Criticism wanted - Black and white overland map

[eotty]

Hi, so i startet mapping 1 week ago, and this is my second map. I was trying out something, im satisfied but i think it needs the little extra. Any friend i ask just say it is awesome so now i try here.

Anything constructive is welcome!

BW test.JPG

[Azélor]

Welcome to the Guild eotty!

It's a good start but it's a little repetitive. It could be great if you could add some randomness to your symbol placement. You could change the size of the symbols or change the density.

[Midgardsormr]

I agree. Just a little chaos would do it good.

It definitely needs labels, and maybe a legend. I am assuming that the stippled area in the south is desert, based on the oasis symbols. What's directly north of there? Grassland? Or swamp? The former is okay, but I don't think you'd be likely to see a swamp right next to a desert! Particularly not with that river being where it is.

Why is there no road leading from the bridge to the large settlement to the north? I guess a lot of shipping would come by water, but surely there is enough foot traffic to warrant a road along the same route.

There are some lines among the mountains that I can't figure out. Are they maybe the edge of the mountains zone that you forgot to delete?

If you reduce the density of a few elements, mostly the forests and mountains, this would be a superb example of the kind of map that would print well for a paperback novel.

[eotty]

BlackAndWhiteWorld.JPG

Ok, here is my latest iteration, i would like to say that You have been an amazing help!

I redesigned the peninsula. I copied something i found on this site, and i think it applied really well to the map.

* Labels: Ill add that when i know what to label. Right now it is just a map without history, but labels it shall be!
* The area to the south is desert, i will add terrain to next iteration!
* The area to the north was indeed a swamp. I have no idea why i placed it there so i replaced it with a jungle, trying to make some Sahara/Congo interpretation.
* True there should be a road. But i actually forgot the city when i placed roads. Shame on me, thanks for reminding me. Road is ofacause added.
* The lines arround the mountains, and the hills are borders, it shows where the mountains ends and the hills begins. I removed the lines, you are right they were just confusing.

Concerns:
The North-West coast should have a city or town, maybe village, it is the only rich resource for wood except from the jungle. It would be profitable to place a settlement there.

The north-east:
I placed a wasteland in the north east, with a lot of ruins. It is supposed to be an area with great danger, just inviting for adventure.

The desert uncharted:
I did on purpose add nothing to the south eastern part of the desert, because it is uncharted.

[eotty]

Adventures - Black and White - Map v3 - Goblin Print

I have created a small update, moving a road, adding a swamp area, and ruler with compass.
The map is added to the creative commons licence. So feel free to use it for what ever.

[Azélor]

It's more chaotic but the forest still need some work. Aside from that you made lines that start from the lake in the center. If these lines are rivers, it's odd. It's possible if you have a giant crater in the middle of a high plateau. But even then, somenone correct me if I'am wrong but lakes usually have only one output.

[Midgardsormr]

You are not wrong. You will see multiple outputs from a lake only if the input to the lake is greater than what any one river can take away. That usually only happens if there is flooding or human intervention (irrigation canals or the like). On the other hand, we do have a strange set of mountain chains radiating out from a central depressed area, which is an unusual formation. If we suppose that the denizens of this area don't know much about hydrography and that area is sufficiently dangerous that they haven't fully explored it, they might not know that there are actually five lakes up there, each feeding a different river. They've followed the rivers far enough to know that each terminates at a lake, and they merely assumed that they were all the same lake.

Make sure you delete or mask out the wave symbols in your legend box.

Northern Africa doesn't go direct from desert to jungle. It transitions through savannah: http://www.zonu.com/images/0X0/2010-...-of-Africa.jpg

I think this is an improvement over the original. The cliff face is a nice touch; people frequently ask how to accomplish something like that.