The Maps
Here at Gnomestones we're working on all kinds of maps. Maps as fantasy, maps as gameboards, maps as story-telling devices, the philosophy of maps, maps and environmentalism, maps and justice, and so much more!
Ulfmap
Here's a view of the lands of Gnomestones. It's made with Worldographer; about 50,000 hexes are filled in thus far.
Several of the maps on this page are unfinished. This is so the map's discovery can be an ongoing process undertaken by the players, and also so the map can emerge slowly and in tandem with evolving artistic motivation.
The Octavian Valley
A foundational area of Gnomestones. Made with pen and paper.
Maps are good at showing space, but typically only show that space at one point in time. This map, and the worldmap above show the lands of Gnomestones in the time known by some of its inhabitants as Year 243 U-O.
Northern Octavian Valley
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This is now the third map to display Octavia, Eastern Lake Shimmenth, and the Triplands. Can you see how this map connects to the two above?
Hexmaps are an excellent tool for presenting complex game decisions while simulating topography. In many old-school TTRPGs, the GM keeps the filled in hexmap private, while providing the players with an imperfect interpretation of that map. In others, the players and the GM both see the hexes, though the GM many keep some 'hidden' until they are explored.
The Valdwood
The Valdwood in the Year 880 B. Made with Miro.
This map was made for a public campaign using rules from the indie-RPG Cairn2e. Cairn favors a point-crawl map style over a hexmap style, and provides charts for trails and paths to make it easier.
The benefits and drawbacks of point-crawls vs. hexmaps is a longer discussion, but for the purposes of this game, the point crawl system was fairly successful as a game mechanic and made interesting topography. Each one of the 'regions' has its own encounter chart.
The Azure Valley
A beginner map, made with Worldographer.
Worldmaps are unruly. Dungeon maps are fiddly. If you want to create a self-contained story with a unique ambience, you need a regional map. Luckily, their satisfying size makes them as easy to create as they are to play.
The Azure Valley is part of the Gnomestones Mapmaking Series. The map features a paper were-wasp hive Here you can watch as the map comes to life.
The Dominion of Withering Dawn
The Dominion of Withering Dawn. Pen and paper.
This regional map was made using Cairn2e generation tools, but this one was created in a procedural way, while the first came from emergent gameplay. The black and white evokes the folktale aesthetic found in Cairn. A good map for a future game.
The Saltstone Pass and Eastmarsh
Another regional map, made with Hex Map Editor and The Sandbox Generator tools.
Notice that each one of these regional map has an underlying balance. They all have starting points, secondary settlements, tangential landmarks, empty spaces, topography direction, and a gradient between the familiar and the wild. The locations on the map can be linked to each other through clues, quests, and other relationships, leading to an integrated story.
The Bay of Broken Dreams
This is a player-facing hexmap for the Gnomestones campaign Treasures of the Crazy Seawitch Pirate Queen. The campaign was played for about one year, with weekly sessions and a rotating group of mostly children at a public game store.
Even though the game was played in 5e with a chaotic cast of participants, players still maintained the map. They navigated harsh weather, getting lost, and resource management at sea.
Even if your game gets rocky, never give up on the map. It will keep the game afloat.
The Kingdom of Rutne
Rutne, land of two valleys, founded by the sunwitch and the moonwitch. Land of spear and bow, farm and forest, honor and resilience, of knights and fairy tales. Events of Gold in the Wood occur in the northwestern corner.
Land of Rutne
The Ashcape
This map originated at a dinner party where people took turns rolling or choosing hex contents and I passed around colored pencils. Some guests appreciated it more than others. I took the results and translated it into a Worldographer map.
Wilderness northeast of the Sea of Sarbir
This regional worldographer map corresponds to the first in a series of mini-campaigns I like the call: Gnomestones Origins. In this game, the players start on the southern coast as a party of Warriors of the Wind, Year 113 B.
The Bogs of Southern Rutne
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Loosely corresponding to the events of The Bog Prince.
Want to commission Gnomestones for map art or map design? Send us a message about your project!