I feel as if I have been remiss in asking questions. :-)

What is your favorite way to apply a background for a map? Do you use parchment? Some kind of grunde background? Do you make it transparent? Apply colors to it? And most importantly - Most outlandish background and how hard was it to use? :-)

I usually use parchment, make it partially transparent and apply colors behind it like very pale yellow. Hardest one I tried was metal screws behind the parchment. The screw layer was set to 85% transparency so the shadows gave a feeling of hills or valleys. To be truthful - it sucked. Too....ummmmm.....standard looking? Non-natural looking? However you want to put it.