This cavern is below all, and is the foe of all. It is hatred, without exception. This cavern knows no philosophers; its dagger has never cut a pen. Its blackness has no connection with the sublime blackness of the inkstand. Never have the fingers of night which contract beneath this stifling ceiling, turned the leaves of a book nor unfolded a newspaper.
Right... I've taken a couple of courses in geography, so I understand the basic idea of plate tectonics (but have no idea how to create realistic plates or continents), know how atmospheric wind circulation works, et cetera, but sometimes it seems like you have to just kinda go with instinct in certain decisions. Such as which side (E/W) of a continent is dry and which is wet. I guess that would have something to do with currents though. I don't mean to jack the thread, so back on topic.
@OP Yeah, it seems like there are two camps in terms of realism. There are the simulationists, who want as realistic a world as possible and therefore build top-down, and the others usually more into the narrative of high fantasy, who are more willing to use magic liberally and build bottom up. Although I for one like to work toward the former, I don't think either is necessarily better, so don't feel like you have to do one method.