How far is Pimper's Block? RuneQuest Starter Set map vs Guide to Glorantha map

[Lordabdul]

Last week's RuneQuest session raised a question: how far is Pimper's Block from Swenstown and the Dundealos tribal lands?  (my players are chasing after some Bison Tribe raiders who took some hostages, and their first hunch was that they might sell them at the slave market there...)

The RuneQuest Starter Set map shows it pretty close to Sartar (reachable in a day of riding, I'd say?) whereas the Guide to Glorantha and AAA map show it much farther away (probably requiring one night camping). See both maps below (I drew a triangle between Swenstown, Boldhome, and Wilmskirk to better show the difference)

 

 

Was Pimper's Block moved in RQG to solve some world-building problem? I assume the RQG map is the one to use?

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Lordabdul

[David Scott]

The RuneQuest Starter set map is by far the most accurate as it is based on Greg's detailed maps unavailable at the time the Guide was published. It's a village of the Balkoth tribe, and only 18km from Swenstown.

The Guide is a view of Glorantha from 30000 feet so there are some minor inaccuracies in the maps as they were based on large scale ones.

See Jeff's FB posts:

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/eastern-sartar-and-prax/

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/core-homelands-maps/

or search: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/?s="pimper's+block"

[Lordabdul]

6 hours ago, David Scott said:

it is based on Greg's detailed maps unavailable at the time the Guide was published

Nice, thanks for the behind-the-scenes info there. I was vaguely aware of this but I didn't expect it to affect long-standing landmarks like this.

Now I just need to wait for Matt to redo all the maps 😄

[David Scott]

Going back to Nomad gods, it was 3 hexes, so 15miles / 24km (not as the crow flies)

or centre hex to centre hex 13.3 miles / 21.28 km

[ffilz]

This map thread and the other one make me really curious about all the various maps and which things have "moved." It can be frustrating working on one map where a trip is X distance, and then move to a different map for the next leg, and see that the first leg is now Y distance... I understand there are various things that create challenges so this isn't an easy task. I wonder if each map could be graded as to "spot on", "pretty darn good", "good", "usable", "I guess if that's the only map of that region you have", and "don't even bother with this one". Then maybe for each map not spot on, list the top 10 (or pick some reasonable number) of landmarks that are misplaced and describe the issue. For the "don't even bother with this one" the list would serve as the "this is WHY you shouldn't even bother with this map" notes...

Long term, eventually we'll get all the good new mapping Jeff has been driving...

[Lordabdul]

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

Going back to Nomad gods, it was 3 hexes, so 15miles / 24km (not as the crow flies)

Is that from an edition that includes the errata that says you need to move it down by one hex?

(yes, Gloranthan cartography is.... a whole thing)

Edited October 27, 2022 by Lordabdul

[metcalph]

3 hours ago, Lordabdul said:

Is that from an edition that includes the errata that says you need to move it down by one hex?

(yes, Gloranthan cartography is.... a whole thing)

It's from the original Nomad Gods map.

[Lordabdul]

4 hours ago, metcalph said:

It's from the original Nomad Gods map.

Yep I figured... thankfully, adding another hex still fits in one day of riding given that the RQG map shows that there's a trail from Swenstown to Pimper's Block.