Description

The brass of the sextant pushes against your eye. These stars are unfamiliar. You pivot your calipers across the parchment, walking and measuring this alien land. What lies beyond those distant bluffs? Who occupies that structure in the valley? You are an interloper here; so tread with respect, observe, and most importantly, finish your map.

Cartograph is a solo / multiplayer map-making RPG about journaling, exploration, worldbuilding, and resource management. The core rules are easy to learn, and facilitate the creation of a world map through a variety of prompts and tables.

By the end of a game, you will have produced a map of an unknown world, complete with a journal that details those places. This is a great artefact to use as a homebrew setting for your DnD 5e campaign, or other fantasy systems.

The heart of this game revolves around an unexpected journey, and the creation of a map which you will fill out with detail as you play. You will take on the role of a budding cartographer, arriving at a new land with a blank map book and a desire to explore.

By the end of the game, you’ll have created a unique map filled with interesting locations and history that you can use in other fantasy role playing games like D&D.

When you purchase you will be sent a beautiful, 90-page, hardcover A5 book, along with the digital pdf of Cartograph: Atlas Edition.

A map made with the original Cartograph by Ahtzl

✏️ A pencil and eraser.

🗺️ Paper to draw your map.

📓 A place to journal.

♠️ A deck of standard playing cards.

🎲 A few six-sided dice.

Cartograph is played over a series of turns. Each turn, you will roll your pool of dice onto your map page. Then, you will fill in the details your cartographer can survey about the area based on these rolls. You’ll pick your next destination, travel there, and draw a playing card to generate a prompt which will give you a a few questions to answer in your journal and some context for the location. Then, you’ll manage your resources, before starting the cycle again!

Cartograph is designed to be super flexible, and super modular. If you don’t like journalling games, no problem! The Atlas Edition includes a ruleset to play Cartograph more akin to traditional roleplaying. You want a more chill and relaxed experience? Easy! Follow the peaceful mode rules for casual play. You’d rather just use the ruleset to generate world maps? We’ve got you covered.

Cartograph‘s core system is easy to learn, and includes a fully annotated example play, and a glossary of definitions if you ever need extra clarification. Over the course of a game of Cartograph, you will produce a stunning fantasy world map, with fleshed out locations and worldbuilding lore. Not only can you use the map to run other fantasy RPG’s in, but the journal your cartographer writes can serve as a fantastic prop for your players to find in your DnD game!

A map created with Cartograph: Atlas Edition

See what people in the community are saying about Cartograph: Atlas Edition!

Listen to me talk about the design of Cartograph on The RPG Goblin!

Watch the fantastic review by Tabletop Gaming Guild!

Check out what people were saying about the first edition of Cartograph!

“The game does a lot with a little. If you like journaling games, this is essential. If you’re into drawing games or map games, it is essential. Excellent and totally enjoyable!” – Geek Gamers

“Having just finished my first playthrough, I had a ton of fun with this one! It has all the narrative elements that I love about other great solo journaling games, mixed well with the sketching fun of other map making games. The systems of placing landmarks are tuned well to avoid making things look too cluttered or random.” – Zaketh, Playtester

“I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your game! I got the pdf copy and started playing it today. I was skeptical at first about dropping dice to discover the landmarks and biomes, but I ended up loving that. I had a great time with the journaling aspect, as well, even though I normally don’t enjoy journaling with solo rpgs. The art and general aesthetic was appealing. I have been looking for a game like this for a while and this was perfect.” – cjchamberlin, Redditor

My name is Brandon Lee. I’ve been creating handmade resin dice with my wife for over 5 years, and we’ve been running a TTRPG business together for about that long. I have been designing games for over three years now, and have a previous successful kickstarter under my belt, along with a host of other games on my itch.io page. Nothing gets me more excited than the indie RPG scene, so I’m greateful to be able to contribute my own creations to such a creative and wonderful gaming community.

Thank you for your support, it means the world.