Scaling Through Maps (episode 72)

On the Shoulders of Dwarves

Maps not only show you different scales, they also help you think in different scales. It’s a common thing for maps to follow adventures, but sometimes it can be the other way around. The scale of the map you are using in your adventure is influencing how you and your players perceive the game. ### A room, a floor, a building (3:40) Limiting the scale makes for a more focused interactions. In a room, you think about interactions with objects and NPCs. in a floor you think or logic or functionality. In a building you think of topography and story events. ### A city (8:55) Places of importance for the individual, status, reflection of the greater nature of things. Where it’s proper to go, where you’re expected, where it’s dangerous. Who needs what - money, recognition, acceptance. Desires on the personal level. ### A continent (11:20) The political scale - social groups, social facts that are hundreds of years old. Conflicts between nations, slow moving but made of many parts, attacking on many fronts. ### A multiverse (13:25) Ontological truths about the nature of the supernatural in your setting. Planes, the voyage of the soul, the seat of gods, the place where types of energy come from, etc. ### When is any of this important (14:45) ### A map of events (18:50) Connected scenes the Iceberg model from [City of Mist](https://www.cityofmist.co/) Schrudinger’s dungeon. ### Summary (23:35) ### Taking the Load off (25:50) Beyond the screen - Aviad Tal ([YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/BeyondTheScreenRPG)) organised a small convention for GMs. ----- Email us at [e-mail] with questions, topic suggestions, and comments on this episode, and check out [our Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/dwarfpodcast) [We have a Patreon page](https://www.patreon.com/dwarfcast), in case you'd like to support us in a monetary fashion. Also, most links to [DriveThruRPG are affiliate](http://drivethrurpg.com/?affiliate_id=29668), which means we get a bit of money if you buy through them, with no added cost to you. Intro and outro based on On the Shoulders of Dwarves by the Cliches Duo. On the Shoulders of Dwarves is shared under [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)