Map Roundup - 03 May

Here is an interesting thought on mapping in games.  I find myself torn by his ideas.  On the one hand, his point is well made--there was no such thing as graph paper or precise mapping, even when people had reason to map things.  On the other hand, my earlies memories of playing D&D definitely involved listening to my brother as DM describe the dimensions of rooms in the dungeon and attempting to match them on my graph paper.  I suppose that in a megudungeon, where precise mapping may lead to discoveries about the greater dungeon layout, graph paper is a must.  If, however, you're not into that style of dungeoneering or playing in general, there isn't really a need.  Personally, I enjoyed the physical act of mapping as a player.  As with most things in this hobby of ours, to each his own...

Of course, he then goes on to further clarify his thoughts in a post entitled "To Map or Not to Map".  And with these comments, I could not agree more.

Then he wraps it all up here.

Here is a good map for those people who like to present puzzles to their players in the form of a dungeon that changes or, even better, that does not seem to follow the normal rules of space and time.

If ever a blog post belonged in a map roundup, based on title alone, it has to be this one.  And, BTW, he's right--that is a mighty nice map.

This is something that I will definitely use--a nice hex mapping app for use with GIMP.

Here is a hand drawn campaign map.  I like it.  Colored pencil on graph paper--what is not to like?!

Here is a link to a nice resource for maps.

And while the following is not a map, I was blown away by it and had to include it.

Tony Dowler over at Year of the Dungeon posted this interesting link to hand drawn maps.  Not really rpg related, but map related, and that's all that really counts.