Info on Marrek

[etherial]

(I had also forgotten the ED3 folks added a bunch of one-off references and such to the map.)

I'm wondering if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Having the map filled in a little more makes it easier to create things on the fly, for example, but limits imagination when you want a town slightly farther north than what is printed.

Overall I think it's better to have a fully-fleshed-out few rather than a large peppering of names and small backstories.

This is where we get to take advantage of the way cartography worked before Industrialization and just let FASA publish a variety of different maps with a variety of different levels of detail (and accuracy) and GMs just give their players whichever ones they want.

[Tattered Rags]

(I had also forgotten the ED3 folks added a bunch of one-off references and such to the map.)

I'm wondering if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Having the map filled in a little more makes it easier to create things on the fly, for example, but limits imagination when you want a town slightly farther north than what is printed.

Overall I think it's better to have a fully-fleshed-out few rather than a large peppering of names and small backstories.

This is where we get to take advantage of the way cartography worked before Industrialization and just let FASA publish a variety of different maps with a variety of different levels of detail (and accuracy) and GMs just give their players whichever ones they want.

Hop to it, Josh!

[The Undying]

(Since we're in the GM forum)

There are two ways to look at this:

1) Map copying is not an exact science, especially without exact copying capabilities. Errors creep in as generation after generation of copy is made. Likely The Great Library keeps what it considers to be "true masters," massive trading houses likely also have their own "true masters," and well-to-do traders likely have second or third generation copies. General circulation maps, though ... who knows how many errors they have (establishments appear or disappear, geographic features appear/disappear or shrink/grow, distances between things change, etc).

2) It's possible that there exist secret societies that are attempting to mislead the populace of Barsaive. Likely The Great Library, and some others, have no kidding "this is the real thing" maps. However, outside of those, it's entirely possible that some features and establishments are almost 100% false, either never existed but are on the map or totally exist and aren't there. Lots of great story ideas here: players going somewhere on a map that really only exists to ensnare wayward traders or adventurers, truly nefarious attempts by Horrors or evil societies to hide or mislead things, a massive cover-up spanning the great Powers That Be in Throal ...

[Dougansf]

2) It's possible that there exist secret societies that are attempting to mislead the populace of Barsaive. Likely The Great Library, and some others, have no kidding "this is the real thing" maps. However, outside of those, it's entirely possible that some features and establishments are almost 100% false, either never existed but are on the map or totally exist and aren't there. Lots of great story ideas here: players going somewhere on a map that really only exists to ensnare wayward traders or adventurers, truly nefarious attempts by Horrors or evil societies to hide or mislead things, a massive cover-up spanning the great Powers That Be in Throal ...

The plays well into my current campaign plans.