CREATING WILDERNESS MAPS

How much of the map is left for the Adventurers to explore?

First, create the source of truth for the Guide.

1. Decide the scale or size of each hex of the map
2. Decide the amount of previous available map data exists
   • Ground surveys on foot, by vehicle, or rover
   • Aerial surveys
   • Orbital surveys
3. Place land features
   • Mountain ranges and peaks
   • Foothills and rolling hills
   • Volcanoes
   • Rocky and sandy deserts
   • Cliffs
   • Craters
   • Rills and Ridges
   • Faultlines
4. Place and plot water sources and destinations
   • Glaciers or ice sheets
   • Snowpacks
   • Rivers
   • Lakes
   • Seas
5. Place vegetation and forests
   • Plains and grasslands
   • Swamps
   • Marshes
   • Forests
   • Jungles
6. Place structures
   • Outposts
   • Colonies or Settlements
   • Fortifications
   • Surface Constructions (such as power and communications stations)
   • Ruins
   • Roads
   • Trails
   • Bridges
7. Place campaign clues
   • What could local guides and inhabitants of the region know?
   • Rumors ¹⁾
   • Secrets for Adventurers to uncover
8. Name locations or feature of interest
9. Key each of the locations of interest with a map hex number or identifier

Next create a map for Adventurers with a starting subset of this information.

1. A small explored starting area, preferably in the center of the map
   • A coastal landing point on a new continent
   • An inland settlement upriver in a frontier area
   • First landing site of a new world or moon
2. Surrounding blank areas for Adventurers to explore and fill in

Maps present a constant danger of sharing too much information to the Adventurers.

Before aerial and orbital surveys exist, creating high quality maps required significant effort and expense.

That effort and expense make maps a rare and valuable treasure rather than a common scroll.

Maps given to Adventurers should be sparse, incomplete, accidentally misleading, and occasionally inaccurate to present more challenge and puzzle and escalate the reward gained for successfully using the map.

◢ Salvage Space: Wilderness Maps

▲ Chronology :: ◢ References: Locations