 |
| Day 3 |
The MAP is really important to me in roleplaying games because I find it really hard to grok a setting without it. A decent map has me thinking about how things link and what I can do.
And yet, I can handle abstractness for a MegaCity. The relative positions don't matter that much in a faceless sprawl. However, when you get out into the Cursed Earth and find a small town with a scenario in it, then the map is important.
The style is key too. That Mongoose Traveller Judge Dredd town map in the Cursed Earth was drawn like a fantasy map, and it instantly killed the book for me as it felt so out of place. There's part of me that would like every wilderness map to look like an OS Landranger, because I love the clarity of the presentation, but the reality is that it isn't the right style.
Maps are a language to communicate facts swiftly and clearly. Good keying can make the world of difference. Old-School Essentials nails this with maps that show locations and creatures so you have an instant overview. The local area of the map is then repeated next to the descriptions. It's a style I first saw in Maze of the Blue Medusa, but that's one of those books people don't like to talk about because of one of the authors.
Map styles can define a game; blue-lined dungeons are early D&D for me. Hex starmaps are Traveller.
VTTs have me thinking differently. Do I have the map there for the players and if I do, will it lose some of the feel of discovery? In the OSE game, I'm running this week, I'm letting the players map so they can get the feel of the game as it was. It'll be interesting if it works.
Lack of a map can make a game unusable for me. Cold City had this issue. The map of Berlin was dire and I didn't know enough to do it myself. My mind just couldn't work it. I've subsequently found a decent Allied map of the city from the occupation after the war, which all of a sudden makes the game approachable.
I really love maps. Perhaps it's the Geography A-Level coming out.
2nd August 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment