Fonts of Mystara’s Maps

Appendix F: Fonts of Mystara’s Maps

Over the decade and a half and more of Mystara’s official publication, a large selection of fonts were chosen for use in the setting’s maps. This appendix aims to catalogue and present examples of their use, for fun as well as for future reference.

Note that only appearances of fonts on geographic maps — those within the scope of the Atlas of Mystara — are taken into account here. Essentially, this is a map-focused version of my previous Mystara Font FAQ.

Each font is presented as a plate, with the name and dates used in the top left; the products whose maps used the font in the top right; samples mostly drawn from actual usages in maps at the bottom left; and a short commentary at the bottom right.

Fonts are presented in roughly chronological order of appearance.

Baskerville was the most iconic font for Mystara maps from 1983 until early 1987.

Romic, also known as Schadow Antiqua, appeared on a map in 1984, but later in 1992 became iconic of the Thunder Rift subsetting.

Quill was sometimes used for titling in Mystara’s early years.

Arnold Boecklin was used in Mystara maps in 1984.

Bernhand Bold Condensed was only used in Mystara maps in 1984.

Benguiat made a number of appearances throughout Mystara’s publication history.

Libra BT only appeared on two maps in Mystara’s history.

No other font is more iconic to Mystara than Feinen.

Century Schoolbook was the font of Dungeon Magazine, and as such appeared in all Mystara’s maps from that source, as well as some from Dragon Magazine.

Honda, famous as the title font of Dragon Magazine, appeared on a single Mystara map in GAZ10.

Korinna appeared early in Mystara’s publication, but only later did it graduate to a major font used for its maps. For a time, it displaced Feinen.

Zapf Book was Dragon Magazine’s text font during the Princess Ark era, and found its way onto one of its maps.

Garamond was the main text font of the setting from 1987 onwards, but it also appeared on maps originating in the Hollow World boxed set.

Friz Quadrata only made a cameo appearance in Mystara’s maps, though it was often used for titling in its books.

Stempel Schneider was used for titling in Mystara’s AD&D 2nd Edition reboot release.

Post Antiqua became the face of Mystara’s maps post-D&D, after the conversion to AD&D.

Cochin was the iconic font of Red Steel’s Savage Coast maps.

Century only appeared on Savage Baronies’ poster map.

Rundgotisch was the choice of font for Joshuan’s Almanac’s poster map.

Champers was one of two fonts used in the digital-only Savage Coast releases.

Tekton Pro was one of two fonts used in the digital-only Savage Coast releases.

Honourable mentions go to Futura and Franklin Gothic Condensed, both of which appeared as keyed numbers in early maps.

Update, 16th May 2021 — Added Neue Hammer Unziale from B3’s Gulluvia map.

If you have any comments or corrections, please don’t hesitate to chime in!

2 Comments

Travis Henry
26 November 2021 @ 9:03 am

Found another one: Korinth Serial Bold for X9: Savage Coast cover.

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- Thorfinn Tait
  26 November 2021 @ 8:12 pm
  
  That’s Korinna. This list concentrates exclusively on maps, ignoring the title and text fonts used in the books themselves. Korinna was used as the standard title font for a long time, though it only appeared on a few maps early on (notably CM5). It became the standard map font in later years, beginning in Dragon partway through the Princess Ark series, and continuing in Champions of Mystara and the second and third Poor Wizard’s Almanacs.
  
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