Thread: New Dawn of the West (redesign)

To Do:

• dedication/cartouche reworded
• resize dog head embellishments on the scale (smaller)
• redo terrain and plant life
• add text layers (cities, regions, features)
• re-work the overlay effect layers to work better with the ocean gradient
• get the art looking more consistent

Might be a bit early for this yest, but how clean are we keeping the map, or do we wear it down a bit more (ie does the king let it hang on the wall and admire it, or does it get taken along on military campaigns etc?)

One other question, we have a rather large list of nations (36, holycarp!), are we wanting to define each of the borders and edge them with colours, or leave it a bit nebulous? (border disputes, the map changes every week, why bother, heh)

Originally Posted by Coyotemax

Might be a bit early for this yest, but how clean are we keeping the map, or do we wear it down a bit more (ie does the king let it hang on the wall and admire it, or does it get taken along on military campaigns etc?)

So long as it is readable and looks good hanging on my gaming room wall at 36x36 inches

In other words I trust you on this.

One other question, we have a rather large list of nations (36, holycarp!), are we wanting to define each of the borders and edge them with colours, or leave it a bit nebulous? (border disputes, the map changes every week, why bother, heh)

The latter. No clearly defined borders. In the West borders are defined by natural landmarks (rivers, mountains, hills, forests, etc...)

And with war coming a mere 15 years after this map was comissioned, things will change.

My campaign is a snapshot of 499cr (1509ir) and as such this map is already 13 years out of date, though fortunately nothing much has changed in that time.

As I said I am really loving it and looking forward to how it advances as we go.

Don't put names until I get you an updated list with the minor renames I made.

And again, thanks so much

Excellent. I was dreading having to section it off into that many pieces, and concerned about how it would work in with the other detail. (i was going to make you section it off if you did, hah!)

No worries about the namies yet, I'm planning on leaving that to last.

(salsa almost done, yay!)

Originally Posted by Coyotemax

i was going to make you section it off if you did, hah!

I would have done so with a smile sir

But the most important question is this...

How was the salsa?

It is happy.

Salsa Verde, just keep in mind that if you only have a blender, and not a food processor, you must start with the tomatillos, not the dry leafy stuff

(and our dogs are wierd, they like eating the hot pepper cores!)

Ok, back to the map.

THis will be an interesting map to watch develop...looking forward to seeing it finished.

Ok, Here's the reworked terrain and plant life.
I haven't done the recolour layer to make the areas pop out yet (forest, desert etc) but I think it's coming along.

I think it's about as detailed as I'm comfortable with considering we have the text to add yet. Plus with the colour tinging that'll make thing stand out more so it should be good.

Yes I know the lava lake in the corner needs work, I just left it like that as a reminder, I just started on it

Dunno if I already said it, if so I'll say it again, the work you did on the coastline was awesome. I really like the addition of the coast in the top right, too.

Adjustments to the To Do list

• dedication/cartouche reworded
• resize dog head embellishments on the scale (smaller)
• redo terrain and plant life
• get the art looking more consistent
• reworked coastline shading effects
• rework the lake of fire layer
• add text layers (cities, regions, features)
• colour tint layer for terrain features and plant life
• re-work the overlay effect layers to work better with the ocean gradient (in progress)

Well thank you sir

I had that upper righthand sea in a bunch of previous incarnations of the map and then lost it along the way some how. Silly moi

Now it back and serves a purpose

I am loving the minimalist feel compared to my over crowded hex map... this feels more like an artist's interpretation of the West.

Shall I start going over it and looking for things that need to be fixed or tweaked?