So Elric of Pulp Cthulhu now? 😉

A scale-bar is pretty much essential, though north by default can often be assumed as "the top" of a map.

It's easy to think a map like this won't really take that much time until you start it - we've all been there, I suspect!

Worth the effort in the end though, as this looks really good!

So, nothing at all suspicious or unusual's been happening here then 😉

For the stones, I might have gone with the thick black outline, but a paler grey fill. The solid black seems a bit overwhelming is all.

Nah, no point in racing. Map-making needs inspiration too, and sometimes that just won't be hurried 😊.

Will you be mapping all the interiors too? That could be a really interesting project.

However, I know castle mapping can be fun, but quite tricky, because of all the different levels inside, and getting the stairs (and sometimes ladders) to work to connect them all. It's almost as if medieval castle designers didn't intend for people in the future to make detailed maps of them 😉

Indeed, all looking good.

Might be worth tweaking the text on the Aglacacian Empire map though, as some of it's getting a bit lost where it passes over the denser types of terrain.

For the Khunjerab Pass, the scalebar would benefit from moving off the hills, as it's too difficult to read there right now.

@Ricko Hasche - The map image you've reposted for Khunjerab Pass seems to have the effects turned off now, and the scalebar is where it was originally, I think. Might be the wrong image?

For the Aglacacian Empire map, try adjusting either the text colours, or their sizes, and/or the colour and/or extent of their glow effects. It's difficult to advise precisely, as there's always a degree of subjectivity about this, especially as it only really affects the smaller labels that are crossing the denser terrain areas currently, particularly, though not exclusively, where the text's italicised.

Since Jim already hijacked his own thread by mentioning Lord of the Rings and maps, and knowing several others here are fans of such things too, I'd recommend also taking a look at the new second edition "The One Ring" RPG, recently published by Free League Publishing, as the artwork and maps for that are simply gorgeous. The main rulebook has two endpaper maps of Eriador, the primary setting for this new version of the game, while the Starter Set has two poster maps, printed back to back, again of Eriador, but a more artistic vision than in the rules, and the most detailed map of The Shire I can ever recall seeing. Both the poster maps give a hat-tip in style to the great Pauline Baynes, who did the original poster map for LotR, in collaboration with JRR Tolkien himself, and which included roundels with scenes of specific, key, places around the edge. Both the Eriador and Shire poster maps have those as well. The Starter Set descriptive book on The Shire includes further B&W maps of segments of the Shire area, while the main rulebook has detailed maps of segments of the Eriador map in its text when discussing specific places.

I've struggled to find good-quality images for these online, unfortunately, to demonstrate what they look like, but this blog review has some very low-res versions of the Starter Set poster maps, while this one has some better res versions of just The Shire side, but largely hidden behind other stuff from the set. The second linked site does though have some shots of the books that come in the set, showing the artwork standard, and one of the segments of the Shire maps.

Intriguingly, only one of the Eriador maps has a scale on it - and that purely using a superimposed 20-mile hex grid (only shown on one of the rulebook endpaper maps). The Shire map has a scale, but only in leagues, which is, of course, rather vague too, as there is no standard definition of a league!

I think the only cloud in this style comes with a volcano attached, which isn't entirely helpful 😉🌋

At least it's possible to draw effective cloud shapes fairly easily in it though, as you've demonstrated!

It's a good looking drawing.

Maybe a bit too pristine in places on the worn paths, but that's likely by choice for this scene, I appreciate.

I might have been tempted to add a snowflake design indented into the snow somewhere - maybe for the dot on the "i" instead of the tree there, for all they can be a bit tricky to draw.

Also, the shadows from the bare trees seem too heavy. I know this is how the effects generate shadows, by looking not at what the symbol is, but what its physical edges are only. They really don't look right for these leafless trees though.

That really threw me off on the night scenes especially, as at first I couldn't work out why certain bits of the scene were darker than others. The pale lower left corner still looks odd though (light source is where?), even after that, and the bird looks weird in the night scene as well.

Gotta feel for those deer too - frozen to their respective spots by day and night, poor souls. Deer, deer... 😉