Read on Twitter
I love maps because maps tell stories.
In this case, one nation managed to get access to a lake, but hasn't DONE anything with it.
I give it the side-eye, but weirdness like that is huge adventure fodder!
In this case, one nation managed to get access to a lake, but hasn't DONE anything with it.
I give it the side-eye, but weirdness like that is huge adventure fodder!
(It's an Eberron map, which I was kind of randomly looking at because @senatorchatty had raised the question of where a good starting place for an Eberron game might be if one did not want to be overwhelmed with lore)
That gap is specifically owned by Droaam, the "monster nation", and I'm just saying that a game built around building that settlement and the challenges (practical and political) around it would be pretty meaty.
Alternate awesome explanation! https://mobile.twitter.com/StevenESchend/status/1292113838771404801
This is what good maps do. They explain, yes, but also they raise interesting questions that can be fun to explore.
A lot of noise is made about the allure of "blank spots" on the map, but a) They're rarely actually blank and b) their appeal relies on simplicity (that something there is interesting) rather than complexity (how things meet and interact).
Maps are all about complexities.
Maps are all about complexities.
There is a joke that every great discovery is proceeded, not with "eureka", but with "huh, that's odd". I love a map that inspires those "huh" responses. The explanations can vary wildly, but maps can give us the question.
TL;DR - I love good maps so much.
Actually, in this way, good maps are like good campaign history. If they are too clean or make too much sense, they they are almost certainly dull as dishwater. It's the stuff that makes no sense that makes it all feel real.
This is also why I feel that the best storytelling in 7th Sea (a setting full of great stories) is to be found in its cartography.
