September-October 2010 Challenge: Never York

[Juggernaut1981]

Sounds like you're going for a World of Darkness-type concept. The fae and monsters live amongst us... almost in another dimension

[Coyotemax]

Dang, I better stake my claim on the second map before someone ninja's it out from under me.. this is pretty close to my city map idea

[cereth]

Here's an updated image. Got the city streets of Manhattan all blocked in, which was a pretty painstaking effort.

I'm thinking of doing something with "Ley Lines" and having the intersections of these be where the borders between the real world and the mirror world are especially weak. I haven't quite figured out how these will be represented on the map yet, but it sounds cool to me.

I've also got this character concept of the person "responsible" for the map...an Aleister Crowley/HP Lovecraft type guy. I'm envisioning rambling notes scribbled on the map that seem like they were written by a madman. For the flip side map I'm basically going to make it the mirror image of Manhattan, sans the docks and stuff. I found a cool survey map of Manhattan to use as a reference for that.

I'm also starting to think that this might be better off as two separate entries, even though they are tied together. Good thing I have a vacation coming up...I have a lot of work to do.

### Latest WIP ###

[mearrin69]

That's some crazy detail...nice stuff. Yeah, ley lines with portals to the fey world at the intersections maybe? I'd say put them in the parks. You going to detail Brooklyn and Jersey City?
M

[Juggernaut1981]

Actually the best HP Lovecraft ones are those written by the "I don't know if I'm insane, I'm usually pretty savvy and sciencey..."

[Gallifreyan]

Fantastic map so far! I love this style of a street map, my favorite part is the buildings. I think that the gray with subtle stripes are awesome and the shading is very nice too.

Good luck with the rest of the map!

[cereth]

Updated with Brooklyn and jersey city finished. Now I'm just struggling to find fonts that i like.

[Juggernaut1981]

Something about those ring-lines seems far too "pristine" and unnatural. Not sure what you should potentially change, but that's the feel I get from them when zoomed in.

As far as fonts, it depends entirely on what angle you're looking at. If you think that the "creatures that hide from us mortals" should be feral and wild then a very jagged and not neccessarily easy to read font would probably suit. Or if you want a more sophisticated sort of response, then I'd suggest something very much like classic "copperplate handwriting" or other old-school handwriting type fonts. If you want that organised, out of date, with possible steam-punk overtones then clearly something "blackletter". But it depends mostly on what it is that you want...

[cereth]

Started labeling streets (boy, that's going to take a while), made a title, and fooled around with the ley lines and their nexuses. Pretty happy with the fonts...wanted them to both look "period" and be readable. I may still play with the street label font.

[mearrin69]

Hoo boy. You're going to be one tired puppy before this one's done. Looks great so far.

For some reason the ley lines feel a bit rigid to me. If this is a link to the "First World" (to use Paizo parlance) or the "Feywilds" (or whatever the heck WoTC calls it) I think it might come across more with something more natural. Maybe something that suggests vines? Sounds crazy but I'm talking a subtle effect, not overt. Actually, if you use something natural here and something mechanical on the map of the other realm, the juxtaposition might be kinda cool. Just a thought. (and believe it or not I edited out several occurances of the word "something".)
M