July 2013 Entry: Paksenarrion's World

[Diamond]

There's enough good source material out there for it, and I just finished re-reading the original trilogy, so I thought I'd take a stab at this. I do plan to make it more of an 'inspired by' version. The original maps (drawn by Elizabeth Moon herself, I believe) do an admirable job of showing location, but frankly, they're some of the most plug-ugly maps ever. Hopefully this one will be less ugly.

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[arsheesh]

Nice, down with plug-ugly maps. I'm sure yours will be considerably less so

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Diamond]

I hope so, Arsheesh. Anyhoo, here's some terrain. I decided to go with a sort of 'antique photo-realistic' look. Hopefully that will make sense the farther I get.

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[Diamond]

Some grunge-work.

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[Lingon]

Looking absolutely brilliant already, Diamond! I love the color scheme you picked.

By the way, would you recommend the Paksenarrion books? Your map makes me want to read them I'm no huge fan of the elves-and-dwarves kind of fantasy, generally, but if it's got interesting prose and characters I can overlook that

[Korash]

Lingon, I for one would recommend these books to anyone who like Fantasy RPGs. It is more the story of the rise of a Paladin in a low fantasy world than a hack and slash "elves and dwarves" type. I liked the character development, as well as the military background that frames the world (Ms. Moon was a marine Lt).

Diamond, nicely done on the layout. I do have some concern about the rivers around the hills below the "AR". They seem a bit weird and under the hills themselves at times....Gonna watch this one develop

[Diamond]

@Lingon: what Korash said. While on the surface the elves and dwarves have a lot of similarity to bog-standard D&D races, Moon puts a lot of thought into their culture and attitudes. They feel like actual separate races, not humans with funny ears or beards. And yep, the character development is great as is the military background (including a great look at what a functioning mercenary company might look like - the only similar thing I can think of that's better is the Black Company).

I can't speak to the Gird prequel books or the newer volumes as I haven't read 'em, but I'm sure I'll get around to it one of these days...

@Korash: Not sure what you mean about 'under the hills'. Do you mean the rivers layer seems to be under the hills?

[Diamond]

I'm not convinced I like the font I've chosen. It fits the flavor of the world, but I think it may clash too much with the font I chose for the title and the region names.

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[Schwarzkreuz]

I think the font is ok

[Eilathen]

This looks very good already!
And it makes me want to read the books. I started with some newer book of her in the same world but the map (if one can name the thing in there map) really turned me off of it (yeah, i am that way ... and i blame you guys ).
You should totally contact the author after this challenge is done and offer her a chance to put this map in her books!

Little side-question: Do they have firearms in this world? If not, the two adornments in the top of the map are kind of misleading.