D&D 5E (2024) Atlas of Faerun (with some pictures from the internet)

[Henadic Theologian]

It depends on how far south and east they go. If they go as far as Ed's original maps - southernmost latitude being at Nimbral and the very southernmost coast of Faerûn between Halruaa and Dambrath, easternmost longitude at the Howling Gap and the eastern limits of Ulgarth, it will just miss Zakhara at the southeast corner. If they go much further, then, yes, it will clip parts of that continent. But even then, it's not going to show much of significance (the area in question is unsettled barren coastline) unless they greatly expand the map's reach beyond Faerûn proper. Once a hypothetical map gets fairly significantly south of Nimbral, then places like the Pearl Bay and the Corsair Domains would start showing up. I personally don't think they'll go much beyond the original Ed maps, if they even go that far (hence my wanting to know if the south coast is on the map).

Ed's original map went all the way to Semphar and the southern most coast of Faerun.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The 3e & 4e maps went all the way to Var the Golden/Drowned and Mogholm.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Ed's original map went all the way to Semphar and the southern most coast of Faerun.

View attachment 414001

Right, that's exactly what I was describing. The Howling Gap is at the eastern border of Semphar, and Nimbral would be at the very southwesternmost corner if it were visible.

 

[Demetrios1453]

The 3e & 4e maps went all the way to Var the Golden/Drowned and Mogholm.

Yeah, but they squished and removed bits and pieces to make it all fit on one poster. You can tell the difference if you examine them closely. This new map seems to adhere closely to Ed's original and the 1e/2e maps.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, but they squished and removed bits and pieces to make it all fit on one poster. You can tell the difference if you examine them closely. This new map seems to adhere closely to Ed's original and the 1e/2e maps.

That sort of thing happens in real world maps too. It’s why I prefer more stylised maps, to remind people it ain’t Ordinance Survey. Given that Toril is a sphereworld, there is going to be significant distortion, particularly in the north of Faerun, which is why they rarely touch on anything north of Icewind Dale.

 

[Demetrios1453]

That sort of thing happens in real world maps too. It’s why I prefer more stylised maps, to remind people it ain’t Ordinance Survey. Given that Toril is a sphereworld, there is going to be significant distortion, particularly in the north of Faerun, which is why they rarely touch on anything north of Icewind Dale.

Well, it's a bit more than that. There was once an aricle on the Wizards' website (and I think it was in Dragon magazine as well) that showed them, in pictures, literally taking scissors to a copy of the 1e/2e map, removing narrow east-west strips, and then pushing it all back together to recreate the reconstituted 3e FRCS map. It caused quite a stir amomg FR fandom, as you can probably imagine! Granted, the changes are only occasionally noticeable unless you're familiar with both versions, but some did result in significant differences. For example, Erlkazar, an area that was an eastern portion of Terhyr, got moved up so far north that it was now east of Amn, and the mountains, rivers, and lakes in that region got all jumbled up. The fact that the region was well-known from, and well-mapped in, the Cleric Quintet novels by R A Salvatore made it quite egregious, as now some of what were once described as short trips by characters were suddenly now hundreds of miles long! Another big change was the Shaar, which was about halved in its north-south width; granted, it's just a boring grassland on the fringe of the setting, so that's not as much of an issue.

I do wish I could find a copy of the article and its associated pictures...

 

[Parmandur]

Well, it's a bit more than that. There was once an aricle on the Wizards' website (and I think it was in Dragon magazine as well) that showed them, in pictures, literally taking scissors to a copy of the 1e/2e map, removing narrow east-west strips, and then pushing it all back together to recreate the reconstituted 3e FRCS map. It caused quite a stir amomg FR fandom, as you can probably imagine! Granted, the changes are only occasionally noticeable unless you're familiar with both versions, but some did result in significant differences. For example, Erlkazar, an area that was an eastern portion of Terhyr, got moved up so far north that it was now east of Amn, and the mountains, rivers, and lakes in that region got all jumbled up. The fact that the region was well-known from, and well-mapped in, the Cleric Quintet novels by R A Salvatore made it quite egregious, as now some of what were once described as short trips by characters were suddenly now hundreds of miles long! Another big change was the Shaar, which was about halved in its north-south width; granted, it's just a boring grassland on the fringe of the setting, so that's not as much of an issue.

I do wish I could find a copy of the article and its associated pictures...

We got into that on the forum last year, the scale of the changes were pretty egregious, before the changes the Sword Coast region alone is about the size of Europe, but in 3E everything is cramped and on top of each other.

For just the Sword Coast region, leaving off the rest of Faerun:

In the 3E/4E material the Sword Coast region as defined in SCAG is ~2.2 million square miles (or ~5.7 million square kilometers approximately twice as large as India)

In the 1E/2E/5E material, the Sword Coast region is over 5 million square miles (or nearly 13 milliom square kilometers, just shy of Antarctica, the only country on Earth bigger than the Sword Coast region is Russia).

That means the land that disappears and comes back is about the size of Australia. Just for the Sword Coast.

The article is here:

Thank you, one I own in PDF. I got it long after the fact though and had not read that article.

View attachment 348926
Is "The Sundering" the term used in 4e for the two worlds thing?
View attachment 348929

 

[JConstantine]

I loved that, but this map is only Faerun (well mostly) and goes into much greater detail then even the Faerun on thus globe.

Yeah, but given the sort of things fans have made, with the resources Hasbro has, imagine if WotC gave us a sort of diet Google Maps for each of the various settings. One can dream.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, but given the sort of things fans have made, with the resources Hasbro has, imagine if WotC gave us a sort of diet Google Maps for each of the various settings. One can dream.

Imean, it seems theybhave somethinglike yhat here on Beyond upcoming.

 

[JConstantine]

Imean, it seems theybhave somethinglike yhat here on Beyond upcoming.

After what happened with the VTT, I guess I'm skeptical about the level of interactivity this will actually have.