Looking for Fantasy Atlas

[aramis erak]

As someone who likes to homebrew but who doesn’t make maps, I would love a collection of connected maps all belonging to the same world. Maps that include a world or at least a continental map, regional maps, maps of towns and cities, and adventuring locations. I don’t want a detailed setting, just the maps. I’ll fill in the rest.

I l would think many homebrewers would like collections like this, but they are surprisingly hard to come by. The closest I’ve seen are the old Forgotten Realms Atlas and Atlas of the Dragonlance World books. But those are such well-known, detailed, and trodden worlds, I don’t think I want to use those.

Does anybody know of such collections? I prefer books, but online resources are welcome.

There's an Atlas of Middle Earth, which isn't gamer oriented, but can easily be used for gaming.
There's also an Atlas of Pern. I don't have it... but I've seen it, and it's comparable to the Atlas of Middle Earth in scope and details

Thorsten Renk has a bit of an atlas of Darkover going. https://webhome.phy.duke.edu/~trenk/darkover/darkover_map.html

Mystara has a large map collection - and Thorfinn Tate has collated fan redraws. Atlas of Mystara

There are also overworld maps of any number of CRPGs and Computer Strategy games. I've generated and printed maps for friends using the map editor in Civ 2 Gold a few times.

Then, there's Worldographer... it can random generate maps at a desired scale, and extrapolate them to larger or smaller scale layers, given enough ram. It's the current versions of what started as Hexographer. Hexographer 1 was still up for in-browser use... and it can generate you worlds.
Sim Earth was used by a couple friends for generating their campaign worlds.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I came to say HarnWorld, although there's a lot of setting in there too. You can start here: Harn

 

[aramis erak]

I came to say HarnWorld, although there's a lot of setting in there too. You can start here: Harn

Like the AD&D Era Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Kenzer's Kingdoms of Kalamar all have open enough maps to be repurposed, as well.

 

[timbannock]

I've been searching for days since I saw this thread and haven't found it because I can't remember the name, so I'll post here and hopefully someone will swoop and save me from continuing to rack my brain.

There are tons of artists that release art books of world-building, so that's a great place to start. But there was one in particular that I saw on Amazon years ago who had released their setting/art book and it was this really strange, bizarre take on a sort of Redwall-esque "critters as people" but in a much more dark, slightly alien, Tony DiTerlizzi kind of aspect to it. I recall the cover being a critter-person riding mount that seemed somewhat like a cross between a furry critter and a lizard. It looked super-cool, but I just never pulled the trigger on it, so in some great purge I removed it from my wishlist.

Total separate track: Check out the setting material for Thra, the world from The Dark Crystal. That place is really interesting and alien while still feeling somehow approachable. I find it feels like a different tone but similar "accessibility" as many of the Zelda games, where the world is at once familiar and mythical and slightly twisted. The Dark Crystal Adventure Game is an absolute masterclass in "adventure path" design, and I can't believe it's not a more popular game. (Labyrinth's Adventure Game by Ben Milton is likewise a completely original and absolutely stunning take on the themes of megadungeon and puzzle dungeon.)

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I've been searching for days since I saw this thread and haven't found it because I can't remember the name, so I'll post here and hopefully someone will swoop and save me from continuing to rack my brain.

There are tons of artists that release art books of world-building, so that's a great place to start. But there was one in particular that I saw on Amazon years ago who had released their setting/art book and it was this really strange, bizarre take on a sort of Redwall-esque "critters as people" but in a much more dark, slightly alien, Tony DiTerlizzi kind of aspect to it. I recall the cover being a critter-person riding mount that seemed somewhat like a cross between a furry critter and a lizard. It looked super-cool, but I just never pulled the trigger on it, so in some great purge I removed it from my wishlist.

Total separate track: Check out the setting material for Thra, the world from The Dark Crystal. That place is really interesting and alien while still feeling somehow approachable. I find it feels like a different tone but similar "accessibility" as many of the Zelda games, where the world is at once familiar and mythical and slightly twisted. The Dark Crystal Adventure Game is an absolute masterclass in "adventure path" design, and I can't believe it's not a more popular game. (Labyrinth's Adventure Game by Ben Milton is likewise a completely original and absolutely stunning take on the themes of megadungeon and puzzle dungeon.)

Was it this? I own it but haven't had a chance to dig deeply into it

Historia - Mana Project Studio

Welcome to merciless Vesteria Historia is a Dark Fantasy Renaissance setting for the 5th Edition of the world’s greatest roleplaying game that introduce the setting of Vesteria, a merciless land, full of intrigues and populated by anthropomorphic animals. The characters will find themselves...

manaprojectstudio.com

 

[Argyle King]

You could try using a real-world topographical map.

 

[timbannock]

Was it this? I own it but haven't had a chance to dig deeply into it

Historia - Mana Project Studio

Welcome to merciless Vesteria Historia is a Dark Fantasy Renaissance setting for the 5th Edition of the world’s greatest roleplaying game that introduce the setting of Vesteria, a merciless land, full of intrigues and populated by anthropomorphic animals. The characters will find themselves...

manaprojectstudio.com

Thanks for checking, but nope! The animal-people and animal-mounts were all a bit more alien and not easily identifiable as to what animal they were exactly a version of. It was weird and bordering on grimdark, but not quite grimdark.

 

[pinkishtinge]

Sounds like the Atlas of Titan, the Fighting Fantasy world might be just up your street. It was put together by someone called Simon Osborne and is Free. It's also huge and comes in at 380 pages. It's really worth a look. I love it. Lots of maps, and enough info to get you going but not overwhelm. Give it a look. Here's my dropbox link to it:

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

Hope this helps.

 

[cimbrog]

I'm like you and prefer to build from existing maps. I've been collecting them over the years.

I've grabbed them mostly from Reddit's map focused subreddits, Inkarnate's browsing feature and just random stuff I've seen browsing around.

I'll shoot you a link to my folder(s) since I'm not positive on the provenance of everything.

 

[aramis erak]

You could try using a real-world topographical map.

Google and the UK Ordinance Survey both have really good online maps.

Last time I used the OS maps for a campaign, topographical map presentation was free, and 3d view was absent; both are now behind a paywall.

I discovered that Bing has a good bit of maps, too, but I avoid recommending Microsoft on general principles, but it's almost as good as google, and has some non-overlap on street view data, so, I'll make an exception.

Note that the National Library of Scotland has some old OS maps online. Like, 20th and late 19th century.

Detailed maps & routes to explore across the UK | OS Maps

Discover millions of routes to walk, run & cycle; or plot your own with Ordnance Survey mapping and route planner tools on web and app. Try it for free.

explore.osmaps.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Bing Maps

Map multiple locations, get transit/walking/driving directions, view live traffic conditions, plan trips, view satellite, aerial and street side imagery. Do more with Bing Maps.

www.bing.com

Ordnance Survey Maps - National Library of Scotland