Numbering/Labeling Conventions thread

Royal Scribe

In a different thread, @Ricko was asking for advice on how mappers approach adding numeric labels on a map:

@Ricko : Sorry to change the subject of the original thread, but I'd like to consult with you (or anyone else), who knows more about these topics than I do, if there's any suggestion or order for diagramming the numbers on a map. Example: From top to bottom, clockwise or counterclockwise, etc.

I thought I would add my two cents in a new thread for the topic, to make the discussion easier to find later.

I am certainly no expert on the matter, but when I am labeling things, I try to think of how it would be presented in a purchased campaign supplement. I try to make it flow in the order the party would be traveling, starting with #1 at the entrance and flowing from there to where they'd go next.

Of course, the party may have choices on which direction to go, so there may not be an obvious answer for what comes next after they enter. I just pick one direction and try to label things as contiguously as possible, clustering the numbering as best I can. So it's not necessarily clockwise, or left to right, or up or down -- it's just the route the way things the adventurers may go.

With cities and towns, it can vary. Sometimes I pick a road or city gate where the party may enter the city and then flow from there. Other times, I may start in a central area like a market square or town hall as the starting point. My numbering also clusters (like, every shop around a town square gets numbered before moving to the next area), and go neighborhood by neighborhood.

For overland maps...to be honest, I've never numbered overland maps. I've only used text labels, where it isn't the same issue.

I'd love to hear other people's ideas for how they approach.

Wyvern

I don't have any kind of set pattern for this. I simply apply labels where they're needed on a per-map basis. Sometimes those will be letters or numbers, if space is tight, at others actual words. I've used a mixture of both on some maps - as in the topic where the query was first raised, for instance.

In general, and for smaller maps where there are distinct routes that might be followed, like Royal Scribe here, I'd start with the entrance/first area and number in rough sequence from there. As long as your labelling is clear and unambiguous, and makes sense to you, I'm not sure anything beyond that is altogether important.

Occasionally, you'll need to make decisions as to which route to follow with labels first, and some things may need labelling out of sequence if they seem to fit better that way (say, if a label is going to obscure some key point in the room, but by using the next-but-one number, it wouldn't, or something like that).

Sometimes, it'll make sense to follow specific patterns as Ricko mentioned - clockwise/anticlockwise, top to bottom, etc. - but that depends really on exactly what's being mapped, and what purpose the map has.

Loopysue

I was taught (several decades ago now) that you numbered the municipal buildings and churches first, then the features of interest like parks and historic sites and finally the local landmarks - waterfalls, etc. However, given the same map two different cartographers would probably number it quite differently according to their personal opinion on which of the features or which of those groups is more important than the others. So in the end it boils down to what Wyvern said:

As long as your labelling is clear and unambiguous, and makes sense to you, I'm not sure anything beyond that is altogether important.

Ricko

Since our type of cartography (fantasy) isn't so "technical" but rather has a strong connection to art, I understand the rules more as suggestions than as rigid norms. Whenever possible, I try follow the Western reading order, from top to bottom, left to right and clockwise, to facilitate the understanding of the viewer.