With our maps in Plans ’n’ Places we wanted to remedy a problem we encountered often enough: Our party is in the middle of nowhere, traveling overland to the next point of interest, i.e. disaster. But then, disaster can’t wait and strikes just where we are.
Some systems provide grand maps depicting whole countries. (I fondly remember peering endlessly at a map of Hârn spread out on table in the living room of my first and still much cherished GM. Of course, HârnMaster does provide more detailed region maps but we’ve seemed to be always somewhere in between.)
On the other side of the continuum is playing on maps with a one-inch grid…
So, we wanted to do something in between: System neutral maps depicting enough area to advance boldly (or run away and hide) without falling off the edge of the map too soon; to see the foe approach, from a distance, and him being already on the map and not lurking on the table behind the bowl of potato chips. A map for the group to spread out! For my long-range spells to strike! But being still detailed enough for identifying specific trees to climb or blow up. Somewhat carried away at this point we came up with quite epic titles like “River in a Mountainous Landscape.”
We do our maps in good resolution for zooming in (up to 200 % it prints more than neatly resulting in a map about 33×33” large). Still, we do not provide a one-inch grid, for designing the whole thing in such a resolution would have resulted in maps large enough to tile everybody’s living room floor – and in even more “post-post-production” handiwork with Photoshop. But we are thinking about some kind of add-on (or rather a spin-off?) for miniatures players, choosing certain hot spots of our maps, then giving them even more detail and equipping them with the one-inch grid…
We ourselves like the maps best in 22×17”, that is, with 4 standard letter-sized printouts taped together; but perhaps that’s just because of the ridiculous size of our gaming table nowadays.
