Mapping The Ice-Rivan Realm

There are few things quite as satisfying to a GM than a really nicely drawn map. For me, this week’s achievement of creating the first map for my fantasy world of Mykovnia was satisfying indeed. Featured below is the player’s version of the map: click the image to see it enlarged.

The map has had dozens of details stripped away, revealing the general geography of the realm and the location of the first adventure site, but giving the players enough to get orientated quickly. The GM’s version is far more complete, and there are hex-gridded versions too – these giving a sense of scale with the 6-mile hex as a standard.

Overall, there is a sense of a living landscape filled with possibility. When I showed some non-gamer kids the printed copy I’m taking to the school club next week, there were many excited questions about what it was. There were also comparisons to Tolkien’s Middle-earth maps, which did quite a bit to boost my ego.

Digging a Sandbox

It’s amazing how good it is to work out your ideas with another person. From posting an open G+ request for recommendations of a cartographer, I was put in touch with the rather self-effacing and very generous Josephe Vandel. Together, over the course of two days, we discussed the development of the map from a sketch through to completion. Although the map itself is rather lovely, the process really forced me to think out what I wanted from the sandbox.

The overall theme of The Ice-Rivan Realm, a minute portion of the world of Mykovnia, is a sub-arctic environment set within a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. On top of that, as alluded in my last post, I wanted to create an Old School feeling by including a range of adventure locations for the characters to explore. Thus, the project was about mapping a believable landscape and then adding in a bundle of interesting adventures sites.

We began with “The Caves of Chaos” and (not shown on the player’s map) “Rashn’s Tower” – the former obviously from Module B2, the latter a renamed Module B1 location. From there we added more and more sites, some named for specific dungeons or adventures I own, many  standing as potentially fresh places of interest. All of that needed some rationale… and deep thinking was required.

The Map as an Artifact

One of the hardest questions to answer was how to explain the existence of the player’s map within the setting. If the world is in ruins, with civilised order clinging on in a few tiny communities linked together by bandit-ridden roads, how does a cartographer make an accurate map? Answer: mostly by rumour.

A section of the hex map – thanks to Josephe Vandel for his great work!

The geography of the realm is in some ways a matter of easily verifiable fact (you simply look out over the countryside) but it is also a product of rumour and collected tales. As travellers move along the roads and across the fields, they collect stories and information. In-game, I imagined a lone sage at The Ice Keep who has collected and sorted all available information to draft a map. The details remain provisional and inaccuracies must be assumed, but within this context I felt that I could offer the players a cool map as part of the payment for their first adventuring job.

What’s really cool is that the players get to pour over a real artifact. They get to scribble notes in the margins and, working from the rumours they can gather, add locations and details of their own. As play continues, the player’s own map becomes part of the record of the stories they create. Markers in the sandbox they explore.

The DMs Task

For me, it’s all about the details now.

The Ice Keep needs to be sketched out, based upon the “Keep on the Borderlands” but updated to stand within the realm of ice and snow. On top of that, the Caves of Chaos too need to be worked out and prepared for a first visit. But that’s not all.

Travel in the ice and snow is a new proposition for player characters. I will need to provide guidance on how best to survive and how the depths of winter might affect the game. On top of that, I need to create a range of local rumours to add clues the players can follow in locating the next few adventuring opportunities. And I need to create some compelling NPCs for them to interact with.

The map is a great starting point. With the first session looming in a few days time, there’s a lot to do.

But, oh… isn’t it exciting?

Game on!