The misty Realms (world setting)

[Malmo3000]

Hi there,

I would like to introduce you to my first creation when it comes to mapping - "Die verborgenen Gefilde" (something like "The misty realms"). This is just a working title so far but I am planning to use this setting for all my future campaigns in D&D. So far it's only made wtih CC3 (pretty expensive with the Annual 6 but worth the money anyhow) but I am planning to round this one up (labels, borders, compass, ...) with photoshop. For now, I am pretty happy on how this world map turned out, yet I am sure there is lots of room for improvement. I would love to hear any comments and suggestions for improvement for this map from you. By the way, since I am new to mapping and I don't want to forget about all the techniques I started a little Tutorial on how to use different functions of CC3 (following the creation of this map in a step to step progress). Once I am done I will also upload any this tutorial too for "freshmen" like me. So if you are familiar with CC3 and Photoshop and have any specific suggestion on what features I should use I am more than happy to implement these into my tutorial as well.

Thank you all so much and happy mapping
Malmo3000

[Carnifex]

Looks nice for a first map! Welcome to the guild!

[Domino44]

This is a really nice map. It would look better with labels and a border...etc. Great job!

[Deadshade]

Quite nice for a first attempt.
I would say that there are too many lakes - almost every river has 1 while in a realistic setting they would be much rarer.

[Chick]

This is really excellent for a first map post. There are lots of things to comment on, but I think you have a great start!

The main thing I don't care for is the mountains. They are too spiky looking, very narrow linear ranges, and not placed in very natural places. There is no rule that says you have to put mountains where they would naturally form on fantasy maps, but there is some value to having people nod in approval when they see them

The coastlines are too consistent. I would suggest some that are more broken up (fractal in nature) and some a bit smoother to make some variety.

I'm not fond of the small patch of islands to the right of center. They are too much all the same size and shape. The rest of your islands are good.

On the plus side, your textures and terrains are awesome, well done, fitting together well, attractive artistically! The water texture is beautiful and the shallows are nicely done.

Your rivers are all in the right places, and that counts a lot around here -- no river police needed for you

Have some rep!

[Malmo3000]

Thank you all for the kind comments, I really appreciate it.

@Domino44: You are right labels and borders are still on my to-do-list. Yet, as this is just a first intermediate result labels and borders are placed at the end of my roadmap. For now I have to fix the other stuff to get the map into a better shape.

@Deadshade: Good one, I think I missed this one. Especially the continent in the middle has way too many lakes. I will definitly look into this when I redo the map.

@chick:
- I agree with you, I really like the optics of the map. Yet, since I used CC3 with the Herwin Wielink style the credit doesn't belong to me. However, you already noticed one drawback. You always have to deal with symbol sets and textures the corresponding style offers, in this case spiky looking mountains.
- Thank you for the compliment on the river topic. While looking over some maps posted in the forum I saw lots of comments that did explain rivers very well.
- Concerning the mountains, I expected pretty much the exact comment. Truth is, I didn't have much of a plan how to put the mountains into the "right" places. And yes, it is a fantasy map but this doesn't mean I could at least try to place the mountains into realistic places. Truth is I just wanted to finish this map to have something to build on. From now on I have somewhat of an idea on how it should look so I can go on to polishing the critical areas. Guess I have to look around for a tutorial or something like this.
- As for the coastlines I will definitely think about it.
- Since you mentioned the small patch of island to the right center you are correct as well. These islands somehow fall out of alignment and I have to redo them in the next run.

I hope I didn't forget anything right now but I think this is enough to do for the next version of this map. Again thank you all for your comments and kind words. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Happy mapping

[Malmo3000]

I recently upgraded to CC3+ and therefore had to change the style to 'Mike Schley Overland'. With the earlier comments in mind I overhauled most of the map. There is still room for improvement I guess but I am more than happy with the result as it is right now. Let's see what the future brings to 'Skalderand' (oh yeah, I also changed the name of the map). Next steps will include the introduction of a scale, a compass rose and navigation lines, texts. Afterwards I will edit it in photoshop to bring the best out of it.

[Iggy]

Had to log in just to say your map is looking great! I'm doing all my mapping in Photoshop CC even though I have CC3+. Seeing your map makes me wonder if it wouldn't be better for me to return to CC3+ (It also underlines my struggle with coming up a solid work method for map creation). How's the performance of the new version? The regular CC3 performed terrible on my machine, despite the hardware.

[Malmo3000]

CC3+ works fine, even with effects turned on all the time. Without effects it runs even faster of course. Yet, as for right now you can only use the standard and the schley style. The annuals and other addons will be included in the future. So far I am very happy with CC3+ as it is a big improvement. However, I really don't think of it as an all in one tool as my comments already suggest. At the moment there is simply no passing without photoshop or similar programs to create a very nice looking map (at least in my opinion). But CC3 is perfect for groundworks as this map only took me 3-4 weeks of regularly drawing for 1-2 hours in the evening.