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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Paul Farquhar" data-source="post: 7777651" data-attributes="member: 6906155">It was a consequence of the discovery of the magnetic compass*. Prior to that most maps put east at the top, as it was the direction of sunrise.Given that most D&D settings haven't firmly established that they have a magnetic north that (to some extent) co-insides with geographic north (and our magnetic north is on the move) there is no reason to make that the preferred direction.Whoever, it is something all map makers understand to be a convention, not a rule. If it was a rule they would long ago stopped drawing map roses to indicate the direction of north, since everyone would know it was at the top without needing to be shown.*footnote: by people living in the northern hemisphere. If it had been discovered in the southern hemisphere, we would say that a compass points due south.</blockquote>