Cartographers' Guild - Town/City Mapping

What is required for a monastary

WillP — Sat, 11 May 2013 02:44:58 GMT

I'm working on the map for the first book of my upcoming series, and the entire book is set in a relatively self-sufficient mountaintop monastery. I'm looking for some help in stocking the complex. I have the temple, the main administration building, a dining hall with kitchen, housing for the monks, acolyte barracks, a healing hall, farmland and granaries, cisterns, a smelter and smithy, a healing hall, and libraries.

My question is: is there anything else this monastery will need to survive? And if this has already been posted, I apologize. I know this is similar to the many town posts, but since there is very little mercantile business going on, I thought it would be different.

Thanks in advance.

City of Granthril

lilrocker90 — Fri, 10 May 2013 05:13:57 GMT

This my first real attempt at making a city map. It is a fiction map of the City of Granthril, in a fictional world that i would like to map out in the future and build up the world in time, and maybe eventually write a short story or two. I haven't completed the entire city yet, but i thought i would send out the first quarter that I have finished, so the following picture is the North East corner of the city.

So a bit about the City of Granthril. It is a wealthy city with most of the residents being some of the most wealthiest in the region. Surrounding the city is a great forest, which acts as a defensive structure to keep the city safe. Outside of the forests, beyond what you can see on the map, are small to medium sized villages and towns which are the main source of income for the city. These towns and villages usually have been built around some sort of resource, whether it be Lumber, Mining or even Fishing. The resources are then sent to and traded from Granthril. Usually once these traders become wealthy enough, they would usually buy a house or dwelling in the city. It can be fairly hard to keep a place in the city, which is why the newer residents still have their home in the whichever town or village they come from, but once they have established themselves and feel safe enough, they would sell off that home and live permanently in the city.

Main points of interest:

1. Lord Maddain's Keep - The Lord of the City is Lord Henry Maddain, His Great Great Grandfather was the founder of this city many years ago and helped create this wealthy City through Trading the surrounding resources and taking some part of the profit. At first the traders weren't too happy with the situation, until he opened the gates to the city to anyone that could afford it. This Keep was built by Lord Henry's Great Grandfather once the City become big enough, and the family moved in and have lived there ever since. Their old house is still there and is another main point of interest.

2. Granthril Barracks, Archery and Stables - After the city had been established, many Pirateers wanted some of the profits of the wealth. At first, there wasn't much that could be done to defend the city, especially from the sea, unless there was a Mercenary Army currently in the city, which for sometime there was after being hired by the Lord of the city. But once this was beginning to be too costly, so it was decided they would establish an army of the city's own, hence the Barracks, Archery Range and Stable's were built.

3. The Temple - After sometime, there were more and more religious people flocking into the city to trade their own resources. Soon enough they were moving into the city to live and needed a place to worship. At first a small church was built, which eventually was reestablished into the Bishop's House. The large Temple was built a few years after the Church was established. It was paid for and built by huge donations of the religious residents of the city and is now one of the tallest and more beautiful buildings in the region.

4. First Gate Inn - Soon enough, the city become a great place to visit from some of the people that were wealthy, but either couldn't or didn't want to live in the city, whether they had another dwelling in another city that they didn't want to leave, or couldn't afford to live in the city permanently. The First Gate Inn was built as the first place for travelers to stay without having to live with other residents. It has expanded since it was first built and is now a large source of income for the city.

5. River Market - This was the first market place in the city and traders from all around the region would come and sell what resources they had. It now contains a tavern and a small Inn and a statue of Lord Jackson Maddain, the founder of the city. It is still a very busy place and is always buzzing with traders and buyers.

6. Forrest Dwellings - Surrounding Granthril is a great forest, that stretches out at least 5 to 6 miles all around. In the forest itself, live many people, for both protection and production. They would mostly be Lumberjacks or people that would like to just live near the city.

7. Old Maddain House - This was the first building built in Granthril, by the wealthy family of the Maddain's. once the city grew to a big enough size, they built Maddain Keep on the central island and moved in. At firs they kept the first house in the family, usually using it for visiting relatives or friends. Soon enough though, they sold it another family. It has since changed owners over the years, but in honor of the founder of the city, they have renamed it Old Maddain House, and it remains that way no matter who owns the house.

The other building you see are mostly dwelling for well off families that live in the city, as well as many shops and taverns throughout the city. To make the city look more attractive, most of the trees have been kept within the city, only being knocked down when a building is to be built.

Stay tuned for further updates as a complete different parts of the city. Feel free to comment on what you think and and help in creating this city is welcome.

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What is in a City!!!

lilrocker90 — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:31:33 GMT

Hey Everyone,

I am only new to all this. I have had a large interest in maps and mapping for some years, mainly thanks to my Father. Sadly he has passed away too soon and has left me with all of his hand drawn maps, which is amazing with such detail. This has urged me into mapping as some sort of Hobby. I have bought CC3 with CD3 as well as Fractal Terrains 2or3 i forget... My main focus right now is creating a grand city and I have some idea as to what I want it to look like. But I need some help, and what better place to get help then from this great community. What I ask of you is to help me list what a grand medieval type city needs and generally where certain building would be situated, for example, would the temple me placed close to the Lord's Keep or on the other side of the city.

I know it may not be much to go on, but any help would be much appreciated!!!

Thanks :)

The town of D�vennec

Adam_Kadmon — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:30:37 GMT

Hiyas.

First post here. I've just started getting back into map making, and I've just started using Photoshop too. I must say I love the program.

Here's a town map I whipped up over the last two days using Larb's great Town Map Tutorial. I really love the style of maps it produces. I used RobA's tree and tower brushes from here, and some cliff overlays I got from Dundjini ages ago.

Hope you like the map. I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. It's basically done, but I'd like to figure out a way to indicate which way the river flows (off to the right). It flows into a bay a little way off to the right, and the sandy area you see is flooded every high tide.

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Suggestion for a game map project

Haematinon — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:52:04 GMT

My fellow cartographers, i've been lurking this wonderful community for some months (i am shy :)), but now i really need your help! I am working on a top-view city map, the setting is something like "alternative-cold-war future" with a touch of steam/dieselpunk style (something like this: File:1847 Lower Manhattan map.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), the problem is how to draw the building and the district of the city. Any good advice? Tips?
My thanks for your precious help!

Amelia's Grove WIP

AMXPariah — Fri, 03 May 2013 04:01:51 GMT

Working on a city for a campaign. It's current population is 23,450 and is approximately 167.5 acres. The picture posted is a rough draft. Critiques and advice appreciated :)

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Hafne: Dwarven Port-City for Mid-Fantasy World

Antonehn — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:52:06 GMT

Hello everyone!

This is my second map posted on the forums. It portrays a dwarven port-city carved and built from and in the mountain.
I am thinking of adding some kind of legend to allow people to learn even more about the city.

I already have a quite rich story, that can be found below. Please ask questions concerning what you would like to know about the city or setting! It would only help me come up with new interesting things to add!

Please, do not hesitate to give me critique as it only allows me to hone my skills!

Cheers! :)

//Anton

History:

Hafne was founded under the reign of Gigur the Old, during the war against the humans of the north, and at that time it served as the dwarves' southernmost military outpost.
Nowadays it's a bustling port-city that handles trade routes to all the parts of the world, and thrives thanks to its large mines in the Northeast. The mountains closest to the sea have been found to contain large amonts of crystal, gems and ore, and the dwarves of Hafne use these natural resources to craft items to trade at the portside market.

Inhabitants:

The majority of the population are pureblooded dwarves, but since many humans moved here after the wars ended there are also half-dwarven and human communities. These "halfdwarves" live together with the few humans found in the city, and use their style of architecture. Thus, they timber their houses in the vicinity of the great walls. Most of the humans who live here are so called Northmen, taller and stronger than men from the southern lands.

Places of Interest/Landmarks:

The Docks: The docks of Hafne are the grandest in the north, and the only ones of their kind. The huge piers are all examples of fine dwarven craftsmanship. The older piers are carved from the mountain itself, while the newer ones are built from the bottom of the sea and up using stone from the mountain itself.

The Mines: The mines of Hafne glimmer in the light cast by the many lanterns placed there by the dwarven workers. Crystals, rare minerals and ores commonly occur in the mountains closest to the sea, and the people of Hafne has earned great wealth from the mining.

The Baracks: A building carved from solid stone rises from the earth close to the southernmost pier. It was built there during the days of King Gigur, and was one of the first buildings in the city. Soldiers are still trained here for use in the dwarven armies and in the town guard. To the east of the baracks there is a tournament field, and to the south is an archery range.

** The text in the top right spells "Hafne" in runic letters from the dwarven alphabet that I use when drawing and writing about my dwarves.

"Dv�rgahamn" means Dwarfharbour in Swedish. In the top right corner it says "Till Gruvorna" which means "To the Mines"**

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The Bridge district

Dain — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 06:48:13 GMT

Hi guys,
Here is an illustration and map done for the next issue of a french magazine.

It had to be B/W (lucky me, I'm so bad with colours) and I tried to keep it as much "readable" as possible.
I know many of you are a lot more experienced than at that stuff so if you have any ideas to improve them, go ahead.

It's still a wip because i'd like to tweak some little things here and there and possibly add your feedback
I'll also add the parchment BG and a frame later on.

Any comment welcome of course, don't hold the leash ;)

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Shikodu/Zigoto Map

darkseed2012 — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 03:50:16 GMT

The map is coming along nicely. I think it will be a very good piece when it is done. I'm confident in the project, especially the map part of it. I will have to develop the story and add detail where needed when I am close enough to completing the map to know what is where. Right now I only know where major structures will be. The Upper Left is going to be an arcane university, whose curriculum will be based on my grinoire I wrote for real life use. The whole city will be centered around an the mythilogical, so it's like Hogwarts set into a college town like setting. It's kind of like UC Davis in California. I'm still not sure if I can include this town in someone elses fantasy world, or if it will have to stand alone. The history I thus wrote is good enough for it's own campaign settings if I produce enough detail and make some sort of game machanics.

This is the whole map as it stands now. I'm guessing 30-40% of the map is filled with houses. I'm still working on floorplans to the businesses, factories, schools and so on.

This is the downtown square, which has a park which I plan to design further to have benches and a band stand.

Here's a neighborhood park with a public temple. The town will have a lot of structures dedicated to magic and rituals.

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WIP: Birdseye

TheHoarseWhisperer — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:03:56 GMT

Allow me to present my latest mapping project (my previous one, on indefinite standby, has not been forgotten - I will finish it. Promise.).

This is the Moste Beautifulle and Grete Citye of Birdseye. It is perched atop a pinnacle of rock, overlooking the sea. It was originally founded as a lookout, due to the dangers to shipping of a monster that lived in the nearby waters, but it eventually became a bandit stronghold, and then a town. An enormous stone bridge was constructed at a later date, to link the city to the mainland, and many houses have now been constructed even on the bridge's surface. There's a lot more to the history, which I won't go into right now.

When drawing this city, I wanted the buildings on the rock to resemble an Italian hill town, and those on the bridge to be more in the pattern of northern European (Dutch, English) settlements (i.e. long narrow plots with the house at the front and sometimes a shed at the back). There's also a cluster of buildings that are inspired by Islamic houses, which I started adding but then decided didn't look right. They're near the Bridge. I did a lot of research to try and get the look and feel right for this city, and hopefully I succeeded in some areas. Strangely, there's just not that much information around on medieval Italian cities. You don't know of any good websites, do you?

I've included the finished hand-drawn part of the map, as well as a rough contour map for the rock. I still want to polish it up a bit, perhaps redo some areas, and I have ambitious plans to make a 3d model in SketchUp, but that'll probably never happen.

I'd really like to hear people's comments and critiques.

Oh, and this is not a map by Larithas Stone, and so does not belong to the Dispatches series; this was, however, created by Stone's teacher at the CG (and a bit of a hero of Stone, it must be said), Titus Wolfgang.

-TheHoarseWhisperer

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WIP : unnamed hand-drawn town

mystic badger — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:49:41 GMT

Inspired by this video, I plunged into a little project, having stopped drawing cities by hand more than five years ago.

It's a typical fantasy town, with a castle, guilds, a mages academy,... I'll try to colorize it in PS, and describe it further.

C&C welcome !

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My First Town Map

Yospeck — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:14:13 GMT

So I've never had to do a town map before so this is my first attempt, lots of inspirational stuff here so I don't feel like I'm entirely in the blind, plus I'm working it relatively closely to Torstan's guide.

I would however appreciate any constructive criticism, especially at this stage, so that my layout is appropriate for the area, size and setting.

Lore

The town was settled a few hundred years ago (how long it would take this town to be settled and built up would help) by a rich lord who basically founded the town and named himself the Baron of the area (though this is little more than a fancy title) and built himself a keep at the heart of the town. The town is around 30 miles from the nearest large town (a mining town named Glister), nestled in the hills and stretching the banks of a river that runs all the way to the south tow the nearest city (about 80 miles by river), so is relatively secluded with a smaller town both to the east and the south (a mountain range is to the north).

The Baron's heirs over the years have spent less time in the town, instead being drawn to the lights of the cities to the south, and so the town is usually ran by a town council in the current Baron's absence.

The population stands at roughly 800 - 1000 citizens.

Trade

The city is divided by the river that runs through it. Though there is no trade that comes from the north the town exports ore and timber to the south and returns with food and more luxurious imports for the wealthy folk that live here. Whilst there are a few farms dotted around the limited arable land surrounding the area, it is not enough to fully sustain the population, fishing and hunting the forests to the east also contributes to the peoples food.

The road from the western gate is the most actively used, leading out onto the main trade rode linking the town to Glister and to the north west of the town most of the shops and industry (smiths, craftsmen, tinkers) can be found.

From the eastern road there is little trade with the much smaller towns along the road, but their nearest trade to the east can be accessed also by river.

The more wealthy citizens live in the south west of the town in larger townhouses whilst more of the common folk are gathered on the eastern bank in smaller abodes.

Building Key

1. The Baron's Keep
2. Town Barracks/Jail
3. Town Council Hall
4. Major Temple
5. Industrial Area
6. Poorer Residential Area
7. Traders Market (Tents/Stalls)
8. Docks
9. Minor Temple
10. Eastern Road (Heads into deep forest)
11. Watchtower

So there you go. If there's anything that screams "This wouldn't be " then please let me know. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether to flip the map, I'm wondering if the western road is the most used then maybe the town houses and the like wouldn't be situated there but maybe by the quieter eastern road (or would they not want to travel too far across the town when traders/guests arrive?)

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The Temple Parish

Larb — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 13:30:35 GMT

This is a companion map to my challenge entry this month. This is the temple parish above the "water dungeon".

As my dungeon was drawn freehand, so is this. I just need to colour it now!

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Wips and questions

holyhalo — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 01:34:37 GMT

So I have some version of the same city but I'm having tremendous trouble with getting the snow right.
Also I have no idea how to draw a good harbor (or how to generate one). Both maps were done in GIMP and with the tutorials of Pyrandon and RobA.
If anyone has any good tips or tricks on how to draw good snow or how to draw a harbor, I'd more than happy to hear about them.

For the first pic, I really like the icy, cracked coast and the white of the snow is nice as well but the illusion of elevation for the second one if also really interesting. The third image is completely different and I really like it but my houses are too brown and lack a sort of snowed under effect on them. And all three images are lacking the harbor. And floating ice. If anyone knows a good way to draw floating ice...

Thanks for your help.

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City of Shikodu

darkseed2012 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 04:32:05 GMT

I want to introduce my latest project in my Gunoshiva series. I said I was going to make maps of all 28 towns. I think I am wasting my time, when I should be producing maps of the major cities that appear in my book "The Janu Grimoires". The book is over 1,100 pages of material, so I think I should flesh out the world it is set in. The book centers around the Rokat who live on a planet called Kidasuna. I have mixed feelings about the book whether I should sell it as fiction, despite my having channelled beings claiming to be from said planet. The maps I have been working on thus far are of a couple of local communities where my sources claim to live. The book is a series of religions taken from Kidasuna.

Shikodu is the largest city I plan to map fully. The maps will be presented on here at some point. The full map is 21 pages. I've calculated the full size as 6 to 8 feet by 3 feet. The map will be large. I'm planning to produce a book with the history of Shikodu that others can turn into a game. The longer I work on The Janu Grimoires, the more I think the story is best told in an RPG format. The book contains working rituals that are just like the material used in RPGs. Along side my MUFON credibility, I'm also looking to find ways to tell the stories described in my book. There is nothing more interactive than an RPG board game.

I'm currently working on the map of Shikodu and after that I will be turning my projects to other major cities and territories that are talked about. Once I'm able to update my album the maps will be up. I'm sure this map will be really out of this world when it gets finished.

Even if nobody believes what I'm claiming, the map is of a college or university town. The fact is this map will come with floor plans to each building on the map, which makes it veryuseful to anyone wanting to use it. I am not sure where I will be able to post the 200+ building floor plans that will accompany this map. The map will be on here of course. I am thinking of making a PDF of the eventual book when I get done with this project. I am hoping to finish it by the end of this year.