Changing styles when changing scale

[The-Somberlain]

What do you think about changing styles when changing map scales?

Suppose you have a large continental (or world map) in Google/satellite style and you decide to map in detail a smaller portion of that. Would it be wrong to change the style into something like RobA's overland map or another equivalent? They are still pseudo-3d, but a little more game compatible, meaning that you can easily place landforms, mountains, forests, etc with more clarity.

[Midgardsormr]

I change styles like I change my socks. I see no problem with mapping in one style for continental maps and a different one for regional or local maps. For one thing, you need different information for each scale.

[jfrazierjr]

There is nothing at all wrong with it in my book! I think of it this way, just like different mappers in history had different styles, so would different maps of the world at different scales be produced by different "people" and thus can look very differently and be completely normal. As long as your happy with the end result, that's all that matters.

Joe

[Sigurd]

Are you creating an atlas or a bunch of maps? An atlas should have a consistent plan but a bunch of maps can be like a box of chocolates.

I love seeing maps of the same region with differing bias and focus. I love the variety in the world project and the consistency in a really careful systematic mapper like Handsome Rob.

Try the right style for each map.


Sigurd

[Ascension]

I used to play text-based MUDs (multi-user dungeons) and I always drew my maps consistently at various scales but that was just my style and the other mudders preferred it too, so you have to think about your audience. My thought would be to make maps in every flavor possible to see what fits your style. Then try to adapt that style to see if you can make it work at various scales (world, regional, city, etc). What I think creates a cohesive whole is that you keep the same style, fonts, frames, color schemes, etc. but if you're not doing an atlas then by all means be eclectic, especially if it's more of a compendium or compilation, variety is the spice of life after all. I myself am trying to adapt some of the tutorials here into my style to see if I can make them work -- if I can't, then so be it.

[jfrazierjr]

As a follow up to my post, in our current D&D game, we were given a (large) regional map of the "kingdom" and thats all we know. Over time, while traveling to two of the largest cities in the kingdom, we have visited libraries, etc and found one map each. Both of these were in a totally different style from each other and the original region map, because of course they were done by different mappers and this just makes sense in the game and no one questions it.

Joe