A couple years ago I had developed a big Pandemic board game style inspired classroom game called Echoes of the Past. The game worked well from individual class review but the inter-class collaboration fell flat. I had envisioned each of my 6 classes working together to defeat the time zombies but after a month or so the students stopped playing the way I had envisioned mostly because it was too complex and communication was too difficult. I ended up adjusting in the 2nd half of the year just as the actual COVID Pandemic was hitting. One of my favorite pieces of the game though was the giant 8×6 foot game board on the wall.

The map was created using the Azgaar Fantasy Map Generator. I warn you this website is a time vampire so enter carefully. The site has layers upon layers of customization possibilities. It is highly recommended. I checked in with the website for an idea I had for next year and immediately lost 2 hours after school

The latest version of the website offers not only the standard map which is EXTREMELY detailed and makes fantastic 2D posters but it now also offers a “glode” AND 3D mapping. What is more interesting is that the 3D map can also be downloaded as a 3D .obj model. That means that the map can be uploaded to CAD programs and other 3D modeling software. And this means that with just the basic downloaded model I was able to quickly 3D print the fantasy map in just over 6 hours in high detail!

Ooooohhhh the possibilities.

My printer will print a maximum size of about 140mm but I can upload the map to some CAD programs and create chunks that I can the join together so a decent sized 3D map is a possibility. A visual representation, possible painted and labeled, with the size and scale of the 2D map might make for some interesting game play dynamics. Students could feel the caves heading to a dungeon, be tempted to cross the ocean rather than pass through an inhabited land, or take the mountain pass instead of the glacier.

Even if it doesn’t pan out this is a super fun thing to play with and I hope you all have a chance to check it out!