Don't these notions of geographic 'realism' assume you have a world based on the cosmology of our own? A fantasy world, Glorantha and Midgaard come to mind, can havea completely different cosmology to our own.

Quote from: Voros;987238Don't these notions of geographic 'realism' assume you have a world based on the cosmology of our own? A fantasy world, Glorantha and Midgaard come to mind, can havea completely different cosmology to our own.

It goes to plausibility with goes to suspension of disbelief. However there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to unrealistic. Sometime it works (like with Middle Earth or gonzo style campaigns) and sometime it doesn't.

Out of game, I am geography nut, however I will only push it so far when designing a setting. Plausible geography is definitely a case of where getting close but not exact is good enough for gaming. And getting close really amounts to a handful of design rules like rivers flow downhill, etc.

Quote from: estar;987304It goes to plausibility with goes to suspension of disbelief. However there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to unrealistic. Sometime it works (like with Middle Earth or gonzo style campaigns) and sometime it doesn't.

Out of game, I am geography nut, however I will only push it so far when designing a setting. Plausible geography is definitely a case of where getting close but not exact is good enough for gaming. And getting close really amounts to a handful of design rules like rivers flow downhill, etc.

Yea, though as someone living in Portland OR, I love it when someone complains about a river going through a mountain range... Folks who are worried about that should look at the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest or the New River in the Appalachians... I'm sure there are other examples. Oh, there's also Natural Tunnel in Virginia.

Quote from: estar;985528On a large scale map it is tedious as well as simplistic to the point where it just easier to draw a blob on a piece of paper, some spines to represent the mountains, and some lines running down from the spines to the sea for the rivers. Then say this area is desert, that area is forest and between is plains or open terrain.

Its not quite that bad. But it does produce some odd results. Have a look at my example map. Bemusingly enough it looks a bit like the land around where I used to live for a time

Quote from: EOTB;985759Black Blade publishing has some really nicely printed 11x17 pads of hex paper.  I purchase a new one just about every GaryCon or NTRPGCon.

Here's a link to a pic of the paper they posted on Facebook, if you'd like some offset-print quality hex paper.

https://www.facebook.com/BlackBladePublishing/photos/pb.157973634365597.-2207520000.1484325858./705104536319168/?type=3

Thanks for the plug, Steve.  We've designed two types of campaign hex pads:  the 11"x17" pads with Wilderlands-sized hexes on the front and Greyhawk-sized hexes on the back (both with larger grouping hexes for zoom-in/zoom-out detail), and the 8.5"x11" pads with a three-tier single hex on the front (similar in concept/style to the zoomed-in hex location for WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure), and a two-tier hex on the back (modelled off of the old JG hexes).  

I'll normally use the 11"x17" sheets for campaign-sized hexes (setting each big hex equal to one of Darlene's Greyhawk map hexes), then drill down and add detail using the smaller hexes within each campaign hex (adding roads, smaller towns/villages/thorps, coaching inn, outlying manor houses, wizard towers, ruins, dungeons, etc.).  Then for a specific adventure, town, point of interest where I expect play to be focused for awhile, I'll take one of the smaller hexes from the 11"x17" map, and blow that up into the single-sheet hex map.  You can zoom in or out to whatever scale you want to use, really, which is why those are blank on the front of the 8.5"x11" hex pads (the back hex is designed for the WL so it uses the same 5 mile hex baseline scale).  

You can see some Greyhawk-based examples of maps made with our paper at Mike Bridges' Greyhawkery blog @ http://greyhawkery.blogspot.com/2013/07/sea-princes-hand-drawn-greyhawk-map.html and http://greyhawkery.blogspot.com/2013/12/campaign-search-for-lost-city-of-suel.html and http://greyhawkery.blogspot.com/2015/10/greyhawk-map-azure-sea.html

Allan.

Coupla questions:

1. Do you describe the world to your players naturally, or by hexes?
2. Do you describe what they see hex-by-hex? If so, what scale?
3. At what scale do you track player movement?

Quote from: fearsomepirate;988025Coupla questions:

Quote from: fearsomepirate;9880251. Do you describe the world to your players naturally, or by hexes?

Naturally, remember the distance to horizon is considerable. Even rough terrain only means that the sight lines are blocked only in certain direction. For example I would be able to see the surrounding ridge lines at the bottom of a valley.
First the hex grid (or any grid) should not be something special. It is used a useful ruler printed on the map. A way to get a sense of area if you need that kind of information. And as a reference points for the text.

Quote from: fearsomepirate;9880252. Do you describe what they see hex-by-hex? If so, what scale?

No. I describe what they in their Line of sight. Basically a radius of 3 mile or so. More if they get some height. Read this article to get an understanding of what involved.

Quote from: fearsomepirate;9880253. At what scale do you track player movement?

You go by the rhythm of their day. In general I use watches, six watches per day, two spent sleeping, two spent travelling and one spent before and after traveling performing various tasks and eating. Basic movement is 1 league (2.5 miles) per hour. Which means the players will travel about 8 leagues or 20 miles a day. They can spend an extra watch travelling (10 more miles) if they have too. But it is fatiguing over the long wrong. But without a complete day of rest they run the risk of fatigue.