Looking for comments

rhysmage

Hello. I write fantasy stories and this is my first attempt to put a map into CC3. Please let me know where I can improve. This is but one continent, the whole map would be a little big for posting I think.

-Rhys

Vorkosigan

In real life you never have 2 rivers going from lake to sea....

jaerdaph

You're off to a good start. You might want to think about finding some more artistic fonts.

Vintyri

Rivers merge together as they go toward the sea; they don't split apart, except briefly, to go around islands, etc. A lake like the one by Astara, with no outlet and nothing flowing into it, is very unlikely. There are rivers that flow into lakes and end there, although they are relatively few in number. The Great Salt Lake in Utah in the U.S. is an example. Three rivers flow into the Great Salt Lake and end there. Another is the Truckee River in California and Nevada that flow out of Lake Tahoe. The Truckee flows down through Reno into Lake Pyramid, which is the end station. However, the lake like the one that you show by Astara would be nothing more than a big puddle that would dry up, if it came to exist at all. However, the lakes south of Lerk and southeast of Cenna with their double outflows are completely unrealistic, as is the splitting of the river at Lerk.

anomiecoalition

This is a really good start. I would suggest trying to include more transitional areas (i.e. Hill regions around mountains, scrub land between the desert and plains/forest, etc.).

I also think what makes doing rivers easier is to figure out your topography first - then all you need to remember is that rivers flow downhill from mountains/hills to the sea.

rhysmage

Thanks! I have darkened up the roads and color behind the forests. Thanks for the comments on the rivers. Though, in a world where magic is possible I wonder if rivers splitting up would be all that impossible. Still, some changes are needed. I'll post another soon.

Vintyri

Posted By: rhysmage Thanks for the comments on the rivers. Though, in a world where magic is possible I wonder if rivers splitting up would be all that impossible.

No ... in a world with magic it certainly isn't impossible. However, if I were making the map, I would ask if having the rivers split by magic served a real purpose or did it just happen for te sake of having it do it? If there was no real purpose served, I'd get rid of the splits. Why? In the years that I've been RPGing, I've found that players handle a world better where natural things take place naturally and unnatural things tend to make them think that someone or something had a reason to use magic to make them unnatural.

This by no means is a suggestion to avoid the unnatural. As an example, our Jörðgarð (TM) campaign setting is based in part upon Norse mythology as it is defined in the Elder and Prose Eddas. In the Eddas we are told how the 11 great rivers of the north spring from Mímir's Well (aka Hvergelmir) which feeds the lake Mälar. In turn, the 11 great rivers all flow out of the lake Mälar. That's geological nonsense. But that's what happens in our campaign setting, just as it's what's narrated in the Eddas. We expect PCs in the campaign setting to think that magic is at play there, and if they ever survive a journey to Mímir's Well, they'll discover that it and the lake that feeds the 11 rivers are the outlets that pour magic into the world.

JimP

There are various locations in Crestar that don't look normal geography. Like hills that appear to be scored by glaciers. But none went through there.

But I'll also mention that my game world is an artificial planet, the characters, nor do the players, know that.

rhysmage

Thank you for all of your constructive comments. I have taken many into account, as well as some others I have found on the boards. Please let me know how I am doing.