Another fantasy region called Mincanti

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Hello everyone,

I just got done putting the names on one of my new projects, the Empire of Mincanti. It is sort of based on ancient Greece and this map is a map with place names only. I didn't feel like I should name all of the forests and mountain ranges and such because it would clutter the map too much. And it isn't completely done yet either so there is no navigation symbols. I just thought you might like to see. This is done in the Herwin Weilink overland style.

Enjoy

CharlesWayneRobinson · February 2016

I love the symbols in this set.
I am really looking forward to the day that all the annuals have been updated to CC3+.

Svaala · February 2016

Really nice ! This symbol set looks pretty cool indeed.

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Thanks Svaala and Charles. Hopefully I can improve it.

Barliman · February 2016

This is a very nice start. I look forward to seeing it progress.

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Thanks Barliman! I'm wondering if there is too much ocean. One thing that has been bothering me about the ocean in this style is how it seems to be just a repeating pattern. I'm not so sure I like that.

I'm thinking about changing the ocean completely.

Barliman · February 2016

Posted By: tonnichiwaThanks Barliman! I'm wondering if there is too much ocean. One thing that has been bothering me about the ocean in this style is how it seems to be just a repeating pattern. I'm not so sure I like that.

I'm thinking about changing the ocean completely.

I can see your point. Empty ocean is about half the map. The repeating pattern doesn't bother me so much, but I might shift the map to the east or northeast, so there's more land in view. Or stick more islands to the west.

Dogtag · February 2016

Gorgeous! I love the coastline and the lay of the natural features.

One thing you might want to consider a lighter color for the labels, closer to white. The blue blends in too much for me and it's difficult to read.

I kind of like the expansive ocean, if only to provide room for the islands to the south (?). Shifting the map a bit could improve it in two ways, however. 1) The balance of the map, as art, would be nicer I think, and 2) We'd see more land and more of your world! :-D

Also, depending on what sort of extras you plan to add to the map, the ocean provides a nice, out-of-the-way place to do so.

I'm eager to see this evolve. Thanks for sharing!
~Dogtag

Barliman · February 2016

Posted By: DogtagGorgeous! I love the coastline and the lay of the natural features.

One thing you might want to consider a lighter color for the labels, closer to white. The blue blends in too much for me and it's difficult to read.

I agree with this. At least how it shows here, the blue labels are a bit hard to read.

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Thanks Dogtag and Barliman, you've definitely given me things to consider.

Alright. I'll spend today turning all of the letters to white to see what effect it will have.

I was surprised at how the map turned out because there are some interesting subtleties that I only really noticed after I made the map bigger.

One thing i was hoping you guys would be able to see is how the valley near Harkysos and between those mountain ranges actually does seem like it is sloping. Its kind of hard to describe and I wasn't sure if others could see it at the resolution this website offers.

My eyes are already drawn to that. So I want to know, can you guys see it?

Barliman · February 2016

Posted By: tonnichiwa
One thing i was hoping you guys would be able to see is how the valley near Harkysos and between those mountain ranges actually does seem like it is sloping. Its kind of hard to describe and I wasn't sure if others could see it at the resolution this website offers.

My eyes are already drawn to that. So I want to know, can you guys see it?

Now that you mention it, I do. I think it's an illusion created by the lighter tone on the coast and the convergence of the mountain chains. One's mind translates that as "higher"

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Hmm, could be. But up real close it becomes incredibly pronounced. I made the river in that area seem like its coming from the swamp, travelling for a while beside the hills, before it finally finds a way down into the valley.

Anyway, I actually think its part of the design of the mapping style when you turn on the sheets and effects.

Dkarr · February 2016

Posted By: tonnichiwaThanks Barliman! I'm wondering if there is too much ocean. One thing that has been bothering me about the ocean in this style is how it seems to be just a repeating pattern. I'm not so sure I like that.

I'm thinking about changing the ocean completely.

I really like what you have done here. The naming is very evocative, I like it a lot.

If you are thinking about changing the ocean you might look at the simpler option of increasing the size of the underlying fill so that the repetitiveness is not as obvious. That might help.

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Thanks Dkarr!

I tried to make them all have a greek/roman feel as that is what this is based upon. But, I changed a few things on the map and I have made the letters white so they are more readable.

Then, right before I was able to put the name on the top of the map the text part of my program stopped working and I haven't been able to find out what is wrong and get it fixed. So I'm doing some searching over some older threads to see if someone else had this problem. If not, I will probably have to use technical support.

Anyway, here is the updated map I was able to make before the text editor part of cc3 stopped working. I hope you guys like it.

Dogtag · February 2016

The labels are much easier to read now, and we can also appreciate the wonderfully-appropriate font you chose, too! Also, I love your choice of compass rose and scalebar. They seem to really fit the Greco-Roman theme!

Cheers,
~Dogtag

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Thanks Dogtag! I'm glad you like it. I still can't find anything about the text problem. Hmm.

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Ok, I found out that the file was corrupted so I had to go back to a previous save.

Now I will try to upload the completed map.

Barliman · February 2016

Changing the font color to white really helped, and I second the praise for the compass rose: looks almost like the decoration on a Roman floor.

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Thanks Barliman, thats what I thought too. It is the compass that comes from the Cartographers Annual, 2013, De Rust Overland.

I saw that and immediately thought of a greco-roman mosaic floor.

I'll have to wait until later this evening to upload the new map. I'm at work right now and I don't have internet access here for my computer.

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Ok, hopefully I can get this one to load.

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

and this is the finished product

Svaala · February 2016

Neat !

Barliman · February 2016

I like this more and more every time I look at it. The Wielink style has a very nice color scheme.

Dogtag · February 2016

Really, really nice. The only thing I might suggest, if you decide to touch it up later, is to do something with the expansive sea to the west. I don't think it would take much, and it wouldn't need to fill the space, just break up the area a bit. Some ideas might be:

A text quote, such as remarks about the map from the cartographer or a stanza from a relevant poem or "historical" text.
Text indicating what lies to the west (<-- Yonder lies Karthagia, or whatever)
Some ship, monster, or sea-related symbols (whirlpools, waterspouts, etc).
One or more sunken cities/ruins

That said, this is an outstanding map! Your players will go out of their minds.

Thanks for sharing!
~Dogtag

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

@ Svaala and Barliman, thanks again guys, I'm glad you like it.

@Dogtag thanks again, You've given me a great idea. I even like you're made up name.

I'm gonnahave to think of something, hmm..now to get to work on it.

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Ok, I filled in the ocean a little bit more but not much. I kind of like the feeling it gives of the sea being vast. Anyway, I also changed up the border because my computer crashed yesterday with that map loaded and I lost it. So I spent the day at work creating a better one using the annual from November 2008 that teaches us how to make borders. But since I knew I wouldn't have the time at work to come up with something completely new I used the symbols available in the annual and changed the color from black and white to black, white, and blue.

Anyway, this should be its final form. I hope you guys like it.

Dogtag · February 2016

Nice! Good name for the terra incognita, too. Your border is cool and all the more impressive that you made it yourself. It also gives a more Greco-Roman vibe than the original border. My only suggestion might be to tone down the blue. It seems very bright to me and, to my admittedly limited Crayola 64 eyes, it seems slightly mismatched to the overall color scheme of the map. Maybe more of an olive green, like the compass rose? Or a darker or a less-saturated blue?

Great job. I also kind of like how the text pointing to Parthenius is hollow, as if part of the ocean.

Cheers,
~Dogtag

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Thanks Dogtag, Glad you like it. I actually think the blue border makes the map "pop". And to be honest it was a lot of hard work to get that to fit right and be the right color, even though it looks simple. I wanted to try the compass rose colors but it just made the map too dark and harsh on my eyes so I brightened it up a bit. And after looking at classical greek artwork for hours on the internet I'm glad I did. To me it seems to fit very well.

I was hoping you would like the way I did the text for Parthenius, I'm very glad you do.

Cheers

Tonnichiwa

Dogtag · February 2016

Rock on! Great work!

Tonnichiwa · February 2016

Thanks Dogtag!

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Another fantasy region called Mincanti

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