What world has the best maps?

[Balesir]

I voted 'Other' for Harn, which seems to be pretty common. FR has the CC atlas, which is neat, but the FR maps just leave too much empty (as opposed to 'not fully defined, which can be useful) for me.

Harn, on the other hand, has many parts of the world mapped both 'actually' (accurate and full maps for GMs and players whose character actually knows the place) and 'poetically' (i.e. maps that can be bought in character). The 'full' maps are clear, complete and attractive, the poetic maps are atmospheric, pretty and have most of the geography in roughly the right place. Both completeness and 'characterfulness' - how can you beat that?

 

[Lyriel Aelorothi]

For myself, the World of Greyhawk maps...hands down!!

 

[Coredump]

The kalamar map that comes with the Campaign book (as opposed to the Atlas) also comes with a clear plastic sheet that has the hex pattern; thus you can use it as an overlay. Very handy, without putting the hex on the paper.

The Atlas (IIRC) details the cities, and some towns. There is plenty of space to put locations.

 

[gevrin]

I voted other but I'm going for MERP. Twitchy, busy system bearing no relation to Tolkien's world, but those maps. Clear. Beautifully drawn. They invited you to wander off and explore. Have a look at one of the pdfs at http://www.merp.com/downloads/maps - very nice.

Makes greyhawk look like cartoon network.

Gevrin

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Harn wins IMO, but if you include Eric Anondsen's beautiful, glorious map over at Canonfire! of Greyhawk then Greyhawk wins just for sheer clean, concise beauty. Anondsen's style honestly makes me look at the new map in Dungeon and just shrug in dismay. It's basically the bar of excellence I try to apply to my own maps for clarity and aesthetic value now.

Awww... You're making me blush!

Someday I'll finish out more regions. You can't imagine the time it takes to get those maps looking like they do. It truely is a labor of love... but if someone were willing to pay me for... I might be persuaded to ditch family time for the effort.

I hope my wife doesn' read this... LOL.


Regards,
Eric Anondson

 

[ivocaliban]

It would be nice if this poll happened after the Greyhawk maps were all out, but having gotten the most useful corner (form my campaign, that is) first...I'm going with it. These new maps make the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer map look like a doodle!

 

[Krieg]

Harn and the Harnworld product line have the finest maps in all of gaming.

What he said.

 

[hrafnagud]

Chalk up another vote for Hârn. Never seen a game come close to the quality and credibility of Hârn's maps.

Maps in the Swedish game 'Eon' are worth a mention as well. www.neogames.se

 

[ChampaignSupernova]

For my money, nothing beats Darlene's Greyhawk maps from 1st Edition AD&D.

 

[reanjr]

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?)

Rough guess? 1"=25 miles

[edit] On second thought, I think it might be clsoer to 20 miles. The thing covers about 6 million square miles, with each page covering approx. 30,000 square miles (about 8.5 x 8.5 in., with the rest of the page for town index and wide view with page numbers for adjacent sections of the atlas). I must note that this is all from memory, so the numbers are probably a bit off.