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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6903992" data-attributes="member: 37579">Europe and Asia as a template works because we know it does. The real world is amazing to serve as inspiration because it has the best sourcebooks imaginable. The history and the geography works. Also, the maps fit. Which is a catch. We're used to maps being longer around the middle. Being landscape (they don't have to be: the world is round, we could have a portrait map). But even before we knew things were a globe there's this odd tendency to have landscape paper maps. So fantasy maps follow that strange pattern. We draw maps to fit on an 8x11 piece of paper. So you either get the single ovoid contingent ala Australia (Khorvaire, Ansalon) or the "part of the continent" Europe + Asia map (Greyhawk, Realms, Mystara). Because you don't want to waste paper and precious map area with negative space. A vertical (or portrait) map can work. It fits in a book more easily for one. There's no reason a world can't be taller than wide. It works for Westeros...</blockquote>