Hommlet

[NeonKnight]

I love the map rlucci. The lines are clean, its informative but at the same time there is also a sense of realism to it created by, inter alia, the shadows. I thin most successful maps balance the two forms well.

I must disagree with Neon though about the shadow direction. Why should fantasy worlds be set in the Northern hemisphere? This may be Southern hemi bias talking, but I dont think there is any sound basis, climatic or otherwise, to support only Northern communties. Kudos to the makers of Dragonlance.

Torq

I agree, except, the Village of Hommlet is located near Veluna, in the Northern Hemisphere of the World of Greyhawk. Because of the known location of the village, the shadow jars with me.

That said, it is a bit of a bias that the majority of campaign settings that are published tend to be designed by people who dwell in northern hemispheres, and asa result tend to follow the natural laws as where they live (Sun is in the south, Sun rises in the east, sets in the west, tides are affeceted by a singular moon, etc.)

So, as I said before, if the map is of a well known area (be it fantasy or real-world), I look to the visual clues on a map to match what I expect. Kind of like RP Miller's pet peeve of Rivers