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Mappa Imperium
A World Building Game for 1 or More Players

Game Components
1 sheet of paper & pencil Table of Contents
3 six sided dice

Pg 3| Basics

Setup

Solo Play

Multiplayer

Pg 5| Play Overview
Inspiration Pg 6| Era I: Creation

Ex Novo by Sharkbomb 1.1 Island Creation - Island Table

https://sharkbombs.itch.io/ex-novo 1.2 Geography - Geography Table

1.3 Resources
Wonderdraft by Megasploot
https://www.wonderdraft.net/ 1.4 Major Faction - Race Table

Pg 8| Era II: Pantheon

2.1 Number of gods - Deity Number Table

2.2 Domains - Domains Table

Play online with: 2.3 Symbol - Symbols Table

2.4 Name - Random Name List

https://aggie.io/
Pg 10| Era III: Burgeoning Kingdoms
https://www.owlbear.rodeo/ 3.1 Early Settlers - Settlement Table

3.2 Hostile Neighbors - Hostiles Table

Pg 11| Era IV: Age of Discovery

4.1 Exploration Begins

4.2 Neighbor Expansion

Pg 12| Era V: Growing Empires

Created by:
5.1 Worldwide Expansion
Nookrium (2021)
5.2 Neighbor Expansion
https://nookrium.itch.io/mappa-imperium
Pg 13| Era VI: Rise & Fall

6.1 Final Era

Email: Nookrium@gmail.com 6.2 Neighbor Expansion

6.3 Finalizing

Pg 14| Special Rules

8.1 War! - War Table

Pg 16| Gameplay Overview

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Basics
In Mappa Imperium, you and any number of
friends will take control of an entire fantasy
world. Dividing the map equally and working
together you will create unique landmasses,
geography, and resources for your world. From
there each player will take command of a major
faction and develop it from a struggling
settlement to a massive empire, or perhaps drive
it into the lost histories of time.
Each player will take turns rolling the dice and
placing features in their section of the map. Each
of these regions will be home to one empire and
throughout the game each player will create the
story of the major empire within their play area.
They will roll to decide many aspects of this
empire but much of the story and design will be
up to each player’s imagination.
Mappa Imperium is first and foremost a
cooperative storytelling game and is played best
when the players work together. By the end of
the game you will have a full fantasy map
complete with empires, lore, hostile tribes, and
mysterious lairs.
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Setup
Divide your sheet of paper equally by the number
of players, you can draw a line or create a fold to
help separate the regions. Each player will take
control of one of these regions (They will be
referred to as “Home Regions” going forth)
Solo Play (or using the game as a world generation tool)
To play solo, divide the paper into the number of
major empires you wish to have, then play
commences taking turns as usual.
Multiplayer
Mappa Imperium can be played with more than a
few players and even large groups. Rather than
using one sheet of paper for the world, each
player will have their own sheet and that will be
their “Home Region”. Once the game is complete
you can attach the separate sheets of paper into
one.
Drawing
Throughout the course of the game you will be
drawing features of your world and empire onto
the paper; from forests and mountains, to cities
and monsters. If drawing is not your strong suit
that is perfectly fine, feel free to use simple
symbols and icons to represent details on your
map. The different drawing styles of each player
will give your finished map a unique charm and
distinguish each empire.

Two Player Game of Mappa Imperium

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 Play Overview
There are 5 phases of the game called eras. Each of these develop and progress the story of your world and
contain different tables to reference when rolling the dice. Once an era is complete, players will advance to
the next. Each turn of eras 3-5 consists of around 10 years. With Era 2 lasting 50 years, you will end up with
a 250 year history on a standard game.

Era I: Creation Era IV: Growing Empires (70 years)

This is the landmass and early faction creation
era. Each player will roll on the tables and draw
out the results in his/her “home region”. Starting
with the number and size of islands in each
player's region to the starting peoples of the
world.
Era 5 is the point in the game that the players are
no longer tied to their own “Home Region” and
may now begin to draw anywhere on the map
(depending on the dice roll and table). All events
still focus on the player’s empire, good or bad.

Era V: Rise & Fall (60 years)

Era II: Pantheon
The story of your world begins here with the
development of a pantheon. Each player will
create a number of deities that inhabit, sway, or
just create a cult or two in their name throughout
Era 6 is the final phase of the game. Empires
begin to crumble & hostile forces and
organizations begin to rise.
Players may continue drawing anywhere on the

the course of the game. map, but all results are still focused onto the
player’s empire.

Era II: Burgeoning Kingdoms (50 years)

Era 3 begins the early empire establishing part of

the game. Each player will roll on the tables and
draw/explain the results on the map. Each player
will be only drawing in their own “Home Region”
for this era.

Era III: Age of Discovery (70 years)

Era 5 begins the discovery phase of the game. The

empires are growing and making new discoveries
(and perhaps enemies). The players will be
rolling the dice and consulting the tables and only
drawing in each players “Home Region”

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Era I: Creation
Mountains rise, forests grow. Small settlements
begin to form, including an empire for each player
to develop throughout the course of the game.
During this stage of the game, each player will take
turns drawing out the islands, geography, factions,
and resources in their “Home Region”
1.2 Geography
Roll 2 six sided dice and consult the “Geography
Table”, each player will take turns placing the
results into their Home Region. These can be
placed anywhere and on any island, it is up to
each player to design their own “Home region”.
(each player rolls on this table 8 times)

1.1 Create the Islands Geography Table

Roll 1 six sided die, consult the table and take Roll Geography 7 Forest
turns drawing islands into your “Home Region”.
2 Savanna 8 Mountains

3 Wetlands 9 Desert
Island Table
4 Hills 10 Jungle
1 1 large continent 4 2 Medium Islands
5 Lake 11 Canyon
2 1 large + 1 small island 5 3 Medium Islands
6 River 12 Volcano
3 1 large + 2 small islands 6 4 Small Islands

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 Use this table for resource ideas if needed

1.3 Resources Mana

Golden
Stones
Shellfish
Mithril Caterpillars
Take turns placing 3 different resources Arcane Fish
into the player’s Home Regions. These Silver Antelope
Adamantine Pools
are up to each player to decide what to Silk Hawks
place and where. Fiery Mushrooms
Glowing Ants
Use a symbol to represent the resource Twilight Acorns
Healing Trees
location. These resources will help you Lightning Caves
decide where events and settlements may Shadow Geyser
take place in your world. Life Crystals

Race Table
2 Giants

1.4 Major Faction 3 Lizardfolk

4 Gnomes
Roll 2 six sided dice, consult the Race Table
and place a capital settlement for each 5 Halflings
player's Home Region. This is the empire
each player will be devoting most of their 6 Dwarves
time to throughout the rest of the game.
7 Humans

Be sure to create a name for your faction

8 Elves
and design a crest to place on the map.
9 Orcs

10 Goblins

11 Kobolds

12 Player’s choice

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 Era II: Pantheon
What gods and goddesses rule over this world? In
2.1 Number of deities
this section, each player will take turns rolling to
determine number, domains, and symbols for
Roll 1d6 to determine number of deities per home
each deity in their home region. These are the region
gods of each player's major faction. Whether they
Roll Number of gods/goddesses
are worshipped, feared, or ignored are up to you
1 1
and they may help to spark imagination of the
2 2
development and story or your world.
3 2

While each player will roll up the deities of their 4 3

own home region, these can be shared by 5 3

everyone throughout the course of the game if 6 4

needed.

Either in the margins of your map or on a

separate sheet of paper, write down your results.

2.2 Domains

Roll 1 die to determine domain for each deity. Do this until all gods have a domain associated with them.

Domain Table

Die Roll god/goddess of… Examples (there are 6 so you can roll if you can’t decide)

1 A Geography mountains, swamps, seas, rivers, deserts, volcanoes

2 Something in Nature Sun, Moon, storm, mushrooms, animals, birth

3 A Craft or Art smithing, the loom, arcane, knowledge, beer or wine, jewelry

4 An Endeavor War, travel, the hunt, harvest, games, music

5 Something around the home garden, bread, hearth, cats, love, family

6 Something Grim death, grave, night, underworld, cannibalism, nightmares

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 2.3 Symbol

Roll 1d6 to determine a symbol for each deity.

Die Roll symbol style Examples (there are 6 so you can roll if you can’t decide)

1 Weapon sword, dagger, hammer, arrow, spear, trident

2 Tool scythe, pick, wheel, cup, key, horseshoe

3 Animal fish, owl, lion, raven, spider, unicorn

4 Plant tree, apple, carrot, flower, mushroom, branch

5 Natural lightning, diamond, sun, moon, fire, comet

6 Body Part eye, skull, hand, heart, teeth, claw

2.4 Name

Create a name for each deity, then place all 3 (name, domain, symbol) together in either the margins of the
map or on a separate sheet of paper.

Random Name List

There are 6 rows & columns so roll in needed

Amron Borumaht Mitholye Areris Zylis Shiro

Algalor Penlathin Hesha Erelus Zaghora Abaal
Emmalon Ened Eldaren Baalas Ziri Delinas
Goran Pegenali Amariel Ontinti Ukraak Mablegon
Aldiren Vildir Therron Karne D’woinan Thingolfind
Inwegili Altas Findinus Sige Narnov Urnoste

Era II Complete - Move onto Era III: Burgeoning Kingdoms

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 Era III: Burgeoning Kingdoms
The lands have been drawn and each empire now
has a starting settlement. This era will develop
your faction settlements in small empires. This
era consists of the first 50 years of your empire’s
story

3.1 Early Settlers

Each player will take turns rolling on the table

below, placing new settlements for their empire.
These must all be placed on the same island as
their capital.
3.2 Hostile Neighbors
Be sure to name and connect each settlement with
a road (a dotted line works well to represent this)
Each player takes turns rolling on the Hostiles
Table to select their hostile neighbors, then places
Roll twice for each player.
them anywhere in their home region. Give them

Settlement Table a name and draw in an appropriate symbol to

designate their location. (Small camp, tower,
1 Farming Village dragon, etc)

(Roll on the Race Table to decide if necessary for

2 Mining Settlement
tribe or minor faction)
3 Resource Town

4 Trade post / Market Hub

Hostiles Table
5 Frontier / Military Fort

Minor Faction
6 Monastery / Temple
1 Insect Hive 3 (Add 2
5 Demon Lair

settlements)

Hostile Necromancer/ Legendary

2 4 6
Tribe Mad Mage Monster

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 Era IV: Age of Discovery
Now that the empires have started to grow, it’s time to expand their reach and explore the nearby shores.

4.1 Exploration Begins

Each player will take turns exploring their nearby islands. All results can be placed anywhere within each
player's Home Region. Roll 7 times on this table.

Age of Discovery Table

3 Magical Event - New Relic Something magical, powerful, or otherworldly has been discovered. Describe and draw this relic, be
sure to give it, and if necessary the location, a name. Ex: Mana spring, tree of power, magical cave,
divine item

4 Evil Lair Sinister forces are lurking. Is it demons, twisted abominations, bloodthirsty spiders? Draw in this new
hostile neighbor with an appropriate settlement

5 New Island Your sea explorers have discovered a new island! Draw in 1 small island, roll on the geography table (pg
6) twice and place on or near new island

6 Ancient Ruins Your scouts report back a mysterious ruin. Draw in a monolith, henge, or ruined site.

7 New Geography Scouts reported back new and terrifying lands. Roll on the geography table (pg 6) and place it

8 Bandits/Pirates Arrive Brigands have been spotted nearby. Place a new hostile settlement on a trade route or bay, then give
them a name and banner.

9 New Tribe Your explorers have made contact with a primitive tribe. Roll on the Race Table (pg 7) and place a new
tribe settlement

10 Colonization Your empire is growing to distant shores. Build a new coastal settlement, preferably on a nearby island.

11 Expansion Your empire is expanding. Place a new settlement near an existing one - Roll on the settlement Table (pg
10)

12 Minor Faction Scouts have discovered another kingdom! Roll on the Race table (pg 7), then place 2 settlements.
Remember to give them a banner!

13 Hostile Attack A nearby hostile force has attacked! destroy a fort or settlement and replace it with a ruin, or claim it for
the new invaders.

14 Neighbor Expands Choose one neighboring faction and roll to add a settlement for them.

15 New Resource Your Explorers have discovered a valuable new resource! Place a new resource symbol, distant from
your Capital

16 Roaming Herds Strange and magnificent beasts have been spotted. Are they terrifyingly large, aggressive, tasty? Draw
in a symbol and name for these new creatures.

17 Fantastic Landmark Scouts have stumbled upon an impressive landmark, is it a strange rock formation, a lone monolith,
magical grove? Draw it in now.

18 Monster Awakens Your scouts have disturbed and awakened a legendary monster, draw in a new monster and give it a
name. ex: The Onyx Dragon, Titan of the North, Swamp Hydra

4.2 Neighbors Expand

Each player takes turns choosing one neighbor within their home region and places an additional settlement
for them. You can choose to use the settlement table to decide what to place for the civilized neighbors,
claim a ruin, or place a new camp for a tribe, cult, etc.

Advance to Era V: Age of Empires

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 Era V: Age of Empires
Your empires have gained a foothold and perhaps even expanded onto neighboring islands. Now it’s time to
flex their might and expand, or perhaps fight, their way across the seas.

5.1 Worldwide Expansion

All results can now be placed in any region on the map. Roll 7 times in this Era for 70 years of
advancement, using the Growing Empires Table below and recording the results.

Age of Empires Table

3 Tourism Is it a beautiful waterfall, mana spring, or enchanted grove? Your empire has built a new settlement on/near this
site.

4 Overthrown One of your settlements has grown tired of your rule and thrown out the ruling class. Rename this new “free” city
and give the new faction a name and banner.

5 Thriving Village One of your settlements is rapidly growing, grow one of your smaller villages into a city by adding more buildings,
placing farmland, adding “city” to the end of the name, etc.

6 Hero Arrives A powerful hero has shown up in the Empire, what did they do? Draw in a statue or monument near your capital
or the location of the event.

7 Hostile Attack A nearby hostile force has attacked! destroy a fort or settlement and replace it with a ruin, or claim it for the new
invaders.

8 War! Your army is marching! Select any settlement not already owned by you and roll on the War! Table (pg 14) with
your empire acting as the Attacker.

9 Settlers Leave - New Faction Some of your people have set out on their own. Roll on the settlement chart and place a new Faction onto the map
(be sure to give them a banner and name)

10 Military Expansion Your military strength is growing, draw in either a new frontier fort or add city walls to an existing settlement.
(City walls will crumble instead of a city during an attack)

11 Expand Your empire is growing, Roll on the settlement table (pg 10) and place a new settlement anywhere on the map

12 Prosperity People are flocking to your empire. Grow your cities if possible, add more farmland, draw ships in the ports, etc.

13 Trade Economic Prosperity! Build a road connecting your empire to another faction, then add a trade post somewhere
along the road. (consider resource locations)
If no possible road connections exist, build a new coastal trade post.

14 Rising Cult Something nefarious is looming in your empire and has gathered enough worshipers to construct its own facility.
Demon summoners, necromancers, mad wizards, it’s up to you. Draw in an appropriate building for the
cult/organization

15 Disaster/Famine Something terrible has struck the empire. Natural Disaster or Magical, famine or disease? Remove a settlement
and replace it with a ruin.

16 Gifted Academy Your empire has cultivated a new craft, art, or ability. Are they spellcasters, researchers, monks, druids? Build a
new academy for this group and place this new settlement.

17 Feed the People Your growing empire needs food! Place either a new farming town or fishing village

18 Revolution Rebellion! Half your empire has split into a new faction. Give them a name +banner, treat them as a hostile
neighbor from now on.

5.2 Neighbors Expand

Each player expands one of their neighbors again. Place a settlement or claim a ruin.

Advance to Era VI: Rise & Fall

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 Era VI: Rise & Fall
With every rising empire there is a falling one. Open land is quickly diminishing and with that, wars, famine,
& rebellion become a common occurrence.

6.1 Final Era

Take 6 turns in this era using the table below for 60 years of story. All results can be placed anywhere on
the map.

Rise & Fall Table

3 Dug Too Deep A Monster has risen from underground and destroyed or claimed one of your settlements. Place a new monster on
the map now (don’t forget a name)

4 Arcane Disturbance Has a portal to a new realm opened, or perhaps a mad wizard has crafted a new tower? Describe & draw in a magical
occurrence, anything from a new tower to a massive crater.

5 Remembrance Many heroes have given their lives for your kingdom. Draw in a monument or statue near your capital or place of
importance.

6 Royalty Your rulers need a place to live! Build a palace for them near the capital or somewhere of importance

7 Diaspora - New faction Your people think they can have a better life outside your empire. Remove one of your settlements and place a new
one somewhere on the map, be sure to give them a new faction name and banner.

8 Rising Empire Despite the times, your empire is thriving! Roll & draw in a new settlement or expand your existing one with
farmland, walls, etc.

9 Disaster Something terrible has struck the empire. Natural Disaster or Magical, famine or disease? Remove a settlement and
replace it with a ruin.

10 War! Your army is marching! Select any settlement not already owned by you and roll on the War! Table (pg 14) with your
empire acting as the Attacker. (this can be against any faction, tribe, or hostile force on the map)

11 Hostile Attack You have been attacked! Destroy a fort, city wall, or settlement and replace it with a ruin.

12 Hostile Forces Grow Choose one hostile neighbor and roll to add a settlement for them

13 Neighboring War Select any two neighboring factions, choose which is the attacker and defender, then roll on the War! Table (pg 14)

14 Evil Lurks Something sinister has claimed a nearby ruin. Place a new cult or evil force onto the map on an existing ruin. (if no
empty ruin exists, find an empty place on the map for them)

15 Alliance A Minor Faction has joined your empire. Create an Alliance Banner and give your new United Kingdom a name.

16 Refugees People are flocking to your city, are they fleeing war, monster attacks, disasters? Place a small village next to or
expand your capital for these new citizens.

17 Nightmares Something fowl is lurking in the forest (or any geography) is it lycanthropy, demonic spiders, a mad druid, rodents of
unusual size? Treat them as a hostile faction and give the location an ominous name (ex: Forest of Death,
Smouldering Jungle, Fire Swamp)

18 Revolution Rebellion! Half your empire has split into a new faction. Give them a name + banner, treat them as a hostile neighbor
from now on.

6.2 Neighbors Expand

One last time, each player expands one of their neighbors again. Place a settlement or claim a ruin.

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 6.3 Finalizing

The map is almost complete, finish off by naming any important features that haven’t been named yet
(geography, war sites, lair locations)

Then, draw in some accents for final touches (compass rose, ships in open water, sea monsters etc)

Special Rules

War!

War is played out through a simple dice roll by the attacker. Roll on the table to the right and
describe/draw in the results.

With a “Neighboring War” roll, choose any two factions on the map and select one to be the attacker
then roll on the chart and draw in the results.

War Table

1 Devastating Loss & Counterattack Defender crushes the attacker. Attack fails and defender makes an immediate counter
attack against a settlement they choose. Now rolling as the attacker.
Defender also places a monument to their new war hero.

2 Failed Attack Defender fights off the attackers, maintaining control of the settlement

3 Pyrrhic victory Attacker narrowly wins, but the settlement is destroyed and replaced with a ruin

4 Successful Assault Attacker wins and takes control of the settlement

5 Great Victory Attacker easily overpowers the defender and takes control of the settlement, then
places a new fort nearby.

6 Great Campaign Attacker crushes the enemy, then immediately makes another attack against another
settlement. Create a monument to the new hero that emerged from this war.

Fallen Empire

If through the luck of dice rolls you find your empire has fallen, with the last city destroyed, you have two
options...

1. Take control over any of the minor factions that have risen up over the course of the game, treat
them as your new Empire.
2. Your people flee the final city, sailing or running to distant lands to set up a new village. Place a new
settlement anywhere on the map and continue play as usual

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Game Length

The number of turns per era can be adjusted for longer or shorter games. Be aware, the more players /
empires you have will greatly increase the playtime.

# of turns per era

Short Standard Long Epic

Era 3 4 7 9 13

Era 4 4 7 9 12

Era 5 4 6 8 10

# of years 170 250 310 400

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 Gameplay Overview
Era I: Creation
Create the Islands
- Divide the paper into equal parts (draw lines, fold, or use separate sheets of paper)
- Draw the islands

Geography
- Place 8 geological features for each zone

Resources
- Create 3 resources and place symbols

Major Faction
- Determine major faction races
- Create name and banner

Era II: Pantheon

Building a Pantheon
- Determine number of deities
- Find each deities domain
- Give each deity a symbol
- Name every deity

Era III: Burgeoning Kingdoms

Early Settlers
- Place 2 additional settlements near capital
- Draw roads connecting settlements
Hostile Neighbors
- Determine nearby hostile forces

Era IV: Age of Discovery

Exploration Begins
- Consult table and draw in results
- Roll 7 times in this Era
- New settlements must remain in home region
- Place new settlement for any non-major faction

Era V: Age of Empires

Worldwide Expansion
- Consult table for results
- Roll 7 times in this Era
- May be placed anywhere on map
- Place new settlement or claim a ruin for any non-major faction

Era VI: Rise & Fall

Final Era
- Consult table for results
- Roll 6 times in this Era
- May be placed anywhere on map
- Place new settlement or claim a ruin for any non-major faction

Finalizing
- Add names to any important map features

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