Lurker finally needs advice

[mattattata]

Hi All!

I'm Mattata and I've been a long time lurker here! I have long been a tabletop gamer and making regional/battle maps for my games has always been a hobby of mine. I stumbled on this forum a couple of years ago and it instilled a desire to get better at mapping!

I prefer hand-made maps but have been creating them on my iPad recently during this virus stuff to better import the maps into Roll20. I don't really have a preferred style, and enjoy making any kind of map once inspiration strikes!

Attached is my most recent WIP. I started building the world of Liustrel recently. Small and harsh, its about the size of Mars, and its a pretty cold planet. Wood is a rare resource on this planet, and only the richest of countries have access to it. Many of the humans that inhabit the planet have fallen back into an Iron Age since the time of a great interstellar war, however there are some bastions of civilization far more advanced. There's so many more details, but alas, I don't have it completed yet.

Ending my lurk to post the WIP and get some feedback from people whom I know are great cartographers! There is my climate draft, a version without borders, and a version where I've started creating borders. The rivers are only blue right now for clarity. Any C&C is appreciated (specifically I'm not sure if I've just completely botched the rivers on this one)!

Thank you and look forward to meeting some of you!

[rdanhenry]

Okay, you need to read about how rivers work, a very common issue that has led to this important thread: How to get your rivers in the right place


Issues include backward angles where rivers join (as they flow from the mountains, tributaries join at acute angles, opposite what you have. You have multiple rivers running from interior lakes to the ocean, whereas only one river would flow out of the lake to the ocean. You have at least one case of a river running across from one river system to another river system (possible if it is a canal).

Otherwise, the only issue I see is that your landforms are a bit boxy, as if you did understand that shaping the continents to fill the page would be a bad idea, but really only took half-measures to prevent it. You've made a good start on getting away from a rectangular continent, but aren't quite there yet. Maybe angle the west coast more, de-boxify that big eastern island, and angle the southern coast so the eastern continental area is maybe about half the height as the west side, let that lower right corner really be a good stretch of ocean.

How much of the planet is this supposed to represent?

[mattattata]

Okay, you need to read about how rivers work, a very common issue that has led to this important thread: How to get your rivers in the right place


Issues include backward angles where rivers join (as they flow from the mountains, tributaries join at acute angles, opposite what you have. You have multiple rivers running from interior lakes to the ocean, whereas only one river would flow out of the lake to the ocean. You have at least one case of a river running across from one river system to another river system (possible if it is a canal).

Otherwise, the only issue I see is that your landforms are a bit boxy, as if you did understand that shaping the continents to fill the page would be a bad idea, but really only took half-measures to prevent it. You've made a good start on getting away from a rectangular continent, but aren't quite there yet. Maybe angle the west coast more, de-boxify that big eastern island, and angle the southern coast so the eastern continental area is maybe about half the height as the west side, let that lower right corner really be a good stretch of ocean.

How much of the planet is this supposed to represent?

So I will definitely check out that thread, any advice on how to approach wetlands/swampy regions? That was the thought behind the region in the SW. The shape of the continents actually came from me starting the idea on this attached map for some reason. I was just toying with ideas and liked this one and decided to plot it out flat as well. The planet is pretty small, the scale in the first maps is 500miles, and water is supposed to be pretty scarce along with wood as the planet went through an environmental catastrophe in the past, which is why the landmasses are so large.

Thanks for the advice!