Continuing to work off our gazetteer template, we’ll take a look at the heart of your setting: geography and your parent map.
Your parent map has the potential to be the single-most captivating snapshot of your setting, because the visual depiction of its shape, borders, terrain, places, and place names can capture the imagination faster and more deeply than any amount of text. If your gazetteer’s introduction sets expectations properly, the parent map is the first place to start delivering on them, so it’s important that the reader view your map in the context of your elevator pitch – after all, this map is literally where everything that goes on in your game will happen.
Parent Map Specs
Your parent map is the (single) highest-scale map of the setting in your gazetteer. It doesn’t have to be the only map, but any other maps should be “children” of your parent map. Not inconveniently, there are some abundantly useful hex templates that make it easy to create parent / child maps. For a setting that fits into a 16-20 page gazetteer, the regional hex template is a good start. Scaled at five miles per hex, the regional template covers just over 16,000 square miles – twice the size of Wales or roughly half the size of South Carolina.
The regional template also gives you flexibility: You can very easily zoom into regional hexes using the local template, and (eventually) you can zoom out by stitching together multiple regional maps on the atlas template, ultimately creating a larger continent or entire world (as a point of reference, five Great Britains would fit in one atlas template).
Regardless of the scale you choose, your parent map needs to show the entire setting, meaning all the fixed encounters, terrain features, and places where the player characters will interact, travel, and adventure. Put another way: Everything in the gazetteer that follows is somewhere on your parent map.
In no particular order, here are some recommendations for creating and populating your parent map (if you have a favorite method of your own, send me a link and I’ll add it to the list):
- Hex-based Campaign Design [terrain | fixed encounters]
- Greenfish Relief Map Tool [overview | using with hex template]
- MapGen2 Tool [terrain and fixed encounters | migrating to hex template]
- Inkarnate [online mapping tool]
- Hexcrawl Resources [ars phantasia]
You’re free to use whatever method you want – it doesn’t matter how you create your parent map, just that you create it. I’m not even saying it has to be a hex map (but your life will be sooooo much easier if it is, so make it a hex map).
Regions
Although not strictly necessary, it’s helpful to partition your parent map into regions, each characterised by a prominent terrain or population type. Use terrain to help define borders: For example, a river might form the natural border between two countries, or a broad forest might cover the foothills of a mountain chain.
Regions serve two purposes: First, they force you to think about how the terrain on your map organizes, motivates, and constrains the lives of those living on it. This is how the challenges and conflicts in your elevator pitch are made real – your reader needs to see the trouble spots, adventuring sites, and safe havens on your map to get a sense of how geography and distance affect the interactions between all the people and beings within the setting. Is this kingdom expanding? If so, what barriers are in the way? Does expansion mean another kingdom is on the defence? If so, how are its allies reacting? Does it even have allies? And so on… While you’ll ultimately need to answer these questions, the important thing right now is that someone looking at your map thinks to ask them.
Second, regions are an excellent way to break up the setting into manageable chunks, which ultimately lets you prioritize your creative focus (since the player characters will operate in only one region at a time), while still giving you a number of external areas (i.e., regions you’re not focused on) to serve as a backdrop for the current story and new hooks.
Your parent map can have any number of regions, though if you define it, the reader will expect you to describe it; I suggest limiting to 4-5 regions. In the gazetteer, each region gets a name and description (i.e., what everyone calls, and how everyone defines, the region), along with a master encounter table to show the predominant inhabitants.
Encounter Descriptions
Your parent map will no doubt show a number of fixed encounter areas – major settlements, fortresses, religious establishments, ruins, monster lairs, and natural phenomena. Each of these should be described – under the appropriate regional heading – using the hex crawl encounter format. Where warranted, include a customised encounter table and identify which hexes it applies to.1Though, admittedly, the example below went a different route by providing details specific to each encounter. Naturally, you should use whatever approach gives you the right blend of easy to create and quality of results.
Putting it All Together
For this example, I’ll use the Minocra hex map as my parent and present a single region:
Minocra Province
The shores of the deepwater bay on the island’s south-western coast are known as the Minocra Province, or simply, “The Province,” the only “civilised” area on the isle. General Emir Abd al Hakim garrisons the port town of Alaha with the support of friendly Saba natives, but establishing this foothold took the greater part of a year, during which Hakim fended off repeated Usabir attacks, endured separate outbreaks of malaria and dysentery, and lost both his flagship and its supporting supply vessels. Now that Alaha is (relatively) well established, Hakim’s goals are to build a ship to re-connect with the mainland, secure the rest of the Province, and eventually press inland to carry out the Sultana’s original mission.
Minocra Province Random Encounters
| Roll (d4+d6) | Encounter |
|---|---|
| 2 | 1d4 Adventurers on their way to/from Auscus |
| 3 | [Plant] |
| 4 | 1d2 Scouts from Adira (+1d4 Saba retainers) |
| 5 | 1d4+6 Saba natives (d6: 1-2 hunting party; 3-4 traders; 5 pursuing Usabir; 6 fleeing Usabir) |
| 6 | 1d4+1 Soldiers from Alaha (green mercenaries led by veteran) |
| 7 | [Animal] |
| 8 | 1d4 Merchants, 1d4 regular mercenaries, and 2d4 Saba retainers (d6: 1-2 setting out on expedition; 3-5 gathering resources; 6 returning with goods) |
| 9 | 2d6 Usabir natives (d6: 1-2 hunting party; 3-4 pursuing Saba; 5-6 fleeing patrol) |
| 10 | 1d2 travellers (d6: 1-2 messenger; 3-4 merchant; 5 lost patrolman; 6 Fatin assassin) |
Hex #0514: Ruined Tower of Auscus: A massive tower of tarnished metal overlooks the coast. Despite references to it recovered from the library in the Dead City of Sercus (Hex #0409), little is known about its purpose or contents. There is no visible means of entry, though there are at least two hidden entrances in the cliff wall underneath (1/8 chance to find each day of active searching). Naturally, rumours abound: its inside is bigger than outward dimensions suggest; it is a portal to another time and place; a lich dwells within; that it is stocked with treasures and technology (for what else would a metal tower contain but the wondrous machinery of an advanced intelligence?).
Hex #0813: Bala Keep: Faris Bala, an officer of Emir Abd al Hakim’s company, completed this timber fort a few months ago as a base to launch expeditions into the interior. The keep is part of Hakim’s plan to secure the Province, and it’s garrisoned by a troop of 15 loyal dervishes and a djinn Bala bound to her service. Bala’s plans to forge upriver are frustrated by the native Usabir clans and their avian idols – it’s a fair bet that she would welcome some extra muscle.
Hex #1118: Balil’s Manse: This secret and hidden fighting order is dedicated to the martyr Balil, a court official who attempted a coup against the Sultana. Aswad, a self-styled priest, leads the order, comprised of deserters from Alaha (22 warriors and 11 “clergy” trained as assassins). The order has good relations with the local Usabir clans, who keep these outlaws abreast of activities around Alaha. Aswad’s goal is to assassinate Hakim and his lieutenants, take control of Alaha, and establish Minocra as an independent sultanate.
Hex #1314: Town of Alaha (pop. 1,500): Alaha is the stockade-walled capital of Minocra Province. The place is ruled Emir Abd al Hakim, a posh, late middle-aged general whose distinguished reputation earned the Sultana’s trust and his current post. Hakim’s “subjects” are his remaining crew and military company, along with a number of urbanised Saba natives whose loyalty is assured while Alaha offers succor against the savage Usabir jungle clans. The town’s goods and services include 1 provisioner, 1 stable, 1 temple, and a massive market square that hosts a bazaar on non-holy days.
Final Words
While I’m happy with what the Map section of the gazetteer includes, I think the format will evolve over time (and as I expand the Minocra regions over the next six weeks). Two items do come to mind: (1) whether to include prominent NPC stats along with the encounter description, and (2) where to include stats for encounter table entries.
My own advice has been to exclude stat blocks because they take time to produce and limit flexibility, but the GM still has to do it eventually. Does it make more sense – and is the gazetteer more useful – if I include an abbreviated stat block that I can render quickly, the GM can use immediately, and maintains flexibility if desired? Does such a thing exist, and if so, where in the gazetteer does it belong?