WIP - First map, Threniden

[steelstiletto]

I'm about to start DMing a game for 4th ed, but I've had a lot of the setting already planned. I've had a sketch of major areas and geography, but I wanted to make a really nice map for it. So, here is what I have so far.

[steelstiletto]

In CC3, is there a way to change what the background color is? I had it set to "water -dark" but would like to replace it with darkest instead. Anyone know of a way to do so?

[steelstiletto]

For my campaign setting, there has been a magical shield across the north west that has prevented any travel or information of that area. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to portray that nothing is known past the shield?

[hohum]

I think that, generally speaking, when nothing is known the map is either completely blank or has pictures and "here be monsters'" kind of text.

[tilt]

good start on mapping... concerning the shield I agree with hohum, and would probably throw a dotted border in there to show were the shield is. And have some rep for your first uploads

[steelstiletto]

Okay, updated a bit, but I'm stuck with a different question now.

I'd like to add some trees, but the ones that come with CC3 don't really seem to suit my style. I've seen a lot of maps that seem to just make a tree texture that they place on the map and then fade on the edges. Does anyone know how to do that in CC3?

[steelstiletto]

Okay, so I finally found out how to make a filled polygon in cc3! Choose the fill style wanted, and make sure that the pen width is 0. If it isn't, then it will only fill in the width of the pen. If it's zero though, and a closed structure, then it will fill it all. So, with this knowledge, and a bit of playing with layer effects, I think that I've done a decent job on trees. My one question now is how people determine where forests etc are? Mine are just kind of random, but I don't think it looks bad.

Next up is cities and roads!

[tilt]

I just put the forest in where it looks nice - and sometimes because I'd like an encounter at a certain place. But a thought to ponder is what type of country it is .. cause some countries have forests all over ... some only sparse...
I like to roughen up the "borders" of the forests afterwards so they don't look to smooth

[steelstiletto]

Like use the fractal-ize tool on the forests? Do you know if there is a way to apply that tool to only a part of a polygon, so that the forests next to the river don't start jutting into it?

[tilt]

sorry - no idea how CC3 works, only use Illustrator and Photoshop