I think the snag is that volcanoes tend to be, and make, their own mountains, so they'd typically affect how the mountains nearby look as well - that is, they'd blend into one another completely. Right now, they look a bit too much dropped-in-from-space.

That can work in some cases, where the volcanic mountain is quite isolated especially - the classic example might be Olympus Mons on Mars, which has a vast cliff almost all around its outer base.

However here, the symbols look rather out of place currently in both versions.

The softer background does blend the volcanoes in more, but now maybe a bit too much. Given these are meant as really big volcanoes, they should be in the mountains, unfortunately!

The oil-on-water texture for the lava (?) background is delightful, and looks really good. I'm not so sure it works as lava though... (I only come here to cause fresh problems 😎 😉)

Yes, I agree with Don about the first version.

For other volcanoes this is a usefully-illustrated introductory US National Park Service website that has links to other similar pages with more information that may help give you a better idea of volcano appearances overall.

I actually think the trees work really well with the water texture right now. To my eye, the problem is the abstract nature of the land and settlement markers outside the marshes (the dots, NOT the Ancient Realms circular symbols, which are fine), and especially the coastal edge and sea lines with the water texture there. Those really jar to me, as compared with the near-photo-realism of the marsh water and trees.

As Ricko wrote though, it really depends what the viewing level will be for the final map.

I can't usefully advise you what I'd do, because I don't design maps the same way as this, so the situation doesn't arise. I tend to pick a style I like for what I'm intending to map (or sometimes several matching styles, or complementary ones that are sufficiently similar to work together), and draw accordingly. I might add a few symbols or fills from elsewhere that aren't in the original(s), or repurpose some that are to be different from what their labels indicate. That's not the same as what you're trying to create here though.

Conversely, I think the trees work rather well with the watery swamp texture currently, though those don't work quite so nicely with the other textures involved. This can be a problem when trying to mix styles, of course.

I'd agree with that I think - the wyvern's larger and clearer, thanks to the thicker drawing lines, and the "Shessar Heraldic" beasts are closer in general style to the roundel designs too.

You'll probably also need some longer sections of the main spine, and the lesser side-shoots too, to get something closer to the Himalayan "red" version - to give segments of both types that are lengthened without having turnouts along them.

It's all a bit like trying to design a river system symbol tool as well - and if you crack it for the mountain ridges, it could perhaps be reworked to do that for rivers. Added complication is that the river channels aren't fixed-width along themselves, of course. Although neither are mountain ranges necessarily. So that's you designing Annual issues to cover all these possibilities every month now till what, 2027, Sue? 😉

@Frosty: I don't think there's much available as a base map beyond what's been officially released by TSR/WotC down the decades, unfortunately, for the north of Faerun. I know when I was working on my map (ye gods - seven years plus ago!), I struggled to find anything useful for features among the ice, and most of that was from the earlier Forgotten Realms books from the 1980s. There's a little more for the near-coast region now (Ten Towns region and surrounds), at least. That does mean that much like jacolantern, you can go ahead and add/invent whatever you wish though.

Thanks very much folks.

Ideas and concepts for this little map group just seemed to fall into place around the time of Jim's death, and Jim's insatiable mapping efforts and enthusiasm, both for the Atlas and his other numerous projects, had already helped maintain my own focus on the Atlas mapping I'd embarked on, albeit at a far slower rate than Jim's. So it all started to seem as if it was somehow intended.

As I'd already mapped something for Kraken Island in Jim's Forlorn Archipelago last year (Haunted Cloud Mesa), and as the locations for all these D24/D25 maps were decided a year ago, I didn't want to switch sites for this one, as I've set things up to only place one map (or map group, where there's an area map as well as the dungeon one) per regional area selected.

Ricko's already suggested an additional map of his own for another spot on Lizard Isle, and will post that here shortly, I think.

I wouldn't worry about the length of the list of sheets here, Sue. You can't really design systems on the basis they might trip-up people fresh to the program, as it's more important they do the job well. If there's a concern their number could be intimidating, that's something which could be addressed usefully with a note or two in the PDF mapping guide for this issue.