ever run a campaign on a real-world map?

[BaldHero]

yes

...but not a D&D campaign.

I am running an All Flesh Must Be Eaten using Google Earth.
I can click and see where the retailers are that might be important to my survivor such as drug stores, hospitals and other shopping centers. I can show my players exactly where they are, and even measure the distances they travel down to the meter.

L.

 

[ChristianW]

Great thread!

When playing Twilight 2000, we used our hometown of San Diego. It was pretty neat to be able to use familiar landmarks. All the nearby military bases really added to the feel of the game.

 

[Woas]

Sure. In fact I use real world geographics almost exclusively.

What I like to do is go through this real nice world Atlas I got about 8 years ago and pick our random maps and then zoom them in and used very localized geography that people probably would not realize.

For example in my most recent game. I am running a homebrew and the area the campaign takes place in revolves around 2 specific kingdoms. The map is a zoomed in, and slightly altered area around Ayrshire in Scottland.

 

[RFisher]

I've often wanted to do that, but I always have a hard time finding maps that really make me feel like I'm getting that much of a leg up on starting from scratch. I mean, they're usually great for finding the location of a modern city, but not so much at giving me a feel for the land, water, vegetation, climate, &c. Even when I find a physical map, I don't seem to be very good at interpreting it.

 

[Crothian]

Kind of. THe main continent of my home brew is Europe turned ninety degrees.

 

[DragonLancer]

I assume you mean for a non-real world RPG.

I once ran a Runequest campaign that used an old medieval European map.

 

[was]

two.......one was an ancient earth campaign set in medieval europe..the other was a fantasy campaign risen 1000 yrs in a post-nuclear war apocalypse.

 

[Psion]

Well, other than games actually set in the real world...

One of my favored settings is the Second World Sourcebook. The fantasy half of the setting is a mirror image of Earth. Of course, d20 variants based on real world myth and history slot right in (Nyambe, for example.) When I ran the game, I picked out wilderness spots I was familiar with as a reference. The Tomb of Abysthor sits in eastern PA, and the suspended tomb in Out of Sight, Out of Mind is on Mt. Ranier. Cauldron is in a caldera in Second World Arizona.

 

[Heckler]

Not a real world map...but the last time I ran a campaign I used the global map from Final Fantasy I. Basically kept everything where it was or where it made sense (dwarves in the earth cave), I just came up with a new story.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

...has anyone ever just played a fantasy game on a real-world map, complete with elves, dwarves, dragons, and magic?

Yup.