Chessenta

[Gidde]

The hills look completely natural to me, but I spent a long time poring over FR maps back in 3.5 days. The only thing that strikes me is the difference between the Adder Hills and the rest of the hills on the map. Is it actually a different type of terrain? It's not immediately clear what that could represent.

[Schley]

The only thing that strikes me is the difference between the Adder Hills and the rest of the hills on the map. Is it actually a different type of terrain? It's not immediately clear what that could represent.

The Adder Hills are actually floating earthmotes. Thus the cast shadows.

I would like to bring up one point. Its not a crit as I was not sure I was in agreement with this point being made on another map but it would be good to hear your comment. Its to do with the labeling. Someone once pointed out that if you have text that is at an angle close to but not quite horizontal then it appears odd to the eye. There's a lot of text at a slope of about 10 deg sloping up to the right. I cant decide whether it is a problem for me or not but now that someone pointed it out I can't not see it. In this map it doesn't appear out of place but sometimes I see it and it does look odd. E.g. in Methwood the slope seems natural but its more distracting to me in the "Bay of Chessenta" and I don't think its required for the shape of the bay. But then maybe it would look less interesting if all square - I dunno, interested in your comments on this point.

I'm actually organizing the text so that only the man-made features like towns or points of interest (but not roads or trails) are on the horizontal. Natural terrain features and regional names I place on a curve so that they follow the shape of the feature they name. The text color is also defined by it's related content. With so many tags to place, if they were all on the horizontal many would obscure the underlying art and clutter the map. Point taken though about the degree of angle that the text is placed at.Sometimes it does seem a bit too subtle. It's a balancing act though, finding the right text placement in relation to art.