AN Endzeitgeist.com review

This map pack depicts a City by the Sea on 16 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, leaving 14 pages for the maps, so let's take a look!

The first map depicts a massive, walled city by the sea, with streets connecting organically gates with the area around the harbor and one section of the city on a hill. It should be noted that unlike Port Shaw, Freeport etc., there is no huge harbor here, but rather the harbor can be considered just one part of the city, not one of its defining, center features.

The second page also has the city, this time depicted horizontal - with a truly jarring white box of text on the parchment-like header and a similarly jarring list of important buildings. Layout-wise, these white, angular boxes on a background of parchment are a total disaster that thankfully only mars this one rendition of the map - until you click on it, when the white box disappears. Printing it out, the boxes disappeared, but for those of you aiming to use this incarnation of the map online or via tablets should be aware of that.

EDIT: I've been made aware by two sources that I seem to be the only one stuck with this weird glitch - probably due to some personalizer issue or something like that. So ignore that portion.

6 pages each, both in b/w and full color, depict the city in a larger version.

Conclusion:

Tommi Salama is a glorious cartographer, and he obviously is just as at home with city maps as with battle maps - and this one comes beautiful indeed - craftmanship-wise, there's nothing to complain. A minor downside would be the lack of bookmarks to e.g. the b/w-version -while a marginal gripe, it still would have been nice to see. The pdf is also accompanied by an array of 4 cool high-res jpegs with and without labels. Internal logic-wise, I also have a minor gripe - for a city constructed so all roads lead towards the harbor, said harbor is VERY small when compared to the size of the city. My final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.

I'm one of those guys who loves maps. Some of my favorite products from the 'golden' era of TSR were the various fold out maps that could cover half a table.

While this map is not that large, it's not meant to be. This is a generic city by the sea that is walled and could easily be slotted into any fantasy or historical campaign with little effort.

There is a black and white version along with the color version. The color version has some nice subtle colors. The greens aren't blaring off the page for example but are more soothing and cool.

You get an overview of the city, as well as larger portioned maps for ease of use and reference. There are even a few 'keyed' entries on the map, 14 in all, so if you're looking for some quick inspiration outside of the visuals, this should quickly help you out.

I find products like this work great when you're using a home brewed campaign, or a mix of home brew and thinly detailed campaign like those put out by third party publishers that don't receive a ton of support. For example, despite how awesome the Scarred Lands was, the number of 'good' or friendly cities you could start in that were mapped, outside of Mithril and Hollowfaust were thin.

If you're looking for a city map, this one is a quick hit.

If you love designing cities for your campaign world but are handicapped by the inability to draw city plans this is something to pounce upon.

It's quite a big sprawling city - at least by the cod-mediaeval standards appropriate for a fantasy game - set on a coastal plain. It's a little unusual in that there is no natural harbour nor is it at a river mouth, but if those are in short supply in the area the nice flat land it sits upon is probably what attracted those who founded the city to build here.

It is all set up to make customisation easy too. The PDF includes an unmarked single sheet version and a series of pages that you'll have to stick together to make a poster-size map. With good use of 'form fillable' technology, there is also a labelled map where you can enter in your own city name and the names of selected numbered locations ready to show the important places to your players once their characters start to find their way around (or purchase a map).

The ZIP file that also comes with your download contains large JPEG files which can be worked on in your favourite graphics package, used in a virtual table top or even printed if you have access to poster printing facilities.

All you need to do is decide who dwells there and what adventures will take place when the party visits town!

Tommi Salama does a fine job with this map pack.

This city is ready for adventurers. It is quite detailed, and could be a hive if villainy or a bastion of goodness.

For this product, the price is also quite good, and you get close ups and larger views of the city. I only wish that page 4 with its 15 landmarks had a lot more listed - which always provides ideas and places for a dm.

I really appreciate cartography and fantasy maps, and I liked this: 4/5.