December 2007 Entry: Cap'n Janes Roost

[The Cartographist]

I really like the map. Clean and detailed, and the key is extremely informative.

What software do you use for your maps?

[Publius]

On the time, right up to the edge. People kept calling me for some reason on the phone.

As for the program, straight Adobe Illustrator, no chaser. It's got a heck of a learning curve but once you get the hang of it you can do really nice work. Most of the maps I do are for Black and White publication, so color usually isn't an issue. But for maps here, folks like color and such. Sometimes than can be a bit more messy because the program isn't really great for shading and such. So I'm learning there...

[Gamerprinter]

The cave by the sea is very realistic, especially the sand bank that sits between the sea and the "plunge" - I imagine the water in the "plunge" to be brackish, as fresh water falls from above into the tide pool below it. Also the small streams that cross the sand bank into the sea. Great stuff.

I'm thinking depending on geographic location and season, the roost can get pretty cold in winter...

[Publius]

Yeah, final exams today so I'm not going to get to that typing anytime soon... grading (the wait has ended, the hurry up is starting). Yes, the water would be rather brackish, but the waterfall would be where they would probably get their fresh water from. Kind of handy no doubt.

Yes, I assume it would be cold, depending on clime, I have not thought of the "larger picture" as of yet. As for the caves, it is a combination of two different types of caves in essence "running into" one another. The sea caves are formed by the crashing waves and the other caves are more common limestone style caves which formed from the other direction. There is probably a honeycomb effect, as more caves would surround the area.

Were I to break the map out and take more time, I would have shown how the other caves sit in relation to the Primary and Secondary chambers (one of them however was carved out and "finsihed" to create the roost, a cave that had, like the Secondary Cave formed behind the Sea Caves and "broken through"). More on all that when I get time later.