[Region 1][Map 14][Location 01] Mennin's Hallow

[thebax2k]

Beautiful map Midgardsormr. Very colorful and nicely done.

I did have a few thoughts though. Although the population is low and the town is isolated, I find it odd that there are no outbuildings from the town. There are no hermits, woodsmen or druids in the nearby woods? No ceremonial groves, dolmens or menhirs, or watch structures? It also strikes me as odd that such an isolated place would not have a rudimentary military structure or two to defend against the occasional maruading wild animal or humanoid band.

Where is the road out of town? It may be to small to see on the larger map, but I cannot make out any way to get Mennin's Hallow other than by water. It may be isolated, but a thorp with 280 people would have blazed a rude path or two leading out of it if not an actual road.

Finally, the blow of view of the village was nice, but it has quite a bit of empty space to the upper left. I would center the blow up view on the village itself since the village is the focus of the blow up in the first place.

[ravells]

I really like the inset approach - and the forest texture in the big map is beautiful too.

[Midgardsormr]

Although the population is low and the town is isolated, I find it odd that there are no outbuildings from the town.
...
No ceremonial groves, dolmens or menhirs, or watch structures?

Good idea. An old megalith site would be a nice touch, and the place needs a graveyard. I had originally intended to put at least one cottage in the forest, but I must have erased that entry on my notes layer. Or maybe it's lurking somewhere off the edge of the canvas. Thanks for the reminder.

It also strikes me as odd that such an isolated place would not have a rudimentary military structure or two to defend against the occasional maruading wild animal or humanoid band.

That's a conscious choice. Wild animals will normally avoid a settlement, particularly if there is plenty of wilderness around it. The Tawaren Basin at large is very sparsely populated thanks to the plague, so the risk of bandits is very low, almost nonexistant. Furthermore, this village is only barely surviving; the villagers aren't willing to give the labor to construct a palisade, preferring to do things that more directly improve their own circumstances.

Where is the road out of town? It may be too small to see on the larger map, but I cannot make out any way to get Mennin's Hallow other than by water. It may be isolated, but a thorp with 280 people would have blazed a rude path or two leading out of it if not an actual road.

Water isn't a good way to get in or out, either. That stream's only 25 feet wide, shallow, and it runs rapidly downhill in places. It might be possible to run a canoe on it, but nothing bigger. There isn't any regular traffic to or from the Hallow, although you're right--there should probably be at least some foraging trails, and quite likely a path up to a quarry to the west. That could double as a goat trail, too.

I would center the blow up view on the village itself since the village is the focus of the blow up in the first place.

I am inclined to think the same thing. But I'm lazy, so I didn't do it. Now that you've given me some ideas for other ways to fill the space, though, it may not be necessary. Or at least I won't have to move it very far.

So here's my to-do list, just so I can see it easily and don't overlook the obvious again:

- Megaliths
- Cemetery
- Cottage in the forest
- Trails out of town
- Labels?
- Recenter inset
- Recheck brightness/contrast
- Doublecheck scales
- Resize farmhouses

Thanks for the comments, and for all the praise. I'll try to have another draft up tomorrow morning with at least a few of these improvements.

[ravells]

Actually thinking about it, I think thebax has a point. Perhaps you should reverse the inset and have the zoomed out view in the little box since most of the interest (at the moment) is in the detail view.

[Midgardsormr]

Heh. That's not happening. For one thing, I built this map for the mapping challenge, and I just don't have the time to entirely remake it with the deadline looming. For another, a larger village map will require a different style for the buildings. These simple blocks just won't cut it at higher resolutions. They're just barely adequate at this size.

Besides, those trees are just too pretty to shrink!

Maybe I'll do another of the hallows later on with that idea in mind. Galerius should be similar, and I might be able to use that one to develop a style more suitable for a closer view.

[mathuwm]

did you want the scale to be 100 feet in the enlarged area and not yards

at the hundred foot scale some of the buildings would be 5'x5'

[Midgardsormr]

Hmmm... that's not right. The smallest should be about 6.5 by 8 feet. It looks like I made the farmhouses tiny. They should be much larger than they are. Okay, one more thing for the list...

[Midgardsormr]

An update with some of the suggested changes.