As a child, my family went to Lake Erie for a short trip. At one of the shops, I saw on the wall a reproduction of an old depth map of Presque Isle Bay from the 18th century. I was fascinated. It was much different than the maps in my school books. It told a story with lines and numbers about the changes over a century of nature and civilization. Most importantly, I could see the actual bay in front of me, so it felt real. I wanted to buy a copy, but at that time we barely had money for a trip let alone a map.

Fast forward some decades, and I returned to that shop and bought a copy. My study and technical skills started when I bought the map, but my fascination started on that trip as a child.

I cheat and simply don't mention population in my games. If a party walks into a city, it's "small," "huge," or something like that. Your average barbarian can't count to 10 let alone 100,000. I might have a number in mind, but it really doesn't matter much to me.

These look great! I think they will work out well. I love when authors have maps (and pronunciation guides) in books.

One piece of advice: consult whoever is doing the printing. To me, it never hurts. I'd never be able to do it myself.

The timing was bad, I'll agree. One can't deny Loraine Williams' motives either. However, on its own and apart from other TSR properties, it was good. It was unique. I saw it at a hobby shop and thought it was the first pulp sci-fi setting for a system that I knew well. It had adventures, modules, maps, novels, and video games. It got a lot of bad feelings, I think, because it was different. It was not for fantasy people, and it wasn't for cyberpunk people. It was what Conan was to Middle Earth: gritty. If you strip away the business side and the large leap from Forgotten Realms, I think it's a great pulp sci-fi setting on its own.

Yes, this is great. I've done that on the actual map, but this is much easier. Thank you!