Why I like that POL has no map...

[ColonelHardisson]

Some people make me sad with their lack of imagination.


You do know there's magic in D&D, right?

Where you can fly?

And maybe make magically accurate measurements?

Or, gosh, magically make maps themselves?

Or anti-magic areas that defy any kind of magical scrying or mapping?

Or areas that actually shift and change topography from time to time?

Or spellcasters that actively work to thwart mapping attempts to preserve border security?

Or a world in which reality is subjective, and is essentially created as the explorers find it?

Imagination can work a lot of different ways.

 

[Kaffis]

Thanks for the disdain, Virgil, but I still don't want a map. It would push the concept of PoL from 'Lego Chest/toolkit' into 'actual named setting', which is no better than just reusing Greyhawk. I want your campaign's geography to be different from mine.

And more importantly, I want my players to have the sense of wonder and mystery that comes with exploring a vague and hazily defined setting, rather than looking at the map in their PHB (or any other official source) and pointing and going "we travel here."

 

[Natural 20]

... good summary ...

... I want my players to have the sense of wonder and mystery that comes with exploring a vague and hazily defined setting, rather than looking at the map in their PHB ... and pointing and going "we travel here."

This point nicely summarizes what I have been saying, except that I am a player, and not a DM (yet) so it sounds like I would happy if I heard that from my DM (which I mostly do).

 

[Drammattex]

And more importantly, I want my players to have the sense of wonder and mystery that comes with exploring a vague and hazily defined setting, rather than looking at the map in their PHB (or any other official source) and pointing and going "we travel here."

QFT

NO MAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The looser the implied setting, the better.

 

[Klaus]

And more importantly, I want my players to have the sense of wonder and mystery that comes with exploring a vague and hazily defined setting, rather than looking at the map in their PHB (or any other official source) and pointing and going "we travel here."

If it is 1 map, I agree.

But what if the desginer show 3 or 4 different settings built with the same "blocks" of 4e? Then DMs could come up with their own, or mix-n-match the pieces shown, and still the players would have to official clue of what goes where.

 

[Scribble]

Put me in the no maps crowd.

The things that get my imagination boiling the most in campaign worlds are the parts not listed on the map. The parts that only have vague descriptions, and cryptic theories...