List the Most Common "Reality" Errors!

[Chick]

A discussion in another thread has led to a suggestion that we need a general list of the most common "reality" errors people make.

Rivers are well covered in the excellent tutorial "How to Get Your Rivers in the Right Place", so that's a good start.

I'd like to compile a simple list of the most common errors, so please post the things you know of that newcomers get wrong. I'll start ....


1. Lakes have one and only one outlet. Not 0, not 2 or more, just one. (Yes, there are rare exceptions, but this list is for the "norm")

2. River systems end in the ocean. They may go through lakes, but ultimately all water flows to the sea.

3. Rivers never split. If they go around an island, they rejoin immediately. A river may have multiple channels through a final delta to the sea, but the river is still just one river.

4. Mountains form in linear or gently curving ranges. Ranges don't meet at sharp angles.

5. Lonely mountains form only as shield volcanoes, otherwise mountains are part of a range.

6. Rivers don't run through (in one side and out the other) a mountain range unless there is a clear water-level pass though the mountains.

7. Swamps and lakes form in depressions, not on hillsides.

8. Deserts form in middle latitudes, not equatorial.

9. Rivers flow downhill always.

10. Rivers run fairly straight down in hills and mountains, but wind around and meander on flat land.

11. Rivers generally taper wider toward the downstream, but most of the width growth occurs at confluences.

12. Coastlines are jagged and irregular, not round and smooth.

13. Forests should always be shorter than the nearby mountains.

14. Towns and cities should be smaller than the mountains.


See the remainder of this thread for discussions of these items.
Please continue this list !!