Atlas of the Flanaess part 45

[SpamValiant]

The scary (or exciting) thing is just how much there is left of the Flanaess to detail. A GIS will quickly give you an idea of the task that Anna has taken on, and it's amazing that she does it with such style! When the Atlas is finished, I'm thinking of wallpapering my study with it!

The Greyhawk campaign setting has existed for thirty years or so, but in all that time (I think I'm right in saying) it has never been mapped as comprehensively as in Anna's Atlas of the Flanaess. As a Greyhawk player and a lover of maps, I consider myself very fortunate that someone is treating the Flanaess so well.

[Anna]

Thank you again guys :-)

There is ALOT more to map, look at my overview picture attached. But now my style has been set so now its sheer research and then to simply sit down and do it!

I’m not the first to take on mapping Greyhawk. There are two official maps of the campaign setting. The original made by Darlene and very artistic but had hexes which was in the mood in the late 70s early 80s.

The second mapping of the Flanaess (which is the name of the part of the continent which the campaign is set) was for D&D 3rd edition. It came in 2 versions and improved in detail a bit and was drastically different from the Darlene maps in style.

My plan to map the whole area for the Greyhawk campaign started in the mid 80s as a paper project. My aim was back then simply to get the details in the text in the right place. Then I saw what computers could do and a plan started to form – I’m going to learn how to make maps using computers.
I bought an AMIGA 1000 computer when it came out 1985 and got to work. The results weren’t that impressing.

The breakthrough came 1997 when Bryce 2 was released for Windows. I had read about Bryce 1 for the Mac and saw the light – this is a tool I must have, almost ran off to buy a Mac when I read the article.

With Bryce2 I started my effort anew. This was in the infancy of the Internet so I had to learn by trial and error. But after a couple of years I had developed the techniques I’m still using. The project has grown in size and it is a constant upgrading to keep it workable, but so far Moores Law has been on my side :-)

A very good mapper named Eric Anondson made a splendid effort to map the Flanaess a few years back, but sadly he seems to have put aside his efforts. You can find his maps at www.canonfire.com search for his name in the download section. His work was a great inspiration.

SpamValiant are spot on it takes a lot of work, and half of it is research. Being a Greyhawk fanatic for more than 25 years helps a lot. Having one of the best equipped Greyhawk private collections possible is a necessity.
I regged the domain ghmaps.net two weeks ago and will set up a wesite to give my project a home and makes downloading easier.

A few months ago I found the tools I always dreamt of in the form of Vue6 and World-Machine. Now I’m learning to use them and what you can do with them is breathtaking!

When this world map is finished in around 2 years my next set of maps for Greyhawk will be spectacular in a whole new way :-)

//Anna

[SpamValiant]

Aarrgh! You can't do that! Now I'm going to spend the next two years just wondering what that means!

[Anna]

I will present some WIP previews within a month or so. But in the mean time take a look at these links and you will get a presentation of what I mean.

http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products...ue_6_infinite/ and http://www.world-machine.com/

I’m planning combine their use into something really cool. Testing it out and making some real progress.

//Anna

[SpamValiant]

/checks calendar



OK, so it's not April 1st today. In which case, I think I can say without fear of contradiction, Wow!

If that means what it appears to mean, I think I just got a little excited. Your artistic talents are matched only by your amazing ambition

[Anna]

In my case it's not talent it is sheer stubbornness

It starts with a vision which becomes an obsession and then it takes sheer stubbornness for me to find and learn the tools needed to fulfill that vision.

I envy real graphical artists who I’ve seen create masterpieces in no time compared to me, but I will not give up before I have fulfilled at least most of my vision because I love to do this so much!

//Anna

[Midgardsormr]

In my case it's not talent it is sheer stubbornness

Don't be fooled; a lot of the time, those two are the same thing.