So I have a map that I'm working on - just a small segment for my upcoming setting. I'm not ... educated in the way of world building on geological levels or regarding rivers. I guess I was hoping maybe some of my peers could look at this and just say whether this is a valid looking map in terms of mountains and rivers and whatnot? I appreciate any feedback - I need all the help I can get right now.
I should point out that I'm only currently concerned with the red outline. So the rivers will sorta stop once they hit the border, pay that no mind - I'm only focusing on whats going on within the country's borders. So those are like place holders of sorts for when I get to the surrounding countries.
Well my current plan is to just use Worldographer for my own sake - try to measure distance that way. I don’t think I could eyeball a town being so many miles away. And for the players, I would kinda freehand a map using paper maybe. So they see the less exact version, but I’d have the one with hex measurements.
I know I can pretty much have it my way regardless of reality, but my brain wants me to follow some degree of realism. So I keep getting hung up on what’s possible and what isn’t. It’s a pain in the neck but I can’t silence the part of me that wants it.
Generally speaking, rivers flow from higher elevations to lower and end in lakes or seas, possibly in a marshland. If I read your map correctly (and brown bits are mountains) quite a few rivers just end. Extend those is my suggestion and have them end somewhere
Yeah sorry, those are because I’m not finished with it. I was only concerned with how it relates to the red outline at this time. I guess I was more concerned with where they start and if it was correct opposed to what happens where they finish.
So when I work on the other surrounding countries/kingdoms/whatever I’ll pick up where those rivers end and take them to a conclusion.
This segment is above the equator. Would all the rivers flow south like that? Or would some flow northward if the elevation was right? I’m sorry, I just have a hard time wrapping my head around rivers and mountains and I don’t want to make a mistake somewhere.
And honestly the fact that nobody had said it looks like garbage yet is kind of telling that it might not be terrible.
The equator has nothing to do with how rivers flow. Elevation (gravity) and resistance sets the course, ie downhill and where less stuff is in the way. That is assuming a sphere and no weird magic. ;)
If your world is flat and random magic weirdness happens, you can of course have waterfalls shooting water into the sky and rivers flowing uphill. The beauty of your own fantasy world. Just explain why and have that “why” go for all other things. And to be clear, throwing in strange stuff might not be bad. Not saying that water uphill is your best bet for a fun setting.
I would dare say in the end that few maps, if any, in the end are necessarily bad. What you fill it with and if your game group have fun with it is what matters.
There are a plethora of things that can augment a map, it all depends on how deep you want to delve. Eggnot pointing out that elevation influences rivers and currents being one. There's also how mountains affect rainfall and in return terrain types. As wind passes across a mountain, we'll say East to West, the Eastern side of the mountain will receive more rain than the Western side. So it wouldn't be surprising to see, on the East side of the mountain range a marshy area. On the West side of this same mountain range could be more arrid and be similar to the plains of North America. Another you could consider it tectonic plates, Mountains are generally created by two plates smashing into each other, one driving the other in the opposite direction, up or down, it could even cause volcanoes to appear near by. Then you have Canyons which are created by centuries of water flowing the same course digging giant holes in the ground.
If you don't care to get that detailed in your map making, then just pick what feels right for the area, the story, and the lore. There's nothing that says you can't have a giant canyon in the middle of a desert that is only present because some god got mad and tossed a meteoric hatchet down from the heavens. The design of your world only has to be consistent, it doesn't have to be an exact simulation of the world we actually live in. Have fun with basic terrain types, and don't stress it too hard.
I really appreciate all the input, everyone. I also appreciate the reminder that it’s okay to just have fun with it. I have difficulties with perfectionism that keep me from remembering that so it’s real easy for me to get sucked into a stupor about this kinda stuff.
I think it’s great that you’ve limited yourself to a part of the world for now. Fleshing our the area where your campaign starts is often more than enough.
That being said, in my experience a great thing to do is write a number of one liners, or simply cool names, regarding other parts of the world, either far off or close by. You don’t have to know more or add anything else then the name or short sentence. They are simply there to stirthe imagination. Both you and the players can the use them whenever it suits to add plots, details or background.
For example:
The prayer slaves of Kandor revive the everlasting king at each sunrise.
In Nerota the splendor of the floating pyramid are as wondrous to behold as the deathflowers of the Yellow citadels in the twin cities of Jolan and Johox.
The elves of Salanesti still search for the lost realm of the Sunless One.
A hundred years ago the Broken masters of Od’Asur declared war against the Green priests and no one has entered the forbidden city of Eskander since.
The towers of ancient Yudesh still stand along the roads of the forgotten empire.
The barbarians and the silent snowfolk of the barren waste meet every three years at the mountain of the Fallen King to chose their new Queen Mother.
I run a campaign in the world of Loromir, a creation of 2 years.
I have 3 Continents, only one of them is mapped. There are many things that are happening in the world, however my players are only aware of what it happening in their sphere of influence. As that is the case, why should I stress over mapping something that they have no idea about, no control over, and no information on? I do have notes that keep the flow of those events happening, but notes are a lot easier than trying to map out a continent that may never be used.
On the mapped continent I have 26 towns/villages/cities in total, only 4 are mapped out. The continent that my players are on is roughly 4840000^2 miles of terrain. There is about 1/3 of the continent that is situated on a shelf that is risen 5200 feet vertically. The players have been at this game for almost 2 years, they've only visited 3 cities, why should I stress over a city located 2200 miles across the continent that they may never see? Again I take notes about events on the continent and in particular cities, by why map them now?
There are 12 story arcs progressing, only 3-4 are active at any given time. The world has many things going on, and I have 6 players, so that's a lot of book keeping. However it's really simple to do if you run each session with the idea of focusing on a couple of the stories rather than all of them. Those times where I've put a player's story down, so I can bring someone else into the spot light, I've had major break throughs in how I can tie personal and world arcs together. My players have said things, I've read something on a forum, I've stolen something from a video game or move, all while I've focused on a different story. It also makes things feel organic after a while, like running into people while shopping, some will be your friends, some will be co-workers of who ever is with you shopping, and even your friend's friend may show up, the spot light dancing between you all.
-----
TLDR; Only write what you need, the rest will write itself or can wait until it is important.
I run a campaign in the world of Loromir, a creation of 2 years.
I have 3 Continents, only one of them is mapped. There are many things that are happening in the world, however my players are only aware of what it happening in their sphere of influence. As that is the case, why should I stress over mapping something that they have no idea about, no control over, and no information on? I do have notes that keep the flow of those events happening, but notes are a lot easier than trying to map out a continent that may never be used.
On the mapped continent I have 26 towns/villages/cities in total, only 4 are mapped out. The continent that my players are on is roughly 4840000^2 miles of terrain. There is about 1/3 of the continent that is situated on a shelf that is risen 5200 feet vertically. The players have been at this game for almost 2 years, they've only visited 3 cities, why should I stress over a city located 2200 miles across the continent that they may never see? Again I take notes about events on the continent and in particular cities, by why map them now?
There are 12 story arcs progressing, only 3-4 are active at any given time. The world has many things going on, and I have 6 players, so that's a lot of book keeping. However it's really simple to do if you run each session with the idea of focusing on a couple of the stories rather than all of them. Those times where I've put a player's story down, so I can bring someone else into the spot light, I've had major break throughs in how I can tie personal and world arcs together. My players have said things, I've read something on a forum, I've stolen something from a video game or move, all while I've focused on a different story. It also makes things feel organic after a while, like running into people while shopping, some will be your friends, some will be co-workers of who ever is with you shopping, and even your friend's friend may show up, the spot light dancing between you all.
-----
TLDR; Only write what you need, the rest will write itself or can wait until it is important.
I think it’s great that you’ve limited yourself to a part of the world for now. Fleshing our the area where your campaign starts is often more than enough.
That being said, in my experience a great thing to do is write a number of one liners, or simply cool names, regarding other parts of the world, either far off or close by. You don’t have to know more or add anything else then the name or short sentence. They are simply there to stir the imagination. Both you and the players can the use them whenever it suits to add plots, details or background.
For example:
The prayer slaves of Kandor revive the everlasting king at each sunrise.
In Nerota the splendor of the floating pyramid are as wondrous to behold as the deathflowers of the Yellow citadels in the twin cities of Jolan and Johox.
The elves of Salanesti still search for the lost realm of the Sunless One.
A hundred years ago the Broken masters of Od’Asur declared war against the Green priests and no one has entered the forbidden city of Eskander since.
The towers of ancient Yudesh still stand along the roads of the forgotten empire.
The barbarians and the silent snowfolk of the barren waste meet every three years at the mountain of the Fallen King to chose their new Queen Mother.
Good luck!
//Eggnot
These are excellent - I can't thank you enough for all of the great input. Not only are these great ideas, but also excellent insight. As you can tell, I'm very new to this and appreciate all the advice I can get!
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Hello!
So I have a map that I'm working on - just a small segment for my upcoming setting. I'm not ... educated in the way of world building on geological levels or regarding rivers. I guess I was hoping maybe some of my peers could look at this and just say whether this is a valid looking map in terms of mountains and rivers and whatnot? I appreciate any feedback - I need all the help I can get right now.
Here is the map segment!
I should point out that I'm only currently concerned with the red outline. So the rivers will sorta stop once they hit the border, pay that no mind - I'm only focusing on whats going on within the country's borders. So those are like place holders of sorts for when I get to the surrounding countries.
Thank you for any assistance!
Well my current plan is to just use Worldographer for my own sake - try to measure distance that way. I don’t think I could eyeball a town being so many miles away. And for the players, I would kinda freehand a map using paper maybe. So they see the less exact version, but I’d have the one with hex measurements.
I know I can pretty much have it my way regardless of reality, but my brain wants me to follow some degree of realism. So I keep getting hung up on what’s possible and what isn’t. It’s a pain in the neck but I can’t silence the part of me that wants it.
Generally speaking, rivers flow from higher elevations to lower and end in lakes or seas, possibly in a marshland. If I read your map correctly (and brown bits are mountains) quite a few rivers just end. Extend those is my suggestion and have them end somewhere
Yeah sorry, those are because I’m not finished with it. I was only concerned with how it relates to the red outline at this time. I guess I was more concerned with where they start and if it was correct opposed to what happens where they finish.
So when I work on the other surrounding countries/kingdoms/whatever I’ll pick up where those rivers end and take them to a conclusion.
This segment is above the equator. Would all the rivers flow south like that? Or would some flow northward if the elevation was right? I’m sorry, I just have a hard time wrapping my head around rivers and mountains and I don’t want to make a mistake somewhere.
And honestly the fact that nobody had said it looks like garbage yet is kind of telling that it might not be terrible.
The equator has nothing to do with how rivers flow. Elevation (gravity) and resistance sets the course, ie downhill and where less stuff is in the way. That is assuming a sphere and no weird magic. ;)
If your world is flat and random magic weirdness happens, you can of course have waterfalls shooting water into the sky and rivers flowing uphill. The beauty of your own fantasy world. Just explain why and have that “why” go for all other things. And to be clear, throwing in strange stuff might not be bad. Not saying that water uphill is your best bet for a fun setting.
I would dare say in the end that few maps, if any, in the end are necessarily bad. What you fill it with and if your game group have fun with it is what matters.
There are a plethora of things that can augment a map, it all depends on how deep you want to delve. Eggnot pointing out that elevation influences rivers and currents being one. There's also how mountains affect rainfall and in return terrain types. As wind passes across a mountain, we'll say East to West, the Eastern side of the mountain will receive more rain than the Western side. So it wouldn't be surprising to see, on the East side of the mountain range a marshy area. On the West side of this same mountain range could be more arrid and be similar to the plains of North America. Another you could consider it tectonic plates, Mountains are generally created by two plates smashing into each other, one driving the other in the opposite direction, up or down, it could even cause volcanoes to appear near by. Then you have Canyons which are created by centuries of water flowing the same course digging giant holes in the ground.
If you don't care to get that detailed in your map making, then just pick what feels right for the area, the story, and the lore. There's nothing that says you can't have a giant canyon in the middle of a desert that is only present because some god got mad and tossed a meteoric hatchet down from the heavens. The design of your world only has to be consistent, it doesn't have to be an exact simulation of the world we actually live in. Have fun with basic terrain types, and don't stress it too hard.
I really appreciate all the input, everyone. I also appreciate the reminder that it’s okay to just have fun with it. I have difficulties with perfectionism that keep me from remembering that so it’s real easy for me to get sucked into a stupor about this kinda stuff.
I think it’s great that you’ve limited yourself to a part of the world for now. Fleshing our the area where your campaign starts is often more than enough.
That being said, in my experience a great thing to do is write a number of one liners, or simply cool names, regarding other parts of the world, either far off or close by. You don’t have to know more or add anything else then the name or short sentence. They are simply there to stir the imagination. Both you and the players can the use them whenever it suits to add plots, details or background.
For example:
The prayer slaves of Kandor revive the everlasting king at each sunrise.
In Nerota the splendor of the floating pyramid are as wondrous to behold as the deathflowers of the Yellow citadels in the twin cities of Jolan and Johox.
The elves of Salanesti still search for the lost realm of the Sunless One.
A hundred years ago the Broken masters of Od’Asur declared war against the Green priests and no one has entered the forbidden city of Eskander since.
The towers of ancient Yudesh still stand along the roads of the forgotten empire.
The barbarians and the silent snowfolk of the barren waste meet every three years at the mountain of the Fallen King to chose their new Queen Mother.
Good luck!
//Eggnot
Eggnot is spot on with that last bit of advice.
I run a campaign in the world of Loromir, a creation of 2 years.
I have 3 Continents, only one of them is mapped. There are many things that are happening in the world, however my players are only aware of what it happening in their sphere of influence. As that is the case, why should I stress over mapping something that they have no idea about, no control over, and no information on? I do have notes that keep the flow of those events happening, but notes are a lot easier than trying to map out a continent that may never be used.
On the mapped continent I have 26 towns/villages/cities in total, only 4 are mapped out. The continent that my players are on is roughly 4840000^2 miles of terrain. There is about 1/3 of the continent that is situated on a shelf that is risen 5200 feet vertically. The players have been at this game for almost 2 years, they've only visited 3 cities, why should I stress over a city located 2200 miles across the continent that they may never see? Again I take notes about events on the continent and in particular cities, by why map them now?
There are 12 story arcs progressing, only 3-4 are active at any given time. The world has many things going on, and I have 6 players, so that's a lot of book keeping. However it's really simple to do if you run each session with the idea of focusing on a couple of the stories rather than all of them. Those times where I've put a player's story down, so I can bring someone else into the spot light, I've had major break throughs in how I can tie personal and world arcs together. My players have said things, I've read something on a forum, I've stolen something from a video game or move, all while I've focused on a different story. It also makes things feel organic after a while, like running into people while shopping, some will be your friends, some will be co-workers of who ever is with you shopping, and even your friend's friend may show up, the spot light dancing between you all.
-----
TLDR; Only write what you need, the rest will write itself or can wait until it is important.