Cartography - Ressurecting the World Map thread!

[Elemental_Elf]

Thats a nice map EE, awesome job on the Cut-in's, the legend, title and those little touches. They make it look like a MAP. I like it.

:o Thank you! I mean... Wow that's really high praise coming from a Cartographer of your caliber, thank you!  :)

I agree; that is a very nice map. Might actually look like something a wealthy person in the setting itself might have lying around somewhere. :)

Thanks! My intent is usually to make my maps look more authentic than realistic, so a wealthy person probably would have a map like this lying around... Hehe, that's a really cool idea. :D  Actually that style of idea reminds me of Volo's Guide to the Dalelands, where an ingame character wrote an entire review of the Dalelands (from Forgotten Realms). He rated pubs, told you about the people, the history of each Dale, provided maps and colorful descriptions... If Aelond ever gets developed to a much larger extent, I am so going to write something like that :)

[Kaptn'Lath]

i LOVED Volo's Guide to the Dalelands. For Tu'loras i was thnking of making a prime narrator (like Volo or how Eleminster was originally before the power creep) Rifts also had Erin Tarn who as an old lady who "used to" be an/with adventures and traveled the world.

The extra details and the look of your maps would be perfect for an "in world" approach to showcasing information like that. (I have always wanted to figure out an image of an antique globe, but the globe shows a map of the setting)

Scribble some notes on the Map in a very scripture-like text and add a drink stain to it and i would call that perfect for in-book or on-table.

And maybe blur the pixalization of the edges...ok NOW i am nitpicking

Also as far as being a Cartographer i am nothing special and just learning. Search "RedEpic Cartography" THAT guy is my idol

[Elemental_Elf]

Ok, I've been working on the roads of my map... Let's just say it is a constant battle. I never seem to get the right number, I'm either way off and have too many or way under and have too few. My latest idea was to come up with a theme for my roads, to give them more structure.

Basically, Newkipp (being the capital of the Second Empire) and Alecaster (as the home of the Wizards Guild) would both be hubs. Each Port (i.e. any town whose name ends with 'port') would need at least 2 roads in and out (counting the rivers). The Highlands and the Westlands, as well as the whole northern coast, are less developed and thus require fewer big roads. Having done that I then said any town that does not have a minimum 2 roads in and out (counting rivers as roads) would need a compelling reason for its existence (e.g. Anhorn and Eastpoint both serve as mid points on ship travel around the continent's coasts, while Geburn is a distant shanty town of Trippfield's).

At any rate, here's the map. I welcome all concerns and criticism!

 [spoiler=The Map] [/spoiler]

P.S. The roads are colored Aqua for your ease of use.

[Superfluous Crow]

Hmm, maybe most transporation between Blweport and Hadwyn would be by ship? The land route seems awfully mountaineous.
Maybe you should make a mental note of where there are major forests and swamplands so the main roads take on a more natural shape.
Also, if there are rivers between two cities a large road might not be the most important since barges could easily transport most things.
Lastly, there is probably a difference between a main concourse and a small road; maybe it's enough to put the really big ones on the map. Of course, just ideas to think about. Nothing wrong with this design as such :)    

[Elemental_Elf]

Hmm, now those are the kind of ideas I wanted, thanks Crow! :)

[Elemental_Elf]

Ok, I re-did my roads taking into consideration the ideas Crow had.

The red roads are roads officially maintained by the Imperial Road Company and were founded almost 200 years ago at the behest of Emperor Jarvis I with the aim of connecting the largest settlements on Aeolond at the time. The yellow road is referred to as the Coast Road and was founded to commemorate the Bicentennial anniversary of the Second Empire's founding. Finally the blue roads are heavily trafficked roads maintained by the Kingdoms themselves.  

[spoiler=Map] [/spoiler]

[Kaptn'Lath]

Perfect EE... Perfect... I always wanted to see a bit more relief to the map but couldnt for the life of me come up with a suggestion that would fit the style of your map. I love it.

Maybe as one final touch, mark the largest, undeveloped/unclaimed impasssable dence forests. Simple not to many and blocky...

And show which ports go to Boggartia and the north lands?

Sutlands label needs to represent the land it names better... wow that was complicated way of saving... move the lable a little more to the center of the land. Still on the coast... Between Alcaster and the Fartlands?

[sparkletwist]

Revised my Crystalstar map, to add rivers, more detail, and more places:

http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/images/3/37/CrystalstarMap.jpg

[Kaptn'Lath]

That's a nice map there Sparkletwist, nice choice of colour palette... as a critique maybe punch the mountains up a little more?

Over all, I would use it at my table, GJ :)

[Superfluous Crow]

@Sparkletwist. I really like the natural feel to it. The mountains, forests, and even the oddly central desert seem to be in a "natural" place; like if it was a piece of a real world map. Okay, i had trouble explaining it, but i hope you get it :p

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Hey Sparkle, it looks good. It doesn't seem that different from what I remember, but maybe it's just been a while since I looked at it.

@EE, I like the map. But the bright colored roads jar me against the muted color map. To me, they seem tacked on something that might otherwise be worldish.

[Elemental_Elf]

Perfect EE... Perfect... I always wanted to see a bit more relief to the map but couldnt for the life of me come up with a suggestion that would fit the style of your map. I love it.

Oh that, hehe, that's just the elevations I developed to help guide where I was placing the roads. I didn't realize anyone would like it, good to know :)

Maybe as one final touch, mark the largest, undeveloped/unclaimed impasssable dence forests. Simple not to many and blocky...

Forests have *always* eluded me. Its hard with this style map (and at this size) to really show off any big geographic features. Currently, I'm making a larger map of the North East section, however the more I develop it, the more I think I should just make a larger map in general :)

And show which ports go to Boggartia and the north lands?

Hmm, that's an interesting idea. On another map I created, I drew in shipping lanes, to show off where most boats traveled, so something like that could be developed for Aeolond, which would obviously include the Northlands and Boggartia.

Sutlands label needs to represent the land it names better... wow that was complicated way of saving... move the lable a little more to the center of the land. Still on the coast... Between Alcaster and the Fartlands?

Yeah, the name is a problem. Its a tad too large to squeeze in between the Farlands and Sutlands, however, I might be able to fit the name between Valasport and Gydenport...
 

@EE, I like the map. But the bright colored roads jar me against the muted color map. To me, they seem tacked on something that might otherwise be worldish.

The colors are by no means final, they were just used to help others convey what I was doing right and wrong with the roads. Its a lot easier to say 'yeah the red road is this or that' compared to 'the medium bolded road should do this or that.' On the final product all roads will be brown and faded :)

Thank you very much for your responce Lath and Phoenix, they mean a lot to me :)  :heart:

[Elemental_Elf]

May was well show this off seeing as how I'm moving to a more ambitious project...

Here is a map of the North East section of Aeolond. The map was originally conceived of as the larger map of the Midlands, however given its unique shape and size, the map wound up encompassing a much larger portion of the whole continent than intended.

Some may wonder what the difference between an Chartered town and a regular town are. The easiest answer is that Chartered Towns are towns given special rights by a monarch and are always overseen by a Duke. Chartered Towns also tend to be larger than regular towns, though this is not always the case. The other towns are typically ruled by a Count and do not have the same privileges as Chartered Towns.

At any rate I'm babbling (and enjoying it way too much), so with out further adieu here is the map:

[spoiler=The Map][/spoiler]

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Roads look much better EE.

[sparkletwist]

Thank you all for the nice words. :D

as a critique maybe punch the mountains up a little more?

I did have trouble with the mountains. I'm not sure how to "punch them up" any more, honestly, but you're right, they do currently look a bit flat. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though, so I don't want to mess with it too much.

It doesn't seem that different from what I remember, but maybe it's just been a while since I looked at it.

It's not that different. I just added a lot more labels, mostly, because the old map had a bunch of open, unnamed spaces with no character to them at all, and that's no fun for the feeling of a realistic, living world.