My players are in danger of heading off map so I started to map Middle Earth, based on the maps in the books. The details for the players map is done, but I still need to add layers for the GM information (a hex grid and shading for the travel zones). The idea will be that I can zoom in to an area and pull a player / GM travel map off. With the additional cultures and other fan-based material on here, I should hopefully be covered

Nicely done!

Very nice map.

Great stuff!

I like using the maps from my aged Iron Crown Modules.

I don't have any of those. This is the first Middle Earth game I've bought as I don't like the d100 system and didn't think the setting of Middle Earth would suit D&D (i.e. d20 system).

Also, depending on what you are using the maps for the ICE ones can be a little too detailed. I like them as intellectual pieces of work but I much prefer the TOR one as it allows me and my players to fill in details on it as its less defined. It also makes for a better in-game prop.

... And that's a really nice map as well, Valarian. Kudos.

How did you make the map?

Campaign Cartographer 3 with a few of the Annual add-ons. Plus a couple of Tolkien fonts. It's based on the book maps. I've noticed that the Mirkwood I've done hasn't got the mountains south of the Old Forest Road, with the river and lake. I might have to redo that to fit the Wilderland presented for The One Ring.

Great Stuff Valarian, as you have solved a problem for many loremasters (who like me) were racking their brains trying to figure out how to link the Wilderland Map with the main one of Middle-earth. I can't wait for the Loremaster map!

Jon Hodgson or anyone at Cubicle 7, I wonder if this project was ever in the pipeline?

Robin S.

Kudos on a beautiful map, Valarian!

If your players do wander off the map, you may want to find the Map 0f Middle Earth by Iron Crown for the MERP game. Keep in mind that the expanded areas were not canon, nor were they greatly detailed. That would mean you'd have to do some work detailing those areas.

I've extended travel zones for Eriador so far. What do the people here think of the terrain difficulty highlighting and shadow levels?

Player Map


Loremaster Map

Great maps, Valarian! Perfect timing for the start of my new Hobbit-centric campaign (beginning two weeks from today). Three Hobbits (and I hope for four) on another whirlwind adventure ... like Shrek and Donkey.

Regarding the Eriador map ... will there be a high-def version available for download?

Please?

Please?

Please?

The files on Google+ Photos are 2000x1600 or around there. Should be okay if the "download full size" works. I'll put up the links as the images don't seem to click through. If not, I'll put them up on Dropbox or something.

[EDIT]
Player Map - Eriador
Loremaster Map - Eriador

Use the Options at the bottom near the picture count (14 of 14) to Download Full Size

I've also been thinking of a shire and breeland map with more detail. I'm thinking of running a Shire based game for my kids.

Very good-looking maps. Where do you imagine the Dúnedain living, out of curiosity?

In the lands of the old kingdoms of Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur. South of the Shire, they defend Sarn Ford and keep The Shire safe from raiders to the south. So there'd be a camp around there. They are known throughout Bree as being wanderers in the Wilds. Aragorn's people would be to the North, in old Arthedain - between the Hills of Evendim and the Weather Hills. Possibly camped in or around the old King's city of Fornost Erain - though my Guide to Middle-earth says that it was abandoned after being captured by Angmar in TA1974. Possibly a hidden encampment in the hills above Fornost.

Awesome maps, Valarian. Will you be doing full-sized Players and Loremaster versions of your overall map too?

I'll be using this map for Hollin part. Thanks a lot!

So I guess you disagree with the suggestions I made in OM13 on that matter?

Cheers
Tolwen

OM13? Is that a MERP thing? This is the first Middle-earth RPG that I've bought. I don't like the d100 system and didn't think D&D (d20 system) would fit the setting. As far as material goes, I'm restricted to the Professor's books, Silmarilian, Unfinished Tales, Guide to Middle-earth and the Maps of Middle-earth.

Not sure a full-sized LM map would be clear enough. I will be doing zoomed in sections. I can export an LM map of the full map if you want, and paste a link to the Player map for download.

No, OM (Other Minds) is not a MERP thing. It is a magazine created by fans (with me as editor and contributor) dealing with Midle-earth as a RPG setting. Most of the stuff published so far is scholarly or system-independent, with a few articles done for specific systems (most of these latter MERP, but also fan-made systems and TOR in #13 and the upcoming Issue). In Issue #13 (the most recent), I had a contribution titled Population and Urbanization in Eriador which covers key eras throughout the Third Age and provides data and ideas for use in games. You can find the Issue here. The website in general is shown in my signature. The download section provides the Issues so far plus PDF versions of a 1990s OM-predecessor hardcopy magazine (Other Hands; short 'OH') which gave the inspiration to Other Minds. Please accept my apologies for supposing OM as common knowledge
Perhaps you may find something useful either in this Issue or the other ones for your games.

In general, my own contributions take Tolkien's work as the authorative primary source, and secondary ones (like games) coming in clearly second.

Cheers
Tolwen

You might be surprised. I ran a few campaigns in d20 (D&D 3.5 which switched to Pathfinder) that worked pretty well, although I did use some specific house-rules to facilitate Middle-earth. However, once TOR came out, we tried it, and all of my players all wanted to continue the Middle-earth d20 campaigns using TOR instead!

Links to the maps


Middle Earth - Player Map
Middle Earth - Loremaster Map
Eriador - Player Map
Eriador - Loremaster Map
Rohan & Gondor - Player Map
Rohan & Gondor - Loremaster Map
The Shire & Bree - Player Map
The Shire & Bree - Loremaster Map

Use Download Full Size in the options menu near the page count (e.g. 19 of 19) at the bottom of the screen

This post has been edited by Valarian on Dec 30 2012, 05:39 PM

Nice maps, Valarian!

Tolwen, I notice a few roleplaying systems listed in Other Minds. Do you accept articles relating to AD&D? I know it's long out of print, but there are still a lot of people who prefer it to the d20 system.

Sure - as long as they deal exclusively with Middle-earth as the gaming world and not anything else (e.g. the original (A)D&D worlds).

Cheers
Tolwen

Nice maps Valarian. Not sure about the placement of Westfold on your Rohan map though. Shouldn't it lie to the east of the Gap of Isen?

Double post...oops.

IIRC you're right. The part west of it (between rivers Adorn and Isen) is West-march, as opposed to Westfold. Though not explicitly differentiated, it seems that the Westfold is Erkenbrand's territory, based on the Hornburg, while West-march is another fiefdom and the area between Adorn and Isen.

Cheers
Tolwen

According to the Guide to Middle-earth
Westfold - area of Rohan running along the Ered Nimrais from the Isen to the western boundary of the Folde. Defensive centre being Helm's Deep.
Westemnet - that portion of Rohan west of the Entwash.

The only Westmarch I know of is that in the west of The Shire, beyond Michel Delving. I thought I'd read somewhere about the Westfold being an area beyond the Gap of Rohan that had been won from the Dunlendings.

Is the original placement of the Westfold better? On the map on page 1?

It is mentioned in Appendix A:

From this comes the definition of the "rohirric" west-march (note the different spelling to the hobbitish 'Westmarch').

I'd say yes - the Westfold on the first map looks better. And west-march is in the area you labelled "Westfold" in the recent map.

Cheers
Tolwen

Fixed the maps (Rohan/Gondor and the Middle-earth overview). I've updated the links on page 2.

Beautiful maps, Valarian! You can tell you put a lot of hard work into them!

Decipher's game had a supplement that was only maps, and they're really nicely done fold-out maps of multiple sections of Middle-earth. A quick look at Amazon shows that they're pretty pricey, though, being out-of-print now.

Valarian

I am resurrecting this thread because I can't figure out how to copy the hex pattern from your maps to put onto mine! How do you put the hex pattern on??

Failing that, here is the map I am trying to put the hex pattern onto - for Southern Middle-earth because after Umbar my players will be 'heading south':

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6563278...iddle-earth.png

Thanks in advance

Robin S

The maps are drawn in Campaign Cartographer and the hex grid added there to the correct scale (1 hex to 10 miles). The terrain shading and wildness icons also added as another layer. 

I'll see if I can have a look at the map you've linked. It may be I can add it as a bacground layer and then add the grid, etc. on top.

Have you seen these images (based on Tolkien's drawings) of the Circles of the World in the First and Third Ages?



The illustration is from Karen Wynn Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-Earth (Revised Edition). Note how much Near and Far Harad resembles modern Africa. I hypothesize that Far Harad was the home of the flying creatures that Sauron corrupted to create the Fell-beasts of the Nazgul. The uninhabited South Land continent seems to be the landmass that would one day break up to become the continents of Australia and Antarctica. Numenoreans explored its coasts in the Second Age and in general outline it seems little changed in the Third Age. The land furthest to the East (where the Gates of Morning were to be found) seems to have been largely destroyed; although, remnants of it might still exist in the Americas.

"And there is not now upon Earth any place abiding where the memory of a time without evil is preserved. For Ilúvatar cast back the Great Seas west of Middle-earth, and the Empty Lands east of it, and new lands and new seas were made; and the world was diminished, for Valinor and Eressëa were taken from it into the realm of hidden things." -- J.R.R. Tolkien, Akallabêth