Settings with no world map - anybody tried?

[Ry]

Once you've filled in all the blank spaces, there's nowhere to stick that brand new idea you suddenly had while prepping for tomorrow's game. Even the DM's map should leave enough open to squeeze in new material that you didn't account for initially.

In fact, that's the one major problem I had with the one long-term homebrew I ran that did have a map. I found that there were some adventure ideas I had that I just couldn't run, because they didn't thematically/culturally/whateverally fit in anywhere on the continent as designed.

This is the problem I run into all the time.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That's how Midwood has been evolving for a year now. While it gets a little tough -- I really need to make friends with a great cartographer/someone with a mapping program -- it's been worth it for the most part.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

I've tried it in my 10th century campaign, and it works pretty well - I've got maps, the players just don't see them.

The problem with an absence of maps in a standard middle/high magic game, is it's just not plausible. When people can fly around, wind walk, teleport, use divination spells, communicate with extraplanars etc., I don't think there's much room for any kind of Terra Incognita. A map is a useful resource to anyone with power, which would be relatively easy to fabricate given the prevalence of magic.

 

[Hussar]

Really, for the vast majority of campaigns, this would work perfectly well. Who needs an entire world map anyway? Most of the campaign will likely take place at certain locations dictated by the campaign itself. Anything extra to that is not needed.

I'm a huge fan of minimalism.

 

[S'mon]

I strongly agree that an over-detailed GM's map can be very harmful to future creativity. My current homebrew world maps are mostly at a scale of 100 miles/cm, which works ok, I can stick in new countries and cultures quite easily, in a way which isn't possible at (say) 20 miles/cm. This has been particularly important in creating 'fringe' barbaric & exotic human groups on the edges of the primary civilisation, which has created a more swords & sorcery feel than having just civilised humans vs orcs & goblins.

 

[Herobizkit]

That's all I ever do. I tend to think of places etc. as "scenes" rather than "places on a map". Play any PC game like Baldur's Gate or even the old-school MUDs and you get the same idea. You leave town, the next area "loads", and voilla you're in that area.

 

[Silver Moon]

My campaign that began in 1982 and continues to this day has no world map. I didn't want this to be "my world" but instead "our world" for other DM's to use and also to be able to better adapt other published sources to so kept things open ended. We began with a small mapped continent (400 by 600 miles) divided into nine separate Lordholdings, of which I only developed one in detail. Things have added on since then but we're still not even close to mapping even half the world.

 

[Desdichado]

I typically actually enjoy making setting maps, but lately, I haven't really had one beyond the most immediate region in which the PC's are operating. Why not? Those areas don't really come into play, and if they do, they're just vague anyway. A map of the whole setting is hardly necessary to have a great game.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I'm glad to hear that others have done this since my plan for a future campaign was to create a pretty detailed map of the local region, less detailed of the neighboring regions, and only general descriptions of stuff beyond that (e.g. Bigcity, the capitol of the nation, is to the northwest about three weeks on horse). As the campaign progresses I will add additional detail.

To me it seems much less intimidating than trying to start on a continent or world scale, then adding the smaller details, when the party may never end up in most of those places. Also, it could help to keep me as DM from trying to plan and predict where they will end up too far ahead, and they can then spoil ideas simply be not going in that direction.

 

[Kestrel]

My next campaign will be based on this. I found a program that mimics the old style hex maps and I'm just going to fill in the hexes as the game progresses. Can't wait to try it out.