WIP Campaign World Map Ganocia
LadieStorm
🖼️ 50 images Surveyor
This is a world map I started for a new game I'm working on... since the other game has been put on an indefinite hold.
I decided, in the mean time, that I should get some practice in, running a game in 5th edition, since I have never done so before. I actually started this worldmap before my laptop was fried, but never got a chance to post it.
I'm trying a couple of different things with this world map, the first being the creation of the land masses. With the sole exception of the top most 3 islands, the main part of this world was actually created in Fractal Terrains. I then created a trace of those landmasses in the Herman Weilink style.
Next... I'm changing the way I do my mountains and foothills a bit... mainly because I'm trying to show different elevation levels, meaning some of my mountain ranges are higher and bigger than others. I also have some ideas that I don't know if I will be able to implement, we shall have to see. For right now, I've been consentrating on my mountain ranges. Now, I don't have anything in those top 3 islands, yet, because those are going to be 'hidden undiscovered lands'. Meaning that when my players first see this map, those lands won't be there. But, here is what I have so far.
I decided, in the mean time, that I should get some practice in, running a game in 5th edition, since I have never done so before. I actually started this worldmap before my laptop was fried, but never got a chance to post it.
I'm trying a couple of different things with this world map, the first being the creation of the land masses. With the sole exception of the top most 3 islands, the main part of this world was actually created in Fractal Terrains. I then created a trace of those landmasses in the Herman Weilink style.
Next... I'm changing the way I do my mountains and foothills a bit... mainly because I'm trying to show different elevation levels, meaning some of my mountain ranges are higher and bigger than others. I also have some ideas that I don't know if I will be able to implement, we shall have to see. For right now, I've been consentrating on my mountain ranges. Now, I don't have anything in those top 3 islands, yet, because those are going to be 'hidden undiscovered lands'. Meaning that when my players first see this map, those lands won't be there. But, here is what I have so far.
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Unfortunately, I've only gotten as far as my icy and snowy terrain at this point. I'm trying to do this right, and be meticulous about it. I'm actually researching where, how and why these areas are formed. For example, I know that snowy regions can be found in two types of areas. Higher elevations where the air is thinner, and therefore stays much colder, and in the arctic regions which, of course, is closer to the poles.
So once I determined those two things, I started working on those regions. I'm also trying to be as precise as possible, which means zooming in as close as I can in each of these areas, hugging the coastline as close as I can, and setting slow, small reaching, methodical nodes, so that when I set the edge fades, my icy and snow regions follow the coastlines as close as possible.
Needless to say, it took me close to an hour and a half to set JUST my icy and snowy regions! I have NEVER spent that much time on terrain fills! But that's what I'm doing. This map is going to be epic!
As for trace, i have found it fails whenever there is a lot of nodes in the entity to be traced. I have often copied the coastline to a temporary sheet, and then broken it up into the distances i wanted traced, and that seems to work - again depending on the nodes used.
Or I may create something down there just to break it up, but then I'm afraid my players would want to go there, and it's not a planned land mass. Eh, we will have to see.
Some exports from FT3 create the coastline as a multipoly (as far as I can remember because I haven't done it that recently), and they can't be traced.
But this world is indeed going to be epic.
But the work on this continues. I know I said I was going to be working on rivers next... but I realized that wasn't the best course of action, so I decided that placing my deserts was the next thing to work on. So I figured out where my deserts were going to be, and THEN placed my rivers. I know that rivers can run through deserts, so it may not have mattered, but as I'm mapping this world, I'm trying to keep in mind how and why the different terrain types form. So I'm actually researching each terrain type, reading up on why they form in the areas that they do, and I'm trying to use that knowledge to more accurately place these regions in my map.
Interesting fact I never realized before. Desert regions are formed within regions 30% north and south of the equator. That makes sense, but what I didn't realize, is that a lot of times, mountain ranges play a large part in the forming of deserts, because as air flows through mountain ranges, the flow is thrusted up the mountain to the colder, thinner air...which of course sucks moisture out of that air. Then as the air flows down the other side of the mountain ranges, it warms up, and begins collecting moisture again. The only place moisture would be available, is from the surface of the landscape. Most of you probably knew that, but I didn't. So anyway, I looked at my map, and figured out where my equator was most likely to be, then laid out my deserts in conjunction with my mountain ranges.
THEN I placed my rivers. Now rivers are something I do know a little bit about. I know that rivers form in the depressions of the land surface, and flow from the highest points, toward the oceans. I know that that some rivers don't always make it to the ocean. Smaller streams flow into larger ones (sometimes) which flow into smaller rivers, which connect to bigger ones, etc. I know that most lakes have at least one stream, or river flowing into them, and usually (but not always) have one flowing out. I also know that a lot of times (but not always), rivers and streams begin in the mountains, especially mountain ranges that see 3 or 4 distinct seasons. Some mountain ranges get a lot of snow in the fall and winter time, but also get warm enough for that snow to melt. That melted snow has to go somewhere, and when the ground becomes over saturated, streams form, which start trickling down the mountain side, until they start connecting with other streams that become rivers.
Okay, I have no idea why I decided to go on that rambling rant, I guess I'm trying to explain my thought processes in styling my world map the way I am. And who knows? Maybe someone else will gain something from the research I'm doing as I make this map. We're all hoping to improve, right? So here is what I have so far.
If this is an FT world, then you can reopen the FT file and set up a grid with the relevant latitudes (0, 30, 60) and export it just to be able to copy the latitude over to this map.
That's just a note on how to do it if you feel like it
As for your FT file idea. Yes, that would work, but I think for the first few times, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I want to try to figure out longitude and latitude without any 'cheats'. I'm trying to learn more about terrain, and topography, and rainfall, and how everything fits together to create a world. I'm trying to learn the science behind everything. It may not make me a better mapper, but it will give me a better understanding at what I'm doing when I create a map. Once I learn it the 'hard' way, then I will go back and use the 'cheats'. It's kind of like learning math. You have to memorize the times tables, and learn how to add and subtract on paper, then when you get into the higher maths, you use a calculator for the simple tasks to save time.
You might like to take a longer look at deserts to begin with, perhaps (given you mentioned them so strongly earlier). The notes you posted are OK up to a point for what are sometimes called "trade wind deserts" (around 30°-35° north and south latitudes), but it's important to appreciate there are plenty of other types of desert. Antarctica is a desert too, for instance, and there are deserts all round the Arctic land surfaces as well. Plus the Sahara isn't a mountain-created desert despite being around the trade latitudes, as another example of awkwardness. The Wikipedia "Deserts" page might be a helpful starting-point for further research online, if you feel like pursuing that further.
For the latitude and longitude question, if you have CA87 installed (March 2014, "Map Projection Templates"), that's probably the way to go for adding, adapting or learning more, because it applies directly to CC.
Point is - don't be afraid to reorganize your mountains and terrains first, before getting your rivers in. Grasslands and jungles are also important, as is tundra and taiga.
ie. shorter version, just make an educated guess.
I'm actually still recovering, even a month later, and up to this point, sitting at a computer(or pretty much anywhere) for any length of time, has been excruciating. Now it's merely painful...
It's been a long time since I updated this map. I've determined that my world rotates in the opposite direction of Earth, so my desserts are located in the Eastern parts of landmasses.
I've placed most of my rivers, and have decided to concentrate on the island that my players are going to start off in, and detail it out, because they are going to be stuck in that region for a fairly long time...
So I'm working on the Southern most island in this world, called Pilnderstraad, which in the language of this world, translates to Prison Island. The island itself is a prison. I haven't been able to do much, as I said, but I thought I would post my progress.
Great to see you back.
And great to see you continuing with this map too
Great to see you back LadieStorm. I love your map.
Great map !
I was warned ahead of time that this was going to take a long time to heal, completely, and that the pain wouldn't subside until I was healed completely. So I'm not going to be truly up to speed for a while, which is frustrating for such a small thing. I'm not going into details, because I don't want to gross out, or offend any one. What I'm dealing with isn't your typical run of the mill surgery.
But I am getting better, little by little, and I will try to do more mapping as my body allows me to sit in one place more.
I do hope you are being taken care of properly, and that you aren't having to do things you've been told not to do!