Quote from: Benoist;737505That map is funny because it's true of many settings, and these settings don't necessarily suck for it.

Fuck yeah!

(Plus, Hyborea. Granddaddy of all these maps. Good enough for Howard, good enough for me. (Not that I did that, the last time I made a D&D world. Always wanted to, though. IMHO, it's cool.))

The map is flawed, though.

No hex overlay.

Quote from: Benoist;737505Ditto. That picture's funny because it's true, but it's true for a reason that has to do with any given setting's connection with the shared experience of fantasy role playing games (who am I kidding? D&D in particular). For some people this is not a bad thing, and people who want something else can find it in spades in the hobby nowadays.

To me, as a DM, I think that originality of dressing for originality's sake is widely overrated, especially online. Nowadays, I much prefer to use modules and setting elements I can plug into my own creations, rather than convoluted, hyper-specific creations I'll have to kitbash to hell and back in order to use in my campaign.

Fortunately, I feel this is not necessarily an "either/or" type of choice, in the sense that you don't have to do "uber-bland unimaginative Walmart vanilla" OR "sophisticated uber-specialized flavor that need you to sink into it hook, line and sinker in order to be able to enjoy". You can express creativity in any number of ways in archetypal, vanilla settings, and you can facilitate the use of uber-specialized setting elements in other cases (cue Numenera, for instance, which "looks" super-specialized and unique, but really isn't, and can be used in any type of D&D campaign with a portal to other worlds in the dungeon).

TL;DR That map is funny because it's true of many settings, and these settings don't necessarily suck for it.

totally true.

A setting that people can quickly grok without having to read your book is generally much more playable.

I only have one caveat which is the GM has to make a choice about the setting. I don't need vast prep , obviously, but I need a 3 minute pitch that tells me what is in and what is out just so I know they have a vision.
To be honest some of the regional titles on the map might actually be sufficient

I've run games in settings very much like this one, and on more exotic settings as well. Some days you want Barolo or Côtes du Rhône, and some days only an ice-cold glass of Sprite will do.

One day I want to scratch up the courage and ingenuity to pull off a region map similar to this in D&D:

That map pretty much is my (non space) D&D campaign world.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;737800One day I want to scratch up the courage and ingenuity to pull off a region map similar to this in D&D:

I know exactly what you mean.
In other words: Me too.

Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;737910I know exactly what you mean.
In other words: Me too.

It's funny, many players will readily accept fantasy landscapes and concepts from video games that they would grimace at warily if offered at the tabletop. The rule seems to be you can always go grimdarker, but rarely lighter than Peter Jackson LotR.

I'm sure there's a trick to it, I just need to mull it over more...

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;737957It's funny, many players will readily accept fantasy landscapes and concepts from video games that they would grimace at warily if offered at the tabletop. The rule seems to be you can always go grimdarker, but rarely lighter than Peter Jackson LotR.

I'm sure there's a trick to it, I just need to mull it over more...

No tricks needed. All you need are players who don't treat the game like serious business.

Big Crimey Crapsack.

Sounds like Detroit


I must say, I love this map. The area descriptions are just glorious.

I might just run a game here.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;737800One day I want to scratch up the courage and ingenuity to pull off a region map similar to this in D&D:

...

Dammit, now I need to play more Super Mario Land.

It's awesome as a send-up of the cliche kitchensink world. But as funny as it is - that cliche exists because to do something in the fantasy genre that is more or less original (where that line is and where it's crossed is highly subjective) is pretty rare.

Offhand I can't think of any campaign worlds that I would consider original that have been made full-blown RPG's - Tekumel? Talislanta? Melnibone*?

Most other fantasy RPG's are wholly derivative of history with a few tweaks. Not this is bad - but this map is, to me, in some minor fashion - a spectacular indictment of our hobby's alleged "creativity".

I certainly don't mean this to be argumentative - it's just the first thought that came to my mind after the glow of AWESOME subsided. I felt, like many here, "Wow... this could...be... my old campaign world." Then it wasn't quite as funny, heh. I love it. But now I look at it like a challenge that I'm going to readily accept.

*Does this count since it's a work of literary fiction?

If I ever run Dungeon Crawl Classics, I'm gonna print that map out and use it for my setting as-is with no irony.

Hah!  This is nothing like MY fantasy setting!

Although I do have something a little bit like that.  And that.  And I do have one of those.  And that's pretty much exactly the same name I used for that.  And...

Aww, dammit!

I've seen weirder, anyways.