Practice and Research - Exercise 3.2: Researching Maps

Introduction

I had a vague idea for my Campaign Frame. Many fantasy roleplaying games set themselves in a world that is analogous to medieval Europe. I wanted to do something different and wanted a world that had early signs of technology, perhaps something I could tie in with magic as part of the worldbuilding. I thought it would be an intriguing idea to create a setting that invoked an area of fantasy literature that had not been mined in any great depth. Europe in the 18th century was right at the start of industrialisation, with evocative clothing, politics, exploration and the use of gunpowder for cannon and flintlock pistols.

Before getting into any details of the world, I wanted to start with a helicopter's view. Each of the Campaign Frames comes with a regional map to help Game Masters and players co-create the details of their world. This felt like a good place for me to start. I wanted to evoke the time period through the visual language of the map, so I spent time researching maps of the time.

Accuracy

The skill of the cartographers at the time had significantly improved. The maps seemed to have a more accurate sense of scale and dimension. There was, however, a lot of room for interpretation. Each cartographer added their own stylistic choices, particularly when rendering geographical landmarks. This allowed for regional trends and design choices. Maps were also political assets, and often reflected assertions, assumptions and aspirations as much as they did the reality that existed at the time.

A nautical chart of the Mediterranean Sea, 1750

Use

The use of a map seemed to play a large part in what was depicted therein. If the focus was a nautical map, then the waters, ports and coastline were prominent. If the map was one made during war, it was as likely to show fortifications, battle sites and defensive lines as it was terrain and geography.

Regional and Town-level maps went into even further detail, with some being created for governance and tax, and other later maps even focused on things like vulnerability to fire. Given that my map was going to be somewhere between Atlas and Regional, I made note of the elements from each that I could incorporate.

I found the use of typography and illustration very interesting in the maps of this time period. There was a balance to be struck between decoration and legibility, with different cartographers making personal choices along that scale. I noted the use of imagery in nautical maps and the way that chart titles had a range of elaborate borders.

Sometimes, scale was ignored, and illustrations were used to add detail to prominent locations or landmarks. Very occasionally, smaller maps and illustrations were used alongside the larger map within their own inset borders to add pertinent information or context.

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References

1. Cambridge Antiquarian Society (2019). 18th Century Maps. [online] Cambridge Antiquarian Society. Available at: https://www.camantsoc.org/17th-century-maps-2/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2025].

2. Hitchcock, T., Shoemaker, R., Howard, S. and McLaughlin, J. (2011). Locating London’s past (version 2.0, August 2024). [online] www.locatinglondon.org. Available at: https://www.locatinglondon.org/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2025].

3. McAlhany, J. (2015). The Mapmakers Who Made the 18th Century. [online] Oldworldauctions.com. Available at: https://www.oldworldauctions.com/info/article/2020-06 [Accessed 2 Nov. 2025].

4. Rumsey, D. (n.d.). David Rumsey Map Collection. [online] www.davidrumsey.com. Available at: https://www.davidrumsey.com/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2025].