Similarly to my 'show me your dungeon' thread, let's have a look at your wilderness areas for fun and inspiration. Again, this is intended to be a West Marches style campaign...I'm running into severe difficulties in making the map navigable by landmark, which seems the only way to handle things in the WM way. The necessary density of stuff is difficult to front load. I may just take copious notes on my map as I improvise landmarks in play. If anyone wants to discuss ways to make a wilderness navigable when playing in a 'hard core' manner, that's be sweet.
I'm attaching my player's starting map. The scale is 1/4" = 1 mile. It's about 11 miles from Winterwall to Woodthorpe, as the crow flies. Being a starting area there's not too much cool stuff on this map, though there are certainly opportunities for adventure. Woodthorpe is an excuse to have a small village to be overrun by lycanthropes, for instance. The charred inn is a common meeting point for bandits and humanoid bands hoping to raid the outlying farms of Winterwall. Other sites have been edited out in photoshop for this to function as a starter map for players.
The larger map this is taken from is on an 18"x24" sheet of Strathmore 400 paper, which responds quite well to archival ink. If you pencil first, it's a very good idea to use soft lead, because the Strathmore paper will pick up a memory of any sharp and hard lead. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a large format scanner at the moment, or I'd show more.
Winterwall is a small and ineptly managed barony on the wrong side of a nearly impassable mountain range. All known civilization is to the east. Beyond the Cold Marsh and the Smallwood lie the really deep wilderness.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l92/ctp2112/winterwallstartmap.jpg)
[edit] Yes, I know this is shamelessly cliche. I rip anything and everything off, left and right. The reason being: cliches work.
Nall Morrain (part of Praemal I customized, mixed stuff from Golarion, Glorantha, ToEE, Castle Whiterock and other sources)
(http://www.enrill.net/images/maps/Nall-Morrain-800-c.jpg)
The Seven Spires' full map. (http://www.enrill.net/images/maps/continent9d.jpg)
Political map:
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/51/151452809_281b765d5b.jpg)
Detail of the 7S (including details from Ghostwalk):
(http://www.enrill.net/images/maps/1-map1.jpg)
Ptolus area in 431 IA (300 years or so before Ptolus as written):
(http://enrill.net/images/play-by-posts/maps/Spire-area-E800.jpg)
A region near Viridistan in the Majestic Wilderlands. Each small hex is 1 league or 2.5 miles take one hour to cross on level terrain.
(http://www.ibiblio.org/mscorbit/beta/Region,%20Gormmah%20Sm.jpg)
Damn guys. I need to step up my game a notch. or three.
Kinda crappy compared to the rest but I like it. I only wish I knew how to scale the image so it would fit on one screen.
[EDIT] This is a resized image. If you want the full version, left click on the image which should open a new window then save as.
(http://jaspersrantings.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/lime_village_color-resize.jpg) (http://jaspersrantings.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/lime_village_color.jpg)
I think that's why I use attachments.
I few pcs have helped me out.
Quote from: LordVreeg;418596I think that's why I use attachments.
I few pcs have helped me out.
Cool. How'd you make 'em?
Seanchai
However, Tim, a word of advice: the players map should be Wrong. Wrong Wrong. It should have stuff on it that doesn't. some of the marked rods should either be pure fantasy or degraded beyond use, for example. Furhtermore there should be stuff in the world that isn't on the maps. Swamps and sudden drop offs are nice for that.
Old Map is Old. (http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/5776/tme1.jpg)
P.S. nice maps, y'all.
Two samples: One is a in-character map from my PbP Openquest game done in MS paint and meant to be hand drawn on the side of a waterskin in charcoal. It shows the location of what is supposed to be a lost monastery.
The other is an overland map of an area known as the "Leprosarium" for my Warrens of the Leper Queens supplement. It was done using Hexographer and is meant for DM use.
Both are for use in my MRQ2 / OQ setting "Moragne".
Quote from: Aos;418654However, Tim, a word of advice: the players map should be Wrong. Wrong Wrong. It should have stuff on it that doesn't. some of the marked rods should either be pure fantasy or degraded beyond use, for example. Furhtermore there should be stuff in the world that isn't on the maps. Swamps and sudden drop offs are nice for that.
P.S. nice maps, y'all.
Yes, you're absolutely right. This map only covers the areas of the campaign that are 'known' to civilization. Even then, there are lots of things left unmarked once you get outside of the farmland and towns. The players will never see another wilderness map from me...everything else will be generated through play by the players.
Love your map, Aos. Especially the liberal sprinkling of umlauts. |m|
Quote from: Tim;418819Yes, you're absolutely right. This map only covers the areas of the campaign that are 'known' to civilization. Even then, there are lots of things left unmarked once you get outside of the farmland and towns. The players will never see another wilderness map from me...everything else will be generated through play by the players.
Love your map, Aos. Especially the liberal sprinkling of umlauts. |m|
I misuse the umlauts for Sett.
There is a gazetteer that goes with the map. It can be accessed by clicking the link in my sig, which will take you to my blog. The gazetteer and some other junk can be found on the left hand side of the page under the heading "Resources."
The physical map for Gompan, my now-stalled RQ3 game, is here (http://gompan.pbworks.com/w/page/28723372/Maps).
I am pretty sure I showed these somewhere before but I couldn't find
them here on theRPGsite, so here goes:
A campaign setting based on a published product,
Gralfsee (a city sourcebook from the time when the German market was full of
multi-statted, semi-professional supplements and modules (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?p=329513)).
I didn't like the original A4 map that came with the book so I redid it A1 size:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xfOyBn2ninU/TOqAJzdzDVI/AAAAAAAAAO4/cePH64or9tQ/s1600/gralfsee2.jpg)
And because it was so much fun, I invented the eastern
part of the realm along with it. (Sorry for the blurry picture -
I took the photo ages ago and I can't access the original map.)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xfOyBn2ninU/TOqAOvh6-uI/AAAAAAAAAPA/HDe0sk_Ldvs/s1600/gralfsee3.jpg)
Several maps (and handouts) from different games and campaigns: (Here is a bigger, crisper version! (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xfOyBn2ninU/SsHjn4RYypI/AAAAAAAAAJc/IThSZcPz6ns/s1600/Maps_small.jpg))
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xfOyBn2ninU/TOp_cdJ98wI/AAAAAAAAAOo/_1b5dmaO5Fw/s1600/Maps_smaller.jpg)
The upper right map ("Taurainn") I did for my M20 booklet (http://www.enworld.org/forum/other-rpg-discussion/219419-new-microlite20-thread-4.html#post4193690).
The central, Hârn-like city map is from a campaign I showed more
maps of in a previous map thread (http://www.therpgsite.com/showpost.php?p=160023&postcount=75).
As you can see, I am quite enamored with Darlene's Greyhawk-style...
so much so that I redrew a big part of the Forgotten Realm map in that
style, incorporating names and locales from other products I intended
to use in the campaign. 4 of the 12 (or so) sheets I finished:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xfOyBn2ninU/TOqAFvLuh9I/AAAAAAAAAOw/GPPmNMx0Xh0/s1600/fr.jpg)
Quote from: Aos;418654However, Tim, a word of advice: the players map should be Wrong. Wrong Wrong.
Depending on the campaign I gave players only puzzle pieces of maps,
as seen in the lower row of the big photo above.
I left it to them to figure how they related to one another. The maps
had different scales, different oriantations, different map styles/icons,
and sometimes contradictory info. Only later, when the players stayed
a certain amount of time in the realm I would give them my "official"
map (assuming that they learned the lay of the land my then).
Wow, gorgeous work, Dirk!
If you have good scans of the Darlene-style FR maps, there are a LOT of people who would love to get a copy.
Really, really impressive...
Yes. Dirk is doing some awesome work. :)
Thanks, all!
Quote from: danbuter;419006If you have good scans of the Darlene-style FR maps, there are a LOT of people who would love to get a copy.
I am not too sure about that...
First, they don't show the proper Realms but a severely modified version of it.
So a FR DM can't port his campaign over by saying, "we use those maps from
now on".
Second, it was my first try of adapting Darlene's style and the maps don't hold
up to scrutiny. In the end I didn't like them enough to actually start the campaign.
I shelved them and started the Gralfsee map instead. (The geography of that
setting made more sense, it didn't seem like a random sprinkling of terrain
features as with Faerun. Also, I had developed my own map style by that time,
with only the lettering as a reminder/homage to Greyhawk.)
Third... I don't have access to a scanner.
Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;419030Third... I don't have access to a scanner.
You suck! :D ;)
Quote from: Benoist;419032You suck! :D ;)
I guess I
could get access - but I'd rather do that for something I am really 100% behind.
Here is another one - a small-scale setting that I created as backdrop for adventures in
Mondbuchstaben, the newsletter that I published for customers of the game store I owned
from 1997-2003 (http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmondbuchstaben.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F07%2F28%2Fmellon%2F). (Beware - Google Translate gibberish!)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xfOyBn2ninU/TOqmzxlcTEI/AAAAAAAAAPI/gSCu01Szzko/s1600/mondbuchstaben_12.jpg)
A year (or so) after the store had closed one of my customers still sent me occasional Actual Play
reports of his
Over the Edge/Under the Broken Moon-powered campaign set in Falgorad.
I liked that a lot!
The attached is the starting area for a new campaign I'm working on (Going to use the Dragon Age rules with some background modifications to fit my world).
This is the GM map and is 75% or so finished at the moment. . . my next step will be to do detail maps of individual hexes around the starting town of two rivers (and the town itself, although for that I'll probably pull out an old Harn map and relabel it)
http://www.weebly.com/uploads/4/8/1/9/4819250/9032475.jpg?870 (http://www.weebly.com/uploads/4/8/1/9/4819250/9032475.jpg?870)
(http://www.weebly.com/uploads/4/8/1/9/4819250/9032475.jpg?870)
Neat map, Malakor. No question about it. :)
Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;419042the newsletter that I published for customers of the game store I owned
from 1997-2003 (http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmondbuchstaben.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F07%2F28%2Fmellon%2F). (Beware - Google Translate gibberish!)
"Tabletop-platten?" That made me laugh. :)
As much as I like the dungeon, these are just so much more impressive. Well done!
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;419247As much as I like the dungeon, these are just so much more impressive.
And more fun to draw.
Yesterday I noticed that I can't contribute to the dungeon thread because I hardly ever
designed a dungeon from ground up (or from ground
down).
When in need of a dungeon or castle I almost always browse my collection of modules
(and especially magazines, as their adventure sites usually had a more fitting size) and
borrow a map from there.
Have you ever tried using watercolor on your maps, Dirk? I'm tempted to give it a try...pencils, then watercolor, then ink the linework.
Quote from: Tim;419316Have you ever tried using watercolor on your maps, Dirk?
Never. I fear I'd destroy the pencil lines that way, plus the black ink will behave erratically
when the paper was wet (like making the lines thicker by sucking in the ink).
I pencil, then ink, then make a photocopy and put colored pencils to the copy. That way
I can keep the original to fiddle with it afterwards*. The result can be seen in the big collection
of maps above. Other than that I truly like b/w maps.
* In one campaign I needed to change the map to an alternate timeline after the players
had changed the past. I couldn't predict that four years earlier, when I drew the map. I was
happy to have the b/w line art, so I cut-and-pasted a photocopy of it.
Ah, I see. I love black and white maps myself, but still...
I think watercolor could be made to work-lots of architectural drawings use inked linework with watercolors, for example. And with scanning and photo editing software, there's really no reason to lose any of your progress along the way.
I'll give it a try and either report back with a beautifully colored map or a blurry mess :)
Here is one of my maps.
(http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/082/f/2/Map_of_Dagori_Inkarth_by_DarranSims.jpg)