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Crow
2008-09-23, 02:09 PM
I am posting up my big hand-drawn homebrew map, just in case anybody needs one for their game. Many of the names are blatently ripped-off from other sources, but it should still be generic enough that a lot of DM's can find some use from it.

http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/7301/fullmapog1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Enlong
2008-09-23, 02:24 PM
Maaaan, now you've got me feeling all inadequate.
I tried to draw a map for my campaign world, but right now all I've managed to draw has been a giant desert and an other continent, and... it kind of is shaped like Africa?

OHMYGOSH I'M SUCH A HACK!

Great map, now I need to find out the secret of your success.

Crow
2008-09-23, 02:29 PM
Here you go. (http://www.fantasymaps.com/101/)

Hawriel
2008-09-23, 03:29 PM
Great map Crow. I do feel inadequate when it come to map making. I have that problem of the perfect being the enemy of the good. Hell I just want to make a map of a 500 population village and I cant get passed the main road and the location of the lords keep.

bosssmiley
2008-09-23, 03:33 PM
:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

You rock Crow!

I love the little "Here be dragons!", "Beware hags!" and such. Heck, you've even got the medieval cartographer's staple of a deadly sea monster in there. Doubleplusgood. :smallcool:

Kol Korran
2008-09-23, 03:36 PM
impressive indeed! thanks for sharing! seems like a map especially fit for adventure and exploration, whihc is the number 1 goal in my book! good job!

Johel
2008-09-23, 03:40 PM
Speaking of that, does anybody have a link for a free software with which I could design a map AND THE RELIEF of this map in a realistic fashion ?

I mean a software which could generate tectonic effects to get a realistic world, so I would just have to set the climate and the cities. I searched but all what I got was either too complex to use or not free.

I'm just searching for a draw-and-watch software : draw a line for your continental divide, set up a few parameters and watch the computer do the calculations for the mountains and likes.

Yakk
2008-09-23, 04:41 PM
Use a tectonics map generator for civilization 4. ;-)

Even better, you can jump over to world builder, seed civilizations in the density you want, and then use an AI-autoplay mod to advance the game up a few 100 turns, and generate a political map to base ideas off of. ;)

But no, it isn't draw-and-watch.

TheThan
2008-09-23, 05:07 PM
:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

You rock Crow!

I love the little "Here be dragons!", "Beware hags!" and such. Heck, you've even got the medieval cartographer's staple of a deadly sea monster in there. Doubleplusgood. :smallcool:

Yeah it’s really great. Although knowing this is a fantasy world, there probably really are deadly sea monsters out there. I’m making a full color one in photoshop, it’s looking good. If I finish it in short order, I might post it here.

You know we really should have a “fantasy map thread” for posting maps for people to use and to get feedback on. Maybe we could put it in arts and crafts?

Crow
2008-09-24, 02:56 AM
You know we really should have a “fantasy map thread” for posting maps for people to use and to get feedback on. Maybe we could put it in arts and crafts?

That's not a bad idea. I won't be the one to start it though as I don't even know where the arts and crafts section is!

Dode
2008-09-24, 02:58 AM
oldschool, could see it included in a 1E adventure pack

Thurbane
2008-09-24, 09:11 PM
I also feel I just have to say: wow! :smallcool:

Asbestos
2008-09-24, 09:40 PM
The poor people of Yur will be the first to go when the Tarrasque awakens :smallfrown:

Seriously though, awesome job. How long did that all take?

Crow
2008-09-25, 02:45 PM
The poor people of Yur will be the first to go when the Tarrasque awakens :smallfrown:

Seriously though, awesome job. How long did that all take?

"The Tarrasque? Oh that's just an old wive's tale..." :smallwink:

It usually takes about 2 or 3 hours from rough draft to final for each 8" by 11" page. This map used 6 pages. I usually work in little half-hour bursts once every couple of days. Our campaign started with just the upper-left portion, then I made the rest except for the lower left, which was labeled "unexplored lands", until I finished it recently. I may expand it another page to the east or south in the future.

valadil
2008-09-25, 02:59 PM
Whoa nice. That makes me want to take another stab at worldbuilding.

Nohwl
2008-09-25, 03:29 PM
i might have to use some of the names. i hate coming up with names for places and i dont feel like looking up any.

Mr.Bookworm
2008-09-25, 03:37 PM
That's cool. I wish I could draw maps half-so-well.

Think you could make a wallpaper of that?

Mephibosheth
2008-09-25, 04:15 PM
I want add my "well dones" to Crow. That is a great map. I'd really like to see a final version with the graph paper lines eliminated and maybe the rest of the Northlands displayed. Looks like you could play a lot of good games in that world.

Are we posting maps for critique/comment here? If so, I'd appreciate some input on this map (http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h197/Mephibosheth85/Maps/PhysicalMap.png). It's not nearly as large, exhaustive, or fanciful as the illustrius OP's map, but I'm fairly happy with it, especially for a first attempt. The idea was to draw a small "continent" created when a catastrophic flood submerged all land masses except for this, the world's equivalent of the Tibetan Plateau.

What do you think? I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Mephibosheth

Kizara
2008-09-25, 04:33 PM
While not fantastic, that map is solid.

Nicely done.

Certinally makes my hastily-scrawled reference maps look like the crap that they are.

AstralFire
2008-09-25, 04:38 PM
Self-inadequacy exposing thread is self-inadequacy exposing. :smalleek:

Crow
2008-09-25, 04:53 PM
Are we posting maps for critique/comment here? If so, I'd appreciate some input on this map (http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h197/Mephibosheth85/Maps/PhysicalMap.png). It's not nearly as large, exhaustive, or fanciful as the illustrius OP's map, but I'm fairly happy with it, especially for a first attempt. The idea was to draw a small "continent" created when a catastrophic flood submerged all land masses except for this, the world's equivalent of the Tibetan Plateau.

What do you think? I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Mephibosheth

I think it looks pretty good. Anything in full-color is always nice. Do you have an plans for a blown-up/more detailed version in the future?

Mephibosheth
2008-09-25, 05:46 PM
I think it looks pretty good. Anything in full-color is always nice. Do you have an plans for a blown-up/more detailed version in the future?

To be honest, it's part of a campaign setting that, story-wise, kinda requires the continent to remain small and the rest of the world ambiguous. I probably will do blown-up regional maps (different regions of this small continent will be very important, both rules-wise and story-wise), but I haven't started on that yet.

Edit: I have, however, done a racial/cultural map (http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h197/Mephibosheth85/Maps/PoliticalMap.png) and a regional (http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h197/Mephibosheth85/Maps/RegionalMap.png) map, just to give a better idea of the continent.

jcsw
2008-09-26, 05:29 AM
Another fun way of making maps is to make them with photoshop: Start with a parchmenty layer and add the water color, followed by a land-brush. With this you can get a basic shape of the land.

If you're ambitious (unlike me) from there brush on the different colors for terrain types, then find some stock images of map legends to put in...

A map I made for a campaign (It was an archipelagic campaign, so they weren't supposed to know what to expect on each island anyway, thus there's no detail. Also I was lazy.)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/2889833910_7ea500a273_o.jpg

Crow
2008-09-26, 12:44 PM
That's a pretty cool map, dude. I love that wooden table background. Is that parchment an effect? Or an image or something that you drew over?

The only servicable map I was able to make digitally was one I made using campaign cartographer, but mine looked generic and dull.

jcsw
2008-09-26, 01:01 PM
Both the wood and the parchment are stock photos (Photos which are specifically made for purposes such as photomanipulation and stuff like this, in case you don't know what it means)

They're just color corrected and tweaked to look like that. The parchment was originally beige, like normal parchment.