Westbar Redux - A Haerlech Study

[Dumont]

It does seem pretty narrow for a river that long. But anyway, if they are moving products and raw material from the north (ie: stone, wood, grain) then the river is the most efficient way of doing it in bulk. And the boats will likely be long and narrow.

I'm drawing the map where 2px = 1ft so the river fork where the main docks are would be about 120 feet wide.

[Dumont]

I'm jumping all over the place in terms of what I'm working on with this, but it's helping for me to fill in some of the blanks.

[Dumont]

** FIVE YEAR LONG NECRO-BUMP **



I'm going to start working on this again!

[Dumont]

Finally getting around to solve the issues I have with the scale of this town. I've shrunk everything down to give more space and started laying down more populated areas, which will allow me to expand the more dense neighborhoods and place more farmland and prominent buildings.

[J.Edward]

It's good to see you are working on this again. I can totally understand the break.
I have numerous city maps in various states of completion, as you get to a point and just have to let it go for a while.

[Dumont]

It's good to see you are working on this again. I can totally understand the break.
I have numerous city maps in various states of completion, as you get to a point and just have to let it go for a while.

Thank you! I was excited to pick it back up and see if you'd weigh in.

I'm finding that I definitely have a kind of push and pull between wanting to fill in the map in an aesthetically pleasing way while also wanting to first commit to proper worldbuilding - and those are constantly in conflict.

For example, in the top left area of town is a wealthy landowner with a lot of crops, and his land currently sits on a raised area overlooking the town. However, the bluff eats up a ton of map area which also makes the west half of the city feel claustrophobic, and I think I want to radically rethink it. I also don't want to do exposed cliff faces - that feels like it just makes the claustrophobic feeling worse, even if it does give back more square footage.

I might have to push his entire property further into the corner, away from town.

[J.Edward]

Thank you! I was excited to pick it back up and see if you'd weigh in.

I'm finding that I definitely have a kind of push and pull between wanting to fill in the map in an aesthetically pleasing way while also wanting to first commit to proper worldbuilding - and those are constantly in conflict.

For example, in the top left area of town is a wealthy landowner with a lot of crops, and his land currently sits on a raised area overlooking the town. However, the bluff eats up a ton of map area which also makes the west half of the city feel claustrophobic, and I think I want to radically rethink it. I also don't want to do exposed cliff faces - that feels like it just makes the claustrophobic feeling worse, even if it does give back more square footage.

I might have to push his entire property further into the corner, away from town.

I just went back through my Haerlech wip thread, reading tons of comments.
What stuck out the most to me was that many times I had to make changes that altered the direction I thought it was going to go in.
But ultimately it was worth it to make those changes. So if you feel like it is going to make the map better by changing it, then go for it.
I didn't plan out Haerlech very well. But, it worked ok in the end.