THE ROYAL

CARTOGRAPHER
A game about the imprecision of maps by Albi13

Alpha Version
 .

Safety
“The Royal Cartographer” is a tabletop worldbuilding rpg with light game
elements about mapping your features which represent your culture on a map.

While these features will always be present on your personal maps, they may not
be chosen to be represented on the official Royal map. There might also be times when
players around the table may have conflicting opinions, or where they will be aiming
for the same goal.

If you are ever uncomfortable writing or thinking about the situations the game
presents, please remember there is no obligation to keep playing or finishing it.

Use of an X card is recommended, as described by John Stavropoulos here: http://

tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg In The Royal Cartographer, two to four players each represent a particular culture
that inhabits a region being mapped for the local ruler.
Trigger warnings for potential inter-player conflict, themes of war and death.
These cultures coexist and occupy much of the same terrain, but they each see the
world in different ways. The points of interest and importance for each of their
cultures differ.
Important Note As is often the case, the powers that be consider this reality far too complicated to
represent on paper. The Royal Cartographer says they cannot put absolutely
This is a cooperative game. everything on the map.

Despite the fact that there is no way to win or lose this game, I would encourage the What will the final official map look like?
players to ensure that everyone’s culture is represented at least once on the official
Royal map. What you will need to play:

• A deck of cards

• Two dice/ player, in two different colours (red and blue, for
the sake of this manual, but one die/player is also workable).

• A Royal map (examples provided at the end of the document)

and a personal copy of the same map for each player. The
central shared map is known as the Royal Map.

• A culture sheet for each player, and it’s handy to have a print out of the theme
sheet too.

• Beads to keep track of Influence Points - though you can do this in pencil/pen too.

The game is divided into three phases: Setup, Local Lore and The
Royal Cartographer.
 Each player should label these characteristics 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6 so that rolling one six-
sided die will determine one characteristic - for the sake of this manual, the
characteristic is decided by the red die.
Setup
Powers
Choose two powers from your Culture sheet. You may use each once per game. These
Royal Map, Decks and Lore are described further in the Powers section. You must choose them during Setup.

Divide the map into as many Sections as you wish with
intercrossing straight lines. You can make as many as you want,
but the general rule is that there should be at least 2x the
number of players +1.
Each player then divides their personal maps in the same way.
Use the markers on the edge of the Royal map to draw the same
sections on your personal map.
Influence Points
Each player gets the same amount of Influence Points. These are 9 each at two
players, 13 at three players and 17 at four players.
You can keep track of these with beads, markers or just jotting
down a mark of some kind when you use them.
Centre

Each player also takes a copy of a “culture sheet” taken from this manual.
Shuffle all the Spade cards into a mini 13-card deck. This is the Theme Deck.
Make another deck with cards from 4 to 10 of each suit. Use one suit per player, so if
you are two players your deck will be 14 cards: 7 from one suit and 7 from another.
This is the Cartographer Deck.
If there are four players, you will have to add 4-10 of Spades into the deck after the
end of the 1st phase of the game. This is annoying, sorry :(
Each player picks a place where their culture has its “centre”. This
is not currently represented on the map, but it has to exist on
something that already is represented. That is to say, your
culture’s centre is not the river or the mountain or the city on the map, it’s at/in these
places but it is something else: a shrine, a sacred tree, a building, a person.
This means that if two players pick the same place for their centre, they can co-exist;
they are two different things, found at the same location on the map.
Each player marks their centre on their personal map AND on the Royal Map.

Each player is represented by a suit. Distribute Aces to their respective players -

these are just reminders of which player has which suit. These aces can also be used
as the X card.

Characteristics
Each player chooses 3 characteristics from their culture sheet.
The available characteristics are Agricultural, Martial, Arcane,
Cultural, Commercial, Religious, Artisanal and Natural.

These are the salient characteristics of your people, the

heritages they are most proud of - when people think of you, they
think of these characteristics.

Take your time at this point to come up with a culture that might include all three
characteristics.

Give your culture a name, if you wish, and briefly describe it to the other players.
 Phase 1 : The Local Lore feature on the Royal map, plus name any
natural features they gave a name to in that
section. If the players DON’T agree with the
Cartographer’s choice, they can agree
amongst themselves whose feature they want
As a group, choose the order you will go through the Sections of to represent in that section.
the map - mark them if you wish.
The player whose feature is chosen then rolls
For each area, draw a card from the Theme deck (all the Spades). a D6. Each OTHER player can, before the roll
This will give you a prompt for the theme of the place you will is made, commit any number of their
draw on your personal map (check the Theme on the Theme “influence points” to increase the result of the
table below). roll: 1 influence point = +1 to the roll.
Then, each player rolls their two dice and to see what feature If the total result is more than the value of the
they will draw that round. The red die determines the category of feature, the blue Cartographer’s card, then the players have
die determines the feature within that category. swayed the Cartographer and the feature
chosen by them is drawn on the Royal map. If
Players then draw the feature on their personal maps, creating a story that matches not, then the Cartographer’s original decision
that of the Theme. Write down a short version of the story at the side of your stands and the original chosen feature is
personal map. Some themes relate to other players around you, but don’t discuss your drawn.
creations just yet.
If players disagree with the Cartographer
If the feature has an asterisk next to it, you may also name a natural feature that is AND among themselves, see text box to the
already drawn in this section of the map. right.
Once all players have drawn something on their map and annotated it with a little In all cases, Influence points are spent only if
backstory, a card is drawn for the following area, until all players have drawn the feature they were spent for is drawn on
something in all areas of their personal maps. the Royal Map. The player(s) who lost their
roll get the the Influence they bid back.
Play continues until all sections in the Royal
Map have been resolved and labelled.
Phase 2: The Royal Cartographer
The Royal Map at the end of this process is
the one that will be published across the land,
shown in schools and libraries as
You will be working through the areas on the Royal Map in the representative of this region of the kingdom.
same order as you did in the Local Lore phase. But you know there is far more than the
cartography shows…
Shuffle cards 4-10 for 1 suit/player into one deck. This is the
Cartographer’s deck.
One area at a time, each player explains to the others what they
have drawn in that area, the backstory and why it is a significant
feature for their culture.
Once all players have explained their feature, draw a card from the Cartographer’s
deck: the suit indicates which player’s feature the Royal Cartographer wants to place
on their map. The rank indicates how adamant they are that that is the feature they
want to represent.
If all players agree with the Cartographer’s choice, then that player gets to draw their
If the players disagree among
themselves.
Each player that wants their
feature represented can roll a d6.
The player who the Cartographer
initially chose gets +2 to their roll if
the Cartographer’s card is between
4 and 7, a +3 to their roll if it’s
between an 8 and a 10.
Players can secretly add Influence
points to their roll, to be revealed
only after everyone has rolled. 1
Influence Point = +1 to their roll.
Players can also abstain from
rolling.
Players can abstain from rolling but
choose to support another player’s
roll. They can invest 1 Influence
point to give +1 to any player they
choose. This is also revealed after
rolls are made (players have to
announce they are supporting
someone, without revealing who).
The player with the highest result
can draw their feature on the Royal
map.
If after all rolls and modifiers are
applied there is a tie, break it
randomly with a coin flip or die roll.
 Powers
You choose your two powers at the same time as you are
choosing your culture’s characteristics.
However, when you can use them depends on the power.
Cross off the power you have used immediately after using it.
A description of how each power works:
1. On two sections of your personal map, you may draw two features. You choose
and draw this feature after drawing your “primary” feature determined by rolling
the dice (so you can’t jump ahead or back sections to add features). You can
choose what the second feature is, but it has to be from the same category as
your first. If the Cartographer chooses to represent your culture in this Section,
or you sway them into choosing you, you can draw both features.
2. This works like the above power, except you can use it only once. However, if the
Cartographer does NOT choose to represent your culture in this section, and you
used this power to draw a second feature, in this Section you may draw the
secondary feature on the Royal map anyway.
3. Use this power immediately after you have rolled to determine characteristic and
feature. Draw your rolled feature as normal. Then, name a natural feature that’s
already represented in this Section. If the Cartographer does not choose to
represent your culture in this Section, you may add the name of the natural
feature to the Royal map. If he DOES choose you, you may not add the feature
name on the Royal map.
4. At the end of the game, you may delete the mark for your place of power from the
Royal map (use pencil if you choose this power!) and place it in/at one of your
features/features on the Royal map.
5. You can reroll any die. You may use this power twice. You can reroll the same die
two times consecutively.
6. Use this power immediately after you have rolled to determine characteristic and
feature. For this section, you may ignore the dice and pick any feature from any
section out of the ones you didn’t pick at the start of the game.
Themes
A A Battle Won
2 A Battle Lost
3 A moment of cooperation with
another player’s culture
4 A moment of disagreement
with another player’s culture
5 A resource shared with
another culture
6 A tragedy
7 A celebration
8 A founding myth
9 A natural event
10 An even with outsiders
(cultures not present on the
map)
J Internal conflict
Q Something your culture lost
K Something one of your
leaders did
Credits
Antique colour map, world: "Antique map 18" by Changhua Coast
Conservation Action is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
"world map w america.jpg" by adampadam is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
MAPS: https://watabou.itch.io/perilous-shores
ICONS: https://under-score-lab.itch.io/cartography-bigpack and https://
twitter.com/under_score_lab
Culture Sheet Influence Points: 2 players - 9, 3 player - 13, 4 players - 17

Agricultural Martial Arcane Cultural Powers

Mill Watchtower* Leyline* Library* You can draw two features on two sections
1 of your personal map.
Farm* Trench Stone Circle Study Tower

Well Outpost* Shrine* Laboratory* You can draw two features on a single
section of the map. If your culture is not
Barn* Fort Altar Observatory* 2 chosen to be represented here, you can
Hallowed nonetheless draw the secondary building on
Shepherd’s Hut* Weapon cache* Hospital the Royal map.
Ground
Greenhouse Barracks Ruins* Museum
Pick a natural feature. If your culture is not
3
represented here, name the natural feature
instead
Commercial Religious Artisanal Natural
At the end of the game, you may move your
Place of
Trading post* School Lone Tree* 4 place of power to a feature of yours
Worship*
represented on the Royal map.
Market Shrine Mine* Grove
Artisan (you
Lighthouse* Burial Mound* Pond*
choose) You can reroll a die twice per game
5
Tavern Cemetery Logging camp* Old Riverbed

Hotel* Memory Wall* Brewery Crater* Pick a section of the map: for this section
6 you can pick any feature from any of the
Holy person’s
Bathhouse Market* Sinkhole categories you havent chosen
abode

Culture Sheet Influence Points: 2 players - 9, 3 player - 13, 4 players - 17

Agricultural Martial Arcane Cultural Powers

Mill Watchtower* Leyline* Library* You can draw two features on two sections
1 of your personal map.
Farm* Trench Stone Circle Study Tower

Well Outpost* Shrine* Laboratory* You can draw two features on a single
section of the map. If your culture is not
Barn* Fort Altar Observatory* 2 chosen to be represented here, you can
Hallowed nonetheless draw the secondary building on
Shepherd’s Hut* Weapon cache* Hospital the Royal map.
Ground
Greenhouse Barracks Ruins* Museum
Pick a natural feature. If your culture is not
3
represented here, name the natural feature
instead
Commercial Religious Artisanal Natural
At the end of the game, you may move your
Place of
Trading post* School Lone Tree* 4 place of power to a feature of yours
Worship*
represented on the Royal map.
Market Shrine Mine* Grove
Artisan (you
Lighthouse* Burial Mound* Pond*
choose) You can reroll a die twice per game
5
Tavern Cemetery Logging camp* Old Riverbed

Hotel* Memory Wall* Brewery Crater* Pick a section of the map: for this section
6 you can pick any feature from any of the
Holy person’s
Bathhouse Market* Sinkhole categories you havent chosen
abode