First I took this map:
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It is a map of the North America after a bout of catastrophic global warming. I believe it was created by the same people who did the one I used for the Dark Country, but I'm not sure.
Anyway, next I got the map more centered on the area I thought was most interesting. I then roped off squares that in order to help me make the type of large wilderness map I typically make. Here is the result:
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Next I mocked it up in Hexographer. I added some rivers which aren't apparent on the main map. Gray is hills, dark grey is mountains:
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It was difficult for me to pick which area to enlarge and make into the first region. I couldn't pick between the Mississippi islands or the Knoxville area. I finally picked East TN since it provided a more diverse landscape.
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Obviously this looks quite different from my earlier map of the same area, and I believe the first one was more accurate. I figured whatever caused the Mutant Future could be responsible for much more dramatic changes in the landscape than a more "plausible apocalypse."
Finally I set about stocking the thing. I did this a bit more literally than I usually do, following Welsh Piper's system and my my own tables more rigidly than I normally would. The big exception is the blast site. Heres the result:
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Quite a bit of adventuring to be had there. I might do a similar map for the Mississippi Islands in due time, but if I need to run a post-apoc game in the near future it's likely I'll use this and Mutant Future.
Nice tutorial. You've had the post-apoc bug lately, does that mean the Dark Country is headed for the scrap heap?
ReplyDeleteI doubt it. I might take a month-long or so hiatus and run it, but it's unlikely. This map making thing is typically how I avoid scraping campaigns since it acts as a funnel for my GADD.
ReplyDeleteEven if it does go away I doubt it'll be completely abandoned. My mind always wanders back to those fogbound forests and Nightwick Abbey's demon-haunted halls.
I've always found this: http://legalplanet.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/radioactive-fallout-map3.jpg a useful resource for Post Apoc games. Long story short, it's projected nuclear fallout from a multi-warhead attack on the most likely targets in the US via FEMA.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good map, but it fits a bit better with the Apocalyptia map instead of Mutant Future. I'm not entirely sure what caused the Mutant Future yet, but it involved a lot more than nuclear weapons (aside from the bomb crater).
ReplyDeleteVery nice map from a very cool source. I've been playing with a similar map of Antarctica, myself.
ReplyDeleteFeel very sorry for the folks living in 0521 as that river's gotta be pretty funky after flowing through the rad zone. o.O
Point taken - it is significantly different. In hindsight from when I last used it, a Fallout game, it doesn't actually fit very well with Fallout either. That universe assumed radiation works as they earliest believed when they figured out it was dangerous. IE: You get a localized area around the blast, which could be very small, it doesn't move, and of course you have the silly side-affects.
ReplyDeleteI've got a similar map I've been working on for my next MF game. It's a region of the world that's theoretically turned into an archipelago by the sea level rising.
ReplyDeleteI'm under water!!!
ReplyDeleteVery, very cool. Of course, I'm under water as well.
ReplyDelete