Commission piece - The Shadowglade RPG Setting for Pathfinder

[torstan]

So I googled around and found a satelite view of a large escarpment:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...88734&t=h&z=12

Now both sides of that escarpment are flat but they are totally different colours and shades due to the different foliage. It would be almost impossible to see the difference otherwise. I still want to place some visible cliffs in there to try to break it down a little.

@TM - good work on that cliff. They're tricky, and with so much of this sort of mapping the issue is to find a solution that reads well to the viewer even if it's totally unrealistic.

[TheMarcus7]

Which makes sense when you think about it. There are two completely different ecological/climatological regions. You could also look at the North Eastern corner of Arizona. There's a long escarpment that is part of the White Mountains area called the Mogollon Rim, which doesn't reflect real well on Google Maps...

.TM7

[NeonKnight]

Looks great, but where is the Scale Bar?

And why does it look like North America?

[torstan]

NK - it's in the bottom right corner of the map. You don't think I'd go throwing around a map without a scale bar? Make sure you're looking at the last one that I posted, rather than the version referenced by Carnifex. As for the North America reference - yep, it's very like NA. Poor Florida though. Seems it got sunk in the cataclysm - to say nothing of what happened to Canada...

TM - yep, that's another good example. Escarpments don't show up well on satelite views because the shadow is too small - or not there at all unless the sun is shining from the right direction. It's more a matter of foliage - in this case the forest.

[torstan]

Okay so I fiddled with the hills around the mountain edges to help with the river path. I also blocked in a cliff edge on the escarpment. I'd be interested to see if people think that's an improvement?

[Coyotemax]

For what it's worth, I don't have any problem seeing it for what it is.

lovely!

[Djekspek]

great job on the forest Torstan! as for the escarpment, the last version looks -in my opinion- better, but am not an escarpment-expert

[Aenigma]

I like the map. It reminds me of the map from the gigantic "The Wheel of Time" by author Robert Jordan - may he rest in peace.
(I'm in the middle of book 7 at the moment if anyone wonders)

[the-golem]

The cliff edge does mage a difference, and the part below the lake/shadowglade looks really keen. The part above seems to get lost in the mountains and I think I know why. If you were to fiddle with the mountains so that the high/left side were to peak, then rapidly drop (forming the escarpment) it might look better. If you think about it, tectonically, one plate gets shoved under the other, causing the top plate to raise up, which Im sure you knew. It goes to follow, however, that the land closest to the escarpment on the raised side would be highest. Hope that makes sense.

Also, there's no "cliff-ness" on the lake portion, which sorta flattens it out. I realize also there is supposed to be some sort of water-fall there, so perhaps you could draw some kind of white haze/mist near where the river meets the lake, or some kind of ripple, or even both? I know at this level of view you probably wouldbe be able to see this, but it might help.

Just an idea >.<

[torstan]

The part above is meant to get lost in the mountains. The mountain region has a smaller break than further south and it has degraded into the general terrain. This is a case where it isn't two tectonic plates, but instead a magical catastrophe. This has caused the two regions to shear and cause the escarpment. So the tectonic logic doesn't work. As it's a shear break, the land to the east isn't actually that much higher - especially not in the mountains where the rift peters out.

Good idea about the lake. I'll add some billowing mist. I think this map has reached the stage where it's finished enough for the commission. I'll wait for any final edits from the client and then post the final in the finished maps section.