GURPS Banestorm - Hex Map of Ytarria

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3/24 UPDATE: 

Some minor changes, in Caithness mostly.  A few forests were adjusted to more accurately match the original map scale.  Farmland has been updated and expanded to correspond with the formula for ACKS.  I will describe this in another post.  I think at this point I have captured the area which would be described as "inhabited" by human beings.  Grassland icons have been removed; needless clutter.

3/13 UPDATE:

Incredibly I missed a town in Cardiel, to the west of Minder.  That town has now been added.  The western and eastern hills in Cardiel. as well as the two small forests have been adjusted to better reflect the map as presented in the main Banestorm book.  The main book references the eastern hills along the coast as the only "true mountains" in Cardiel.  I have chosen to assume they are rugged highlands, rather than gentle rolling hills.  The northern hills in al-Wazif still puzzle me.  The terrain is described as "hilly" but the map clearly indicates a mountainous area, similar to the badlands in southern Caithness.   

Finally, most, but not all major rivers, lakes and minor rivers have finally been named.  Suspected Pirate bases have been indicated along the rivers of Cardiel (per the main book), as well as on off-shore islands.

3/10 UPDATE:

Some revisions were done throughout the entire map.  I was never happy with many of the non-canon names for settlements, especially for Megalos.  I have renamed many towns and villages with more appropriate, Meglan-style names.  Some minor topography changes in Cardiel and the Nomad Lands.  Caithness borderlands are more uncivilized now.  Some additional towers, castles and other sites of note.  The Blackwoods have "Dark Mana Areas", which can be a source of all kinds of supernatural mayhem.

I have reviewed the demographics of each realm and adjusted some of the urban settlements in each.  Some small towns were removed, mainly in al-Wazif and Caithness.  Urban population levels are:

• Megalos & Araterre - 8% of total population live in urban areas.
• Cardiel - 6.5% of total population live in urban areas.
• Remainder - 5% of total population live in urban areas.

For Tredroy I made the assumption that the population has a breakdown of 75000 for al-Wazif and al-Haz (Tredroy is listed as both nations largest cities), with the remaining 50,000 being citizens of Cardiel (Tredroy is Cardiel's third largest city).  This impacted the total number of urban settlements in those countries.  

The number of towns and cities was computed per the numbers below.  These are averages; urban centers could vary a bit either way.  I have made the assumption that urban areas will tend to follow waterways and roads.  Farmland was computed at a 20% utilization rate overall, with icons indicating areas which are heavily settled.   Each icon represents on average, 100 square miles of land under cultivation.  Magic could alter this usage rate heavily.  This is a matter of taste for each GM.  Personally, I think wizards have better things to do than help grow tomatoes.  

Small village icons indicate the minor fiefdoms which are spread out over the countryside.  They may be a single Manor or several, or perhaps an isolated independent community.  These are representative only.  There are far more of these than can be possibly shown at this map scale.

• Metropolis - 25% of total urban population, 65000 ea
• Large City - 20%, of total urban population, 18500 ea
• Small City - 20%, of total urban population, 8500 ea
• Large Town - 20%, of total urban population, 3500 ea
• Small Town - 15%, of total urban population, 1450 ea

There are many more Towers and Castles on the map (hundreds upon hundreds across the whole continent).  The ones shown are simply the more famous examples.  

Here is a link to my Google Drive for a PDF and PNG versions of this map.  The zones of population density map is a good indication of what areas would be considered "wild".

Version 1: Ytarria PDF

Version 1: Ytarria PNG Map.

Version 2: Ytarria PNG map

Version 2: Ytarria PDF map

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I have been meaning to post these maps for awhile now.  The GURPS was always the favorite RPG since it came out in the mid 80s, but sadly I could never find any interested players.  Their fantasy world of Yrth (specifically the continent of Ytarria) was intriguing since it used real-world religions.  

Unfortunately, there were never any good maps of Ytarria ever released.  All of them were very abstract and did not give a good feel on just how big Ytarria actually is.  They all used oversized graphics to represent terrain and major cities, which while visually appealing is just not really usable for GMs running an actual game.  

Nice map.  Useless in play though.

GURPS Fantasy - 2nd edition Ytarria map.  Pretty, but impractical for game play.

Years ago I overlayed the color map below with hexes in Campaign Cartographer at a scale of 24 miles per hex.  It is possible to convert this file to PDF and zoom in and print off the needed areas.  I have done this a few times on 12x18 paper and it works well enough.  I have unlimited access to a full size color laser printer free of charge so I am a bit spoiled.   

However, recently a chap over on Deviant Art created a true hex map of Ytarria (God bless him/her).  I have added some settlements and ruins (taking artistic license on their locations) via Inkscape.  I am sure it would be possible to port this over to any graphic program and add terrain, or, just print it out and use pencil crayons or whatever.  This map is also scaled at 24 miles per hex.

The original hex map is here:

GURPS Banestorm -- Yttaria 24 Mile Hex Grid by SinLeqiUnninniMaps on DeviantArt

GURPS Ytarria

GURPS Ytarria - Its a damn big place!

Here is a map I found with my Google-Fu.  Some creative soul added additional waterways to Ytarria.  I used this as inspiration for my own version.  

GURPS Ytarria - with additional minor rivers added

Blank Ytarria Hex Map

This is the base image of Ytarria that I used for the map.  A hex grid was overlayed to complete it.

Here is the first version of the map I did.  Turned out ok considering I had no clue what I was doing in Inkscape.

Below is a newer version of the map.   Major mountain peaks are noted with white triangles.  When the image is converted to a 11x17 PDF each 1mm equals 12 miles.  PDF-Change Editor has some useful Distance and Area tools which allow you to calculate the travel distance without a hex map.

At the original document size (1771.726mm by 1337.742mm) the scale is 24 miles per 10mm, or 24 miles per hex.  

Keep in mind, at 24 miles per hex it is very difficult to show a great level of detail.  Each hex is over 500 square miles.  This is a lot of area.  Each clear hex would contain many small rivers, lakes, swamps, forests, ect.  The settlements likewise are only sparsely covered.  There would be innumerable small villages and hamlets scattered throughout the map.  Quite frankly, Ytarria is a huge area and the nations themselves are too big for their population and technology levels.  

As an example, the sample wilderness map (drawn on one sheet of hex paper with a scale of 24 miles per hex) in TSRs 1983 D&D Expert Set was a little over 600,000 square miles of land area.  This single map spawned many a campaign in the early days of D&D, with a mish-mash of cultures all crammed together. 

At the time is was presented as sample fantasy campaign map for D&D.  As the years went by it grew into it's own campaign world for the BECMI line, which has arguably the largest amount of material ever published for a campaign setting.  For those interested in the cartography for this wonderful setting please check out this treasure trove of maps for Mystara.  

Thorfinn Tait Cartography – Mapping fantastic worlds with real world accuracy (thorfmaps.com)

All that aside, if we compare the original 1983 map below with Ytarria we will find that Al-Haz has a larger land area than all of the Known World nations combined.  Caithness and the Great Forest could easily fit inside this map, with some room to spare.  

"The Known World", from the TSR Expert Set (BECMI).  24 miles per hex.  As you can see, Ytarria is huge compared to this classic campaign area from 1983.  The nation of al-Haz covers more area than all of these nations combined. 

This map from 1976 (24 miles per hex) was a OD&D homebrew campaign world of two prominent TSR writers.  It was redesigned in 1983 for the D&D Expert Set and eventually gave birth to what would become the World of Mystara.

The World of Mystara. 

Mystara was as originally set in Earth's distant past (this was retconned out later).  The layout was based off a conjectural map of Jurassic Earth, around 130 million BC.  This was not widely known outside of TSR at the time.  The Known World was located on the southeast corner of the continent of Brun (North America).  Cartography by Thorfinn Tait.

Jurassic Earth, circa 130 million BC. 
TSR used this as a basis for the world map released in the 1985 D&D Masters Set.

Anyway....back to Ytarria.

Here is a link to the GURPS Forum which contains the main discussions concerning this mapping project.

Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added - Steve Jackson Games Forums (sjgames.com)

12/4 - I have been thinking a lot about population levels and settlement patterns.  There are innumerable sources for this material.  However, I decided to go back to my roots and perused the D&D BECMI Companion Set.  It has some good basic rules for running Dominions and it does go into demographics, however briefly.  

The Companion Set divides hexes into Civilized, Borderland and Wilderness.  The population levels vary according to the classification.  Population is listed in "Families", a family consisting of 5 people.  When raising armies I assume 1 able bodied man is available per family.  Each hex is 24 miles on the map (500 square miles)

• Wilderness: 10-100 families (avg: 275 people, 0.5 people/square mile)
• Borderlands: 200-1200 families (avg: 3500 people, 7 people/square mile)
• Civilized: 500-5000 families (avg: 13,750 people, 27 people/square mile)

The following is a breakdown of what I used to determine what hexes fall into what category.  They are smaller in range than the Companion set.  This was by design since I wanted a more wild and unexplored Ytarria (In BECMI any hex within 6 hexes of a city is Civilized and any hex within 3 hexes are a Civilized hex is Borderlands...this is a bit too much IMO).  

Since many urban areas are on the coast and near terrain which is unsuitable for civilization (forest, mountains, swamp, ect), I half the population figures below to get an overall population for a realm.

• Metropolis (Megalos and Tredroy): all surrounding hexes within 4 of the city are Civilized.  All hexes within 4 hexes of a civilized hex are Borderlands.  The zone consists of 37 civilized hexes and 132 borderland hexes.  Roughly 1 million per hex zone. (assume 500,000 on average)

• Large City: all surrounding hexes within 3 of the city are Civilized.  All hexes within 3 hexes of a civilized hex are Borderlands.  The zone consists of 37 civilized hexes and 90 borderland hexes.  Roughly 825,000 per zone. (assume 425000 on average)

• City: all surrounding hexes within 2 of the city are Civilized.  All hexes within 2 hexes of a civilized hex are Borderlands.  The zone consists of 19 civilized hexes and 42 borderland hexes.  Roughly 400,000 per zone. (assume 200,000 on average)

• Large Town: all hexes surrounding the city are Civilized.  All hexes within 1 hex of a civilized hex are Borderlands.  The zone consists of 7 civilized hexes and 12 borderland hexes.  Roughly 140,000 per zone.  (assume 70,000 on average)

• Small Town: all hexes surrounding the city are Borderlands. The zone consists of 1 civilized hexes and 6 borderland hexes.  Roughly 34,750 per zone.  (assume 20,000 on average)

• All other hexes: Wilderness.  Exception; large areas of al-Haz and al-Wazif are populated by nomadic tribes.  These areas should be considered civilized and or borderlands depending on their location despite containing no urban settlements.

Note: Swamps, mountains, desert, forest and hills can never exceed a Borderlands rating, no matter how close they are to an urban center. 

 Civilized hexes are assumed to contain innumerable trails and paths and count as Roads to all adjoining civilized hexes.  Civilized hexes do not necessarily indicate the presence of urban areas.  Well populated nomadic lands with no urban settlements could be considered "Civilized" for population purposes.  

I created a map with "Zones of Civilization" to indicate how this all works in practice, with the inner band around an urban center being Civilized and the outer band being Borderlands.  I will be revisiting the map and adjusting it to account for this demographic overlay, moving/removing non-canon settlements as needed.  Using this methodology should provide a much better image of the levels of civilization throughout Ytarria.  It is not perfect, but it does provide a basis to determine where the "wilderness" areas could be found.  To be sure, there will be uninhabited areas even in civilized zones.  The opportunities for adventure still abound. 

Here is the demographics that I use:

1 Family counts as 1 "Able-Bodied Man", suitable for fighting, local defense, ect.

Agricultural
• One Family = 5 people
• One sq. mile will feed 64 families (320 people)
• One sq. mile needs 30 families (150 people) to utilize at 100%
• One 24-mile hex has 320,000 acres
• One 24-mile hex has 500 sq. miles
• One 24-mile hex, with 100% utilization, can feed up to 32000 families (160,000) people.
• One 24-mile hex will require 15000 families (75000 people) to utilize at 100%
• Actual utilization is assumed to be from 25-50% depending on the climate and arability. This is a total guess on my part. You could roll 1d100 if you wanted on a hex by hex basis.

Nomads (Cattle, Goat, Sheep)
• One sq. mile will feed 100 families (500 people)
• One sq. mile will need 50 families (250 people) to work at 100%
• One 24 mile hex will feed 50000 families (250,000 people) at 100%

Nomads (Swine)
• One sq. mile will feed 160 families (800 people)
• One sq. mile will need 100 families (500 people) to work at 100%
• One 24 mile hex will feed 80000 families (400,000 people) at 100%

Hunter-Gatherers
• 1 square mile to feed 1 family (5 people)
• One 24 mile hex will feed 500 families (2500 people)

Map of Ytarria with population density overlays

Here is a link to my Google Drive for a PDF and PNG versions of this map.

PDF versions:

Version 1: Ytarria PDF

Ytarria PNG Map.

Hex map of Ytarria

Here is a link to a sub hex map template that you can use to break down the 24 mile hexes into 6 mile hexes.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n4wGuosrO2gN0KygAv1QB0sIGVj-w6YK/view?usp=sharing

Only the pseudo-canon version is online at the moment.  I will post other versions in PDF form as time permits or by request.

 

Here is a world map of Yrth, care of Sinle over at Deviant Art.

GURPS Banestorm + Caravan to Ein Arris Basemap by SinLeqiUnninniMaps on DeviantArt

Here is a link to a post on the GURPS forums regarding the areas of the various regions.

Cardiel is slightly bigger than France.  Like I have indicated, Ytarria is HUGE!

Yrth: General Data - national areas - Steve Jackson Games Forums (sjgames.com)

Area of regions/nations
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Megalos: 1.241 Million + Island: 56,762 square miles

Al-Wazif: 302,712 square miles

Al-Haz: 639,992 square miles
Al-Haz without Mountains:424,236
Great Valley Mountains: 215,756

Cardiel: 274,169 square miles

Great Forest: 153080 square miles
Caithness: 581,473 square miles
Caithness less Great Forest: 428,393 square miles

Sahud: 106,505 square miles

Zarak: 436,362 square miles

Araterre exclusive of Bilit Island or ring islands: 77,169
Bilit Ilsand: 38,319

Great Desert: 294,978 square miles

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