New Section Ideas

[Thorf]

Not that we are short of planned sections already (!), but I thought it would be fun to collect the ideas people have already posted, and have a place to add them if anyone thinks of any more ideas.

Some of the ideas here are funny, others serious. Some are utterly improbable or downright impossible, others are eminently doable and just asking to be added to the atlas. Don't worry about which you are posting - anything goes! Let's have some fun, and while we're at it come up with some cool ideas.

1. A giant paper mache globe of the entire surface of the world, inside and out. (Roger/Gawain_VIII)
2. An interactive online G.I.S. [Geographic Information System] for Mystara (Mike)
3. Wilderlands-style encounters for the entire known world, complete with numbered hexes (Mike)
   Corresponds to the Flora and Fauna section, although it probably won't go as far as numbered hexes.
   Use Sheldon/Hugin's Monster Database.
4. A "USGS" topographic atlas of the world, with contour lines (Mike)
   Confirmed as part of the Geographic Atlas.
   Use Sheldon/Hugin's unfinished project to create contour maps showing altitudes.
5. The entire world mapped at 1 mile per hex resolution (Mike)
6. Fitting Mystara to a hex-mapped icosahedron (with holes in the poles of course!) (Mike)
   Possible solution to the curvature issue.
7. A giant globe to be dropped on the WotC HQ building from low-Earth orbit. (Roger/Gawain_VIII)
8. A full atlas of Mystara (with maps, obviously, but also descriptions). (Herve/Andaire)
   Corresponds to the Geographic Atlas plus the Gazetteer and Geographic Overview sections.
9. A full world map, zoomable etc (à la Google Earth, I suppose). (Herve/Andaire)
10. A map/globe that you can run forward and back in time - all the way back to Blackmoor age, and more. See nations and empires rise and fall, peoples migrate, ice ages and rains of fire. (Herve/Andaire)
    Could be doable using maps from the Cartographic Chronology section.
11. Monstrous Atlas (Hugin)
    Corresponds to the Flora and Fauna section of the atlas.
    Maps showing the ranges of Mystara's wildlife, monsters, humanoids and all other manner of creatures with notes on habitat, densities, and behavour patterns.
12. Owing to the divisive nature of hexes (OH MY GOD THEY HAVE 6 SIDES!), convert all the maps to pentagons. (Thorf)
13. A big-McKlantyre mutton hamburger with potatoes! (Khuzd)
14. PC Maps - to be used by players, representing player knowledge - flaws and all! (Chimpman)
    A possible Appendix for the Atlas?

I'll update this list as we go. So please keep ideas coming! And feel free to comment on existing ideas too. I will add the best comments, as well as the status of ideas that actually make it into our plans, into the list.

[Hugin]

11. Monstrous Atlas (Hugin)
Maps showing the ranges of Mystara's wildlife, monsters, humanoids and all other manner of creatures with notes on habitat, densities, and behavour patterns.

4. A "USGS" topographic atlas of the world, with contour lines (Mike)
Confirmed as part of the Geographic Atlas.
Use Sheldon/Hugin's unfinished project to create contour maps showing altitudes.

Not only is it unfinished but I think it is 'unexistant' now!
I'll have a dig for it but I'm not expecting anything.

[metal]

11. Monstrous Atlas (Hugin)
Maps showing the ranges of Mystara's wildlife, monsters, humanoids and all other manner of creatures with notes on habitat, densities, and behavour patterns.

Hmmmmmmm. I see a Master Set style map with different colors showing the ranges for each of the wildlife, monster, humanoids etc. Obviously more than one map. How to break up the groups?

[Thorf]

Great ideas here! The Monstrous Atlas idea also falls into Flora and Fauna, which is one of the proposed "Other Sections", so let's take discussions of it over to the new thread in that sub-forum:

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=174

Meanwhile, let's have some more ideas in this thread.

12. Owing to the divisive nature of hexes (OH MY GOD THEY HAVE 6 SIDES!), convert all the maps to pentagons. (Thorf)

[Khuzd]

Is this the thread for petitions?

A big-McKlantyre mutton hamburguer with potatoes!

OK, seriously... I would really love an 8-mile hexed map of Merry Pirates seas... even a map with only 2 or 3 islands would be really useful for me... I want to set there a strong high-level pirates base, with gunpowder.

If anyone (Thorf or other?) volunteers, please, feel free to add sunken ships, kopru underwater settings, whales, squids, giant octopuses, maelstroms... wherever you want; I'll be glad.

The only canon is the HW set maps; and there are also Thorf's 40miles maps of Icyria.

Another petition, suggestion: more artistic. A non-hexed, artistic sea-chart of Icirians coasts from the Pirates point of view... How does a Merry Pirate Captain's coast map look like?

I'm not in a hurry, I can wait a year or more, until the Cartographing Spirits possess you, dear artists!!!

[Chimpman]

What about DM maps verses PC maps? DM maps would be the fully detailed maps (complete with secret cities, lost treasures, and hidden locations). PC maps would have all those locations removed and would be suitable for handing out to players.

[Thorf]

What about DM maps verses PC maps? DM maps would be the fully detailed maps (complete with secret cities, lost treasures, and hidden locations). PC maps would have all those locations removed and would be suitable for handing out to players.

What an interesting idea... I think the existing maps are generally all DM maps, so the task would be to create PC maps by removing detail, changing things around a little, and introducing some errors.

There have been PC maps in a few official products, but most of them were simply hex maps with parts of the grid blanked out. Of course, we can do that too, but I wonder if there are other cool things we could do to make the maps more attractive and exciting for PCs.

There's also a question of format: hex maps or line art maps. The former is very Mystaran, and can be very useful, but the latter probably seem more authentic.

Has anyone got any specific ideas? I'd be happy to have a go at making some PC maps.

[Hugin]

There's also a question of format: hex maps or line art maps. The former is very Mystaran, and can be very useful, but the latter probably seem more authentic.

This is how I see things as well. Hex for the DM and line for giving to players. That is why I created one for The Known World and also one for The Northern Reaches when the campaign headed there to the homeland of two of the PCs. The players loved them and used them frequently in game.

[metal]

This is how I see things as well. Hex for the DM and line for giving to players. That is why I created one for The Known World and also one for The Northern Reaches when the campaign headed there to the homeland of two of the PCs. The players loved them and used them frequently in game.

First off, VERY NICE maps! I think that is a great way to go. The line maps have a more "real" feel to them. Eliminating the hexs also eliminates the ability of the PCs to figure out travel times (if the DM doesn't want them , or if they shouldn't already know them distances from place to place).

[metal]

I'm not saying I don't like hex maps, I just like the hand drawn map for the PCs. I could see visiting an office supply place to buy off-white/tan paper to print them on and then beating them to heck to make them look like an old tattered map!

[Chimpman]

What an interesting idea... I think the existing maps are generally all DM maps, so the task would be to create PC maps by removing detail, changing things around a little, and introducing some errors.

I agree, I'd consider the maps you have done so far to be of the DM variety. I like the idea of error introduction. One thought is that the maps PCs get their hands on might indeed have been accurate... 100 or 200 or 500 years ago, but of course lots of things change. So we could use some of your Chronological Past maps for that purpose. Another source of error - maps being drawn by patriots, each trying to make their own nation look bigger and neighboring ones look smaller.

This is how I see things as well. Hex for the DM and line for giving to players. That is why I created one for The Known World and also one for The Northern Reaches when the campaign headed there to the homeland of two of the PCs. The players loved them and used them frequently in game.

Love those maps Hugin. My jaw dropped when I saw the Northern Reaches one, so great job! I'm of two minds on whether to use hex maps or not. On one hand I agree with you and think that free drawn maps are probably more authentic. On the other hand (and as a testiment to this project's popularity) one of the things that really drew me to Mystara were the (hex) maps. They are just really fun to look at and I imagine that it's the same whether you are a PC or the DM.

[Thorf]

On the subject of non-hex maps, I agree that they are both nice - and in fact I've always been planning on having non-hex maps in the Atlas too. Hex maps are a little limited in what they can show, and for some things regular maps (gridded or otherwise) are better.

But almost all the official maps were hex-based, so it seems natural to work through all of them first. Moreover, I think it's necessary to do so in order to get maximum accuracy out of our maps. Also, the curvature problem has been holding me back from doing too much work on expanding upon the officially mapped areas using the two available official world maps, but it looks this will soon be resolved.

In any case, I'll definitely add player maps to the list. Perhaps there could be an Appendix for them.

[metal]

but it looks this will soon be resolved.

I'm looking forward to this!

I think the PC maps don't necessarily have to be accurate, that is part of the fun, isn't it?
I do understand getting hex maps completed is (and should be) a priority, but working on basic maps for PCs does sound like fun!

[metal]

I hope I didn't just volunteer for something, but how would you do this on the computer? With pencil and paper I would use a hex map and place a blank piece of paper on top and trace and then go back and fill in terrian features. I could see the PC map having a completely different look to them (I have a picture of historical maps in my head for some reason).

I might have to experiment with this.

[Hugin]

I could see the PC map having a completely different look to them (I have a picture of historical maps in my head for some reason).

I don't think "in-game" maps like the ones you'd give to players should be all that inaccurate due to things like magic and in particular flying magics including flying ships. In general they should be fairly correct with only small variation between it and the actual land.

[metal]

I agree, they shouldn't be inaccurate, maybe "rough around the edges" would be better. The picture I have in my head is historical maps that were not inaccurate they just were incomplete. I'll see if I can find an example.

I just had an idea that may help with this-
Are there any canon references to mapping expeditions? Is so, where? Obviously these areas would be well mapped. Other areas may not be as complete (instead of inaccurate).

[Thorf]

I could see the PC map having a completely different look to them (I have a picture of historical maps in my head for some reason).

I don't think "in-game" maps like the ones you'd give to players should be all that inaccurate due to things like magic and in particular flying magics including flying ships. In general they should be fairly correct with only small variation between it and the actual land.

This is undoubtedly true for nations with access to such magic, but such nations are the exception rather than the rule. Of course that could make their maps the gold standard of the world, with attempts by other nations like children's drawings by comparison. But on the other hand, perhaps they don't share their maps - or at least try not to share them - with "lesser" countries.

Mages with fly would be able to do research on their own, of course, but even this is not going to be perfect. For one thing, it's not necessarily very safe. For another, it's pretty hard to take notes while you're flying.

All in all, I think the point is not so much to deliberately introduce inaccuracies, as just to move away from the GPS and satellite precision of today, and introduce some good old fashioned ambiguity, exaggeration, and plain old cartographic error (and subterfuge!).

Besides, it's fun.

[Hugin]

All in all, I think the point is not so much to deliberately introduce inaccuracies, as just to move away from the GPS and satellite precision of today, and introduce some good old fashioned ambiguity, exaggeration, and plain old cartographic error (and subterfuge!).

Besides, it's fun.

Exactly! Sure there will be inaccuracies. It's just that magic will help to smooth them out a bit.

[metal]

Well I drew up a version of what I was thinking about. I just can't seem to figure out how to post it. Darnit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took a pic of the map i drew with a digital camera, and I can't figure out how to post it.

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Plaag]

Well I drew up a version of what I was thinking about. I just can't seem to figure out how to post it. Damnit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took a pic of the map i drew with a digital camera, and I can't figure out how to post it.

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can use a service like Photobucket to do so, or if you don't want to go through that hassle email it to me and I can do it.

ShaneG.

[metal]

Thanks Plaag and Thorf for the offer of help, but after I got to looking at the image I have, I'm sure I can produce a better image to post. I'll work on it and see if I can get it posted.

[Chimpman]

Hmmm... I've been kicking this idea around for a few days, but what about specialty maps that mark the locations of known ruins/ancient civilizations. For example, I'd love to see a map of the KW with all known Nithian ruins marked on it. And not only the ruins, but places that have been influenced by Nithia... perhaps a city built on top of an older settlement, or some monument in the wilderness.