Map of Otham (WIP)

[daedalusaf]

I am in the process of creating a world for RP and for a series of stories I'm planning to write.

I have been toying around with AutoRealm for almost a week now, for lack of a better map-drawing software, and have come up with a WIP of the world of Otham.

Firstly, there's the continent & islands of which I have yet to name. The basic premise is that these continent dwellers have no idea of the world beyond the sea they dubbed the Endless Night

I can't seem to get text to appear clearly on the images I create with AutoRealm, and I hope to get some help with this. Failing which, I'll probably PS or GIMP them in. I can't seem to get good clear images as well. Is this a limitation of AutoRealm?

Secondly is the nation of Westwarren. The borders shrunk after a tragic event that claimed a section of land, now named the Maw.

Here are the maps. Hope to get some feedback on the direction (or mis-direction) I'm going

[daedalusaf]

I was hoping to get feedback...but anyways...

update on Westwarren. I've been mucking around with the AutoRealm map with gimp, and with a few gnarly downloaded brushes, I was able to get the map redone in GIMP. It isn't as intuitive as AR, but it isn't rigid. Thoughts?

[mearrin69]

First of all, welcome...and have some rep for showing a map with your first post.

Second, looking at your updated map:
1) The outline's a little rough still but you probably knew that. The interior of the continent is looking pretty darned good.
2) Some overlapping of the brushes going on. Not sure how to fix that in your software but, in Photoshop or similar, I'd fill them so you can't see what's behind them. If you can't do that then you might have to move them around a bit to reduce the overlap.
3) When the River Police come by I think you got some 'splainin' to do. You've got some improbable rivers in there. In general, they should start somewhere high and end somewhere low, usually the sea.
4) I like the buildings but the big ones didn't scale very well and a couple of them are overlapping the coastline. If there's any way to fix those two issues I think it'd look better.
5) Can't help you with Autorealm...sorry.

Looks like you've got a good start. Looking forward to seeing where you take this.
M

[edit: Oh, yeah, the continent map. It reminds me of one of the ancient maps where the local area is known in some detail but the cartographers only had a fuzzy idea about what was over the horizon so drew in some blobby shapes and populated it with monsters...the great unknown. If that's what you're going for then I think you've nailed it. If you're wanting to someday expand and define those lands I think you're going to want to look at refining the landmass shapes a bit. The area around your main map looks pretty squared away, which is why I assume the blobby forms are intentional[/edit]

[daedalusaf]

thanks for the comments mearrin

1) Outline. If you are talking about the outline of the continent, yeah, I think I screwed it up somewhere. I've been trying to backtrack to get a thinner line going, but I can't seem to pinpoint the cause. If it persists, then I'd have to redo the outline of the continent. I don't have a tablet, so the outline is also artificial as well. AutoRealm did well with fractal lines, but it doesn't translate well (ie pixelated) to GIMP.

2) Overlapping brushes. I've been meaning to clear that up once I get the overall feel done right

3) Rivers. I sucked at geography at school, and still suck it seems. I thought water from the lakes would stream down to the ocean. Never occurred to me that the lakewater has to come from somewhere...duh.

4) I got the buildings in a brush set. Not exactly what I was looking for, and right now they function more as placeholders, but I see your point clearly. Need to clean that up as well..

hope to get more updates...work's bogging me down some...

[mearrin69]

Heya. I'm no expert on rivers but there are some here that might be able to help more than I. For now I'll point you to this thread:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3822
M

[Juggernaut1981]

To pre-empt any "splainin ta dooo" to the river police...

Your lake appears to drain two ways: ocean & swamp.
It's highly unlikely to drain towards both (most likely to drain to ocean).

Also, you might want to try get a better visual separation of road and river markings.

[daedalusaf]

Thanks for the tip for rivers. I've redone my rivers, and hopefully the River Police will let me go on this one...

I've been fooling around with parchment background, and it's definitely a work in progress.

As for the roads, can you provide some tips to distinguish it from rivers, but still maintain a 'monotone' feel? Apart from legends, my mind is drawing blanks on this part.

Updated map of Westwarren, in all its 'Old Map' glory

[Gidde]

I've seen dashed or dotted, somewhat faded lines work well for roads on monochromatic maps.