vale-map-07.png

The purpose of this map was twofold; one, I wanted to create this map for a very specific module idea I have had for a long time. Two, I wanted to see if I could create a "high quality" map in a really short time. I had seen that the site OpenClipArt.org had a whole bunch of map icons and map-related images that looked as if they might actually be useful, so I decided to run my experiment with these, symbols since they are in the Public Domain. The discovery of mountain-related illustrations on the same site further spurred my inspiration. The volcano is a modified mountain from openclipart; the glacier was custom-made. I did consider using small drawings of buildings etc for the town and city, castle, towers etc, but decided against it since I actually like the simple geometric shapes.

From a technical standpoint, the map is more or less standard fare: Each type of terrain or other map elements is in its own Inkscape layer; rivers are basically very enlongated triangles and rectangles applied to paths; I did make use of cloning which I had neglected in the past - and which came in handy when I had to edit the trees after I had placed a lot of them. I also used layer blend modes to cover up overlapping areas of the mountains that overlapped. Probably not huge revelations to a pro, but I am still trying to figure out this cartography stuff. :-)

I am overall pretty happy with the result. And since I ended up working only a handful of hours over a 24h-ish time span on this map, I think the speed goal was also met.

WIP Thread: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...-Lost-Warriors