On the topic of “draw maps but leave blank spaces,” I present here two maps I’ve made some time ago.

13 thoughts on “On the topic of “draw maps but leave blank spaces,” I present here two maps I’ve made some time ago.”

1. I truly think that the journey map is better for Dungeon World; however I do not think that it is more focused as it is larger. I may be missing something though. I’m also not sure why you have so many spots on the map that are already named; also being a big planner I know how nice worldbuilding can be, but unless you already know what roles are those places going to develop into, how they’re going to affect the story; or well, being more precise, how is the story and how the characters are going to pivot around those parts, it’s pretty much pointless to have so many locations that you’re not even sure if your players going to go there.

   If I’ve learned anything during my many, many years GM’ing, and if the apocalypse engine means to hammer anything into the Game Masters, is that the players are absolutely unpredictable and they never do what you expected them to do. And that’s best of it.

   I mean it in the best of ways: Choose, give or take 5 – 6 locations, detail who runs them and what their plans are and have the players do the rest. If you want, keep those locations in your mind or a notebook and just bring them up whenever you feel it’s right for the players to encounter them and then place them on the map. Or perhaps the players are talking to an NPC and that NPC can name the location or a history regarding that location and then mark it in the player’s map.

   I’d also like to add that having a hex grid in Dungeon world is a bit redundant, having a free-form map is just as good and easier for the players to control. After all it’s their map.

2. Thanks a lot for your insight, Camilo Suñer. I’ve used generic names, so nothing is written on stone. Those would be just general guidelines in order to know what’s there (and they are, or should be, broad enough to aloow players’ input). Do you really think I overplanned?

   Oh, and the hexgrid is there because those maps were, at first, designed for a hexcrawl. If I was to create a map today, I’d do it like this one: http://fermmoylle.deviantart.com/art/Attempt-002-263425977

   fermmoylle.deviantart.com – Attempt 002

3. Have you considered a pointcrawl instead of a hexcrawl? I think it serves better for DW. http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2014/11/pointcrawl-series-index.html

   hillcantons.blogspot.com – Pointcrawl Series Index

4. I want to love pointcrawls (and pathcrawls for that matter), Peter J. I think they are great, but the problem is random content generation for them.

   However, this is DW, so I believe the problem is solved. I may even try something soon, using this as a basis (I don’t know if you are familiar with this nifty generator): http://meta-studios.com/dg/dungen.html

   meta-studios.com – DunGen Dungeon Generator

5. Marcelo Paschoalin great resource! Do you have plans to make a sci-fi one at all?

6. Peter Cobcroft, that one is not mine. But the author has the souce code available, so if you want to create a sci-fi generator (I imagine something with nebulas, star systems and so?) it shouldn’t be too hard.

   But I’m not a coder, so I can’t say much about it…

7. Good to know, thanks! I dabble. ..

8. Have you read the section on making maps in The Perilous Wilds? I think you’ll get an extremely unique and interesting map following that approach, especially if you include all of your players in the process. I always do a few rounds of it right after the party gets out of the starting dungeon; kind of a “where to now?” mini game.

9. No, The Perilous Wilds is still on my wishlist.

   But my hexcrawl maps creation approach is usually tied to what I’ve read on Sine Nomine books, like Red Tide and An Echo, Resounding. I really like that approach, but I understand that’s too GM-centric.

10. Highly recommend you check it out. I think it’s a must for every DW GM. If you can describe something as “GM-centric” I would run away from it for DW. The “play to find out what happens” principle is half the fun of DW for BOTH the players and the GM.

11. I really like this! It gives the game a nice “old school”-touch. What did you use to create this map?

12. Lauri Maijala, the Crawl map was made with Hexographer. There’s a free version if you wanna try, but I love the program and I purchased the Pro version (and even backed the recent v2 Kickstarter).

    The Journey map was made with Gimp, using public domain icons.

13. Thanks!

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