REVIEW: Country of Arduin Map

I'm a huge fan of maps, as you know. Maps of imaginary places are part of what drew me into fantasy and science fiction in the first place. Goodness knows I spent a large portion of my younger days drawing maps of various kinds for use in my roleplaying game adventures and campaigns. Maps appeal to me both on an intellectual level (for their utility) and an esthetic ones (for their beauty). They are a perfect example of the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. A well-drawn map is of much greater value to me than pages upon pages of information about a setting. Indeed, I'm increasingly of the opinion that game companies ought to lavish more time on the maps of their settings than on the books that detail every nook and cranny depicted on them.

So great is my zeal for cartography that I've been known to pick up maps and map books even for settings I don't actively use or in which I otherwise don't have much interest. A good case in point is the Country of Arduin map from Emperor's Choice Games. I own only the original three Arduin Grimoires and have found them useful as inspirational material, but I have never run a full-fledged Arduin game and I am not even certain that I am constitutionally capable of it. Despite that, I won't deny that I lusted after it. Now that I have a copy, I can see that my lust was well placed.

First off, the Country of Arduin map is big. Measuring 2 feet x 3 feet in size, it looks exactly like the map of a fantasy setting should. This is helped by the fact that it's printed on a faux parchment that reminds me of the covers of the little brown books. The map uses only four colors for its details, which also contributes to its "archaic" feel, as if it had been hand-drawn rather than produced by means of a computer program. The map uses an uncial font for its titles and notations. The font is legible enough, even at very small point sizes, which the map has aplenty. I found the font slightly inappropriate for its subject matter, though; it's a bit too "generic" and stereotypically "fantasy-ish" for the quirky, individualistic setting of Arduin.

The map, though large in size, covers a comparatively small geographical area, since the scale is 10 miles to the inch. In practical terms, this means that the map shows not only expected features like rivers, forests, mountain ranges, and major cities, but also bridges, sites of interest, individual mountains, and small towns, as well as inns. One of the most charming things in volume II of the Arduin Grimoire, Welcome to Skull Tower, is its comprehensive listing of the inns and road houses of the setting, complete with their names, locations, owners, and a rating of their quality. For all the mockery made of the hackneyed "You meet in an inn ..." intro to many a fantasy adventure, there's something very right about the emphasis given to inns on this map. It gives the whole thing the joyful, convivial air for which all roleplaying sessions ought to strive.

The map is easy to use, with legends and an easy-to-use grid system. I found it very hard not to be drawn by the map's many evocative names -- Huddledark, The Great Look What I Found Forest, Village of Eight Gravestones to name but three -- and I immediately began to wonder what these places were like. I know very little of the Arduin setting beyond what I've gleaned from the first three Arduin Grimoires, so these names mean nothing to me in and of themselves. Yet, they sparked my imagination unlike many have in a very long time. Much like maps of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy, I found the Country of Arduin map to be a spur to my creativity even without an accompanying guidebook. For me, that's the mark of a good fantasy RPG map.

In short, the Country of Arduin map is an excellent product. Although clearly designed for those who play in the Arduin setting, it has some utility even for those who do not. Given its price ($19.99), it's definitely not an impulse buy, even for cartography aficionados such as myself, which is a pity, because it's a great example of a fantasy setting map, one of the best I have seen in some time.

Presentation: 8 out of 10
Creativity: 8 out of 10
Utility: 5 out of 10

Buy This If: You love well-done fantasy maps and/or are playing in an Arduin setting campaign.
Don't Buy This If: Fantasy maps aren't your secret lust and/or don't have any interest in the Arduin setting.