Do you create a "story" for your maps?

[Gamerprinter]

I usually think up the story before a map, but often just the inklings of a story. Making the map often becomes its own brainstorming session, because I'll often come up with new ideas as I map, and include things I never thought of prior to starting the map. I think of agendas and social networks, the people involved and the potential story to grow out of a mapping session.

[Edelweiss]

For the novel I'm writing, I looked at a globe for potential areas to write the story into. Initially the setting was based around Ulaanbaatar and southern Mongolia but over time it moved down south into China. Now I've got the setting and story line prepared I've done plenty of rough maps to give the world design some meat, basically so I know what's going on and where in the world.

[NedS298]

That's an interesting response, and I certainly agree that sometime's it's difficult to achieve the necessary feel - I also have a lot of projects in the "too hard" basket. Either way, it's very similar to my own working methods.