Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an idea article about a part of the world building process. This article is the intellectual descendant of my good friend Clay, over at Terminally Nerdy (Here). The genesis of this idea starts with a simple DM Tip on Twitter that basically says “When you are building your own world, don’t forget to leave blank spaces so you can fill in with new things or ideas as they come up.” And this is absolutely perfect advice. It does lead into a deeper thought of mine that comes up every once in a while.
No Player character should have access to a perfectly accurate world map. A local map of the town and its surrounding environment? Maybe, even probably. A map that can get them from one major city to another along a well traveled route? Sure. The concept of a continent spanning map with precise locations of cities and points of interest (and distances between them) is a modern concept that really doesn’t need to be available to characters in most RPGs. Even a spacefaring adventure with all the tech in the world should have places that characters are unfamiliar with, and are incapable of easily figuring out how to get there.
Why?
Because once you have established distances and directions, it becomes a hell of a lot easier to figure out how long things are going to take. This lets players develop a sense of predictability, and that builds into a sense of complacency. “We know that if we stay on this path for a week, we’re going to hit that place we’re looking for.” Now that’s a great outlook for a family vacation, but it’s a terrible one for an adventure.
Why?
Adventure in fantasy (well, in all ) RPGs involves several different kinds of risk and potential peril. One of the easiest forms of that peril is uncertainty, expressed here as not knowing where we’re going or how long we’re going to be gone. Did we pack enough supplies for the trip? What happens if we run into monsters? What lives in the area we’re traveling through? All of these questions are much trickier to answer if you don’t have an exact distance you’re traveling.
One of the more interesting parts of adventuring that we seem to have misplaced is the sense of urgency that getting lost somewhere puts on the characters. If the players have access to detailed enough maps to calculate distances, then getting lost is really hard. Getting lost also lets your rangers shine since they are usually the best suited to survive in strange and unfamiliar areas.
The other cool thing that unmapped areas offer you (both as a player and a DM) are chances to explore things no one has ever seen (or at least survived to tell the tale of). Imagine this….You and your companions are travelling through the ancient forest, looking for a pathway to the city of Greenleaf, and you discover a giant mound covered in stone plinths. You’ve never heard of anything like it, nor have you ever seen anything like it. What do you do?
Compare that to...You and your companions are on the third day of your journey through the ancient forest. Six more days and you’ll be at the City of Greenleaf. You’re passing through the area marked as the Ember Mound, an ancient seat of the Fairy Queen of Flames. It’s been visited dozens of times by adventurers over the years, and many of its treasures lie in distant vaults.
Now both describe a fantastic location, and both could be interestingly fun places to explore. However, the first description doesn’t tell you anything outside of the physical characteristics of the site, and starts the brain calculating. Do we have the resources to explore this place? What’s inside? Is there treasure? Are there monsters? Is there treasure? Are we all going to die in there? Is there treasure?
The second description, the one that is predicated on the area being well known (and mapped) has a lot less tension to it. Sure, you could spend some time exploring the area and might find something interesting, but this location has probably been cleared out by other adventurers over the years.
As a DM, you probably need a reliable map of the world (at least the part you’re running games in) but the players typically don’t need that, and even if they do, there’s no guarantee that the map is entirely accurate. You can have a lot of fun with maps that are missing details or features, or don’t have distance keys. You might even have some players that take the time to draw their own maps, and if they are doing that, then you’ve got them interested enough in the game that they are mapping the world you are all sharing.
TL:DR Your fantasy world doesn’t have GPS. Get used to getting lost and having to crawl your way out of whatever bizarre location you’re in. Bring a compass?
Game On, Game Fans.
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