Hurray for flat worlds!
Well met!
Here are a couple of maps I made recently for a roleplaying game I'm currently running (they are in Castillian, I'm afraid).
The first map represents the "known world" from the perspective of the player's initial location (the part labbeled as "Nuevo Imperio" -"New Empire"-), picturing the continents of Bastor and Caladar and a rough location of some main landmarks. Note should be made that this world is flat and the sun is actually a burning disk being carried by titanic flaming giants riding a brass charriot across the sky, which rides atop the western half of the map. Hence, the weather gets hotter the further west you go, rather than at the tropics.
The frames and title-ribbon-thing I took from a 1600's portuguese map of the Azores. The compass was taken from, I think, a Hallmark card. This is the first map I draw trying to make it look like an actual old map. Not sure if succeeded, but I'll get it working eventually.
The second map... I just noticed is not in this computer. I'll post it once I get home!
Last edited by Klaus van der Kroft; 01-23-2012 at 01:41 PM.
Well, that is a strange world description. Very Terry Pratchett. Pretty map. I especially like the banner. The compass rose seems a little off. Maybe crop the edges a little bit tighter, grab a bit of the parchment and set it as an overlay to make it look like a part of the paper.
Well done with the silhouettes of the cities ; it gives a good idea of what the player might find here. Very good map.
I suggest making the water a different color. Maybe a darker shade of brown?
Good idea and good drawn, especially the compass rose. I second AMXPariah on the water issue. Either a darker shade or some wave lines.
Wow, beautiful! Parchment and frame are really good looking...the "Sultanato Errante" is a great idea!!
Thank you lads and lasses for the nice comments. Much appreciated!
And please apologise my delay in responding; I've been experiencing connection issues with the site for the whole week, which may or may not be the fault of the small tribe of gremlins currently chewing at my router.
Aye, I have to say Pratchett's work helped shape the idea. Although the first notion of making the world flat came when I wrote a short story about Columbus finding the edge of the world rather than America and then flying off with his ships onto distant worlds across a sea of clouds and eventually breaching the veils of the sky and finding the Celestial Mechanism. The name of the world came from something related, too, specifically from the "Engraving of Flammarion", a medieval wood carving depicting a monk finding the edge of the world, docummented in the 1800's by Carmille Flammarion.
I agree with the compass. I recently read a very nice guide on how to draw a rose of the winds by hand; I'll be working on a bigger version of the map during my vacations, and I'll make sure to take the cropping into account. My thanks!
Hm, good idea. In my haste to finish it (t'was friday afternoon when I decided to draw a map, and the gaming session was the following day), I forgot to work on such an important detail. Thanks for poiting it out.
Ah, I'm afraid the compass wasn't drawn by myself. I took it from a Hallmark gallery.
As for the sea, I'll try my hand with some slight waves, sea-monsters and shades.
Thank you very much! The Errant Sultanate of Kandesh is expected to play an important role further down the road in the campaign, when it crashes against the imperial capital of Adranor. Though knowing my payers (been roleplaying together since 1996), they'll find a way to make it crash even sooner.
Last edited by Klaus van der Kroft; 01-26-2012 at 08:12 AM.