Welcome, atpollard. Yes, while a map is a map, a different map might be said to be.... different :-). Style matters, at least in our enjoyment of them, and certain time periods or genres do imply certain styles. Though I'm imagining a competition focused on intentionally using the "wrong" cues on a map - "here be dragons" and hand-lettered florid script... on a gas station state map. Laser-etched marble depiction... of a stellar survey. Rand McNally Atlas sheets... of the Realm Of Orkish Mayhem. Thank you for prompting me - that's a fun thought to entertain.

Fantasy is most usual hereabouts, but that is sometimes expressed as a modern-ish map of an imagined place. The worlds I most often depict are either current-Earth-equivalent, or similar to Earth of the 1940-1950 timespan. Mind you, I then sometimes do historic maps of that world's synthetic history. I haven't gotten into mapping ITS mythology ... yet :-).

So - what era or style are you drawn :-) to?