Mongoose Publishing

[Ranzadule]

My search fu is not great and I am REALLY curious to know, so please help:
Why the difference between the map in Conan 2nd and in the Return to the Road of Kings?

Specifically the differences in the East with Kosala jumping sides of Vendhya, Uttara Kuru disappearing and Hyrkania having a coastline north of Khitai? Thanks in advance!
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"Brother Ranz's sophistry is such that he can trick people into posting stupid things and then ridicule them for it. That's NOT an admirable quality!"--Some Jackass on RPG.NET

[VincentDarlage]

Early printings of Conan 2E used the old 1E map (current printings of 2E use the RttRoK map).

The change in maps is because the original 1E map has incorrect placements when compared to Howard's writings. New maps were prepared to match modern research (see http://www.dodgenet.com/~moonblossom/Cmuse18.htm and http://www.dodgenet.com/~moonblossom/Cmuse15.html).

The new maps I prepared (based on the above research) can be found here:
http://hyboria.xoth.net/maps/vd_hyborian_age_full.jpg
http://hyboria.xoth.net/maps/vd_hyborian_age.jpg
http://hyboria.xoth.net/maps/index.htm#regional

The Return to the Road of Kings map is a strange morph between the new maps and the old map (see http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=30442). Why the map combines elements of both into one map (instead of just making an accurate map) is anybody's guess, although the artist claims he was under instructions to make the map that way (see http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=354591).

That is the basic story behind the map in Return to the Road of Kings. I wrote the book based on Dale Rippke's research and the new maps based on that research, so the text is fully compatible with the maps I prepared (linked above). Unfortunately, the text is not as compatible with the printed, morphed map, though (for example, Goralian Hills is described in Aquilonia in the text (page 20), but shown on Cimmeria's map (page 75), - and of course, the map on page 197 has Xuchotl and Sukhmet in two locations, not to mention severe misplacements of Alkmeenon and Keshia, and a forest in the middle of the Southern Desert, and stuff like that).

(and in case you are interested, here is my version of Cimmeria to compare with the one on page 75: http://hyboria.xoth.net/maps/vd_cimmeria.jpg)

This essay by Howard scholar Dale Rippke will answer your questions about Hyrkania and Kosala: http://www.dodgenet.com/~moonblossom/Cmuse18.htm

The following map shows where Uttara Kuru was supposed to have been placed by the Return to the Road of Kings artist (I have no idea why he left it off, but if you read both pages of the thread about the morphing of the maps, you can see he messed up a lot of things):
http://hyboria.xoth.net/maps/vd_vendhya2.jpg
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[Ranzadule]

Thank you very much for the very complete answer. I will read these links when I get home from work.
_________________
"Brother Ranz's sophistry is such that he can trick people into posting stupid things and then ridicule them for it. That's NOT an admirable quality!"--Some Jackass on RPG.NET

[VincentDarlage]

[Ranzadule]

Excellent!

I'm reading the links now and will get back to you after I read the book. I just picked it up.

I'm a little sensitive to the plight of Uttara Kuru as I won the play by mail Hyborian war with them many ears ago. I conquered everything east of Turan, much of Turan, Iranistan, Stygia, through Koth and was making war with Aquilonia over the remains of Nemedia.
I even have the shirt to prove it.
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"Brother Ranz's sophistry is such that he can trick people into posting stupid things and then ridicule them for it. That's NOT an admirable quality!"--Some Jackass on RPG.NET

[MadDog]

Is the newer Road of Kings map available electronically ?

thanks,

Mad Dog

[VincentDarlage]

[MadDog]

Thanks, Vincent.

Mad Dog