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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8657084" data-attributes="member: 29398">Why the focus on geography?Setting maps (e.g. regional, city, world, etc.) are important.  They let you know where you are, where various features and landmarks are, and - most importantly - how these things spatially relate to each other.  They also give a very strong visual representation of the setting; and while a picture might be worth a thousand words, a good map might be worth a million - especially for those who take things in visually better than they do via the spoken word.Time is important, and the equation [geography + means of transport + external environmental factors] tells you how much in-setting time it takes to get from point A to point B.On a small scale, geography within an environment determines how many options there are when it comes to moving around and-or interacting with that environment; the easiest example being how linear vs branching vs looping vs wide-open dungeon layouts give increasing numbers of options as to what path the PCs might end up taking through the place.Geography is also sometimes vitally important in the day-to-day adventuring lives of the PC, in that a PC's exact location on the map can be the difference between life and death when the fireball goes off or the cave-in trap gets triggered.Geography, even if used for nothing else, also does a lot of work in picturing and-or narrating and-or flavouring any scene that is within sight of or taking place outdoors; in that it sets the background.  Is it day or night; what is the weather doing; is the backdrop one of rolling fields or deep forest or high mountains or open ocean, all these things help paint the environment in which whatever the PCs are doing takes place.On the game-play side, geography and the sometimes-detailed exploration thereof represents a large part of the "exploration" part (or pillar) of play.And on the meta side, geography is important to (probably) anyone who enjoys worldbuilding either for its own sake or for use in play.</blockquote>

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