20years of play... some results
Morrgans
Traveler
Greetings. Back in 2006 I started with a new warhammer campaign. 2ed just dropped and I scoped it up and devoured it. After trying to get the jumbled ... stuff from 1ed to work (truth be told, I mostly converted it to Rolemaster 2ed back in the day for ease of play (!!) and consistancy) and some Dark Heresy Intermezzo here and there, the campaign finished with the conclusion of the Aftermath to the Enemy Within campaign for 4ed last september (2025) . Over the years I produced quite some maps in CC2, 3, 3+ and others. I thought I could share some of the maps and if possible .fcw files as well, so the next naive person starting a generation long fantasy campaign can benefit from some suggestions.
Note, that the maps are quite different in quality and tone. (looking at you "Opeferheim 3d... eugh!) but you can not always do a John Speed or Ferraris style because that would be boring.
With that out of the way, let's start with something simple. 2 strip maps for waterways. The first is the Weißbruck Kanal froom Altdorf to Weißbruck which the Pcs are traveling (maybe) to get to Bögenhafen. at the beginning of TEW.
The second one is a smaller, more obscure canal from Grünburg to Prieze. This one has the added feature of a "Seitenkanal" because of the locks. so that the traffic can go around if needed. Grünburg Kanal is from the End, when the PCs were investigating the extreme arm of the broken chain, which threatened the newfound prosperity of the PCs and the Empire after the Turmoil...
Also note that I took some liberties and renamed some things. There is no "Kotzenheim" (Vomit-Home) in my version of the Empire (:= Kaiserreich) and I genrally populate the map with way more settlements etc. The original maps (especially before 4ed) are notoriosly empty. IIRC adding up all the people from the Gazetters of known settlements is roughly 1.5 million or so? Even if it is 2million it is still only 20% of the Holy Roman Empire AFTER the 30year war and the 30-40% reduction to "only" 10million.
Comments
The figures at the top are from the miedival figures ttf, converted to symbols as per the Annual 30, Ornamentation, and then recolored by adding an extra sheet below them. Unfortunatedly I can not find any .fcw fro this map anymore.
The coat of arms has been done with the help of coamaker.com and then included as a png.
The last one for today is also something which, naturally evolved over time how I handle dungeons: Consider this map of the Barony of Hargendorf which combines the tome "frame" and mystic journey i guess:
I used it for a Hargendorf cross-over event (Hargendorf, the barony withoput a Baron after the Storm of Chaos) and the "Reward" for the group of hte first half after the conclusion of the "Forges of Nuln". The event was an attack by a neigbor (Dieter the Cruel had ousted his father Otto from Neues Emskrank and wanted to colour in everything up to Laurelorn). Note the "Tokens" for Locations. You can change the pictures from them and create you own (e.g. "Die Elster" or "Neuland").
This comes in handy when you are designing Dungeons. After I spent a month or so on a multilevel dungeon with multiple rooms, traps, "biomes" effects etc. the group stated after wards, that they didn't enjoy the "moving around tokens for four sessions". Badumm-tss.
Solution: Token Dungeon.
Combine something like this:
with something like this:
And you get your dungeon. I then just link the Tokens with lines and you have a "maze". Encounters and handouts can then be handed out and you do not have to manage THAT player who always moves around and reveals the map.... and is THEN surprised when the "trap" (unstable floor) gets him. (all VTT sessions in my games nowadays).
Added benfit: Prep-time is roughly 20% from doing it in the dungeons of Schley style for all the floors... (that would be the next installement: Castle Wittgenstein)
Those first ones are definitely interesting, have never seen anything like them.
@Don Anderson Jr. They are from the Strip maps annual, 2009, annual 3.
here is the video tutorial on it.
Live Mapping: Journey Maps (Cartographer's Annual Vol 3)