(TFT) More on maps

[pvk@oz.net]

Our TFT campaigns used a LOT of campaign maps. Not only were the worlds
large and traveling around them a huge part of the gameplay, but acquiring
geographic knowledge was another vital element related to that. The GM had
his maps to keep track of actual positions and terrain, which the players
NEVER saw. Then he made maps which represented actual maps in the game
world, which were never 100% accurate, and could be mostly inaccurate and
yet still have important information not found on other maps.
Commissioning map drafting from a scholars' guild was a fun investment for
players, maps and other documents were some of the most fun loot, and some
adventures involved going exploring to find out what was really at a
certain location, etc.

Some of the maps for players used hexes, and some didn't. The hex maps
were supposed to generally represent maps with more accurate details, and
not that the maps in the game world literally had hexes on them. Of
course, whether they had hexes or not was often entirely different from
how correct and complete the maps were.

At first, I tended to make separate local area maps which didn't show
entire 12.5 km map hexes. Later, I started making different scales of
blown up maps which showed where things were within the hexes, either
detailing one map hex, or just showing more detail over several hexes.
That was because at that point, the players were more sophisticated and
play would involve movements around features inside the hex, rather than
settling for fixed encounters on close-range maps. In other words, the
players wouldn't always just plan on following the road to a destination,
and let the GM tell them as soon as something interesting happened.

PvK
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