What world has the best maps?

What world has the best world map?

  • World of Greyhawk (including the DUNGEON map)

    Votes: 94 25.5%
  • Forgotten Realms (any version)

    Votes: 133 36.1%
  • Eberron

    Votes: 16 4.3%
  • Kalamar

    Votes: 50 13.6%
  • CONAN d20/Hyboria

    Votes: 13 3.5%
  • Oriental Adventures

    Votes: 6 1.6%
  • Other

    Votes: 56 15.2%

  • Poll closed .

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For me, it's Forgotten Realms by a long-shot.

1" = 90 mile poster maps for the continent, 1" = 30 mile poster maps for major regions, and even a couple 1" = 15 mile poster maps for smaller regions - and they cover virtually every region of the Realms. Good stuff, and extremely useful for my game.

(Of course, I haven't seen the Kalamar maps or atlas. What's the scale on those maps?)
 

CapnZapp said:
I think most people voting for Forgotten Realms and/or Greyhawk either:
* mistake this vote for "which game world do you love the most?". FR is a rich fantasy realm, but its map is completely unbelievable. And it's the map that's on the vote here, folks.
Complete nonsense, of course. How does one define "best" in the context of this particular poll? If it's 'most utilitarian for a game', then completely dismissing the FR maps, for example, is laughable.
* are unaware of better alternatives. Of course FR and GW will get many votes here: many voters will have played D&D only.
That I agree with... but that's the nature of internet polls.
 

Harn, by a pretty wide margin. Maps are both beautiful and relatively plausible - it just looks like a real world, in a way that Greyhawk/FR/Dragonlance/etc. don't.

Out of D&D-specific maps, I'd probably give the nod to FR. High production values, even if the geography is (ahem) not quite realistic. I've only browsed through Kalamar's book, but it didn't really grab me.
 


I just dont like the Hex grid on a map

I saw the Kalamar map a year or so back, but don't recall much about it. I don't play there, so it meant little to me. I occasionally play in the FR, so I'm predisposed toward it. I just got the first Greyhawk map, and though it is pretty nice, it has the hex grid on it. Yuck.

My vote goes to the FR map.
 

I do give FR kudoes for having the FR Atlas for CC2. Outstanding resource. The cities are very easily renamed, and cities are hard to do yourself.
 

Al-Qadim, for the flavor

Al-Qadim had some great maps. Sure, not as detailed as Harn (those are beautiful maps, yes), but they just worked very well with the setting. Evoked the Arabian feeling that was at al-Qadim's heart. They were closer to what a map would've looked like to a character, as opposed to what we as players are used to in this age of GPS-driven, modern printing technology cartography.

-Derek
 

For me, it's as follows:

1) Lone Wolf - Mongoose did an excellent job on this map. It's just great to look at. Only problem I have is that it's glued into the book.
2) FR - These maps are some of the best quality out there. Some nice to look at maps.
3) Greyhawk - I would like the new one coming out in Dungeon more if it didn't have hexes, but the other maps printed are nice.
4) Warhammer Old World - Not as detailed as some of the others, but great fantasy feel.

I don't look for maps with elevations and exact mountain ranges. I like maps that fit well with fantasy. Maps that look hand drawn are great.

The map I most dislike at this time is the Scarred Land map/maps. Not only are they not in any way detailed, they could have picked worse colors to use. I look at the maps and am immediately reminded that it was printed on a laser printer. Not good if you want a fantasy feel.
 
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Ditto on the hex grids

I vote for Forgotten Realms because it was the most utilitarian and gave the best representation of the world. Greyhawk and Dragonlance were always disappointing because of the maps. Hexes just seemed to warp the terrain to me. Even the new Dragonlance campaign setting maps look like they're made of little hexes, even though they aren't there. That annoys me, because the new incarnation of Dragonlance is really well done, except for the maps.

The fact that there was no good overall map in the Eberron book irks me to no end.
 

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