks. I then politely disbanded the party, asking them to join the other DMs instead, as I could not stay at the gametable for more than ten minutes at a time.
Was I frustrated? Yes. But I knew there was to be a better time, a better day.

Six facts you wished you never knew about Maya

1. It was originally named Baya, and was located in Bloody Bay. In my initial design, I mis-spelled it as Maya in my eagerness to create the MoTG (Mayian Official Thieves' Guild).
   
2. Maya was heavily inspired by Phlan, the starting town in Pool of Radiance, a SSI Gold-Box game in the mid 80s.
3. It has nothing to do with the cursed dark-skinned girl who carries the same name in Heroes: Season 2 (she was the one with the close burst 50 necrotic aura which yes, hurts creatures- friends and foes alike.) And no, there will be not be a nearby brother-town called Alehandro.
   
4. The poisoned swamps and the blighted beach were purely coincidental and not meant to draw similarities to Maya (the cursed girl) in any possible way.
   
5. I wanted to put Maya next to an active, inactive, dormant but, active volcano, nestled away in some hot, yet cold highlands. But I thought twice about blasting Maya to bits in about six minutes of game time after spending more than that amount of time creating it.
6. Fact 5 was a complete lie.
   

I was very pleased with myself when I finished the current campaign's background of Maya and Sccor. It was simple; yet rewarding to see that an adventure could be run just by providing a sub-regional background and a basic point-of-light origin.
Ameriza was to be brought in gradually, and the ensuing relationship between an entire island empire, a powerful city-state, and a developing fishing town should provide enough meat for a long time.

For my long-term project, I will be working on a proper map of Caen, once I find an appropriate cartographer-based program on the net. Then slowly bit by bit, the actual scale and detail of the different regions can be graphically depicted as professionally as my limited skill allows.

In future milestones, I will be posting my own home-brewed version of the 4E Monk character class. These ascetic beings have always been my favorite DnD class of all time (Bard comes a close 2nd), and it is only natural that I propose my take on it.
I will also be regularly updating session highlights, and supplying more random "Behind The Scenes" information like the Maya stuff above.

Last but not the least, if anyone has any cool custom stuff they want posted on the site, do drop me a PM or a message on the grapevine, so that I can feature it for our reading pleasure and honest critique.

This site is ours, so we can all contribute in our own unique way, and make 9d20 a whopping cool place to hang/type out.

P/S: Dre solved the mystery of the Thrall/Follower puzzle . You have to register as a Blogspot member to become a Thrall. So, please proceed to the Brain-cutting Chamber and get an ID. Thanks! (100 xp for the minor quest completion!)