*Threadjack On*

The phrase "tiny points of light" refers to the assumption and tone 4th ed. will have. Its pulled from the Wizards/Gleemax site where one of the designers stated:

"one of the new key conceits about the D&D world is simply this: Civilized folk live in small, isolated points of light scattered across a big, dark, dangerous world. Most of the world is monster-haunted wilderness. The centers of civilization are few and far between, and the world isn’t carved up between nation-states that jealously enforce their borders."

As someone whose been playing D&D since the 80's, I'm not very fond of that assumption at all. I've enjoyed Wilderlands of High Fantasy and other "desolate" settings, but I get greater enjoyment of having civilizations, kingdoms, and nations to use as props and background dressing--spy for this country, fight on behalf of that one etc (heck, Paizo is having an rpg designer search contest where one round involved designing a country--my favorite entry was a theocracy ruled by the severed head of its deity). However, I don't want this thread to turn into a rant against 4th ed., so back to the maps.

*Threadjack off*

To answer Terrainmonkey's original question, there are several mapping styles I like: the Harn style of maps are distinctive and nice to look at, Forgotten Realms I find to be quite colorful, and if you have the cartographic mad skillz, the Eberron style of maps are nice as well.

Whatever style you choose Terrainmonkey, I would give the map some type of dark flavor/tone. I'm not necessarily thinking of Ravenloft, but if the heroes in your campaign are tiny points of light in a great dark, the map should subtlety reinforce that notion.