Mike Schley's MASSIVE Forgotten Realms Map From SCAG!

Cartographer Mike Schley has posted the enormous map of Northwest Faerûn from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. It's poster sized (10,200 x 6,600 pixels, or a 34-page PDF) or you can get the Artists Print version shipped to you in the form of a poster map. "This new absolutely massive map of D&D's Sword Coast and Northwestern Faerûn was commissioned by Wizards of the Coast to accompany their 5th Edition D&D game supplement Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. lead your adventures through his exhaustive map of The Forgotten Realms' most Iconic lands and make sure to let it inspire some truly fantastic storytelling."
The print version ($10-$54, depending on size) is here, and the digital version ($10) is here.

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[designbot]

[Moved map to earlier post]

 

[pukunui]

Not completely accurate—the PDF does include a version with and without labels.

I meant in terms of extra stuff. There's nothing extra in the zoomed in maps. I think he just offered the tiled version to make it easier to print.

 

[Hussar]

Y'know, hyperbole aside, there is a point here. Cutting off the scale is not a good thing. Maps should always have a scale. That's just basic fundamentals of maps. To pull out or not pull out, is a question I don't want to answer. But, no scale is certainly something to criticize over.

 

[Demetrios1453]

All of Mike Schley's maps have been internally consistent (other than the WotC-mandated scale issues), and now it's clear why. The overview map in SCAG is unquestionably based on the 1e or 2e map—probably traced over, in fact.

Here is a comparison of 2e to 5e:

View attachment 71603

And a comparison of 4e to 5e:

View attachment 71604

I think the small variance from the 2e map is probably mostly due to distortion in the 2e scan that I'm using. The 4e coastline goes off at a completely different angle.

The 1e and 2e maps were basically very consistent with each other. It was 3e (which is actually the edition of the second map there, not 4e) that changed things around, and on purpose. It caused quite a kerfluffle among FR fans at the time when the not only the new map was quite inconsistent with what came before, but, if I remember correctly, actual pictures of the 2e map having pieces cut out and the remainder being re-arranged to create a 3e map that would all fit onto one square map, with some of the larger areas of wilderness purposely removed simply because they took up too much dead space...

I am quite happy to see things being returned to the original standard...

 

[designbot]

It was 3e (which is actually the edition of the second map there, not 4e) that changed things around, and on purpose.

I'll update that.

 

[Greyson]

Schley's Map Rules

I tried to read through this whole thread. But, [MENTION=6795434]Silthen[/MENTION] and his determined debate was too much and way off topic. By page seventeen I gave up.

My purpose for posting today is to praise the recent Schley FR map. I think it's great. I used the 15% discount, which was a nice little perk. It's great work and will get immediate use at our table for myriad campaigning in the Realms. The potential for this map goes way beyond SCAG. I think a conversation about this particular map transcends its relationship to one product.

I can print for my own needs, so I am not too caught-up in the challenges of printing the map.

I'd call this work "map art." I did see earlier in the thread a few posts about what is and what is not a map. To me, it's more fantasy art in map form.

Another great piece by Schley. Looking forward to what he offers next. His work is always really well done. Lot's of free stuff out there, but I'll gladly pay for Schely's quality and support a fellow gamer

 

[Ricochet]

An amazing map!

 

[wedgeski]

Y'know, hyperbole aside, there is a point here. Cutting off the scale is not a good thing. Maps should always have a scale. That's just basic fundamentals of maps. To pull out or not pull out, is a question I don't want to answer. But, no scale is certainly something to criticize over.

I gotta agree. That's a silly oversight.

 

[spongebob1138]

For 11.00 I had the map printed at Staples. Came out great!View attachment 71771

 

[JohnLynch]

The more I look at this map the more I realize it's far superior to the 3e/4e free maps.