Isle of Dread, 4 miles per hex (1981)

The Isle of Dread is one of Mystara’s most iconic locations, dating back to the birth of the setting in 1981. It’s surprising, then, to discover that even within the same module, X1 The Isle of Dread, there was a scale issue with the maps. The original map was marked as 6 miles per hex, but at that scale the Isle of Dread would end up being significantly bigger than it appears on X1’s Continental Map. Moreover, the larger scale map shows a much wider isle.

This issue has long been known to the Mystara community. I first posted about it on the old MMB in 2006 (archived here). My preferred solution is to change the scale to 4 miles per hex, and then revise the 24 mile per hex map to match this map’s more detailed version of the Isle of Dread.

This map is the result.

Chronological Map (May 2021)

This map is part of the Mystara 1981 series of chronological maps. It is an updated map, incorporating all available sources and made internally consistent with other maps in its series. But it only uses sources published in or before 1981.

For more information, see Appendix C: Cartographic Chronology.

Sources

• X1 The Isle of Dread (1981) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
  • Isle of Dread, 6 miles per hex
  • Central Plateau, 1 mile per hex
• Expert Rulebook (1981) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
  • Known World, 24 miles per hex
  • Legend

Revisions

For detailed notes, see the posts for each individual source map at the links above.

• Bridge — the rope bridge leading up onto the Central Plateau has been changed to the larger scale map’s version.
• Hex Art — the symbols from the Expert Rulebook’s Legend have been switched in.
• Islands — the missing island from the smaller scale map (in the west) has been added in, with hilly terrain to match adjacent islands.
• Plateaus — the Central Plateau has been revised to match the larger scale map.
• Rivers — the rivers of the Central Plateau have been replaced with the larger scale map’s rivers.
• Scale — the scale has been changed to 4 miles per hex to match the smaller scale map.

References

1. Let’s Map Mystara 1981 II — the original project thread for this map
2. The Sea of Dread and the Thanegioth Archipelago at the Vaults of Pandius

Thanks to:

Lance Duncan, Happierlarry, David Tauriainen

Join in the Discussion at The Piazza

Come and join in the discussion about this map at The Piazza, where I am holding a “read through” of the Let’s Map Mystara project.

Past and Future Versions of this Map

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