Cartography - Why the focus on Renaissance?

[Garthanos]

even though nobody would ever go into one willingly.

Starts to raise hand, lowers it while looking around ... college was a weird and fun time. ( and it wasnt exactly sewers)

 

[Umbran]

Starts to raise hand, lowers it while looking around ... college was a weird and fun time. ( and it wasnt exactly sewers)

Weird, fun... and full of cholera :/

 

[Tonguez]

Starts to raise hand, lowers it while looking around ... college was a weird and fun time. ( and it wasnt exactly sewers)

yup, me too - we use to have lots of fun exploring the tunnels under the city, even the ones that were disgusting, damp, and smelt of old urine

 

[Garthanos]

We also did something like less than properly acrobatic Parkour, err building climbing on the fronts and backs of the Student Union building and the like.

 

[Doug McCrae]

These are all from RuneQuest/HeroQuest, which has always had a strong grounding in real world culture, geography and religion. The main focus of its setting, Glorantha, is the conflict between the Lunar Empire, which is somewhat similar to the Roman Empire, and the Orlanthi barbarians of Sartar, who are somewhat similar to the Celts.

Source

Source

 

[Doug McCrae]

I'm not sure whether most of the Sartarite settlements above are based on Celtic oppida or Saxon burhs. (Probably a bit of both.)

This is a Celtic hill fort from the Osprey publication The Forts of Celtic Britain (2006) Angus Konstam.

And this is a Saxon burh from Fortifications in Wessex c. 800-1066 (2003) Ryan Lavelle.

 

[Salthorae]

I'm not sure if my point is getting across.

For example, if you look at most fantasy cartography, you'll see buildings with slate roofs. Virtually no thatched roofs (just as a single example). Most fantasy city maps will show sewer grates, something that's wildly out of place. And, most urban maps will have no locations for housing animals. Just as a few examples of things you would expect to see (or not see) in a pre-Renaissance town or city.

I think it's just a lack of knowledge honestly. It has been the default art style for the history of D&D that I know, so people just perpetuate the style.

As to sewers... if you don't have sewers how does a thieves guild operate??

 

[Rob Kuntz]

Sewers? Did someone mention sewers?? (From my El Raja Key Archive, City of Greyhawk Sewers/Catacombs, done BitD):

View attachment Greyhawk City - Sewers:Catacombs copy.jpg

 

[Tony Vargas]

Starts to raise hand, lowers it while looking around ... college was a weird and fun time. ( and it wasnt exactly sewers)

Steam tunnels?

View attachment 115076

I've been thinking "after my current, oh-so-modern campaign wraps, I kinda want to run something like a semi-mythical mega-dungeon, where the whole campaign is delving deep into one ancient labyrinth, each level deadlier but more rewarding than the one above."
Now I really want to.

 

[Rob Kuntz]

I've been thinking "after my current, oh-so-modern campaign wraps, I kinda want to run something like a semi-mythical mega-dungeon, where the whole campaign is delving deep into one ancient labyrinth, each level deadlier but more rewarding than the one above."
Now I really want to.

Yep. My plan was to make all levels this large, also as in Bottle City, Horsing Around, OZ, Dungeon of Krazor the Mad, the Orky Level, etc. Those were all fanfold with the Orky Level being two side by side fanfold (8sq/in). I had grown very tired of 8x11s within the first 6 months of crafting dungeon maps. Not enough room for bigger concepts!