General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
Which settings (any game, any edition) have the best maps?
In your opinion, which settings have the best maps? Links to on-line or fan-created ones are welcome, too!
On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the barest scribbled map on a sheet of paper to 10 being a map that looks like a NASA sattelite image, where would you place your preference for fantasy maps?
Despite the beautiful full-color maps that are out there, I always keep coming back to the Judge's Guild maps from the AD&D era. Those sepia-toned maps were nicely detailed and HUGE. And the fact that they were sepia-tone made them look like something the PCs might actually have, which aided in immersion.
HarnWorld has the best maps I've ever seen for an RPG setting, bar none. I'd say that the world/continent maps rate a perfect 10 and the localized maps (of cities and such) rate about 7.
I have this sweet cloth map that came with the 2e dark suns boxed set.
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The old Judges Guild Wilderlands of High Fantasy maps
The World of Greyhawk map by Darlene
The I.C.E. Middle Earth maps
The maps Robert Conley has been doing (e.g. Points of Light)
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I'm partial to Mystara's sticking with hex maps eternally. Something very pleasingly nostalgic about it.
Tangent: If I may offer a point about a trend in maps for settings I think is producing awful results. There are more and more maps that are done with computers that have been adding a 3d aspect to the maps. Unfortunately, the end result has created the uncanny valley of cartography. It tries to look realistic, comes close, but ends up looking far worse than had they just drawn it out with a pen and paper. The 4e Eberron poster map has this uncanny valley cartography. The closer it begins to look like an attempt at satellite/aerial photos, the more we expect things to really look like how a satellite/aerial photo should look.
Please, please, please. Fantasy cartographers of the world, resist the urge to CGI-up your drawings to feel like a satellite (hint: satellite photos of mountain terrain may look like random lumps to you, but they aren't, and your map's mountains shouldn't look like randomized pattern of bumps) if you can't do it right.
[/soapbox]
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HarnWorld has the best maps I've ever seen for an RPG setting, bar none. I'd say that the world/continent maps rate a perfect 10 and the localized maps (of cities and such) rate about 7.
Here's the best I can do. Since the map itself is a product, it's hard to find images of the entire thing. I suspect that the publisher (wisely) does their best to keep those offline.
Here's the best I can do. Since the map itself is a product, it's hard to find images of the entire thing. I suspect that the publisher (wisely) does their best to keep those offline.
That's good enough, thanks. I just wanted to get a feel of it.
It kinda reminds me of the World of Greyhawk map from the 83 boxed set.
*Someone has posted really great computer-drawn maps of Greyhawk on this site in the cartography forum. They really are the best I've seen of their ilk, but be warned: the downloaded PDF is very cumbersome to use! I also like the Greyhawk maps from the 1E set.
*Finally, there have been lots of nice maps of Middle-earth. My favorites are here and here, probably the most beautiful pencil-drawn maps I've seen.
Columbia Games produces in Hârn a splendid combination of detailed cartography and game-utility (with, e.g., hex grids). The old ICE Midle-Earth maps also stand out in memory.
Tolkien's own maps, though, seem to me more evocative. I got a similar sense from the maps William Church drew, for the second edition of RuneQuest, of Dragon Pass and Prax. I know of only the latter online:
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