01-06-2014, 07:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-18-2021, 12:03 AM by Bertram Anders.)
I have a fascination with maps. This fascination led to the development of Thay’s overland travel system and the in-game locations of cities, towns, and other points of interest being almost exactly where they should according to the map of Thay found in the 3rd edition ‘Unapproachable East’ sourcebook.
You can download the same maps I used when creating portions of this PW by clicking this Thayan Maps link. That download contains the most updated version of the overland map, in addition to maps of Thay, Bezantur, and Eltabbar. Bezantur and Eltabbar were created to match up with the exact maps in this file, so they are extremely helpful to get around those cities if you’re unfamiliar with them.
While there are in-game tools to help you and your PCs get around Thay itself, many people find it helpful to print out or pull up the Thay Overland Map you can also find in that tile.
Some notes to use the Thay Overland Map -
-You'll need Microsoft Excel or an equivalent to open the .xls file inside the archive
- The first map of Thay on the left side of the Thay Grid Overlay sheet is the one with the main grid overlay numbered, color-coded, and laying out what areas are accessible and what areas can/cannot be traveled to and from.
- Areas in white cannot be traveled to and essentially do not exist (they are either terrain that would normally be un-travel-able or outside the borders of Thay)
- Areas with a solid red line between them means travel between those areas is restricted
- For any areas that have travel restricted to them, there is descriptive text telling the person why they cannot travel further in a certain direction (it will tell them the Alamber Sea blocks their way, the First Escarpment is not scalable from their location, etc, etc).
- Areas with a double-red line around them are static areas (ones that are not generated by the overland travel system). These are mainly towns and cities; however there are a few ruins and other points of interest.
- The areas that make up the 11 Tharchs (regions) of Thay have been color-coded . For example, the Priador Tharch areas are all labeled with red numbers. The areas assigned to the Tharchs come from the layout of the Tharchs in the 3rd Edition Campaign Setting sourcebook for the Forgotten Realms (page 206).
Finally, I’d like to end with encouragement that those of you who also enjoy maps consider creating some like Wids and Pleiade did here. Varieties of maps, such as that of the the terrain like they did, can be helpful so I’d encourage you to post them here if you create any of your own.
You can download the same maps I used when creating portions of this PW by clicking this Thayan Maps link. That download contains the most updated version of the overland map, in addition to maps of Thay, Bezantur, and Eltabbar. Bezantur and Eltabbar were created to match up with the exact maps in this file, so they are extremely helpful to get around those cities if you’re unfamiliar with them.
While there are in-game tools to help you and your PCs get around Thay itself, many people find it helpful to print out or pull up the Thay Overland Map you can also find in that tile.
Some notes to use the Thay Overland Map -
-You'll need Microsoft Excel or an equivalent to open the .xls file inside the archive
- The first map of Thay on the left side of the Thay Grid Overlay sheet is the one with the main grid overlay numbered, color-coded, and laying out what areas are accessible and what areas can/cannot be traveled to and from.
- Areas in white cannot be traveled to and essentially do not exist (they are either terrain that would normally be un-travel-able or outside the borders of Thay)
- Areas with a solid red line between them means travel between those areas is restricted
- For any areas that have travel restricted to them, there is descriptive text telling the person why they cannot travel further in a certain direction (it will tell them the Alamber Sea blocks their way, the First Escarpment is not scalable from their location, etc, etc).
- Areas with a double-red line around them are static areas (ones that are not generated by the overland travel system). These are mainly towns and cities; however there are a few ruins and other points of interest.
- The areas that make up the 11 Tharchs (regions) of Thay have been color-coded . For example, the Priador Tharch areas are all labeled with red numbers. The areas assigned to the Tharchs come from the layout of the Tharchs in the 3rd Edition Campaign Setting sourcebook for the Forgotten Realms (page 206).
Finally, I’d like to end with encouragement that those of you who also enjoy maps consider creating some like Wids and Pleiade did here. Varieties of maps, such as that of the the terrain like they did, can be helpful so I’d encourage you to post them here if you create any of your own.