Magic Map (my players keep out...)

[Wordmaker]

I've already mentioned my idea for my On The Run campaign, in which the PCs will be fleeing the Wardens and trying to clear their names.

I'm coming up with ideas for additional core elements of the campaign's plot and in particular, trying to give them a goal beyond simply staying a step ahead of the White Council.

In addition to trying to clear their names, the group is going to have the chance to get their hands on a map of America, only the map is enchanted. At the moment I'm thinking of it highlighting possible trouble spots or areas of magical power, essentially a narrative excuse to draw them to the next town. If that's all it is, then I don't think it needs any mechanics behind it, but I was wondering if I should do anything more with it? Should it have locations of hidden demonic prisons? Gateways into the Never Never? Should I factor in mechanics or a skill roll for its use?

[cold_breaker]

Might want to add mechanics to keep your players from messing with it. Give it a massive power level perhaps?

I wouldn't map out gateways to the nevernever, it wouldn't make sense. You can make a portal anywhere. I'd stick more to safe houses and shortcuts - places where a path to get from one place to the next starts, or else avoid the fuzz for a little bit of time. Theoretically, you could have it mark out interesting spots (McGuffins) as you go, but I could see a lot of stories coming up with this sort of tool without it mapping out anything too crazy - Other supernatural drifters trying to steal it, races to the next port of safe harbour, etc.

Interesting idea though, I really like it!

[KOFFEYKID]

Perhaps the map should involve ley lines and ley line wells. Perhaps the big bad that they are chasing framed them for poisoning a well somehow, and his Evil Plan involves somehow tainting all the ley lines in the country, manipulating them somehow for his nefarious plot.

[Wordmaker]

Thanks. I'm still mulling over specifics, but I do want there to be a reason why others would want to steal the map for themselves.

I could tie it to the PCs' Aspects? Maybe it shows people what they want/need to see, so a teenage runaway might be shown the location of a shelter or even the fastest route home, while someone with a serious injury might be shown the closest hospital?

Ley lines are always fun! And definitely a map of the country's ley lines would be very valuable.

[Haru]

First, I really like the idea. I have this old cliché western opener in my head, where the map burns away from the inside to reveal the first scene. Maybe the map changes in a similar way, burning away parts to replace them with new ones, depending on what the characters want or need.

Second, I think it really depends on what you want to do with the map. At first glance, it sounds like a plot device, and if you don't want to restrict yourself too much, just leave it at that. You can declare things on it if you want to force the players somewhere, and the players can declare things on it to help them out of trouble.
On the other hand, you could make the map an item of power on a "group character". You make a virtual character that represents the whole group of characters. Everything they have as a group is represented in that character. The map would be an item of power with worldwalking, probably. Maybe some minor powers to do with divination and such as well.

You might want to think about who created the map, and why. Was it an attempt to make a map of entrances to the nevernever? A way to keep track of the biggest nasties, so the wardens in the new world were able to hunt them down? Was the map created to be one thing only or to be adaptable to the needs of whoever holds it? Maybe there are additional items that can unlock different functions of the map, like special lenses you have to look through, and the map gives clues to where to find or how to create those lenses. Or the map might alter their ways through the nevernever to draw them to one of those lenses, in order to give them access to a place they need to be. Maybe there is a bob-like spirit bound to it, only it can't communicate directly with the owner of the map.

Sorry for the disorder, once my mind goes into brainstorming mode, it is hard to keep track.
Hope there is something in there you can use.

[KOFFEYKID]

Thinking more on the ley line poisoning idea (if you choose to go that way): I could see it being an interesting focus for a campaign. While the "stop the ley line from being tainted/cleanse the ley line" might seem like a one trick pony that would get tired, I think not.

Ley lines all represent different flavors of energy. Perhaps tainting Ley Line A requires a different method than tainting Ley Line B. Ley Line A might be a pure vein of earth magic, and tainting it might involve toxic wastes of some sort, and Ley Line B might be a river of protective magic. Tainting Ley Line B might involve brutalizing something that's always been protected or that should be protected. Similarly cleansing these lines would require something "in flavor".

In this way the players might have a basic idea of what they need to do "preventative or damage control", but have to figure out how to do those things differently at each location.

[Wordmaker]

Oh, hell yes! I love the imagery of lines and words burning themselves into the map as it gives information. That's going in!

There could be more tools to go with the map! Special lenses, sure. But also a compass, maybe.

At first I was thinking this would be a modern-looking map with proper geo survey information on it, but the more I think about it, I think it should be older, maybe 18th century. Far more accurate than any normal map of the time, but still ancient.

[KOFFEYKID]

Heres another bit of idea - Why give them a whole map? Pieces of a map can be just as interesting if not more so. Maybe their quest involves "repairing the map". They may have to look for local genus loci and do favors in order for the entity to "fill in" the area of the map that it knows.

[Wordmaker]

And the pieces can appear from flame or attach to the rest of the map with fire burning along the edges? That could be cool.

Gives the campaign a sort of treasure-hunting feel. They'd need to find out how many pieces of the map are out there, who has them, and what they'd be willing to do to get more.

[Mrmdubois]

Giving the map some history could be cool too, like maybe it's the original by Lewis and Clarke or some other famous explorer, or pirates or what have you.

Shoot, the map could also have an agenda, not necessarily a bad one either.

[Haru]

Uh, the map in pieces is an awesome idea as well. If you add to that my spirit being inside the map idea, it could be that the being itself was torn apart when the map was severed, and each part of the being holds a distinct part of its knowledge. So each part of the map would give you a bigger map where you can look things up and also new knowledge about the parts you already have.

[Wordmaker]

Freaking genius, you guys!

Is there anything in Dresdenverse canon about a person's actual soul being trapped in an item? Sure, their ghost could haunt an object or a spirit of some kind could reside in an item, but what about a person's fundamental essence?

[KOFFEYKID]

Indirectly, yes. The Denarians are after all Fallen Angels. We know from bob that Angels are made from nothing but soul, and since the Denarians are trapped in the coins, we know souls trapped in objects are possible.

Also, I would be very surprised if there wasn't at least one lich (which has lots of historical mythology around it) existing in the Dresdenverse.

[Quantus]

By careful making the content of the map too open-ended.  I mean, if these guys are on the run but have a map that tells them exactly when their pursuers get close, it wont be that hard for them to stay a step ahead.   The more powerful it is the more specific you will want to get with it's limitations.

Id consider defining precisely where the Map gets its info.  If it is just showing Ley Lines and other generic metaphysical energies, it can probably tap directly into the world around it, but then it's basically a sensor, something that could be fooled.  If on the other hand it is going to be interpreting the character's wants and needs and trying to show things that are more personally relevant, that says to me it would need an intelligence behind it, which could be anything from a less interactive form of Bob to angelic intervention to a direct link to the Norns or some equally loftly sponsor. 

[Wordmaker]

Yeah, I want to keep the pressure on as regards needing to keep a step ahead of the Wardens. So far the group hasn't said they want to be charged with particularly awful violations of the Laws (an enchanted item of one PC used to commit a murder) so the initial Warden pursuit won't be too bad, but it'll get worse as time goes on. The Threat Aspect for the campaign is Predator And Prey, and I'll be compelling that to have Wardens show up regularly if I want to scare them into getting their act together.

If each piece of the map contains a piece of the creator's soul and knowledge, then the map's abilities could expand every time they find another one, as suggested. I'll need to decide ahead of time how many pieces there are and what each piece does, so that it can't be used to keep the players safe, but rather leads them to the next important thing they have to deal with.

And of course, magic like this is pretty powerful. The only thing we've directly seen in the books that involves a soul inside an object are the Denarian coins, so something big would be keeping an eye on the map.