New Map...almost finished

[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.

[Sigurd]

If your setting time is 1033 is Canute king of 'England'? Are you going to have a Norman Invasion?

I've read Ars Magica but I've never found a group to play it with. It looks amazing.

Maps I have seen use the Thames River as a border for Wessex. Here's a fairly good one from 1000Ad. It's earlier but some things like Offa's Dike and some sort of Welsh presence would probably have been present. Check out the other maps on the site too.

http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?d...map&id=map1000

You might also want to include the roads that were present and improved in the Roman period:

http://www.nkjo.net.pl/history/roman_britain.jpg

But this is all nit picking. I like the map.

If your other game maps are anywhere near this good I'd love to see them!


Sigurd.

[cereth]

I've actually seen all of those maps at anglo-saxons.net...they are amazing, and all hand drawn. I somewhat used them as reference, actually.

That map of the old roman roads is a good one though. I hadn't seen that one...I might just add some roads to the map.

We are both going to handle the Norman invasion and a struggle for the throne. I think Canute is the king of England at the start though. There are going to be two of us running the game together...and he is responsible for a lot of the more 'mundane' things. (in Ars Magica terms, that means actual historical events and what not outside of the scope of magi, who are not supposed to meddle in things like that).

As a group, Ars Magica is probably the game we play more than any other. We were playtesters on the current version and have run like 3 or 4 campaigns since then.

Here is the map I made for the campaign we are just now finishing up.

[Sigurd]

Very, very pretty!

One thing you may be able to make plot from (or your friend might?) is that Canute was King of much of Scandinavia at the same time he was king of the Danelaw.

Of course rulership is as much about retaking authority as claiming it.

You could have some plots that stretch the idea of 'England' into the Norse territories... ie treasure\hoards\magic that is transported from one place to a 'safer' place or important elements that are not in Britain. It would be interesting to promote the mindset that, in this period, England was very much a Norse Holding and 'home' might not have been London but....?

Also, as his forces were thinned so might his authority.

Sigurd

[nolgroth]

I personally really like this map. I didn't notice the repeating pattern in the first posted draft until it was pointed out and then I couldn't help notice it. Glad you got that worked out.

Ars Magica always sounded like such a fun concept game. Here's to a successful game.