#RPGaDAY2021 Day 2 Map

One of the nice things about #RPGaDAY for 2021 is we also get a set of alternate words we can use.  Today is Day #2 and that is Map, but the other words are "Senses," "Plan," and "Voice."   But I am going to go with Map.

Day 2 Map

I adore maps. I knew very few role-players that are not fans of maps.

I talked about this in the past. A lot.

• Lost lands of Middle Earth & Doggerland
• Doggerland as Middle Earth
• The Original Known World
• Victorian London
• Mystara / Urt / The Known World
• Ancient Earth
• Mystoerth!

Speaking of Mysoerth, here is a new color map that fellow Mystoerth fan Matthew Fenn had made.

 

It is still a really fun map. If you look I have elements of not just Mystara and Oerth, but a little bit of Al-Qadim and even Gary's Necropolis.  Let's me have all my cake and eat it too.    A couple of things I would love to work into this map are Hyperborea (I already have a Boria) and maybe even a lost continent.  I might need to make my world a bit bigger to fit it all in though.  I have been playing with the idea that it is Ansalon there in the far south of the Far End Ocean.   It would mean redoing large sections of Krynn to fit my world and it might not really even be possible.  But then again my Zakhara does not look anything like the Zakhara from the Forgotten Realms.

I am still using Blackmoor as a common point of both worlds. I am also still wanting to make Hyperborea the land beyond the Black Ice.   I am guessing it is about the size of Antarctica.

Not sure if I can cram everything in there.

Another map that I have been having some fun with is this Flat Earth map known as "The World Beyond the Ice Wall."

I have no idea who made it but I get the sinking feeling that Flat Earthers actually take this one seriously.  I did find out who made it. It was made for a fictional sort of world, but it seems the Flat Earthers have adopted it as truth. 

It does however reflect how I would do Hyperborea.  A land beyond a wall of ice. 

Blackmoor and Greyhawk

Today's new releases take us back to the worlds that were the cradle of D&D.

Dave Arneson's supplement to Original D&D is now out (again). Blackmoor gave us the first ready to run adventure published by TSR, Temple of the Frog, the Monk and Assassin classes and the often forgotten D&D to hit location system.

In later editions of the game Blackmoor would appear in both the World of Greyhawk and the Known World of Mystara.

The D&D Gazetteer for 3e came out as soon as 3e did and established that Greyhawk as the default world for D&D 3.   It was quickly eclipsed by the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, but both had really nice poster sized maps.

I Dream of Worlds

One of the reasons the Hobbit struck a chord with me was not the adventure, though that is true, but because I share Bilbo's love of maps.  I love maps, especially old ones.  I have walked the fog cloaked streets of Victorian London. I have gone on gondolas in waterways of Glantri.  I have walked across fields in the Flannaes.  I have also talked about all these before.

There are still some lands that I look at and they just scream at me to visit them.

Pangea Ultima / Dying Earth / Zothique
I want to play a game at the end of time.  The sun lies huge and red in sky. The moon, if still there, has broken up.  The night sky is filled with stars as the Andromeda Galaxy collides with our own.  Society is crumbles and the human race is in decay.

Wouldn't this make for a great night sky.

I loved the Zothique stories of Clark Ashton Smith and there is just so much I could do with this.
I also love the idea of the continents of the Earth have moved via plate tectonics to new positions.  So there is only one great land mass.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea_Ultima
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novopangaea
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amasia_(continent)

Plus I have been dying to use Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea for something. This could be it really.  99% of the work is already in the core books.
I had already thought that the Earth in 150 million years looks a lot like the Hybora from REH's Conan.   It seems like to me to such a logical fit.  Hell.  I might even use some of the less squicky bits from Carcosa; mostly because it captures the mood so well.

I also have to admit I loved the Elric stories, the Books of Magic comics and the Doctor Who episodes that all take place at the end of time.

There is one little issue though.  Clark Ashton Smith's own Hyperborea was very much in the past.  But not to worry. I have a way to scratch that itch too.

Doggerland
I will admit I am fascinated by Doggerland.  I talked about it a while back as a quasi-mythical; Middle-Earth. It also fills that ancient land niche that Hyborea tried to convey.  I am not sure if my interest is enough to translate it into a gameable world. Afterall, Doggerland at it's largest was 16,000 BC and was flooded by 7,000 BC.  It would be another 1000 years till humans learned how to brew beer!  Though there are some Atlantis parrells that could be played with here.
Maybe while humans were still running around whacking each other with sticks, or the weapon of mass destruction of the time, the stone axe, there were elves or something else in magnificent cities of glass and steel or even of unknown metals ruling the lands.

In truth this reminds me a lot of Jason Vey's "Wasted Lands" idea.
Maybe I'll through the lot into a blender and hit frappé.

Maybe...maybe at the end of time reality breaks down and it allows the Old Ones to return and people of ancient forgotten lands and times are pulled in. So I can have Picts, Vikings, Romans and Dinosaurs with ancient forgotten necromancies.  Maybe all the characters (PCs that is) of the past are drawn here.  Something like Tanelorn or even "Lost".

And there is this quote that keeps running around in my head after hearing it on the season finale of Doctor Who, "At the end of everything, one must expect the company of immortals.".

Doggerland = Middle Earth?

I saw this map on the internet last night.

It is Great Britain and North West Europe circa 15,000 BCE.

Tell that doesn't just fill you with all sorts of ideas.  This was during the Upper Paleolithic era, or late Stone Age.

NOW.  compare that to this map we all all know and love.

I don't know about you all, but my head is full of ideas!

Map of the Flanaess

There are a lot of really, really great products and people up for ENnie awards this year.  But I want to draw one to your attention in particular. 

Anna Meyer is the founder of the Flanaess Geographical Society on Facebook.  She is also up for the Best Cartography for her Map of the Flanaess. A project she spent a considerable time on.

So if you can, please consider voting for.

"Map of the Flanaess - Anna B Meyer Fantasy Maps"

http://www.ennie-awards.com/vote/

These maps are beautiful and frankly I want a large print to put in my game room.  

If you are an old-school Greyhawk fan like me then this should be a no-brainer vote.

I could spend hours going over these and never get bored. But I love maps.

--

Like what I do here?

Let me know by voting for me for "Best Blog" in the 2014 ENnies.

http://www.ennie-awards.com/vote/

Go to Best Blog and put a "1" next to "The Other Side". Thanks so much!

Custom World Maps to Globes?

I love old maps and old globes.

But what I would really love is a globe of my game world.

All I have is this map:





I didn't even make that. That comes solely from the skills of +Rich Trickey and +James Mishler.
Nor really do I have the skills to do it myself.

But I have always wanted a globe of my game world. Something I could use, but mostly put on display in my game room.

Anyone know of anyone that has done something like this?  Anyone know of place where I could get one made?

Playing with Earth

One of the things I love to do in gaming is also learn something.  One of the things I like to learn is geography.  While knowing the ins and outs the City of Greyhawk or Glantri is fun, it rarely has a use in real life.  Walking the streets of London in my games though has some out-side-of-the-game utility.

But sometimes I like something for the pure fantasy sake. So I like to use maps of the Earth in different times.

Long time gamers already know of the Paleomap Map project of Earth History.  It has many maps of the different stages of Earth history and potential future maps.  I will admit when I first saw maps of the really old Earth it was disquieting to me.  I love maps and throughout all of human history the Earth has been the same. Not so throughout ALL history and prehistory.

If you ever played in the Known World of Mystara you know this map:

Did you also know about this one?

(image from here, http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm)

That is the Late Jurasic of the Earth, 150+ Million Years Ago.

I was on the site and I also noticed this one:

(image from here, http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm)

That is the Earth in 150 Million Years.  Take a look at Africa-Eurasia.  Remind you of anything?  It did me.  How about if I rotate it about 40 degrees.

Now compare that with this:

Not perfect, but a good fit for Robert E. Howards Hyboria.  Yes, I know. The Hyborian Age was in the mythical past.  And my "North" is really more North East.  Well...uh..pole shift!  Worked for Mystara!

Going even further into the future we have this little gem.

(image from here, http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm)

Earth in 250 Million years.  The new continent is called "Pangea Ultima".  I call it "Zothique".

Also not quite-perfect, but they are the same thing.  Pangea Ultima is the future when all the continents have merged back to one.  Zothique is more or less the same thing.  If the Hyborian age is some post-post apocalyptic world, then Zothique is the Dying Earth of Jack Vance, Clark Ashton Smith and others.  Scientists are equally grim on the chance of life on Pangea Ultima.

There are other maps of the ancient Earth there.  The Permian looks like it would be fun to use sometime too, or even the Eocene for something that is similar but yet alien.

Jason Vey has been tinkering on his home campaign of "The Wasted Lands" for a number of years.  Here is a maps of the Paelocene and the Eocene,

Here is Jason's map

Not exactly the same, but very close.  I like how it is a nice blend of REH's Hyboria and HPL's work.  Plus it has Atlantic, Mu and Lemuria which I really like.

There is so much that can be done with the world we already have.  So much adventure.
I know there were no humans around in the Eocene, but doesn't this look exciting? I mean even the name of the time is exciting; Eocene, the Dawn Epoch.  

Maps speak to me. They always have. That one freaking sings.  More than that, it is a Rock Opera.  It's The Wall meets Tommy meets Operation Mindcrime and maybe just a little bit of Kilroy Was Here to keep the masses happy.

What maps get you excited?

Banners on the Cheap

So you might recall the map I had made from Banners/Signs on the Cheap.

http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-new-map.html

Well I was not the only one who had one made.

Here are some others, check out their map/banners too.

Greyhawk Grognard has a cool hex map, http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2012/07/banners-on-cheap.html
RPG Blog has a HUGE dungeon, http://www.rpg-blog.com/2012/07/my-rpg-map-banner.html
and Blond Nerd has a cool map as well, http://www.blondenerd.com/gaming/banners-on-the-cheap-review

All pretty good reviews and nice looking maps.

My New Map!

I got my new map from Banners on the Cheap!

A bit of background.  I was approached back at the end of  June about the possibility of printing up a large vinyl banner for an RPG map.  Consequently I have also wanted a large map of Victorian London to put up in my game room.

Well I went to the website and setup my new map.  All you need is really is the image.  The layout interface is ridiculously easy to use.

Here is the original image I used, 1890s Map of London and here are the results below!

As you can see the map is huge.

The banner itself is 4 feet tall by 6 feet long.  The image I had when printed at it's best resolution would have been 6 feet by 7 feet.   So a good fit really, with some space on the edge.

I might print up Places of Interest (occult locations, the Swift's Home, St. Erisian’s School) and pin them in place.  I'll more than likely use stickers since I don't want to poke any holes in this.




This picture does not do it justice, but the print is very clear, clear as the source image, to the point where I can read the street names.

The color is great.  It really is an absolute gem of a map.

I have not tried it yet with water based or dry erase markers yet, so I can't confirm if those work.
What I do know is I am looking for other maps I have laying around here that I would like to get blown up onto a huge banner like this.   A scale map of Castle Dracula would be awesome.  Failing that, a scale Castle Ravenloft.

My expectations were pretty high and I am happy to say they have been met!

If you want to try them out for yourself then here is the link. I highly recommend them.

Custom Bandit Signs

Read more here:
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-game-room-needs-huge-map.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/07/london-map-updates.html

London Map updates

So a while back I learned about Banners On The Cheap and their desire to "get into" the RPG map biz.

There was no single tabletop map I wanted, but I have always wanted a large map of Victorian-era London for my game room.  I finally settled on a map.

Click for a really, really big version

It is London of 1890, rather than my preferred of 1838, but that is cool.  This is the "classic" Victorian London and good enough for me. It will work great for nearly all the Victorian games I own.

The process could not have been easier and frankly the prices were a lot cheaper than I expected.  I'll get this one by the end of the month and I will let you all know how it works out.

If you want to try them out for yourself then here is the link.

Custom Bandit Signs

I have pretty high hopes for this.  If it works out well, and takes dry-erase or water markers well, then I have a bunch of others I'd love to do.