Hi there.

I created my own dark fantasy world many years ago and I'm struggling with multiple aspects, one of them being the world map. I've tried many things (on paper, on paint, even Inkarnate) and while I can make some good looking stuff (like mountainshape or coastlines), I always have the same concern : I don't know where to put things to make the world appealing (to me) and realistic. I want something as big as the Roman Empire with a variety of environments, but I don't know where to put mountains, rivers, forests, villages, marshes, desert, snow, etc. for it to be realistic enough.

What I don't want is something like the shape of Mordor in Tolkien's work. Don't worry I'm a big fan of his work and I've read all his books many times, but the shape of Mordor had always bugged me. A squareshaped country surrounded by great mountains so it can only be accessible by tiny gaps always seemed odd to me, like it was forced. "Evil needs a scary and impenetrable country, let's surround it by mountains in square". That don't seem natural and I don't want that. Maybe I'm judging myself too hard (probably is), but I've never been satisfied with all my drawings. I would like some form of tips and/or examples. I've read about the formation of mountains and how their placement influenced nature around (they're also the sources of almost every rivers), but I just can't come with a looking good/realistic world map shape in my head.

Help