Maps during similar periods of Earth history have been laughably inaccurate, so we assume that Faerunian cartographers are offering “best estimate” distances.

Hard disagree on this as a gauge, they have access to magic that can answer universal truths. If a cartographer or merchant of that time period had the access to those answers they’d’ve been uses then too. You can cast a spell as simple as Message (with a known max distance) along with Find Familiar to measure distances as you document, and you have wizard researchers that have access to Wish (or clerics that talk to gods) for creating fixed, atomically precise, measuring tools.

I don’t disagree with the rest of your post but this addition really weakens your argument because they have so many more resources in the setting.

Edit: oops this was meant to reply to one you your other replies

Now that the “official” stuff is out of the way, here are some things to consider:

Maps during similar periods of Earth history have been laughably inaccurate, so we assume that Faerunian cartographers are offering “best estimate” distances. This is supported by real-world evidence. As this enterprising gamer has noted in detail, changes to maps distances have been substantial. Between the old Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas and the official 5E map, distances are often off by up to 20 miles; it even puts BG as around 17 miles north of the Chionthar!

It goes without saying, but take these map as aids, not as a hard and fast requirement for your own campaign.

So… fudge the distances if you need to; these maps are off by nearly 20 miles in some places! Elturel is 15 miles further east on this old map versus the newer map, for example, and there’s a similar distance discrepancy between Trollclaw and Baldur’s Gate. So… there’s wiggle room, even if you’re trying to be ‘official.’

For me, I prefer to place Moonrise 15-17 miles west of the Grove. Having it a mere 7 miles away seems a bit too close.

The Grove being 21 miles east of Elturel DOES make sense and is consistent with my original estimates (the 200 miles here is very close to the 200 “by river” I measured before) ; that’s between a day and a day and a half of travel on trails through mountainous terrain.

Trying to reconcile the maps of BG1, BG2, BG3 and the actual map of Faerun in the books seems impossible.

TL;DR:

Elturel = 215 miles east of Baldur’s Gate
The Grove = 200 Miles East of Baldur’s Gate
Moonrise / Reithwin = 193 Miles East of Baldur’s Gate

As noted in my last post, my partner and I have been trying to pinpoint the locations in Baldur’s Gate 3 on the Sword Coast map.

Larian, in their Gameplay Demo, revealed two vital bits of information. First, that the nautiloid crash site was on the Chionthar and second, that it was approximately 200 miles east of Baldur’s Gate. The Blighted Village, Goblin Camp, and everything else should be relatively close (within 5-10 miles) of The Grove. In-game text suggests that The Blighted Village, Moonhaven, is on the border of the lands controlled by Elturel, but where that border is or what it means is squishy.

Moonrise was more difficult. The only out-of-game reference to Moonrise was in an old adventure, and the only map we could find with Moonrise definitively mapped was in the old Forgotten Realms Interactive Access mapping tool. We got our hands on a copy and proceeded to measure distances. The results are available above.

Caveat: The maps of the Sword Coast have changed over time. Sometimes, TSR / Wizards changes distances dramatically, so this estimate is only that. Take this with a grain of salt / as a fun project we undertook to better understand how in-game locations meshed with Sword Coast locations.

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