Building a World

[lastofthemany]

I've been using this world in my AD&D, 3.5, and Pathfinder games for about 20 years. It has pretty much only existed on paper, but I recently decided to move it into the digital world and give it a facelift at the same time. First off, I wanted it to be a bit more realistic than the one I created in high school, but still maintain the features and distances I used in previous campaigns.
Step 1. I drew the known world (on 8.5 x 11) paper, then added the rest of the world in a manner that fit my campaign needs.
Step 2. I scanned the map using my phone.

Step 3. This was kinda backwards but, the next thing I did was draw tectonic plates. If I was drawing a new world, I'd have started with plates. Anyway, I used the Procreate app to draw my plates on a different layer than the main scanned image.
Step 4. Next I drew convergent, divergent and transverse plate boundaries on yet another layer.

Step 5. I drew ocean currents on yet another layer. I probably should have split warm and cold currents into different layers to save me some heartburn, but hey.

Step 6. I drew global wind patterns. Winter and summer winds on different sheets. Pink are summer and blue are winter.


The next step will be to finish sketching out the world on Fractal Terrains. I'll post an image of that when I get a rough sketch completed. After that, I'll look at modifying my existing climates and terrains.