No matter how irrelevant to your plot, someone always wants to know what the town looks like, or how far he has to stagger from the ale house to his lodgings... so neat little products like this are a useful adjunct to the GM's library.

This one is a charming sketch-map of a typical mediaevalish-village that has grown up as such places do on a lake shore beside a river flowing into it. Suitable for a population of 800 souls, it's been provided with most of the necessities, from an inn and a tavern through blacksmith's and alchemist's shops to a temple and even a playground for the youngsters. There's a nice manor house for the local lord, a nearby wizard's tower and a huge sprawling establishment that I originally thought was a castle but is actually billed as a monastery.

Even neater, if you wish you can switch off the layer that holds the legend and hand the map to the players for them to explore for themselves. The numbers remain, which can come in handy as someone can say, "I've gone to location 7, what is it?" rather than trying to explain where he's wandered off to. There are plenty of unlabelled buildings too, which you can assign as you please.

It's nice to have a sketch-map rather than a carefully-drawn plan for a change - both have their place, depending on the use to which you wish to put them, of course - but when people need a place to stop for the night on their travels through your game world, you can haul this out to breathe life into this corner of your alternate reality. OK, I like maps, and this one is free, but it's a nice one... tuck it away, it will come in useful one day!

Return to Map of Berem Town page.

Reviewed: 25 April 2011