Here's That Hi-Res Sword Coast Map

WotC hit their $100K Extra Life charity funding goal, and have released the high resolution labeled map of the northwest portion of Faerün, from Amn to Icewind Dale, and the Moonshae Isles to the Dalelands. It's pretty enormous - 10,200 by 6,600 pixels! That's 141 x 91 inches. There's a smaller version of it below, but hit the image to jump to the full size giant version. The map was created by Mike Schley.

Click on this for the enormous hi-res version​

 

[Radaceus]

The 10 bucks to Schley is well spent in my opinion, you get not only the full PDF, but also sections , and also get Annotated and Blank versions of the map. it is well worth the ten bucks for the time poor.

it is nice to know though, that the D&D community is large enough to raise 100k, something I would not have thought could happen if you asked me 10 years ago.../props to the team!

 

[gyor]

If that resource wasn't also available for sale directly from the artist, I think it would be different. Not only are the people who support the charity giving a donation, Mike Schley is also giving a donation by making it free for this specific cause. I don't think it has anything to do with what people can afford or not. Is anyone at home surfing on their high-speed Internet connection capable of downloading a large file like that seriously unable to afford a donation?

My goal wasn't to try to make people look bad, but to remind them that the whole point was to raise money for a specific charity. The wording evidently came off wrong and I should have said something more like, "If you like the map, please consider making a donation to the Miracle Network Hospital." Even if you only donated $1, how many fans does D&D have around the world?

Not everyone has credit cards, but still guilt tripping people into donating isn't right.

You don't need high speed internet to download it, just patience. High speed internet is not even available were I live.

 

[gyor]

Honestly I'd rather donate to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dracos-may-be-effective-against-all-viruses#/

If Draco can get funded it could some day save millions of childern and adults across the world, reduce suffering for millions, make sex safer, reduce healthcare costs across the world, save the lives and improve the health of our pets and live stock.

 

[DEFCON 1]

They're giving away the map for free, to everybody. End of story.

Absolutely. And thus no one needs to feel guilty about downloading it.

However, if someone does feel guilty about it... or is getting a little perturbed about smiteworks suggesting that perhaps they might want to donate to Extra Life as well... then that is more telling than they're letting on. Everyone basically *is* profiting from both Mike Schley's and the other Extra Life donater's goodwill, because it was only through their charity that we are getting this. If you are fine with that... then great! You can download it. You're been given permission. But at the same time it doesn't make you free from potential criticism. And if the criticism actually bothers you... then that's telling you something about yourself and the situation.

 

[Coredump]

Thank you Smiteworks.

These are meant as a 'reward' for folks donating. Just because they didn't lock it down behind a paywall doesn't change the intent. No one, not WotC, not me, are policing people. And of course they know more people will download than donated....but that isn't the point.

The point is this is a reward for the folks that donated. You have the opportunity to 'free ride' on their donations.... and you have the opportunity to join them and get the reward as intended.

No one *has* to donate. But no one *has* to have this map either.

 

[BoldItalic]

Not everyone has credit cards, but still guilt tripping people into donating isn't right.

You don't need high speed internet to download it, just patience. High speed internet is not even available were I live.

For people struggling with the file size, Wizards_DnD has posted a link on twitter to a medium res version that's only about 9MB. http://media.wizards.com/2015/images/dnd/resources/Sword-Coast-Map_MedRes.jpg

 

[JeffB]

The fact that one has to pay or donate (or feel guilted into donating) for a a usable map that should have been included in the purchase price is ridiculous.

It was a poor decision in choosing the model they did to benefit the charity.There are better ways to bring attention to charities than trading" perks " (actually things that used to be considered part of a purchase or marketing for the product) for donations. Previews of chapters. A map .Poor form. Something unique that is produced specifially for those donating (and only those donating) is always a better choice. A tshirt. A Calendar. etc. As seen, what they did is causing some ill will among consumers and I would be upset too had I bought the map or donated.

As I said elsewhere , even that POS 32p GAZ from 3.0 came with a decent pull out map. They have put hi res FR maps on the website for free in the past. It was pretty lame to ask for donations or an extra 10 bucks for a digital version.

 

[Hussar]

This thread makes me a sad panda.

Good grief. Enjoy the map. Donate if you feel you want to. End of story.

That is one seriously pretty map.

Great stuff by Mike (as always) and lots of money to a good cause. Pat on the back for everyone.

The rest of you folks that seem to feel a need to get on any soapbox and piss and moan or whatever? How about you take it to the off topic forum where you can talk about all the politics you like and let us have one thread where those of us who just want to enjoy someone's fantastic work can appreciate it without having to listen to the noise. Is that too much to ask?

 

[graves3141]

The fact that one has to pay or donate (or feel guilted into donating) for a a usable map that should have been included in the purchase price is ridiculous.

It was a poor decision in choosing the model they did to benefit the charity.There are better ways to bring attention to charities than trading" perks " (actually things that used to be considered part of a purchase or marketing for the product) for donations. Previews of chapters. A map .Poor form. Something unique that is produced specifially for those donating (and only those donating) is always a better choice. A tshirt. A Calendar. etc. As seen, what they did is causing some ill will among consumers and I would be upset too had I bought the map or donated.

As I said elsewhere , even that POS 32p GAZ from 3.0 came with a decent pull out map. They have put hi res FR maps on the website for free in the past. It was pretty lame to ask for donations or an extra 10 bucks for a digital version.

Good points Jeff, pull out maps were the norm until recently and hi res maps of the Forgotten Realms were free on the WotC website for many years. Many people here seem to have suddenly forgotten those things.

 

[pukunui]

Pull-out maps were the norm for campaign setting guides, not player's guides. Neither 3e's PGtF nor 4e's FRPG came with a pull-out map. It should come as no surprise that the SCAG - which is a player's guide, not a campaign setting book - doesn't either. I don't get why people think that a lack of a pull-out map is a valid criticism of the book.