Land of the Golden City

[ElfSpeaker]

Greetings All,

I've been doing mapping by hand for years now and finally shifted to electronic cartography. This is my first crack at using CC3. The map is for a D&D campaign I am running based on a synthesis of the Points of Light Campaign and the ancient/historical/mythological eastern Mediterranean.

Things I learned making this map...
*Put trees, mountains, etc on different sheets. It worked out to give the trees and mountains the same effects on this map but I would have liked to have more control.
*Similarly, put different contour effects on different sheets for the same reason. The contour around the "Nile" didn't come out quite the way I would have liked.
*Make sure contour effects draw past the edge of the map so they don't fade in a straight line when edge fade effects are applied.
*There is no substitute for hand-drawing 10,000 tiny trees to indicate a forest.
*Put small islands on a separate sheet from main land masses. The inner edge glow effect needs to be much smaller.

Any comments/advice/constructive criticism you have would be much appreciated.

Edit: The map has been updated with a bigger resolution.

[Volsung]

I am not sure if this is a limitation with the software or not, but the mountains at the top seem to be spaced too far out compared to the others. Rather than looking like a chain of mountains, they look like a lot of individual mountains. Perhaps do these like the closely grouped ones on the southern continent?

The text also appears to be pixelated... I am not sure what you can do to fix this tough...

I like the glow on the oceans, but perhaps the colors should be reversed? The dark blue in the center where the water would be deeper and the light blue on the outside nearer the shore?

Looking forward to more...

[Gandwarf]

Nice map, have some rep.
I agree with Volsung, the mountains should be crammed a bit closer together to get the feeling of a mountain range. The forest is looking good.

It's a bit hard to comment as the map isn't really big. Could you save in a bigger resolution?

[Steel General]

Let me start by saying... Welcome Aboard!

Since you included a map in your very first post, have a bit of 'rep' *bonk* (cheesy sound of your reputation going up).

There are several folks in attendance who are very skilled with CC, so feel free to ask questions, etc.

Oh yeah... nice map too

[ElfSpeaker]

It's a bit hard to comment as the map isn't really big. Could you save in a bigger resolution?

Done.

I tried playing with the contour colors a bit too. What I'll need to do for the next time around is start with a lighter color sea and add dark contours. I couldn't get the color to look quite right as it was.

[Karro]

Hmm. This looks suspiciously like the area around Greece, Turkey, and Egypt, but with things moved around a bit. Was that your source for inspiration for the geography?

Incidentally, Iskandarun is a real place (on the southern coasts of Turkey rather than in the location of Alexandria where it appears to be here.

[ElfSpeaker]

Hmm. This looks suspiciously like the area around Greece, Turkey, and Egypt, but with things moved around a bit. Was that your source for inspiration for the geography?

Incidentally, Iskandarun is a real place (on the southern coasts of Turkey rather than in the location of Alexandria where it appears to be here.

Yes, that region was my inspiration for the map. Good catch on Iskandarun. It is the Arabic name for Alexandretta so I applied it to the Alexandria-esque city. Eneiyala is also Arabic in origin.

[NeonKnight]

Good job on the map.

Don't worry too much about the 'learning stuff'. I have been using CC3 (and CC2 Pro) for going on about 15 years now, and I am still learning

[Karro]

Yes, that region was my inspiration for the map. Good catch on Iskandarun. It is the Arabic name for Alexandretta so I applied it to the Alexandria-esque city. Eneiyala is also Arabic in origin.

Ah, yeah, I guess I knew that (al-Iskanderun with the "al" chopped off for some reason), and yet didn't make the full leap. I have to say I do like little things like that embedded in a world.

[Kingbreaker]

I Think the issue with the mountains is not the spacing,, it's the uniformity. The mountains are evenly distributed both N/S and E/W. Perhaps move some of them around so that you get distinct lines suggesting ridges and valleys?