New Map...almost finished

[cereth]

Here is a map I'm currently working on in cc3. I'm almost done with it, just making some final touches and stuff. I'm starting to fine tune this style of map a little I think. I'd appreciate any comments.

[ravells]

I really like your colour choices and the light touch with the forest symbols. The map has a character and personality - I also like the way you've gone with the hill symbols rather than using the mountain symbols as well. It really works well this map.

No crits, I'm afraid. I wonder whether there is a name for the little 'sea contours' around the coastline. They work very effectively with this style of map.

[jfrazierjr]

Here is a map I'm currently working on in cc3. I'm almost done with it, just making some final touches and stuff. I'm starting to fine tune this style of map a little I think. I'd appreciate any comments.

Very nice! Only one criticism: The background texture has a repeating pattern running north-south that really draws my eyes to it.

[Redrobes]

The background texture has a repeating pattern running north-south that really draws my eyes to it.

Theres a scripty thing here to fix that if you want to...
http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=1373

[cereth]

Thanks for the tip. I think that got rid of that repeating pattern pretty well.

[Sigurd]

I like it a lot.

My only comment is not a criticism but a curiosity.

You have shown great taste in your font and detail on the map. Most of the script is horizontal and very well spaced out. I would be curious if you could represent the extents of Mercia and Wessex without the large labels that seem to swim against the detail in the rest of the map. Either some sort of faint regional shading or a delineated border. I feel like this could make the map more pleasing if it didn't let the horizontal detail become too strong.

As I said it's not a criticism.


Whats the background for the map?


Sigurd

[cereth]

Hmmm...I had thought about making the 'regional labels' a lighter brown color so they seem to blend in with the detail some and wouldn't stand out so much. It might be hard to represent Mercia and Wessex with a 'delineated border' because I'm not sure they really had one.

The map is for an upcoming Ars Magica game set in the 11th century. I did some research to find the old anglo-saxon names for the cities to try and make it more authentic to the time period. The triangles (red labels) are covenants and the unlabeled one is where the PC's covenant will be. (They haven't come up with a name yet.)

Not sure how familiar you are with Ars Magica, but I make all of the maps for our games. I try to make the maps both functional and artistically appealing as we'll be staring at it for the next 9-12 months over the course of our game. In game wise, the map need to be a little flexible because we'll probably play through nearly 70-80 years and things can change a lot.

[immortalco]

Great looking map. Did you free form the shorelines? I have wnated to do something with CC2 for my South of France Ars saga, but the scope is so daunting. Great job.

[Tancread]

I just stumbled across this thread and I love your map. I am about to start a D&D campaign set in 1043 England and I will looting ideas from your map ruthlessly. My game will be relatively straight D&D, but with a Viking/Saxon flavor with just a hint of Norman seasoning. You have me curious about Ars Magica now, I want to see how a campaign proceeds in such a long timeline.

As for the map, I expect to work in a tighter area of the midlands, roughly Leicester to York cut across the middle to include the Peaks and some of the Fenlands. I expect the Peaks to be where most of the action is. I am curious about your naming, can you point me to a source for the period names of the towns and cities? The map mentioned above at the Anglo-Saxon site uses modern names, I would love to use period ones.