Age of Conan Style Map? How to do it? Or Annual Suggestion?
Hey everybody! I'm looking for ideas on how to create an "Age of Conan" style map from Mongoose Publishing. Basically need a good template or "how to" to create a large area with minimal detailing with loosely defined regions. I have find drawing large maps beyond the 1000x800 very difficult with the current CC3 templates (but that's just me!!!). Any ideas, suggestions, or instructions would be appreciated!!
Comments
If you're just looking for existing Annual issues that are designed for large-scale overland maps, I would recommend either 'Fantasy Worlds' from April 2009, or '13th Age Overland' from September 2012. I'm currently working (slowly) on a full continent map of my world in the 13th Age style.
Anyway, I have played around a lot with the 'Fantasy Worlds' annual... probably to much. I could never really make my maps look like how I wanted. I would like to see an example of your large scale '13th Age' Map if you are willing to share.
Shaded relief seems to be a big problem in CC3 - though you can get sometimes get mileage out
of texture effects and "buried" semi-transparencies.
Cheers,
~Dogtag
It is a PNG Fill Style that I created by cutting bits from the original map. Right now it is just a small png, so I need to work with it to expand the size (I have this scaled to 400x400 in CC3 so it is quite small). I'll post it here when I have it ready.
Add the png fill to your map in the standard fashion. For a map that is 1000 x 800 set the fill style scale to 150 x 150.
Draw your mountain ranges on their own sheet using a straight or fractal poly and add the following effects to that sheet:
Edge Fade Inner: Set the edge width somewhere between 25 - 45 depending on how big your map is. Don't be afraid to play with this number until you get the look you want.
Spacial Matrix Process: Load the Emboss settings. There is no need to change any settings.
Adjust Hue/Saturation; Change the saturation to -5. (That is negative 5) This deepens the colors a little.
For the snowy mountains, use the same bitmap but use a separate sheet.
Edge Fade Inner and Spacial Matrix Process: Settings will be the same as above.
Adjust Hue/Saturation: Change the Saturation to 40. You can increase or decrease this number by small amounts depending on how white you want the mountains to be.
If you have any questions, just ask. This could take a bit of tweaking depending on the size of your map.
** NOTE: Since this bitmap is created using another artists work, it should probably be considered Non-Commercial/Personal Use Only
Lets stat with a landmass on the LAND sheet and a few blocks of color on a sheet called COLOR. No effects are applied here.
Here you can see this demonstrated with the Edge Fade Inner effect applied to the COLORS sheet.
I hope this helps at least a little with how to handle shading your colored regions.
If you decide to continue playing with this feel free to ask any questions that might come up. I don't often have time to make many maps these days, but I still love playing around with sheet effects to see what interesting things can be accomplished in CC3.
Happy Mapping!
As an alternative what about the Myer annual? I always thought it could make a great Conan map.
Does anybody recognize the font used in the original Conan map for things like "The Western Ocean" and "The Forbidden City"?
Thanks,
Miri
I've created a couple variations on the mountain bitmap. I'm not sure which will work best for your map, but you are welcome to play around with them to see what looks best.
Again, these are non-commercial/personal use only.