The Faerie Sea

[Wade Dyer]

Hi all.
This is a collection of maps that I made for an RPG 'pirates & eldritch gods' sourcebook that I released at the start of this year (Fragged Sea).

This was my first try and map making for my new range of books (I have made maps for 4 books this year), so I'm not super happy with some parts, but I developed a technique that I quite like.
I will post up more threads showing my other work that I'm much happier with.

World Introduction:

The world of Toil was once home to mighty empires and proud nations. They tamed the land, fought wars, and made history their own. But then came the Rise, when a dark magic awoke ancient eldritch gods, the Esoterica, long trapped inside the Fallen Star that had once broken the world.

The Esoterica ravaged the mainlands, destroying minds, cities and entire empires. Each Esoterica brought with it a curse; a terrible malady radiating from within, affecting everything it touched save for the Faerie Sea itself. The Fallen Star was a ward, it seemed, protecting this lone sea from the Esoterica and their curses.

Now the remnants of Toil take to the Faerie Sea in an attempt to escape the gods. Here, the Free People are at an advantage, as they have long made their home among its many hidden and remote islands. Those new to the seas, such as the holy Kestrelt Empire, wealthy Tyvorosi Trade Guild, and the magical Shrajh, must adapt to this new life to survive. These nations clash as old grudges roar to the surface and fuel endless war, forcing smaller factions, like the deadly Ralkara and the indigenous God Born tribes, to take sides. Meanwhile, piracy is a constant threat, and the Esoterica’s spawn, dangerous monsters unaffected by the Fallen Star’s power, stalk the seas.

Welcome to a world of unrest and magic, of cannon-fire and blood-drenched shores, dark gods and monsters. A place of terror and adventure beyond measure, where life is short, but unrelentingly packed with thrills, unfathomable cruelty, and the nobility of a rare shining deed of heroism in a broken world.

Welcome to Toil.

Here is the primary map that I use in the book.
I'm quite happy with this map, as it has lots of nice detailing and displays lots of information clearly.
I feel like I could of put more work into the map title scrolling and the borders.
But I do like its functionality.



Two close up maps.
I made a youtube video showing how I made these maps.
I'm quite happy with the video, but these maps are a little basic and could do with a lot more detailing.



Two even closer up maps.
I'm actualy quite happy with these. They are designed to be given to PCs as adventure handouts, so they need to show some points of interest, but without giving away too many specifics.



Technique:
My process is rather simple:

1. Create a photoshop document to the correct size (I use American Letter and 300dpi for my books).
2. Block out the land masses in pure black using my tablet. Start with a big brush and then get smaller as I do the detailing.
3. Bring the image into Illustrator and autotrace the shapes.
4. I then create all of the graphic elements, detailing (mountains, etc...) in Illustrator.
5. Bring back into Photoshop and aply the paper texture.

This process creates very clean maps in a relitivly quick amount of time. And as everything is in a vector format its very easy to alter/change the linework as I go.
The downside is that the autotrace process does reduce some of the detailing and the extensive use of Illustrator does give the maps a 'compter generated' look.
In later projects I learnt to pay greater attention to my textures and colours, as this helps to offset these drawbacks.

[Gidde]

Very nice! I like the way you've outlined territories and one can tell these are for a very nautical-themed setting. Sounds fun to play!

[Kellerica]

Very nice maps, you've clearly established yourself an effective workflow that you're comfortable with. I have a slight preference for more raster based, texture heavy maps, so the look you get from drawing the features in Illustrator is a bit too digital and clean for my taste, but the overall look works very well within itself. I think the mountains and whatnot could really benefit some shading, though.

Good work on these, keep 'em coming!

[Eilathen]

Hey Wade!

Good to see you here! I don't know if you recognize my name, but i know you from rpg.net and have always followed your Fragged stuff over there.

Welcome to this nice corner of the Internet. You can get tons of help here for map-making and stuff that is map-adjacent I hope you'll brainstorm and WIP future Fragged maps over here, with us

As for a comment on your maps: I like the overall feel. I do think that especially your rivers could use some work. Most of the time they feel too broad and oddly shaped. Then again, this might be a style choice (and even if it is not, it is probably a matter of taste).

Cheers,
E.

[Wade Dyer]

Thanks for the welcome everyone

Once I've finished posting up some of my older maps (like these ones) I look forward to getting the communities advice on my maps for my new books.

Adding some shading to my mountains and fixing up my rivers would of helped these maps a lot.