Map Review Request
Could cartographer-type peeps give me some feedback on this map that I have been working on? I am especially looking for help with:
* Where does it make sense for the capital city to be located?
* What features don’t make sense?
* What features are surprisingly not there?
* Does it look about right that one hex would be 1-days worth of rations (when traveling)?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5hpV5nsxkrgR192TF9VbTZuU1E/edit?usp=sharing
I think you put this in the wrong community by accident.
I am planning to use the map for a Dungeon World campaign. I was trying to make sure to leave blanks while still having enough detail.
not sure if it could help, but there is a Community about map tutorials
https://plus.google.com/communities/109383565847958043404
And a G+ account I’d have found very useful, if only I was a little less lasy than I am…
https://plus.google.com/+Fantasticmaps/posts
I see. Looks alright to me, though I’m not at all skilled in that area. If your players point out any inconsistencies, turn it back on them: “I don’t know, why is it like that?”
I think it looks great. I would put the capitol towards the top with the mountains on one side and maybe and outpost on the island. What program did you use to draw this with, I like the look.
I would put the capital in that pocket among the mountains where the rivers meet. It’s well-defended, and has access to plenty of waterways for trade. Probably a river valley is the easiest (or only practical) way through the mountains to the ocean up north.
Not sure how much sense it makes for there to be no land in between the mountains and the northern sea, but I am inclined to say that having more space there for cut-off and possibly menacing societies to spring up would be a Good Thing.
I assume you’re leaving “biomes” like forests and deserts for your players to put together? It looks pretty solid, anyway. Very pretty!
@Paul, I scanned in a map I hand drew
I got the mountains from this forum post: http://www.cartographersguild.com/tutorials-how/5664-%5Baward-winner%5D-hand-drawn-mtns-other-stylistic-map-elements-use-ps-gimp.html
I followed the instructions on this post to make it look cool using Gimp: http://www.cartographersguild.com/tutorials-how/15011-antique-style-maps-gimp.html
@James, thanks for the feedback.
Jay, What sort of climate are we talking here? To me, the geography up north is very similar to New Zealand’s South Island, and would be a great ‘skeleton coast’ of wild beaches and heavily forested fiords that cleave into those young mountains.
The mountains look like the spine of a creature, its head toward the east. So cool!
I really like the map. I hex per ration sounds like a good start 🙂
Capitals are usually in easily defensible / high resource / good trade routes. So I would lean toward a river side harbour capital at the end of that deep bay toward the Eastern side of the map. Where one of those rivers empties into the sea.
Thanks Nathan, I will add a bunch of forests cleaving to the mountains. I like the idea of the capital at the end of the deep bay.