I'm planning on running a campaign for D&D set in Zendikar and I have some questions about the geography. How volatile is the Roil? I want to be able to have certain ruins in certain places but how much is the terrain changed from the Roil? How often do Roil Tides happen? Is the geography changed so much that places are shifted around or are the sites still in the same spots but maybe buried beneath tons of rubble? I'd appreciate any help or directions to other resources. Much obliged.
So, the answer is basically 'it depends' or 'it's up to you'. To answer your questions specifically:
The Roil's volativity varies from place to place, as do the effects. You're safe fudging it for your ruins.
The same goes for how much the terrain is changed. In some places, everything has been upended. In others, it's the same big rocks that get lifted and dropped over and over.
Roil tides vary, in some places they're too frequent to settle there, in others they barely get any.
Essentially, if you're making a setting, you can adjust the rules how you want. The roil isn't one cohesive event plane-wide, and as the quote from the Guide states, it could be more intense at the top of a mountain than a bottom. In the novel In the Teeth of Akoum, it's more intense inside a canyon than outside it. Basically, you have carte blanche.
This doesn't relate to the Roil, but it may be a valuable resource: Vorthos Cartography. This includes the best map I've seen of Zendikar, drawn by the very talented Glamdring804.
If I were running such a game, I would make a percentile chart to generate the ferocity of the Roil in any given location, much as people frequently generate weather.
I'd start with A Planeswalkers Guide to Zendikar, but if you can get the Art Book it's overall a better resource.
Essentially, if you're making a setting, you can adjust the rules how you want. The roil isn't one cohesive event plane-wide, and as the quote from the Guide states, it could be more intense at the top of a mountain than a bottom. In the novel In the Teeth of Akoum, it's more intense inside a canyon than outside it. Basically, you have carte blanche.
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If I were running such a game, I would make a percentile chart to generate the ferocity of the Roil in any given location, much as people frequently generate weather.
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