sandbox campaign - map size/scale?

[SkidAce]

Just out of curiosity, is there a vector program that would let you have a "digital ruler" for distance? Something that can be set to show real world distances and not pixels or inches?

Basically, whatever zoom I'm at I could then just click and drag and get a measurement in miles/meters that is to scale at whatever zoom I'm at.

I have no problem using a vector map, as long as it can be tailored to fit the needs of the game. I don't want to be making calculations all the time.

Campaign Cartographer 3 does all of the above. It is a CAD based engine and its power used to be a barrier to entry, however, excellent tools and tutorials have made it very easy to create good maps.

You can measure between two points, along a path, overlay hexes or squares with a couple of clicks.

 

[Grimstaff]

I prefer to use "Leagues" as opposed to "miles" as its easier to track character movement; a League is one hour's travel (roughly 2.5 or 3 miles). For a regional map I like 5-league hexes and will blow up from there to 1-league hexes or out to 40-league hexes as needed. Maybe its just my poor math skills, but I like being able to glance at the map and say stuff like "Its about a six hour hike to the Tower of Enslade".

For an example of how I detail my hexes look here - link.

 

[Shades of Green]

What do you think would serve better as a sandbox: a winding, snaking (but several hexes wide) mountain valley surrounded by frozen mountains, or more open area? Or a system of several valleys?

Note that the scale I'm thinking about is 30x30 hexes with 5-6 miles per hex for to total area of 150 by 150 miles or 180 by 180 miles.

 

[Mark]

What do you think would serve better as a sandbox: a winding, snaking (but several hexes wide) mountain valley surrounded by frozen mountains, or more open area? Or a system of several valleys?

Note that the scale I'm thinking about is 30x30 hexes with 5-6 miles per hex for to total area of 150 by 150 miles or 180 by 180 miles.

Let the players give you your cues. Have a casual session with the group to discuss the new campaign and see what sort of exploration chops they have. As mentioned above, starting off with a non-gridded map (even if you have an overlay for the DM that includes a grid) is a good way to really guage their interest in sandboxing and how far they will go. It helps keep the focus on adventure and off of clearing hexes.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I'd either follow Mark's suggestion or go with several (interconnected) valleys. I would make some valleys much harder to reach than others!

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

The easier it is to create a "flowchart" of the possible routes the PCs can take, the less like a "sandbox" it is.

 

[weem]

...A player map should either be something the PC could find in-game, or just let them access the GM map if necessary, but don't refer to it in-play...

You might dig this then - an early version of the campaign/setting map I drew up for the players (on the back of an opened up brown paper bag, hehe)...

...but I agree as well - for immersion-sake, I like more abstract maps that the players can add notes to if they want. I tell them right up front, this is not to scale (though I have one done in hexes using Hexographer).

 

[rogueattorney]

The OP appears to be from Rhode Island, which is ironic, because I tend to say an area the size of R.I. is the perfect starter area for a campaign. I also think of it in terms of four Midwestern U.S. counties. World and continental maps are great, but for practical purposes, to see what the pcs actually have to work with in their area, a smaller campaign map is also needed.

The maps in Rob Conley's two Points of Light books are perfect in this regard, and even if you don't use the campaigns themselves, they're good for just seeing how it's done.

Google maps and other Internet tools can be used for coming up with nice "closer up" maps of towns and other geographic features you want to high light. I use Genisham from the first PoL book's Borderlands section as my home base, and the map I used was a little Illinois town on the south shore of a lake. Printed it out, traced it on graph paper. Altered as needed.

Populate your town with shops and interesting people. Come up with about a dozen interesting out-of-town encounter areas - lairs, castes, other towns, etc. - a briefly detail them, then place your dungeon somewhere nearby with a couple levels to explore, and go! Always leave room to add on.

 

[Shades of Green]

The reasons I was thinking of a valley were two-fold. First, I wanted a setting where part of the setting is frozen year-long, while other parts thaw (and thus allow agriculture) in the spring and the summer, all while both parts should be contained within the same 180 by 180 mile area. Second, I wanted to keep the sand in a box of sorts, with high mountains serving as a boundary, at least in the lower levels.

A wider, bowl-shaped (of sorts) valley may also be a good option... Or a group of islands in a cold sea (with a larger scale for the overall map while each island would get its own 6-miles-hex map); the northern islands would be frozen year-long, while the southern islands will have a cold winter and a growing season in the summer.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Islands (or even a single large island) can put a cool spin on a sandbox, since it gives the "player choice" aspect something like a turbo-boost. You can even set it up so that the PCs choose their "starting point" if you begin the campaign with them in a ship, making landfall where they choose to begin. If you set them up with a "coastal" ship rather than a truly seaworthy vessel, that keeps them from saying "hey, we head for the open, uncharted ocean" right away.