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All the game's maps put Woodland Hall on the western bank (ie the Dusky River protect the town from the worst horrors that dwell in Mirkwood).

Yet the town-map on page 97 of The Heart of the Wild depict Woodland Hall on the eastern bank of the Dusky River

I think it's just a little qui-pro-quo... or someone can explain me my error?
Usually I wouldn't bother, but tomorrow my players enter Wuduseld, so I was planning on giving 'em the town-map, and I'm sure someone would spot the oddity

Without giving the river a very twisted course I can think of two explanations. 1) It is a printing error, somewhere along the line the map image got flipped or turned wrong way round. 2) North is not the top of the map. Iirc Tolkien mentions that one of his maps is drawn after the fashion of the Dwarves who put East at the top.

Changing the orientation of the map in this way is probably the simplest way of dealing with it. The text certainly mentions that Woodmen Hall is sheltered by the river to the East, logically placing it on the West Bank. For Woodland Hall all we get is a note that to the North the river becomes difficult to navigate, and that the woodmen use the river to communicate between the two towns.

Perhaps it is just located in a bay or cove that makes it look like it is on the wrong bank?

Personally I would just guess that north is not the top of the map and it merely made more sense to draw the river at the bottom of the map anyway.

I concur with Dave the Lost, in that the text indicates that the river protects the settlement. It's an easy out for your question & shouldn't cause you any problems when you run it. Good luck with taking you players in there.

It appears as if up is north in the picture, since the Woodland road is said to run north-west, and does if oriented that way.

doctheweasel wrote:It appears as if up is north in the picture, since the Woodland road is said to run north-west, and does if oriented that way.

Yeah, I saw it. Played tonight. Decided that the map is drawn with the south up and the north down, and that the Woodland Road start at south-east, turn around the hill and then goes north-west.
Clearly the north side of the hill is too steep to have a road: haven't you seen all these crevasses on the map?

I think you are reading to much into a picture. Artistic licence and all that. Tends to happen.

The text also describes traffic flowing North up the river.

Rivers do not always flow in straight lines, the map is not the territory, and bays, oxbows, etc are always a possibility, as is printers flipping the image.

DavetheLost wrote:The text also describes traffic flowing North up the river.

Rivers do not always flow in straight lines, the map is not the territory, and bays, oxbows, etc are always a possibility, as is printers flipping the image.

In hindsight, an oxbow would have been a better explanation for my players