Using real world maps in your games

[Kyramus]

There are times when you just can't think of a city map and you don't want to look through the FR books for one.

Well I found this link cause I was trying to find anything that would work.

http://grid.let.rug.nl/~welling/maps/blaeu.html

Great site and the feel of each map is similar that it could be used for fantasy. Maybe with a few tweaks here and there.

 

[Turjan]

Well, usually I don't like to use real world maps in fantasy settings, because this tends to take a bit away from the specific fantasy feeling.

But another suggestion: send this link to all the d20 companies out there, or even to WotC!!! Maybe we will finally see one city product that has at least a slight resemblance to a medieval city ! There's none out yet so far - which is a bit sad .

 

[Utrecht]

I think that one of the reasons is that the majority of mid-evil cities are fairly small - reducing the role-playing aspects.

After all - look at the map of Utrecht in the above link. Having been there the area surrounded by the moat (now the old gracht) - is about 4 square miles - not terribly large - and Utrecht was a large and important city at the time - being the home of a Cardinal.

 

[Turjan]

@Utrecht: The sizes of fantasy cities are usually greatly exaggerated if they are compared to medieval cities. The links above point to cities from Flanders and the Netherlands, which were actually the largest cities all over Europe (except Northern Italy) during the Middle Ages. A city with more than 50.000 inhabitants was a metropolis during that time. I think in 1500, there were about 4 or 5 cities reaching this size: Gent, Paris, Milan, Venice, Rome .

But I didn't refer to size with my above comment. It's meant how a city looks like. Most maps of fantasy cities look like a typical modern day suburb, with the best examples resembling a late 19th/early 20th century city (e.g., Freeport).

 

[Tonguez]

I think that one of the reasons is that the majority of mid-evil cities are fairly small - reducing the role-playing aspects.

I don't understand how the size of the city reduces the roleplaying aspect of the city, so was wondering if you could perhaps explain your reasoning.

on topic I have used a map of Preston (Lancashire *my grandfathers hometown btw) in game in the past and I have used a map of Western Australia turned on its side as the map of a whole continent strangely reminescent of Africa!

 

[Utrecht]

I don't understand how the size of the city reduces the roleplaying aspect of the city, so was wondering if you could perhaps explain your reasoning.

got me - I actually did not quite mean that. I guess what I was trying to say is that smaller cities reduce the diversity of a role-playing experience.

After all look at the various city books that are out there = Bluffside, Geneveu and Freeport - all three are big - over 10,000 peopel - allowing for a very diverse group of experince. But as you reduce the city cize, the more homogeneous the inhabitents become - reducing the diversity of the experice on a per city basis.

That being said, I am a big fan of using existing city plans as a basis for my cities - I beleive that they reduce the needed suspesion of belief needed to operate in the world. I.e. if a city "feels" right, the PCs will put in a many of the necessary flavor details themselves. If however, it is different than what they normally expect, it falls to me as the DM to provide alot these "flavor" details.

 

[Kyramus]

umm... the only reason I brought up the link and the thread was because I remember hearing someone wanting to find maps a long while back. I figure people might still like to look at the link anyway to see if there is something there that they can use.

I took Zwolle, which apparently in the map spelled Swolla.

Took it to Photoshop, reversed the spelling and got the city called Allows.
and since I was trying to find a good map for it, it works with this one. a LE city filled with half fiends and fiendish creatures.

Half fiends with wings are higher in caste than the half fiends without the wings.
slavery is legal and there are 5 definitive laws.

Other than that, everything goes.

No it's not on the prime plane, it's in a demi pocket.... at the moment. hehehehe

 

[Dagger75]

I like the link. I actually stole a few maps

My group will be plane hoping soon and this will come in handy.

 

[Xeriar]

Well, usually I don't like to use real world maps in fantasy settings, because this tends to take a bit away from the specific fantasy feeling.

But another suggestion: send this link to all the d20 companies out there, or even to WotC!!! Maybe we will finally see one city product that has at least a slight resemblance to a medieval city ! There's none out yet so far - which is a bit sad .

Otasan Uchi and City of Lies. While not medieval the way you may like, or d20, the setting is the same as Rokugan, only earlier.

Would be interesting to see AEG reprint these in d20 form, to be sure.

 

[Turjan]

@Xeriar: Good point

Btw, I have to add that those maps on the link are not of medieval style either. They date 150 years after the end of the Middle Ages, and of course they clearly show, that this was already an era where cannons were common. For a setting, where you don't have cannons, you have to remove the bastions at the walls.