ever run a campaign on a real-world map?

[Karl Green]

Yes a few times...

My first D&D 3.0 game was based in early 14th Century Spain (the Reconquest), but with all the fantasy races and classes (wizards, etc). I use the real world religions and languages though, with many of the non-humans have pagen beliefs. I used the Keep on the Borderlands as part of the bases of the game with a small outpost on the frontier between the Christian and Moslem lands.

I have been playing around with another one for GURPS 4th ed, and I like the idea of it being on Earth but with magic and fantasy races... maybe a reverse Banestorm where the Elfs messed up and then came to Earth (along with lots of other fantasy races) instead of the other way around

 

[celewritor]

I used Europe once as the basis for my campaign. I did a rough hand drawn map, tossed a desert across Eastern Europe and mountain range between "Germany" and "France". The players took forever to figure it out, even with Byzantium in the SE corner and a land filled with French sounding names in the right region. Oh yeah that land ruled by a tsar to distant east. Eh.

 

[Karl Green]

I've always been tempted to run a campaign across Europe. Maybe even set up World War 1 with Orcs.

After I read the comic Arrowsmith I really wanted to something similar myself... it would be a very interesting twist I think...

 

[Desdichado]

I guess maybe I interpreted the question a little bit differently than some; I answered that I had created homebrews that were mostly based on real earth maps, but I've never actually used real earth maps exactly as is before, and I also tend to like to mix up several cultural elements so that my fantasy cultures don't obviously and clearly point back to well known earth cultures.

Few things jar me out of suspension of disbelief quite so well as seeing an exact analog from our earth in a fantasy world.