Not wanting any of its Elder Scrolls: Skyrim players to miss out on all of the fantastic content they have packed into the game, Bethesda Softworks has announced a much more tangible bonus for pre-orders of their upcoming RPG.

Much like titles with sprawling open worlds are wont to do, Bethesda has decided to include a real-life map of the Skyrim world with every copy that is pre-ordered from various retailers. It might not seem like a necessity, considering the game features handy guidance tools, but with 150 different dungeons to choose from, you might need it.

But this map that comes with the game isn’t your standard version that players might be accustomed to receiving with any of Rockstar’s various sandbox titles. This is a “premium” map that is printed on a material that Bethesda says is similar to burlap — making the experience of handling the map feel much more authentic.

Don’t worry fans who don’t have the money to pre-order though, as Bethesda has also revealed that the aforementioned standard paper map will come packaged with every version of Elder Scrolls: Skyrim regardless of pre-order.

After sitting in on a small demo of Skyrim at this year’s E3, it’s easy to see why a player might find necessity in keeping a game map with them at all times. Not only is the world expansive, but the ability to travel anywhere will most likely lead to tons of players getting lost.

Of course this doesn’t mean that pre-ordering the game entitles you to a map while others will be left in the cold, it just gives you a much better looking and feeling map. Fans of the Elder Scrolls, or RPGs in general, are most definitely going to be picking Skyrim up anyway — so why not pick up a pretty nifty trinket as a bonus?

Will you be pre-ordering Elder Scrolls: Skyrim in order to pick up this premium map? Would you have preferred the developer offer in game content rather than a map?

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim releases November 11, 2011 on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Source: Bethesda Blog