"That would make clear why those rivers start where they do, but would destroy the aesthetics of the map."
At the risk of wandering off-topic...
Yes and no. It would depend on how its done. Way back in the early 80s, we were grousing about "rivers from nowhere", and a friend did a bunch of hand-drawn regional maps for Greyhawk that added topographical detail: he did great work. I believe I still have the notebook filled with xeroxes somewhere. I should dig them out.
None of this, however, takes away from the wonderful work we see here.
I'm going to give my opinion about those rivers starting from nowhere: Most of them don't disturb me, It's obvious the scale is quite large, and not everything can be represented.
But did you notice I said most of them? It's because some of them do: The ones that start in the cold marshes. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because we have difficulties knowing in which direction if flows: - It does not go to the sea, but to a lake. Rivers can flow in or out of a lake. - There is no mountain to give us a hint of the direction either - The sea closest to the river is on the side where the river is high, not on the side where it is low. And nothing between the river and the sea can make us understand that at one point, the slope much be quite steep, while it must be much more gentle where the river flows, and no visible obstacle explains why it does not flow the other way. - We have to follow the river through two lakes and a convoluted trajectory before finally finding the sea where that river flows, far, far away.
None of this is an error, but I think that all of those together add up to something hard to read.
I handled it on my game world by having the rivers from nowhere coming out of caves on hills or mountains. Most other rivers have a definate series of tributaries that feed them.
Comments
Sounds great!
In a surprise development, I tinkered with the map some more, by making the texture of the forests somewhat finer. I think it's fit to print now:
All links have been edited to point to this, the for-real-this-time, double-dog-dare, pinky swear final version (maybe). Happy gaming!
At the risk of wandering off-topic...
Yes and no. It would depend on how its done. Way back in the early 80s, we were grousing about "rivers from nowhere", and a friend did a bunch of hand-drawn regional maps for Greyhawk that added topographical detail: he did great work. I believe I still have the notebook filled with xeroxes somewhere. I should dig them out.
None of this, however, takes away from the wonderful work we see here.
Back on topic...
But did you notice I said most of them? It's because some of them do: The ones that start in the cold marshes. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because we have difficulties knowing in which direction if flows:
- It does not go to the sea, but to a lake. Rivers can flow in or out of a lake.
- There is no mountain to give us a hint of the direction either
- The sea closest to the river is on the side where the river is high, not on the side where it is low. And nothing between the river and the sea can make us understand that at one point, the slope much be quite steep, while it must be much more gentle where the river flows, and no visible obstacle explains why it does not flow the other way.
- We have to follow the river through two lakes and a convoluted trajectory before finally finding the sea where that river flows, far, far away.
None of this is an error, but I think that all of those together add up to something hard to read.