Dargurd Vale

Dargurd

Hi All

Just been working on a setting map for the start of a new D&D campaign i have kicking off in two weeks. As always any suggestions or advice will be much appreciated.

Thanks...

Terraformer_Author

This is a very nice map. I like it. No matter where you go on this - there's always plenty of opportunities for exploration and encounters.

Dargurd

Im using the Dungeoncraft articles from Dragon from about 6 or 7 years ago where you build your campaign world little tiny steps at a time. They are proving exceptionally useful. The start point is to literally create a locale like my map with a few locations and very little else. The principle is dont create anything you dont yet need but do create a few ideas that will spark creativity from your players. Hence there is a distinct lack of names etc on the map as it stands.

Clercon

A very nice map. I like the overall layout.

JimP

Excellent map.

And starting small and expanding out from there is a good way to go for a campaign.

Mateus090985

Very nice map! I have one sugestion. Maybe you could put your scale ymbol exactly inside one hex to show the exactly size of each hex.

Dargurd

Thanks for the input. It is something i did do at first but couldn't make my mind up if i liked it. I will do it again now its at this stage !

jonasgreenfeather

Great job! The only thing I'd suggest is to babe the heads of your rivers start behind a mountain or hill so it doesn't appear to pop into existance magically, unless that's what they do. Also, some of your forests seem to have a perfect vertical edge in places that you may want to soften. This map has a great feel and look to it.

Dargurd

Thanks Jonas for your comments - much appreciated. As id put 'contour' colours on for the background I wasn't planning to tag the start of the rivers to a specific hill or mountain necessarily as its more of a locale than anything else. Do you think it would look better ? The forests i take your point and have now fixed this !

Dargurd

OK updated following comments so far.

jonasgreenfeather

I see what your saying about the contours, but it isn't really about picking a specific starting point as "blending" the head of the river into the surrounding area. Most fantasy maps drawn don't really point out the "where" a river starts otherwise you'd have a map with fingers running off of the surrounding mountains that join to form the river; while it would be "accurate" (and there are some who draw to that level of detail), most of us can get by with saying "it looks good,... there".
In the drawing below, the top most river begins in the mountains and flows to the west; it looks good, but a little random. The bottom river hides its begining behind a mountain, then snakes behind a few more before emerging on the plains.

As always, I am not saying this style is any better than any other, but (to me), it's a little more "artsy" and adds to the feel of the map.

Dargurd

Hi Jonas - thanks for the example. Let me have another play around and see what i can do !

Ralf

I like the map a lot; it gives a very nice feeling of a local, limited-scope area that's perfect for beginning adventurers. It wants to be explored.

Dargurd

Thanks Ralf. It was where I was hoping to end up.

Dogtag

I love it. Not only is it a nice, smallish starting point, it's a nicely laid-out map that has a naturalistic feel to it. Lots of different terrain for different adventures too. I also really like the brightness of the colors. It reminds me of the World of Greyhawk map that just "pops" when you look at it.

For what it's worth, if I have any feedback to provide it's that you might consider making the hex grid more of a gray color, or using a sheet effect to fade it a touch and "pull it back" a bit. The hexes seem a little harsh and pull my eyes away from the awesomeness that is your map.

Great job!
~Dogtag

Dargurd

Wow thanks Dogtag for the very kind words and great feedback. I've changed the colour of the hex grid to a shade of grey and it has made a difference - thanks for the suggestion.

I used the CC3 standard map colours and symbols so create the map so anyone with CC3 can create the same type of image with no real issues (hopefully).

I wanted to create somewhere that felt open and wild. I've purposely left the map empty of labels, for now, as i want the players to add other places as part of their character backgrounds. Ideas that don't fit this particular region will be locked away and added to a future map as the characters move away from the region.

Now I just have to decide on the rules system although i'm thinking 4ed is the way to go on this one. I've spent the last few days detailing ideas about the villages etc and I will map a few of the places over the next few days.