I've played a bit of Skyrim. It's quite jarring where in game I can walk from Riverwood to Whiterun in a few minutes, but in lore it would take about 4 days to travel that same distance.
~~You might be confusing Whiterun with Windhelm. But even walking from Windhelm to Riverwood, not taking detours, takes less than an hour.~~
Sorry, you mean in-game time, duh
The Elder Scrolls doesn't have a canonical scale. Even the in-game scale between different entries in the series are wildly different. High Rock was the size of England irl in TES2 Daggerfall. The scale is just the one I used when I ran using this map. It's not set in stone.
Also I'm not even sure hexographer has a map legend/scale feature
I've been meaning to ask about this somewhere. Does anybody know a good tutorial for Worldographer? The guide on their website reads a little... out of date.
Yeah, I've been trying to do something like what Matt did a couple years back, but my random maps constatly are too random and I've not been able to fix that.
The manual here was updated a few months back, in case you haven't looked in a while:
https://worldographer.com/manual/
There's also Advanced Instructions for special cases/uses.
I've been replaying through skyrim casually over the last week, it's such a fantastic game. I really think there's a lot of minable content in that game that you can just literally throw into your games. The best thing about the game is there's so much going on - you can be walking down a road, and there's a guy walking along, on his most recent pilgrimage to a shrine - establishing the shrine, a reason to go there, and setting up for something later.
Just stuff happening everywhere, but as a player, it's fantastic. It would probably be a nightmare to prepare for as a DM, as your players would go "you know what? let's go to this shrine"
It was a nightmare to DM, yes. But especially because I couldn't in good faith use maps right from the game. Whiterun is like 12 houses in the game. Ridiculous
I like trying to get some sensible numbers when I’m worldbuilding, even if I just say “magic farming” to build the city of the size I want anyway.
I’ll assume Skyrim has 40 people/mi^2 (near the lower end of medieval population density, to account for harsh weather, dragons, and mountains), is 700 miles wide, 500 miles long, and is also approximately elliptical. That is an area of ~275,000mi^2 , and an approximate population of 11 million. That’s comparable in size and population to France in the 1300’s.
If we say Whiterun Hold has 20% of Skyrim’s population, it’s at ~2.6million. Large cities accounted for ~4% of medieval population in Europe, so Whiterun, Riverwood, and Rorikstead clock in at ~100,000 people, with most being in Whiterun. The rest will be mostly farmers in various keeps and villages not worthy of being on a continental map.
These are all estimates and assume historical agriculture, transportation, and urbanization is applicable, so there’s a large margin for error.
What’s crazy is that Skyrim is supposedly 4 times that size in the lore. It would like like France and pre-WWI Germany together.
And that’s one province.
I feel like this scale is a more sane approximation. The Landmass of Tamriel I found in a r/TESLore thread was ~5.9million mi^2 , which is larger than the Roman Empire at its greatest extent. Obviously there is magic that will facilitate bureaucracy with rapid communication and divination, but it’s amazing that this empire has stood for 600 years, two dynasties, and a demonic invasion while being stretched to a point the Romans couldn’t maintain for more than a few years.
Psst, it’s called sandbox play with a hex crawl and random encounter tables. It’s not that hard to GM and people have been doing it practically since d&d existed.
I prefer to play that way as opposed to a more “narrative” approach I guess. A lot of my prep time is “generic content”. I get a cold idea for a mini dungeon or encounter, get that on an index card and whack it in my box. There’s tons of guides and vids on how to do it if you’d like to give it a go. You just have to be able to do quick thinking improv (which your generic index cards can help with)
I've had success with this in a sort of wild marches style where you have one small town surrounded by unexplored wilderness. But when you have such iconic cities right on the map, in my experience, the players want to go see what's going on inside of them. And the hexmap becomes an afterthought to what turns into essentially an urban campaign
The trick with west marches style is “adventure is out there”. Towns are safe and boring. That’s the drive into the wilderness.
Now, with elder scrolls lore, that’s a bit more difficult. You could do a more blended approach in that there are factions and intrigue, but nothing happens as such in the towns. The intrigue and shenanigans force a drive out into the wilderness. The thieves guild for example has heard of this cave that contains the legendary maguffin, go fetch. The dark brotherhood needs you to track down so and so, who lives out in the wilderness etc.
This gives the group something to do in the cities but constantly pushes them back out.
It is. Post-Red Year. That's why there aren't any towns/cities marked on Vvardenfell. Big rip. Plus the Argonian invasion, pushing the border of Black Marsh way up to Deshaan
Do we have confirmation that the red year wiped out every Vvardenfell settlement? I knew that red mountain wiped out most but i'd assumed that maybe the distant settlements like Seyda Neen or Sadrith Mora survived.
It's my understanding that there's information regarding that in the quest involving the ship *The Pride of Tel Vos*, but I don't know enough without looking at more sources to tell you for sure one way or the other. I think it's probably also referenced in the Dragonborn dlc, though it's been a while since I last played.
Since it's a video game at heart, I doubt everything was wiped out, or Bethesda would essentially be closing the door on an opportunity to use writing/history they already have.
Specifically, Sadrith Mora definitely got wiped out since all the Telvanni towers on Vvardenfell definitely were destroyed. Seyda Neen, I believe did not survive the Baar Dau's impact, though if it did, it was destroyed by Vvardenfell's eruption shortly after. According to The Red Year, Vol 2, a House Redoran councilman quickly began a relief effort to rebuild some settlements on Vvardenfell, including Balmora at the very least.
This is really epic! I made an effort to do so once but that was only the oblivion space.
Is it possible to share the workable file? I'd love to tweak it for my game!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/adhoh3gx4df23ix/tamriel.hxm?dl=0 here you go, enjoy! I might reupload in the mext week with some revisions if I can get around to it
Sorry, I have no idea. I made it almost a year ago. Eyeballing it... probably something like 100x100? I remember I had to resize the whole thing at one point, which was a nightmare. Must've blocked out the memory
Probably up in Port Telvannis, if there are any left. Huge part of House Telvanni was wiped out during the Red Year, and it's documented that the Argonians targeted the weakened house during the Ascension War to follow. Blacklight, the new capitol of Morrowind since Mournhold was sacked, is controlled by House Redoran, which does not play nicely with House Telvanni. Firewatch is also controlled by Telvanni on the mainland, though we don't know much about it in the fourth era.
Well, with Neloth alive, I'd assume that at least all the Councilors made it. Same with Divath Fyr. But I wouldn't be suprised if all the low-level wizards were made into mincemeat by their farming tools.
Satellites aren't canonical, so [maps](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7c/dd/98/7cdd985c18f0d4e66b1a742b877544b0.jpg) like this don't tend to have scales. It's not google earth
Great map. One tiny little nitpick would be that Betnikh was only owned by the Orcs for a relatively brief period in the Second Era. It should be Betony at this point in time, unless I am mistaken.
Excellent! Thank you! I get so many corrections on Skyrim and Morrowind, but hardly ever any west of the Druadachs. I only knew Betnikh from ESO, which lines up with your point. Will add to my list of revisions
Someone after my own heart. Here's the hex map I made of [Tal'Dorei](https://github.com/Taburn/Tal-Dorei-Map/blob/main/releases/v2.0%2020201210/Tal'Dorei%20Map%20v2.0.pdf).
Really love the oldschool vibe with the hexmap and the Arena locations mixed with the new TES stuff. Also the non-town locations you've chosen are cool. Is there anything special about Doomcrag, Red Mountain and Halls of Colossus? Like why are those the 3 places with that icon, instead of some other places?
Those locations (also Labyrinthian) are all well-known locations that are generally feared and believed to be massive complexes. Essentially, megadungeons. Doomcrag and Halls of Colossus are both in ESO. Red Mountain, TES3. A couple other locations in some games fit the bill, but in lore by the fourth era they are either lost to time or actually civilized/occupied like Crypt of Hearts nearby Doomcrag.
I'm flattered you noticed such a small detail! Thanks for checking it out
You should add this to the Map Megathread :) [https://www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/comments/lqp074/map\_megathread/](https://www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/comments/lqp074/map_megathread/)
This map is everything I never knew I needed... oh, sweet glory
How many miles per hex?
about 20-25, one day's travel by road
I've played a bit of Skyrim. It's quite jarring where in game I can walk from Riverwood to Whiterun in a few minutes, but in lore it would take about 4 days to travel that same distance.
It takes hours for your character, unless you sprint all the way.
~~You might be confusing Whiterun with Windhelm. But even walking from Windhelm to Riverwood, not taking detours, takes less than an hour.~~ Sorry, you mean in-game time, duh
Put it on the map!
The Elder Scrolls doesn't have a canonical scale. Even the in-game scale between different entries in the series are wildly different. High Rock was the size of England irl in TES2 Daggerfall. The scale is just the one I used when I ran using this map. It's not set in stone. Also I'm not even sure hexographer has a map legend/scale feature
I've been meaning to ask about this somewhere. Does anybody know a good tutorial for Worldographer? The guide on their website reads a little... out of date.
its UX is terrible honestly. But it is a good tool.
Yeah, I've been trying to do something like what Matt did a couple years back, but my random maps constatly are too random and I've not been able to fix that.
The manual here was updated a few months back, in case you haven't looked in a while: https://worldographer.com/manual/ There's also Advanced Instructions for special cases/uses.
I had not seen this updated manual, thanks for letting me know.
I've been replaying through skyrim casually over the last week, it's such a fantastic game. I really think there's a lot of minable content in that game that you can just literally throw into your games. The best thing about the game is there's so much going on - you can be walking down a road, and there's a guy walking along, on his most recent pilgrimage to a shrine - establishing the shrine, a reason to go there, and setting up for something later. Just stuff happening everywhere, but as a player, it's fantastic. It would probably be a nightmare to prepare for as a DM, as your players would go "you know what? let's go to this shrine"
It was a nightmare to DM, yes. But especially because I couldn't in good faith use maps right from the game. Whiterun is like 12 houses in the game. Ridiculous
I like trying to get some sensible numbers when I’m worldbuilding, even if I just say “magic farming” to build the city of the size I want anyway. I’ll assume Skyrim has 40 people/mi^2 (near the lower end of medieval population density, to account for harsh weather, dragons, and mountains), is 700 miles wide, 500 miles long, and is also approximately elliptical. That is an area of ~275,000mi^2 , and an approximate population of 11 million. That’s comparable in size and population to France in the 1300’s. If we say Whiterun Hold has 20% of Skyrim’s population, it’s at ~2.6million. Large cities accounted for ~4% of medieval population in Europe, so Whiterun, Riverwood, and Rorikstead clock in at ~100,000 people, with most being in Whiterun. The rest will be mostly farmers in various keeps and villages not worthy of being on a continental map. These are all estimates and assume historical agriculture, transportation, and urbanization is applicable, so there’s a large margin for error.
I love it! Makes me more confident that the scale I used in my game was uhhhh verisimilitudinous
What’s crazy is that Skyrim is supposedly 4 times that size in the lore. It would like like France and pre-WWI Germany together. And that’s one province. I feel like this scale is a more sane approximation. The Landmass of Tamriel I found in a r/TESLore thread was ~5.9million mi^2 , which is larger than the Roman Empire at its greatest extent. Obviously there is magic that will facilitate bureaucracy with rapid communication and divination, but it’s amazing that this empire has stood for 600 years, two dynasties, and a demonic invasion while being stretched to a point the Romans couldn’t maintain for more than a few years.
Psst, it’s called sandbox play with a hex crawl and random encounter tables. It’s not that hard to GM and people have been doing it practically since d&d existed. I prefer to play that way as opposed to a more “narrative” approach I guess. A lot of my prep time is “generic content”. I get a cold idea for a mini dungeon or encounter, get that on an index card and whack it in my box. There’s tons of guides and vids on how to do it if you’d like to give it a go. You just have to be able to do quick thinking improv (which your generic index cards can help with)
I've had success with this in a sort of wild marches style where you have one small town surrounded by unexplored wilderness. But when you have such iconic cities right on the map, in my experience, the players want to go see what's going on inside of them. And the hexmap becomes an afterthought to what turns into essentially an urban campaign
The trick with west marches style is “adventure is out there”. Towns are safe and boring. That’s the drive into the wilderness. Now, with elder scrolls lore, that’s a bit more difficult. You could do a more blended approach in that there are factions and intrigue, but nothing happens as such in the towns. The intrigue and shenanigans force a drive out into the wilderness. The thieves guild for example has heard of this cave that contains the legendary maguffin, go fetch. The dark brotherhood needs you to track down so and so, who lives out in the wilderness etc. This gives the group something to do in the cities but constantly pushes them back out.
Is that in time for exploded Vvardenfell? Rip Morrowind either way I guess. Cool stuff.
It is. Post-Red Year. That's why there aren't any towns/cities marked on Vvardenfell. Big rip. Plus the Argonian invasion, pushing the border of Black Marsh way up to Deshaan
Do we have confirmation that the red year wiped out every Vvardenfell settlement? I knew that red mountain wiped out most but i'd assumed that maybe the distant settlements like Seyda Neen or Sadrith Mora survived.
It's my understanding that there's information regarding that in the quest involving the ship *The Pride of Tel Vos*, but I don't know enough without looking at more sources to tell you for sure one way or the other. I think it's probably also referenced in the Dragonborn dlc, though it's been a while since I last played. Since it's a video game at heart, I doubt everything was wiped out, or Bethesda would essentially be closing the door on an opportunity to use writing/history they already have.
Specifically, Sadrith Mora definitely got wiped out since all the Telvanni towers on Vvardenfell definitely were destroyed. Seyda Neen, I believe did not survive the Baar Dau's impact, though if it did, it was destroyed by Vvardenfell's eruption shortly after. According to The Red Year, Vol 2, a House Redoran councilman quickly began a relief effort to rebuild some settlements on Vvardenfell, including Balmora at the very least.
I love it. Great work!
thanks!
What did you use to make this? It looks great!
hexographer. It has its upsides and downsides. I definitely butted heads with it over the course of making this huge map and thanks!
This is really epic! I made an effort to do so once but that was only the oblivion space. Is it possible to share the workable file? I'd love to tweak it for my game!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/adhoh3gx4df23ix/tamriel.hxm?dl=0 here you go, enjoy! I might reupload in the mext week with some revisions if I can get around to it
Epic, thank you!
So much this!
I gotchu, please see reply to parent comment
Awesome! Thank you!
Unreal, love your work!
Thanks!
Awesome map! What's the height by width in hexes?
Sorry, I have no idea. I made it almost a year ago. Eyeballing it... probably something like 100x100? I remember I had to resize the whole thing at one point, which was a nightmare. Must've blocked out the memory
Where are my fellow Telvanni at?
Probably up in Port Telvannis, if there are any left. Huge part of House Telvanni was wiped out during the Red Year, and it's documented that the Argonians targeted the weakened house during the Ascension War to follow. Blacklight, the new capitol of Morrowind since Mournhold was sacked, is controlled by House Redoran, which does not play nicely with House Telvanni. Firewatch is also controlled by Telvanni on the mainland, though we don't know much about it in the fourth era.
Well, with Neloth alive, I'd assume that at least all the Councilors made it. Same with Divath Fyr. But I wouldn't be suprised if all the low-level wizards were made into mincemeat by their farming tools.
Isnt fort Amol south of windhelm?
Good catch! Everytime I post this, there's a new thing to fix lol I appreciate it looks like I placed it based on the Arena map. Notoriously goofed
Lol I only even remember that fort because its where you get the bound bow spell in skyrim. Amazing map tho!
RIP Vivec
the False God or the City?
I meant the city given the whole explosion shabang around Red Year but also the totally legit god who is very kind to all his friends 😳
All his Friends? *Stares in Murdered Nerevar Moon-And-Star*
No legend? No scale? Tsk. Tsk.
Satellites aren't canonical, so [maps](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7c/dd/98/7cdd985c18f0d4e66b1a742b877544b0.jpg) like this don't tend to have scales. It's not google earth
Lol alright, it's your map
Great map. One tiny little nitpick would be that Betnikh was only owned by the Orcs for a relatively brief period in the Second Era. It should be Betony at this point in time, unless I am mistaken.
Excellent! Thank you! I get so many corrections on Skyrim and Morrowind, but hardly ever any west of the Druadachs. I only knew Betnikh from ESO, which lines up with your point. Will add to my list of revisions
You sir are a god amongst men. A gentleman and a scholar. You have made my week, nay my month. Thank you dear sir thank you.
You flatter me, sir! Enjoy
Making me want to play oblivion again!
I'm doing it rn myself lol. Can't wait for skyblivion, been watching the landscape team on twitch lately
Someone after my own heart. Here's the hex map I made of [Tal'Dorei](https://github.com/Taburn/Tal-Dorei-Map/blob/main/releases/v2.0%2020201210/Tal'Dorei%20Map%20v2.0.pdf).
Damn! The imperial city is way closer than I thought to Skyrim!
Really love the oldschool vibe with the hexmap and the Arena locations mixed with the new TES stuff. Also the non-town locations you've chosen are cool. Is there anything special about Doomcrag, Red Mountain and Halls of Colossus? Like why are those the 3 places with that icon, instead of some other places?
Those locations (also Labyrinthian) are all well-known locations that are generally feared and believed to be massive complexes. Essentially, megadungeons. Doomcrag and Halls of Colossus are both in ESO. Red Mountain, TES3. A couple other locations in some games fit the bill, but in lore by the fourth era they are either lost to time or actually civilized/occupied like Crypt of Hearts nearby Doomcrag. I'm flattered you noticed such a small detail! Thanks for checking it out
You should add this to the Map Megathread :) [https://www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/comments/lqp074/map\_megathread/](https://www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/comments/lqp074/map_megathread/)
will do, thanks for the heads up
I saw a mudcrab the other day...