Discussion: The World

[Ishmayl-Retired]

where's the code?

[daggerhart]

i meant the random seed and the itterations and such...

that program can make it in a globe image, and a few other things.. just thought it wcould be useful to re-produce the maps you make.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Okay, here are eight maps I was able to create that I think all have a pretty good feel to them.  Maps B and F are my favorites, and I'll talk about them a bit later after I've run some errands.

Map A


Map B


Map C


Map D


Map E


Map F


Map G


Map H


Let's discuss some pros and cons of them... any of them you like, copy the url and post your comments with the image, so itll be easy to visualize whatever you talk about.  Also, feel free to try to make your own.  Here is the web page with the program:  http://www.bin.sh/gaming/tools/world.cgi

If you have one, PM me and I'll find a way to upload it.  Just keep it's  height to 250, and make sure you don't do any editing of it so that they all are the same quality.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Maps E and H are very nice too, for all the small islands and archipelegos, which rock for adventures (PIRATES!)

[daggerhart]

Im sure we're going to have someone re-draw these maps, if we choose one of these.

Anyone volunteers for Map drawing ?

I like map A.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

I'll redraw, I draw maps all day long anyway (unless someone else can do better and would prefer to) and have fun doing it.

[Xathan]

I like A, F, and G.

A offers three clear continents, giving room for one for the empire, one for the city states, and one for a frontier type area for either the Empire or the city states.

F has two main continents that are connected and one to the side, meaning we could put the Empire on the largest landmass, the city states on the smaller, and something else (a confederation of nation, a wildness ruled by monsters, a land of giants, a dark land of the Undead, whatever) on the landmass that is unconnected to the other two.

G is a single landmass with islands, meaning we could make the boundry between Empire and city states less definite, and put things onthe Islands - the large islands in the south could again, be an entirely different and interesting region.

Looking at it again, map H has alot of potential, with a large landmass in the north where the empire could fit, and smaller landmasses running south that could house city states and other things.

Oh, and one other thing I like about them, they all have the familair and comfortable north/south orientation.

EDI: DAMN YOU ISHY! I'm now addicted that map program.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Keep in mind that none of these have to be the world we choose; it could just as easily be a completely hand-drawn map (I have a few examples that I could show if I can make it to a scanner sometime).

With that being said, I don't think we would want to put the BTG on a separate continent from the barbarian frontier lands and/or the city-states.  If we did that then we would have issues explaining how all the lands were once under the rule of the ancient empire.  I think what we need to look at is picking one of the continents that the campaign focuses on, and the other continents on the map (whichever map is chosen) can be expanded upon later ... or not at all, they could just be left empty for DMs to play with.

Take for instance, Map A.



Below, is a larger map of the central continent:



Let's just assume for the sake of argument that the entire continent (all four of the colored areas) was once under the rule of our fantasy-ized Roman empire.  Now, the new empire is basically section A.  Sections B, C, and D all have some of the city-states, as well as many of the ruined cities of the ancient empire and barren wilderness.  The large NW continent and the East continent can just be backdrop for other DM stories.

(This is all just supposition, we haven't decided on a map yet)

[Numinous]

I like having the city-states on closer islands but still clse to the empire continent.  It still seems feasible that they could have been previously dominated by an empire, but perhaps the new empire is unable to launch a proper attack on them as it is still too weak.

[daggerhart]

@ Ish's Example.

i dont think the BTG should have that much land.   I was imaging like, Italy + France + Germany ...  and the rest of Europe and Asia are wilderness.

imo, wilderness should def be 8 times larger than the BTG controlled area..    and the CSs should just be dotted within the 'unexplored' area.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

In th at case, what if section "B" was the BTG, and the rest was wilderness and city-states?

[daggerhart]

thats mroe of what i was thinking ..
but thats just my opinion...

[Numinous]

I am of the opinion that there should be city-states surrounding the empire.  Close enough that they could feasibly have been concquered previously, but also far enough away, or geographically remote enought that they can resist the new empire.  Like, a city-state hidden in a dense forest, or one in a desert oasis, one on an archipelago, etc.  This way, they all have a reason to stil be separate, there can be plenty of wilderness elsewhere, and other cntinents can be used for other ideas which have yet to be developed...  Just my thoughts...

[brainface]

This way, they all have a reason to stil be separate

some of them can be unqunquered because the BFG just hasnt gotten around to it yet.;) we want the BFGA to be fairly recent, right?

[Ishmayl-Retired]

I dont know how recent we're thinking, but my guess would be that they took over the surrounding lands within the last 2 or 3 centuries.