Naerth: A Map of the World

[Aval Penworth]

This "WIP" map of my campaign world is a wall map that one of the characters in about to inherit. In the game it will be about 4' wide and elegantly framed. The map was given to his uncle, a noted artisan and winemaker, by the governor of the city where he grew up.

It is meant to be the work of a learned artist and cartographer, but with the limited knowledge and technogogy of 1667 (approximately the same tech level as our world at the time).

I was wondering how busy to make it. The map is meant to be decorative. Also a bit of a status symbol.

At first I thought that I was going to put hundreds of labels on it to make it look impressive, but I also like the simplicity it has at the moment. A governor would probably like the idea of lots of place names and trade routes though...wouldn't he.

Thoughts?

[euio]

I really like it. I'd agree with you, the simplicity looks really good, and the more labels you put on, the better chance you have of messing them up.

Right now, your text looks out of place. You should give it the same texture s the rest of the map, and probably curve it through the areas it labels.

[Aval Penworth]

Thanks for the feedback. Is there a rule of thumb as to when and why to curve and rotate text?

[Diamond]

To me, that text looks too 'modern'. Maybe change it to a more period-appropriate font? Also, don't get too crazy with curving text just for the sake of curving it. Sometimes it can work out well, but often it just looks messy. If you look at older maps from the 16th and 17th centuries, they would often angle the names of coastal cities down and away from the actual city 'dot', particularly on maps of places like India or Italy, where the coast slants enough that not only doesn't it look nice if they're perfectly horizontal, but there's also not enough room to make 'em all horizontal. I think a place on your map where you're going to have problems fitting text in no matter what is isthmus connecting Alital to the mainland. The narrowness of the land combined with the narrowness of the sea south of it doesn't give you a lot of wiggle room there.

Overall though, I like the layout of the landmasses and the overall feel of it. Have some rep!

[Aval Penworth]

Thanks D. I tried most of the fonts in my collection. I didn't want to go with a caligraphic or hand written style so settled on that one.

edit: GARAMOND expanded is probably authentic but it is also quite boring.

I looked at a few maps from th 1600s and it seems they liked to use a whole lot of lettering styles on the one map. To me a lot of those maps look cluttered and overdone, with elaborate cartouche that take up 20% of the page. And oceans filled with serpents and flying fish. I certainly don't want to emulate that look.

[Djekspek]

Nice map Aval. I like the landshape and the 'impressionist' look of the mountain ranges. Maybe you could make a colorvalue difference between travel-routes and rivers as currently they are kinda hard to distinguish. cheers!

[Aval Penworth]

@Djekspek "Maybe you could make a colorvalue difference between travel-routes and rivers"

So far they are all meant to be rivers!

[Aval Penworth]

I changed the lettering and texture and I have added some city labels and a scale.

[rdanhenry]

Well, since it is a different world, there's no reason that they can't have a different aesthetic about their maps compared with the real world in the same tech level, so don't worry about it being "authentic" in that way. I would, however, rough up the text a little: there's no way the font would be printing that perfectly. Of course, as long as it's on separate layers, that can be done near the end. Expect to hear from the River Police about your various lakes with multiple outlets, although I suppose they could be inaccuracies in the map. I don't much care for the large font. I really like the way you've represented the terrain; it is simple, stylish, and clear.

[Aval Penworth]

Expect to hear from the River Police about your various lakes with multiple outlets, although I suppose they could be inaccuracies in the map. I don't much care for the large font. I really like the way you've represented the terrain; it is simple, stylish, and clear.

Yeah I will probably change the lake-river thing. The original map this was based on has been around for 13 years, well before I knew about river rules.

As for the large font comment; do you mean you don't like the style, the size or both?