Mapping cliches

[ThoseAnimeTimez]

I think most fantasy worlds have too much in common with how real life history developed. For instance, a world with magic cannot possibly have the same techological and scientific breakthroughs that we have had. How does this affect city planning? military planning? cartography? etc.

Graphically, the mountains, forests and villages have a very marked way of being done. The burned paper is a cliche too.

It's like someone said here,, we project what we know into what we don't know. But for what we don't know we must think completely different things.

[NedS298]

I completely agree; however, I think that people need to project what they know into what they don't. Art says something about the truth, and cartography must therefore contain its own truths as well as original aspects

[Ghostman]

Graphically, the mountains, forests and villages have a very marked way of being done.

Those elements are not just decoration, they serve a function and thus should be easily recognizable. Conforming to well established conventions makes recognition of the map symbols much faster and more certain, so it is no wonder that many maps follow such conventions. That should not be considered cliche.

[NedS298]

I completely agree with Ghostman