Drawing maps LOTR and then some
The value of making your own maps is in the 'doing' rather than the having. The time I spent carefully studying each area and charater is invaluble to me. I found the fantasy of my mapping skills and uses for a finished work far exceeded reality. Unless you're a really good artist, which i'm not, the finished piece will not be useful as you dreamed it might be. This is especially true with expert works available today such as The Atlas of Middle Earth by Karen Fonstad. This, with the 50th Anniversary Edition, and online search engines, etc - the uselessness of my amature work grows. But what I learned in making it is built upon. So doing, is greater than having. I would not post my maps online - I'm just not that good. Far better and more accurate maps are available. It's like high school class notes, useful at the time, but once the knowledge is learned, the notes are thrown away.
You could 'game' with it, but do you need to do that much work to have a game? There is a fine line between studying and gaming and study-gaming. You can game with very simple maps and still learn a great deal, or just have fun. I recently put alot of thought comparing students of Tolkien and general gamers. They overlap but can be distinctly different. But I'm digressing.
