![]() Instead, the map should contain clues designed to let treasure hunters navigate by means of landmarks. (A hole in the ground to make it look like someone else already found the treasure is easy to set up). Treasure maps rarely have an 'X' marking the spot - of if they do, 'the spot' will be a trap, trick or warning for would-be treasure hunters, instead of anything useful. The initial hurdle is just that: The first of several. Solving that first puzzle doesn't mean your treasure-hunters are home free, however. (Note that your player characters will probably learn the map-key without much difficulty, or the adventure won't go anywhere quickly The really interesting question to ask is "who else worked it out at around the same time?" Treasure map adventures are often races.) For bonus points, design your map in such a way that it doesn't even appear to be a treasure map until the key is applied. Typical 'map keys' include: a pendant with a particular design that needs to be placed over the compass rosette, the figurehead of the mapmaker's lost ship, or the blood of one of the mapmaker's descendants. ![]() In the game fiction, this is a way for the mapmaker to ensure that no-one but him (and maybe his descendants and friends) can find his treasure easily From a narrative perspective, it can provide a dramatic way of introducing the map as a recurring theme in the story And to a GM, it offers an excellent 'early puzzle encounter' and a chance to introduce backstory related to the map. So, to turn that around, the important parts of a treasure map are the clues that let you find the treasure, and the obstacles that make those clues hard to understand These are what makes a treasure map interesting.īefore that, though, a map should include some trick that ensures that only certain people can even start to understand the map. As a result, most treasure maps are deliberately made obscure, misleading, and cryptic. ![]() Remember, the purpose of a treasure map is almost never to make it easy to find a treasure - It's to make it easy for the mapmaker to find the treasure - or possibly one of his relatives, if he doesn't manage it himself. First and most important point: The actual map is actually the least important and interesting part of a treasure map. ![]()
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