Introduction

Brochfael, the Madde Mage’s demon army came screaming over the hill and descended on Frostmine. People rushed in confusion to gather their children and hide, but the miners, stout men and women, who had spent their days toiling in the mine weren’t going to let their work be destroyed. The demons came in hot and took the early advantage but the miners under the leadership of Wærmund rallied and pushed the demons back towards the mountains. With their chance of escape rapidly diminishing many of the demons broke ranks and retreated to the south. The ones that were left fighting were easily cut down with various mining tools by Wærmund and his cohort of miners.

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Above is an entry from Famous Battles of Allelonde by Noll Wilkin, a historian from Ashbourne College. Of course there is no such book nor any such battle (I know it is shocking that miners don’t really fight demon armies). This is an entry I made while playing Mappa Imperium. Mappa Imperium is a worldbuilding game which leads you through the creation to the potential collapse of any number of factions.

First published in 2021 by Nookrium, Mappa Imperium can be played solo or with friends. I’m not sure how it got on my radar. It is around and I’ve seen it brought up on various worldbuilding lists and solo lists. I believe I got it in a Bundle of Holding at one point and then forgot about it until my moon challenge to play four games this month that I already owned.

I’m going to talk about this game from a solo gameplay perspective. I would love to pay it as part of a Session 0 before a big campaign with friends, as it would ensure that everyone had some stake in the lore of the world you were playing in. As a solo player I’m thinking about transferring my two Ironsworn characters over to the world I’m creating with Mappa Imperium.

It is a super easy system to run. You need at least 3 6-sided dice. The game works by rolling on a table and interpreting the results in relation to the faction you are playing. At the same time that you are developing the faction, its history, and its locales. You are building and labeling a map to go with the world that is being created.

I used Wonderdraft for my map building because it was something that I already used, but paper would work great, or any program that allows you to draw and label things. I played the game twice. The first time I played I went through it fairly quickly. I played 3 factions on a fairly small map and they ended up having a lot of interaction with each other and the other minor factions which developed over time. I didn’t keep the greatest notes the first time I played it, as I was only thinking about the final outcome of the map. But the second time I played, I made the biggest map I can on Wonderdraft, ran with 4 factions, and have been keeping journal entries for everything. This way I have much more detailed histories and stories behind everything which happens.

Finally, the other thing that I did slightly differently than the rules as written, was I heavily borrowed from my previous worlds I had run games in. For example, the pantheon (which Mappa Imperium helps you create) I took from the pantheon I’ve developed in the past and used a number of place names and other features that I’ve been working on over the years.

Gameplay Summary

The game is broken into 6 “Ages” starting with Age of Creation and ending with the Age of Collapse. These ages provide a timeline and thematic structure around what things happen at various times in your faction’s history. For example, one of the middle ages is the Age of Discovery. During the Age of Discovery most of the prompts rolled on the table are related to growing your faction or discovering new things in the world around your faction. While in the next age, the Age of Empires, there are more clashes and challenges related to a faction once it has grown and somewhat solidified itself.

As I mentioned above the game play is simple. Each age has different tables and the factions take turns rolling on that ages table and playing out the results. My first game, when I didn’t take a lot of notes, was maybe 2-3 total. I didn’t play it all in one sitting so I’m not totally sure. My second game, the bigger, more detailed one, is already into the 2-3 mark and I’m not even halfway through the game.

Pros and Cons

Pros. With a fairly straightforward and easy to run system you can end up with a nicely detailed and developed world to play your games in. And if you take the time to really write out each event, then you will end up with a much more developed world. It also has you think through some things which I don’t feel that I usually think through when making a new world. For example, one of the early things you do is place locations sacred to gods in your pantheon and to place locations for resources of note. In both games I’ve played I’ve found that my factions want to move toward those locations and have them under their influence sooner rather than later. This creates towns, temples, and military locations which have a clear purpose other than it is a town… in a country… over there.

Cons. As it comes out of the box, it is fairly simple and because of that there really isn’t a lot of game play, per say. As a solo game it is great for creating a new world and developing the backstory of those who populate it, but there isn’t any real strategic thinking or game play to think through. So the game really runs on a straight line, which I would say in some ways is a pro and in others a con. If you are looking for a world building game where you are running factions with more strategic movement or political machinations then another game would suit you better.

Who It’s For

If you’ve never created a world from scratch to play a game in, this is a great way to get you started and to help you think through various aspects of it. If you are looking for inspiration for a new world to play in this is a fun way and easy way to bang out a world with numerous plot hooks already baked into it. Finally, if you are about to start a new campaign with friends this would be a fairly easy and fun way to allow everyone input into the world they are going to play in and help them to have some more buy in.

Closing Thoughts

Ultimately, I really liked running through this game. In fact, I did it twice over a few weeks. That said, I’m not sure how much I’ll come back to it. Maybe down the road, if I’m starting a new campaign or if I’m playing a new fantasy game and want to play in a different world. But as someone who really likes to use and develop a few things over time, I’m generally someone who will keep the same characters and world and play in them through a number of different systems. So I suspect I’ll keep the world I’m creating now for a while and watch it develop and grow as I play in it.

But let’s see. Next year, if I’m still doing this blog, I’ll provide an update about where my world is at, how much I’ve played in it, and how well Mappa Imperium has done to give the world longevity.