Mike Schley's MASSIVE Forgotten Realms Map From SCAG!

Cartographer Mike Schley has posted the enormous map of Northwest Faerûn from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. It's poster sized (10,200 x 6,600 pixels, or a 34-page PDF) or you can get the Artists Print version shipped to you in the form of a poster map. "This new absolutely massive map of D&D's Sword Coast and Northwestern Faerûn was commissioned by Wizards of the Coast to accompany their 5th Edition D&D game supplement Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. lead your adventures through his exhaustive map of The Forgotten Realms' most Iconic lands and make sure to let it inspire some truly fantastic storytelling."
The print version ($10-$54, depending on size) is here, and the digital version ($10) is here.

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[pukunui]

Is the Moonsea region on the digital map / PDF deal? I am organizing the Expeditions and an updated map with Phlan, Mulmaster, Hillsfar etc would be tremendous!

Edit: I see some of the Moonsea far off to the right there, but wondering if the cities and areas needed for Expeditions adventures (above) are included or not depending on where those cities are in the 5e world.

It's only partially on the map. Zhentil Keep and Hillsfar are the only Moonsea locations marked on the map. Phlan is missing, while Mulmaster would be just off the right edge of the map.

 

[Charles Rampant]

I don't know about those other places, but Hilsfar is on the map.

 

[Ricochet]

Bummer.

Mike: Any chance of a Moonsea map?

 

[akr71]

Paid my $10 (or whatever it works out to in CDN) this morning and was happy to do so. The artist gets paid and I get great artwork at amazing resolution and a fairly permissive license on my end.

As I said earlier, I work in geomatics and I license geographic data to industry everyday. The licensing fees for our high resolution imagery is pretty much on par.

As a map geek, I can think of all kinds of things I would like to see in the PDF product - being able to turn thematic layers on and off such as contour lines, roads, cities, etc. However, would I expect to get such a product and the high res image for $10? No.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Trying to read through all this. Wow. This keeps coming up: Discussing trends in an industry is part of being involved in a hobby. Criticizing trends that one finds troubling or harmful is not just reasonable, it is important and necessary. It creates discussion that, if it is valid, spreads and can even (yes, really) bring about change.

This forum has a tendency to dismiss any such criticism with "then shut up and don't buy it." It is never beneficial to shut down controversial opinions that way. If you do, then the comments section is irrelevant - it could just be replaced with a 'like' icon.

What we actually do is point out blatant hyperbole that is used merely to make their point seem "big" or "important"... and when that's the case we mention that they are either being overly dramatic, they need to set their expectations to a reasonable level, or if it's really such a huge deal that they aren't getting what they want, perhaps they'd be happier sticking with those products that satisfy their desires.

When someone states that the map in the book is "next to useless"... when by all accounts the map is actually a fairly good one (miles ahead of the 4E one from what I understand)... yeah, someone's going to point out what they think is the disingenuousness of that statement. And if then the person doesn't like having their hyperbolic posts highlighted in that way... well, then they probably shouldn't use the hyperbole in the first place.

It is completely possible to express your regret that something isn't up to a certain standard without making it seem like WotC kicked you in the nuts or stole your wallet like some vindictive street thug. But surprise surprise... that kind of reasonableness doesn't "get the hits" and thus they instead go over the top.

 

[DM_Jeff]

Bummer.

Mike: Any chance of a Moonsea map?

There is *kind of* a Moonsea map I got from Mike's site - you need to look around. However, it only covers the north shore (Hillsfar and Thurmaster aren't on there, it's more of Vassa, Damara, and the cold lands there).

 

[darjr]

But do those maps sync up with the new one?

 

[GobiWon]

I assume including a fold out map with the SCAG would have pushed up costs by quite a bit, but how hard is it to send the image to Gale Force 9 and have them produce it on the same fold out stock as the DM Screens. I would pay $20 for that and I think a lot of others would also.

 

[pukunui]

But do those maps sync up with the new one?

Mike's maps all sync up beautifully. It's uncanny.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Mike's maps all sync up beautifully. It's uncanny.

I really, really hope we see 3 more of his maps to cover the rest of Faerun. I would pay good money for that set! (And if we get Kara-Tur and/or Zakhara maps as well...)