Wednesday, November 16, 2011

A Beautiful Map

Like most gamers, I'm a sucker for maps of almost any kind, but I'm especially fond of attractively-drawn maps of fantasy settings, like this one from the upcoming boxed set for the old school Spanish language RPG, Aventuras en la Marca del Este:
The map really is eye catching and, best of all, suggestive. I'm not fluent in Spanish by any means, but I can read enough to be intrigued by the names of places like The Tundra of the Ancients and the Coast of Bones.

10 comments:

  1. The last version I saw of this was a rough hand-drawn one, this end result is fantastic.

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  2. Absolutely GORGEOUS map!

    Word verification: "porigin" - "Bartender! I'm out of Guinness. What's up with that?!"

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  3. That is gorgeous. I hope the game is offered in the US, even if not in English translation.

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  4. I agree it is gorgeous and evocative.

    However, is it just me or do most global fantasy maps follow the Earth model - that is civilized or semi civilized areas in the left part of the map and more exotic cultures in the East and South?

    Yes Hyperboria is different but most other fantasy maps seem to follow this convention.

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  5. I agree with those who name it gorgeous. I love the aged look. There is a guy who does free blank maps on the rpg bloggers network [www.rpglabyrinth.blogspot.com] and this map kind of reminds me of those. Well except that this one is filled in of course. Really great work. Can we be expecting more maps from this publisher in the future? I hope so. Like James I can't read spanish but I don't need to in order to enjoy beautiful works of art like this.

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  6. However, is it just me or do most global fantasy maps follow the Earth model - that is civilized or semi civilized areas in the left part of the map and more exotic cultures in the East and South?

    Doesn't Greyhawk switch the East/West axis part? I imagine the North/South thing has a lot to do with the typical image of the Middle Ages being defined by Northern Europe.

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. @Mundi King
    Cool.

    There are some fractal world/dungeon random generators on the web:

    Freeware:
    http://donjon.bin.sh/

    Commercial:
    http://www.profantasy.com/
    http://www.nbos.com/

    An index:
    http://hiddenway.tripod.com/world/

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  9. It's Eurasia with a shrunken Africa, Asia, and Britain; Australia and Iceland within spitting distance; and an ENORMOUS Iberian peninsula. Which is exactly what I would want in a Spanish fantasy RPG.

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  10. Check out the beautiful map suggestions on Hill Cantons: http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2011/02/top-five-fantasy-rpg-maps.html

    Alas, I have tried to make some beautiful fantasy maps using two different mapping tools, but they still come out lame. That's why I rely on my publisher to hire a real mapmaker!

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