This reminds me of when Ultima Underworld first came out in 1992, and it came with a map of the first level printed on a piece of fabric, and it looked hand-drawn. I was 13, and I have never played a complicated adventure game like that before, so it was extremely extremely helpful in figuring out how the game worked and how to visualize the levels of the game moving forward. Plus, as the character had a map just like that one, it really helped with the immersion.

Considering that, 34 years later, it is still resonating this strongly in my memory, I’m definitely in favor of maps being included in fantasy stories.