# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Sci-fi/Modern Mapping >  Maps Of The Heroverse

## Arkkeeper

So recently I've been in a Modern Fiction Mood so I decided to get working again  on my Heroverse.

For those of you who don't know I have three major projects of mine one of which is Heroverse.
Heroverse I plan on being a series of book for late teens and a series of mature comics, its a story set in a world where superheros (referred to as Supers from henceforth) have always existed, With this story I attempt to create a Believable Super World, where the Super's are actually part of the world not just something that feels tacked on, if you know what I mean. 
The World is also set a little bit into the future which means that all that advanced Super Technology is actually plausible

Now Of course I must work on a map but I don't know what I want to do. I've made my choices:

Real World, Real Names: This Earth with the real names for everything, but still slightly changed history and etc. i.e. Marvel style

Real World, Fictional Names: This Earth with fictional names for everything i.e. DC-Like

Fictional World: Fictional Earth with Countries and stuff thats equivalent to real world countries and names. i.e. Ace Combat Earth

Other: Your Own Opinion

So I have decided to make a poll so I can see what potential readers would like most. Also if you have any comments please post them. I'll post updates on the maps as well here.

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## jfrazierjr

I voted for Other which in reality is a combination of 1 and 3.   My thought is that if supers have been around for hundreds/thousands of years (assuming inherent ability in some at least), then history can be drastically changed.  A few ideas:

Napoleon was not defeated by Russia at WaterlooAztec/Incan/Mayan culture took over the western world and Europeans could not ever get a footholdGermany and Japan won WW II and then turned on each other.The confederates won the civil warSpain was the dominate military power during the 1700-1900'setc..

The availability of supers could drastically change the course of history, including the founding or not of towns, cities, and even nations.

Joe

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## rpgmapmaker

I voted for *#1* but totally agree with jfrazierjr... you can use real names/places but shift the "truth" of the world we know however you like... this will give people a point of reference in "reality" that will springboard them into your world. 

Making up names/places will make it harder for some people to get into "the mood"... as completely fictional worlds have a slightly smaller audience.

Just my 2 cents...




> Aztec/Incan/Mayan culture took over the western world and Europeans could not ever get a footholdThe confederates won the civil war
> Joe


These are two of my favorite "what if" scenarios

-Chris

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## Arkkeeper

First off thanx for voteing secondly I must explain, by fictional world I ment totally different Continents and stuff, but countries of equivalence, also with history I don't want to change it too much because I figured the Supers are going to be pretty evenly spread out. Achilles was a Super, but Paris still defeats him by shooting him in the heel where his Immortality had no effect. 

And the fictional names was like Gotham City in DC is New York City, and Metropolis is a bigger version of Jersey City.

Also I thought I should tell people a little bit about how I make it more real.

Not Every Super is a Hero: just because you have a power doesn't mean you won't presue your dream as an actor or something. In my world, Mozart was a Super, he was a Audiopath, which means he could make sounds with his mind, this allowed him to compose such beautiful work so young. someone with Medical Abilities (i.e. see the medical problem in someone) might become a doctor. 

Oh man I guess I'll start posting my stuff on plot storming.

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## Talroth

> I voted for Other which in reality is a combination of 1 and 3.   My thought is that if supers have been around for hundreds/thousands of years (assuming inherent ability in some at least), then history can be drastically changed.  A few ideas:
> 
> Napoleon was not defeated by Russia at WaterlooAztec/Incan/Mayan culture took over the western world and Europeans could not ever get a footholdGermany and Japan won WW II and then turned on each other.The confederates won the civil warSpain was the dominate military power during the 1700-1900'setc..
> 
> The availability of supers could drastically change the course of history, including the founding or not of towns, cities, and even nations.
> 
> Joe


I too like this concept, use changes as small or large as you want for your world, make things interesting.

Oh, and it has been awhile since I read about the Battle of Waterloo,... But I'm fairly sure Russia didn't beat Napoleon at that battle.  :Razz:  the *P*russians did, with the help of several other armies.

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## Arkkeeper

Yeah we did. Prussians I mean, Because my family's from the Prussia area.

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## RPMiller

You sir have come to the right place. Well sort of. There are better places for discussing this, but you at least have the eye of someone that is very much into all things superheroes. That would be me.  :Very Happy: 

My RPG of choice is the Hero System in fact, and you would be hard pressed to find a better system for handling Supers. Yes, M&M is great as well, and there is constant discussion comparing the two so lets not go there.  :Wink: 

Anyway, to address the question at hand, you've stated that history won't really be affected very much because of even distribution of the supers. Assuming that we are sticking with Earth as is, that doesn't mean that there would have been some changes here and there to the physical geography. The question really should be just how powerful are the supers? If supers range through the cosmic power range, than there is no reason that Moses (a powerful telekinetic) couldn't have diverted rivers, pushed down mountain ranges or widened rifts.

Personally the whole alternate history thing has become so common these days that it really isn't unique anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love alternate histories, but they can get a bit forced some times. I think your idea of having very few changes to outcomes of wars and such is actually more unique and certainly easier to write about as you can easily do cause and effects with the super interactions just maintaining the status quo.

I'll be watching this thread with great interest.  :Wink:

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## Arkkeeper

Crap everyone like real world names, that throws my entire Allied Shires Of America out the window and New Gotham. Let me reiterate that the purpose of the alternate names is because my New York City IS NOT going to look like the New York City of the Real World, the world though set in the 2020's is in a pseudo-80's mixed with 30's 50's and 60's Art Deco. Think about it, a New York with Giant Art Deco Buildings and Hologram Ads of Rocket Dog Shoes with Muzak playing in the background. and a Super fly's by wearing stud covered leather jacket and Plated Cargo Pants.

RPMiller, Are you on Plot Storming?

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## RPMiller

Well it is your world...  :Wink: 

Have you ever read the Watchmen or Astro City? If you haven't, you need to run, right now, without delay, to the book store and buy the Watchmen graphic novel and look for any and all Astro City material you can find. Both of these are considered the quintessential settings of what the world would be like with supers are more than just a set of powers. Watchmen only has one real super powered individual. The others are basically normals with lots of training. Astro City is more four color but treats supers as more of a side story than the primary focus.

Anyway, I think you should go with what you think works best for your setting. That is the problem with writing by committee; you don't always get the best story for one's setting. If you do the whole thing, setting, plots, characters, etc by committee you can get some real cool stories. Which brings me to the other series that is a must read, and I would even put it before the aforementioned ones - Wild Cards. If you haven't read the Wild Cards series that is another huge asset. Supers come into existence shortly after WWII though so their impact isn't felt until after that period.

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## Arkkeeper

I have not read I have no money for comics and unfortunately there is none in my fathers MASSIVE COMIC COLLECTION. I have one of the books of Wild Cards and plan on reading sometime. I am looking foreward to the Watchman movie, and I just would like to ask again, RPMiller Are you on Plot Storming because as soon as I get on there I'm going to post my stuff I got for Heroverse.

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## RPMiller

I have a membership at Plot Storming, but the last time I was over there I didn't see anything in the genres that I'm interested in. Please post a link to your stuff once you get it up over there though and I will certainly check it out.

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## delgondahntelius

I took #1 ... I've always found the attraction of comics and superhero's comes from the fact that this "could" be the world we live in kinda view.... Supers are really what we want to be deep down inside... who wouldn't want Powers like Magneto or to be Tony Stark, billionaire (oh.. and I guess Ironman is a bonus  :Very Happy:  ) how many relate to the Dark Knight .... a vigilante crime fighter who runs around and says "I'm Batman" ... so real world settings merely make this surreal world a bit more like..."Hey ... it could happen... " ... 

I dunno... maybe I'm way off.. but that's my vote

** oh... and the coolest power of all... The ability to see the weakness in anything ...a plan, a building, a person .... (Inhumans rock)

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## Arkkeeper

Exactly Batman in Gotham City.

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## delgondahntelius

I've always pictured Gotham City to something like Seattle ... I dunno why ... maybe the grunge scene back around 92-93 with Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam that did it for me... Or ... Chicago would work for me as well.... and Detroit .... todays detroit... that could be a batman begins gotham.... easily.... especially after Arkam's Inmates escaped...  :Very Happy:

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## RPMiller

Both Gotham and Metropolis get equated to a lot of different cities but the basic beginning was Gotham was New York (Manhattan) and Metropolis was Chicago but its skyline was Toronto. Of course per standard DC modus operandi both of these have changed several times over the years and even moved around.

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## Turgenev

I've heard Metropolis described as New York during the day and Gotham is New York at night. I have always been a sucker for DC's fictional cities. Opal City in Starman. Star City in Green Arrow. Central City in the Flash. Gotham in Batman. If done right, the city becomes a character in its own right.

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## Turgenev

I voted other because I usually like a combination of 1 & 2. Real world analog but with fictional elements. Basically a mix of both and not a one or the other situation. Alternate realities can be fun also. I once started work on an alternate WWII Supers universe where the first Supers team was created by the Nazis and the Allies were forced to stop them (first a Commonwealth team and later the Americans would join the war effort).

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## delgondahntelius

Captain America ROCKS!!!! .. I can't wait for that film to get here .... only 3 more years!!! .... I wonder who they will get to play Steve Rogers ... If John Cena is cast I will have to assassinate him so he doesn't completely ruin the character.... and if Matt Damon gets it I'll know that there truly isn't any justice in this world ....

Any of the good actors I wold have picked are getting too old for the role ... 

But Incredible Hulk features the super soldier serum .... (hence Red Hulk Roth) 

Hey ... maybe they'll give the roll to Shia La Bouf ... lol...

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## Arkkeeper

okayyy.....

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## RobA

> Wild Cards. If you haven't read the Wild Cards series that is another huge asset. Supers come into existence shortly after WWII though so their impact isn't felt until after that period.


I read the first few when they came out and just couldn't get enough.  (like the extended card metaphor.... Jokers, etc.)

-Rob A>

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## Arkkeeper

There is a beautiful map in Superman Returns on Lex's Yacht. if you pause the scene just right and zoom in you can see the relative positions of Gotham and Metropolis are New York and Jersey City. Gotham is the more sprawling one but Metropolis is the more advanced one. The fictional cities is what #2 is so everybody is reading #2 wrong

edit: Okay guess what I found: Atlas of The DC Universe apparently based on their research New York City still exists in DC-verse, Gotham is apparently located in the far south of New Jersey (which makes sense, Gotham is much more Jersey-like anyways) and Metropolis is in the far south of Delaware (Strange place but okay) unfortunately the map is a bit hard to read and there is now mention of some of the newer stuff like Bludhaven (One of my fav cities)

edit 2: and just for bonus, a map of Gotham

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## RPMiller

> Captain America ROCKS!!!! .. I can't wait for that film to get here .... only 3 more years!!! .... I wonder who they will get to play Steve Rogers ... If John Cena is cast I will have to assassinate him so he doesn't completely ruin the character.... and if Matt Damon gets it I'll know that there truly isn't any justice in this world ....
> 
> Any of the good actors I wold have picked are getting too old for the role ... 
> 
> But Incredible Hulk features the super soldier serum .... (hence Red Hulk Roth) 
> 
> Hey ... maybe they'll give the roll to Shia La Bouf ... lol...


There has actually been some talk about getting Matthew McConaughey for the role, but nothing firm yet.




> I read the first few when they came out and just couldn't get enough.  (like the extended card metaphor.... Jokers, etc.)


I'm actually rereading the series right now as I was given a couple books from the newest series and wanted to go back and reread them from the beginning. I should be done sometime next year I think. LOL




> There is a beautiful map in Superman Returns on Lex's Yacht. if you pause the scene just right and zoom in you can see the relative positions of Gotham and Metropolis are New York and Jersey City. Gotham is the more sprawling one but Metropolis is the more advanced one. The fictional cities is what #2 is so everybody is reading #2 wrong


Check out Wikipedia entries for Gotham and Metropolis. It breaks down their locations and current "official" status of each.

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## Arkkeeper

Okay RPMiller, I think I'll just call ya Miller... or RP, I answered your question on Plot Storming, thanx about the Matla Particles, they are my answer to how does superpowers actually work. and um if you noticed I edited my last post

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## RPMiller

You can call me RP.  :Smile:  Thanks for those links to the maps! Very on topic.  :Wink:  :Very Happy:

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## Arkkeeper

well in general this topic might just become a topic for Superhero maps and discussing them and such. revolved around my world of course, I think I'm going with real world just because it's more familiar but making some slight changes so when I make it I'll post my world map and then I'll start doing regional and city maps.

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## RPMiller

Sounds great! I think you are on the right track.

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## Arkkeeper

Silva State is a large stretch of water just outside of the North American Basin, Silva Island, the largest in the chain, lies about 750 miles off the coast. It is an island somewhat smaller the the city of Tokyo. The entire island is covered in city, making Silva City the second largest in the world in land area. It is noted however that Silva City was the first metropolis to begin developing multi-leveled  Construction and is the most developed, and all but the suburban sub-city is made up of skyscrapers. So technically Silva City is the largest city in urban mass and population. The other islands are very small and are almost completely undeveloped, they are unique however in that they are climatically controlled with each individual island a different life zone. Silva Island is connected directly to New York City by way of Bullet Train, which runs underneath the ocean all the way from Grand Central Station to Silva Station, making it the first Oceanic Train ever to be built.

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