I had need of these for a D&D campaign I’m running. I had the hardest time finding a high resolution map that was complete. Many beautiful high res maps just cut off in random places or just weren’t detailed enough. My main source of information was the map in Dungeon Magazine 196 on pages 5 & 6. I did also add from several supplemental books, including The Forgotten Realms Atlas and verified some information from the interactive CD from 1999: Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas. There are a variety of nice fan made maps out there, but if I couldn’t verify from some official source, it didn’t get added.
There’s something very intimate in detailing a map and making it vector for endless quality. I got to know the names and geography a lot better than had I just found something. Perhaps that’s just me making myself feel better about the hours I put into these.
I laid out the map so that is one file for me, meaning if I need to make changes I’m updating only one file. This is the reasoning for the way the names of the islands are laid out. I didn’t want the names to be clipped in any other maps and I wanted them reasonably at the top of their respective maps. In short, I did my best while preserving the capability to only have to work with one file.
I’m thinking of making an unofficial supplement if there’s interest. I may perhaps turn part of my campaign into a module if there is also interest there. Let me know!
