D&D General Forgotten Realms geographic changes.

[Crimson Longinus]

For comparison.

This is Fra Mauro map. It is from 15th century, and was considered to be a very high quality map of the world. As you can see, it has some slight inaccuracies. But as medieval maps go, it is actually super detailed and accurate. (North is down.) Older ones were way worse. I'd treat RPG maps for medieval societies in the same way. It is an approximation.

 

[Parmandur]

The real issue with Zakhara is that Faerûn already has a mini fantasy Arabia in the form of Calimshan.

I have personally concluded that anything outside the big map of the original Grey Box was fundamentally a mistake.

 

[Parmandur]

I have not gone through the 1e Kara Tur boxed set, how does it differ?

Interesting perspective here from Greenwood, bold added:

Origins (III): A Real-World Correlation. Fans of the Forgotten Realms may be surprised to learn that the world didn't originally use real-world cultures as the inspiration for its countries. One of Ed Greenwood's long-time players says that his setting was inspired by "Cities and farming regions he'd visited, yes, and the 'flavours' of them he wanted to evoke, but real-world countries or peoples or cultures no."

This changed when other authors began adding their own settings to Greenwood's world, because unlike Greenwood they often used real-world cultures as a touchstone. Technically, this practice started with the Celtic-influenced culture of the Moonshae Islands, but Kara-Tur was the first big expansion in this direction. Greenwood also notes that the real-world correlations extend beyond the major additions to the world to also include "recastings of my largely-offstage kingdoms like Unther and Mulhorand to more closely resemble real-world historical (or 'Hollywood historical') settings."

Greenwood disagrees with the results, saying that "the too-close-to-our-real-world additions like Maztica, the Hordelands, and Kara-Tur were a mistake in style". He thought that they "[pulled] gamers out of roleplaying into disputes about historical details, for one thing".

However, even after decades of additions, the core of the Realms remains Greenwood's own. His primordial lands like the Sword Coast, the Heartlands, and the Dalelands have no direct real-world correlations.

 

[aco175]

For comparison.

This is Fra Mauro map. It is from 15th century, and was considered to be a very high quality map of the world. As you can see, it has some slight inaccuracies. But as medieval maps go, it is actually super detailed and accurate. (North is down.) Older ones were way worse. I'd treat RPG maps for medieval societies in the same way. It is an approximation.

We all know who helped him with that map.

And.... Since Spelljammer is part of FR, they should have maps that make sense in the large scope of things.

 

[General_Tangent]

I used to refer to the old Forgotten Realms Atlas and the The Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas, the latter was pretty good as I could easily print out area maps for the players to look at.

Once they started changing the maps that's probably when I lost interest in the realms.

 

[Epic Meepo]

My in-universe explanation for the 3e map changes: the in-universe cartographers who made the 3e map used the same process as the real-world cartographers who made the 3e map.

The real-world 3e cartographers decided to compress open spaces shown on older maps to fit the surrounding areas onto a single (not-to-scale) map, so it's not unrealistic to assume some in-universe cartographers did the same.

 

[Parmandur]

My in-universe explanation for the 3e map changes: the in-universe cartographers who made the 3e map used the same process as the real-world cartographers who made the 3e map.

The real-world 3e cartographers decided to compress open spaces shown on older maps to fit the surrounding areas onto a single (not-to-scale) map, so it's not unrealistic to assume some in-universe cartographers did the same.

Well, but it's not an in-universe map. It's a source of truth for travel times. It makes. Aplenty big difference if it is 2000 or 3000 miles from Neverwinter to Baldur's Gate

 

[aco175]

Well, but it's not an in-universe map. It's a source of truth for travel times. It makes. Aplenty big difference if it is 2000 or 3000 miles from Neverwinter to Baldur's Gate

Does it make a big difference though? If my group is traveling that far a lot of things get hand-waved and I just say you traveled for a week and end up in Waterdeep and a few more days later you come to Daggerford where X happens. We would not track each mile. Not sure how many group do track to this detail. I know we have had a few threads on exploration and such.

 

[Parmandur]

Does it make a big difference though? If my group is traveling that far a lot of things get hand-waved and I just say you traveled for a week and end up in Waterdeep and a few more days later you come to Daggerford where X happens. We would not track each mile. Not sure how many group do track to this detail. I know we have had a few threads on exploration and such.

...

It makes a pretty big difference to the people in the world, yes.

 

[aco175]

...

It makes a pretty big difference to the people in the world, yes.

I guess I am more the type that thinks the people in the world, the NPCs, are there just to facilitate play with the PCs. I have no use for the 1000s of ships or wagons going up and down the coast unless it affects the game and PCs. All of that just exists in theory until it needs to be something. That is how I play at least.