Map Key standards

[Falconius]

Hi all, I’m making a map for an RPG, and I’m wondering if there are any standards for numbering a map key. Should lower numbers be in a particular location (central, NW, etc), be more important places, capital cities, most populated places, etc?

I think that numbers should be easy to find, meaning that they should follow in a sequential manner around the map from where ever they start. In other words if number 1 is in the top left corner number 2 shouldn't be in the the bottom left. That said unless you for some reason want to obscure information (for instance in a dungeon you don't want players to know immediately what's there), or you are linking to a fair amount of information that can't be represented pictorially in the map, or symbolically, I think it's better to just put it on the map. Looking up numbers is a distraction generally, it breaks the flow of reading the map.