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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7749462" data-attributes="member: 29398">Which is all fine for just you running your own game, but what if I and 100 or 100,000 other DMs all want to use (or, because it's the official setting for a major and intended-to-be-mass-market game system, are expected to use) the same setting?At that point, particularly for any sort of &quot;organized play&quot;, you need enough foundation to provide at least a vaguely common experience; and that foundation would at the very least consist of:&nbsp;- a general map of a reasonably large area (a continent?) showing major features with enough blank space to allow a DM to place her own elements as desired (the 1e FR map is a fine example)&nbsp;- specific maps of a few key locations on the general map (a key city which I'll call Key City; an important realm or two) where the published modules will take place as written&nbsp;- a bare-bones history of how some things came to be where and how they are, particularly as they might affect the published modules&nbsp;- a (brief!) write-up or gazetteer of the major elements on the maps - Key City, the noteworthy realms, etc.With this, a DM who just wants to plug and play has enough material to do so, while a DM who wants to tweak or add to or kitbash the setting has a good foundation to start from.For Nentir Vale in particular I'd expect a map of the Vale area showing some of the points of light, a map of one important city or town or point of light within it, and a general map of what's around/beyond the Vale itself.&nbsp; For a post-apocalyptic setting like that I'd also find very useful a map of what was where before the apocalypse, though others might want to make this up for themselves.Lanefan</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7749462, member: 29398"] Which is all fine for just you running your own game, but what if I and 100 or 100,000 other DMs all want to use (or, because it's the official setting for a major and intended-to-be-mass-market game system, are expected to use) the same setting? At that point, particularly for any sort of "organized play", you need enough foundation to provide at least a vaguely common experience; and that foundation would at the very least consist of: - a general map of a reasonably large area (a continent?) showing major features with enough blank space to allow a DM to place her own elements as desired (the 1e FR map is a fine example) - specific maps of a few key locations on the general map (a key city which I'll call Key City; an important realm or two) where the published modules will take place as written - a bare-bones history of how some things came to be where and how they are, particularly as they might affect the published modules - a (brief!) write-up or gazetteer of the major elements on the maps - Key City, the noteworthy realms, etc. With this, a DM who just wants to plug and play has enough material to do so, while a DM who wants to tweak or add to or kitbash the setting has a good foundation to start from. For Nentir Vale in particular I'd expect a map of the Vale area showing some of the points of light, a map of one important city or town or point of light within it, and a general map of what's around/beyond the Vale itself. For a post-apocalyptic setting like that I'd also find very useful a map of what was where before the apocalypse, though others might want to make this up for themselves. Lanefan [/QUOTE]

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