My currently un-named world and its map

[pmmg]

If you are looking for mapping tools, I am now an advocate for Inkarnate. Easy to use, and high quality maps can be made. Free to try, small fee for the professional stuff.

 

[OutsidersEyes]

If you are looking for mapping tools, I am now an advocate for Inkarnate. Easy to use, and high quality maps can be made. Free to try, small fee for the professional stuff.

I'm actually not much of a mapmaker, that's not the aspect of worldbuilding I like. I like writing and drawing/painting. I just a geologically plausible map to use as a backdrop before building the world itself. If I were into mapmaking, Inkcarnate does look really good, though.

 

[Yuryael]

That's a really good point about the mountains. I can't see the water flowing towards the mountain but I know I'm just overlooking it. And about that desert town, it would obviously be on the east side of the mountains with the west getting the majority of the rainfall. Maybe near those two lakes, or maybe the lakes should go. Or perhaps that whole area is just arid and the desert can also exist to the west of the mountains? This is why I definitely wanted to talk with people who know more about this than I do.

Not sure which area in specific you're looking at but a lake near a mountain could also be a glacial lake which can then feed into a larger lake.

 

[OutsidersEyes]

Not sure which area in specific you're looking at but a lake near a mountain could also be a glacial lake which can then feed into a larger lake.

I think the central area is warmer than that, but it's an interesting thought. Actually I'm thinking that area between the two mountain ranges might be more on the arid side, since it's blocked from getting much rain by the western mountains. Societies in that area would rely on the lakes to survive.

 

[Nighty_Knight]

If you are looking for mapping tools, I am now an advocate for Inkarnate. Easy to use, and high quality maps can be made. Free to try, small fee for the professional stuff.

Here is a kingdom map from Inkarnate I made for a series I am very slowly working on. It still needs more work but the maps you can make there have a pretty good variety once you start figuring it out. Mine is pretty standard, but that is what I was going for. I have seen some incredible maps people have made on here though. I would like to try a parchment map version next.

 

[Babayaga321]

Nice work. I purchased Wonderdraft and have been working with it to develop the world of my novel as I go. I've toyed with the free version of Inkarnate, but I feel a bit off paying out for the Pro version which I'd need to give me the equivalent assets / functionality that Wonderdraft currently gives me. Besides, I haven't fully explored what it can do yet! I've attached my first completed test map in Wonderdraft... I'm fairly pleased with it but I've still a long way to go with my map-making skills!

 

[Finchbearer]

I'm actually not much of a mapmaker, that's not the aspect of worldbuilding I like. I like writing and drawing/painting. I just a geologically plausible map to use as a backdrop before building the world itself. If I were into mapmaking, Inkcarnate does look really good, though.

Just curious as to why you’re attempting a map if you’re not really into it? Would you want to include the map on your book, or would you describe the world with words before your opening chapter?

Eg.

Location 1: description
Location 2: description
Locati… you get the idea

From looking at your map in the first post it’s a bit all over the place, which makes sense if you’re saying you’re not interested in them. For a desert, there’s a lot of islands and sea ? Sorry if I’ve misunderstood anything.

 

[pmmg]

Inkarnate does have some weaknesses and one is ‘convert this to parchment’. I dont want to draw it all again. Why cant i import and convert.

Another is that letters start to get fuzzy if you zoom out too much. It should not be that way when i zoom back in. Some other scaling issues.

All in all though, i am happy. Worth the price.

 

[OutsidersEyes]

Just curious as to why you’re attempting a map if you’re not really into it? Would you want to include the map on your book, or would you describe the world with words before your opening chapter?

Eg.

Location 1: description
Location 2: description
Locati… you get the idea

From looking at your map in the first post it’s a bit all over the place, which makes sense if you’re saying you’re not interested in them. For a desert, there’s a lot of islands and sea ? Sorry if I’ve misunderstood anything.

I like worldbuilding and wanted a map to use as a sandbox, pretty much. I was hoping to have a plausible map so I could write stories and paint scenes from it without worrying about creating the map itself, just a ready-made world to play with. And honestly, the stories are going to be disjointed and episodic, I'm not even looking to publish them so I'm not worried about where a map would fit in a book or anything.

 

[pmmg]

I like worldbuilding and wanted a map to use as a sandbox, pretty much. I was hoping to have a plausible map so I could write stories and paint scenes from it without worrying about creating the map itself, just a ready-made world to play with. And honestly, the stories are going to be disjointed and episodic, I'm not even looking to publish them so I'm not worried about where a map would fit in a book or anything.

There are many apps that will autogenerate a world map. Had you considered one of those?

 

[OutsidersEyes]

There are many apps that will autogenerate a world map. Had you considered one of those?

Are they more accurate? Azgaar is giving me weird desert patches and I already fixed a river running up a mountain.

 

[Ben Scotton]

I like worldbuilding and wanted a map to use as a sandbox, pretty much. I was hoping to have a plausible map so I could write stories and paint scenes from it without worrying about creating the map itself, just a ready-made world to play with. And honestly, the stories are going to be disjointed and episodic, I'm not even looking to publish them so I'm not worried about where a map would fit in a book or anything.

I'm with you, OutsidersEyes. Having at least a basic map is so helpful. It gets you grappling with questions about the world you're building.
"Who lives there?" "What technology/magic do they use to overcome difficulties cause by geographical features?"

For some crazy reason I always draw mine by hand and then finish in photoshop.

I'd say it's a good thing if you've not mapped out the whole planet - leaves room for more world building when you run out of space to tell your stories later.

Here's my latest map. Names are still very incomplete! Hoping to turn it into more of an illustration when I get the time.

 

[OutsidersEyes]

I'm with you, OutsidersEyes. Having at least a basic map is so helpful. It gets you grappling with questions about the world you're building.
"Who lives there?" "What technology/magic do they use to overcome difficulties cause by geographical features?"

For some crazy reason I always draw mine by hand and then finish in photoshop.

I'd say it's a good thing if you've not mapped out the whole planet - leaves room for more world building when you run out of space to tell your stories later.

Here's my latest map. Names are still very incomplete! Hoping to turn it into more of an illustration when I get the time.

Your map looks really good. I just don't have a good sense of where a desert should go, for example. Unless it's a rain shadow or very obviously inland. I was hoping for a ready-made map that made sense so I could just jump right in.

 

[ThinkerX]

Your map looks really good. I just don't have a good sense of where a desert should go, for example. Unless it's a rain shadow or very obviously inland. I was hoping for a ready-made map that made sense so I could just jump right in.

Try here:

donjon; RPG Tools

A collection of random generators for Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop role-playing games

donjon.bin.sh

Both the 'Fractal World Generator' and the 'Fantasy World Generator' will make up an atlas (globe) style map for you in moments, along with multiple other projections.

You can also generate random town maps, plus there are random name generators for different races and whatnot.

What I don't see are regional maps (which is what most fantasy world maps actually are).

 

[OutsidersEyes]

Try here:

donjon; RPG Tools

A collection of random generators for Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop role-playing games

donjon.bin.sh

Both the 'Fractal World Generator' and the 'Fantasy World Generator' will make up an atlas (globe) style map for you in moments, along with multiple other projections.

You can also generate random town maps, plus there are random name generators for different races and whatnot.

What I don't see are regional maps (which is what most fantasy world maps actually are).

Extremely interesting, thank you!

 

[Babayaga321]

I'm with you, OutsidersEyes. Having at least a basic map is so helpful. It gets you grappling with questions about the world you're building.
"Who lives there?" "What technology/magic do they use to overcome difficulties cause by geographical features?"

For some crazy reason I always draw mine by hand and then finish in photoshop.

I'd say it's a good thing if you've not mapped out the whole planet - leaves room for more world building when you run out of space to tell your stories later.

Here's my latest map. Names are still very incomplete! Hoping to turn it into more of an illustration when I get the time.

Nice job.... especially as it is hand drawn... all of my original maps were roughly hand drawn out ages ago, and I'm now redoing them in Wonderdraft and revising them with these new edits on the books I'm working on as I go.

 

[ThinkerX]

Eastern Solaria. 40 degrees longitudinal span, ranging from -15 to +40 latitude. The taper is to compensate for longitudinal distortion.

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[OutsidersEyes]

I have another map that I made with donjon.bin.sh. Would love some constructive criticism on that one, hopefully it's better.

 

[pmmg]

You should link it here. When this drifts below the page, it wont get seen again.

 

[OutsidersEyes]

Viningal.png

created by donjon.bin.sh. Constructive criticism is welcome.

mythicscribes.com

I thought links were frowned upon, sorry.