Maps and more maps...

Ok, because I'm on break for another three weeks, and manage to get bored incredibly quick, I'm going to steal an absolutely wonderful idea from Kip, here, with his thread about free PC portraits. Now, I'm not an artist - lets get that clear right now. I can't draw to save my life. But I enjoy Photoshop, and I've always loved carography... and lately, I've started to be pretty proud of my maps. So, anyway - my goal is to do just one a day, let me get used to doing this (because I hate when I can do something once, but not again; this is valuable practice) and not "overtax me."

Of course, I'm not expecting this to have quite the draw as his thread, because, well - there's not quite as much thrill over a new map as a new portrait for your character, and because it's a lesser-used thing, anyway... players don't need maps made, and there's less DMs than players. Also, there's the fact that it's pretty hard to describe a map - iff'n there's not something to look at, details (which can be pretty important) can be forgotten, which is never a good thing. So I figure most of the people who could take advantage, may be able to do their own... but I'm asking anyway, 'cause if I can get some done, and people like them, it'll boost my ego. (Thinking about it, that may be a bad idea. Phah - I'll go ahead anyway, if you're game.) So - any takers? I'll start tomorrow, if I get a bite.

[EDIT] I *might* start tomorrow. The Two Towers comes out tomorrow, so I'm going to have to sit down with my nice new copy of the extended Fellowship and watch that. But, if I have time, I'll start tomorrow.

[EDIT] Subscribing.

Sign me up....

I'll take anything you want to put out!

Would it be possible to get the actual Photoshop files on the ones you do, so I can make changes or pick apart to learn from?

The world Iv'e been thinking on has a varity of land features without being huge, or super cramped. (if thats possible) You know some nice forests for the elves and mountains for the dwarves, etc....

Also, if possible I would prefer one without cities labled or noted. THis is for two reasons, 1: I don't know all the city names yet and 2: I prefer to do my text work in Pagemaker vs Photoshop.

JDragon

BTW I'm on my way out of town tonight and will not have computer access for at least 3 days maybe a week and a half so don't be surprised if I lag on responses.

JDragon said:

Would it be possible to get the actual Photoshop files on the ones you do, so I can make changes or pick apart to learn from?

Click to expand...

I'd be happy to let you have them, but they generally clock in some 15-20 megs, and... if you can figure out a way to share 'em, great.

JDragon said:

The world Iv'e been thinking on has a varity of land features without being huge, or super cramped. (if thats possible) You know some nice forests for the elves and mountains for the dwarves, etc....

Also, if possible I would prefer one without cities labled or noted. THis is for two reasons, 1: I don't know all the city names yet and 2: I prefer to do my text work in Pagemaker vs Photoshop.

Click to expand...

That's fine - I'll get to work on it later tonight (going to see THE movie. ) If you're still around - any specifics for the terrain? Mountains butting up against a wooded area, or anything? If not, I'll just put something together and we'll see what you think.

Terraism,

First off, ENJOY the movie.... I have to wait almost 2 weeks due to my trip.

As far as getting me the files, do you have CD Burner? I would be happy to ship you some blank CD's with return postage? If this isn't a huge hassel for you.

Let me know, other wise I'll see if I can find someone with enought space to host the files so I can download them, assuming that you have a high speed connection to upload with.

As for the design, I don't have a lot in mind right now so have fun and I'll see what hits me.

JDragon

Ooo! Sign me up! I've got a city that the players will be visiting eventually for which I desperately need a map! I'll give you a general description right now (I'm at work) and fill in more later if you need it.

This city, named Topaz, is in a round valley surrounded by mountains. The valley is about 25 miles in diameter, and is fairly fertile. A waterfall comes down the mountain on the north side of the valley, and the resulting river is about as big as the Niagra. The falls are actually about as powerful as Niagra too. The river runs southwest out of the valley, where it has carved a narrow canyon. Along the north shore of the river runs the main east/west caravan route for the whole continent. The road runs into the city, and out the other side, where it climbs the mountains to the east, crosses the Ice Knife Pass, and then goes on to points east.

Topaz has grown over the years, and now extends to both sides of the river. Old Topaz is on the NW side, and is surrounded by a wall. A wide stone bridge crosses the river into New Topaz. The old city is home to the Topaz Castle, which houses the Duke, his family, his guards and other retainers. Also found in the old city are all of the government offices, the homes of all the rich people, and the Arcanium. This is one of only two colleges of magic in the world. New city houses the merchants, craftsmen, servant classes, the Minotaur section (which is walled, gated, and heavily guarded by female Minotaurs with no sense of humor whatsoever) and a bustling marketplace. The two parts of Topaz couldn't be more different. Old Topaz is quiet and cultured, with tree-lined streets. Other than the occaisonal student-wizard prank, nothing much out of the ordinary ever happens. New Topaz is a wretched hive of scum & villany, where anything is for sale if you know who to ask.

I can draw a feeble little diagram and scan it in today or tomorrow, to give you a better idea of where everything is situated. Tomorrow evening though, I'm going to see Two Towers, so I guess I had better make it tonight after I get home.

OOOOOhhh! Me too?

If you could help me out, that would be great! I'm terrible with this type of thing.

I have attached a ( super rough ) image here of my campaign world of Nebadon. Feel free to change details as you see fit, this is just supposed to serve as a guideline to provide you some direction.

I laid this out as if it was on a poster of eight 8 1/2 x11" peices of paper. If it matters, the scale is about 5000 x 2800 miles - Roughly equal to a map of Spain to Western India & The tip of Great Britain well into Africa the other way...

STOKED!

Buttercup said:

Ooo! Sign me up! I've got a city that the players will be visiting eventually for which I desperately need a map! I'll give you a general description right now (I'm at work) and fill in more later if you need it.

Click to expand...

Buttercup - I'm going to take this one on as a challenge, but I'm going to be honest. I've not worked on a city before - I tend to do large, land pieces. Should've mentioned that initially, but I didn't think of it. Anyway - like I said, I'm going to try this. If I can pull it off, I'll be enormously proud of myself. [Grin.] If not - well, there won't be a "not." It might just take me a while.

JDragon's Map; First Estimate

Ok - I put this together, trying to keep something pretty general but still... not. Anyway, it's obvious that it's a big island (probably continent size) but let me know what you think - little details, whatever. You know, it just looks so very unfinished without roads, rivers, or titles... hmm...

hey this seems to be a p[retty good idea!

I myself am terrible at making maps, and I need one for my new PBE-M game.

It's another challenge for you!
If you could make it, that would be great.It is gonna be a very large city. I got the raw idea from minas Thith. The city is divided into circles, about 10 orso, each circle having a different function. The city is located on a hill, so the circles are ranging from top to bottom. The circles don't really have to be a circulair form, they just follow the shape of the hill. At the roots of the hill runs a river, with a harbor, two main roads lead to the city, one along the river, and one from the other side. Every circle has a wll around it, and all the city gates are in one line (multiple lines though) the top circle will feature the palce and government buildings, with a large tower. The secons layer will feature 4 guilds (magic, priests, Tradesmen and Law/thiefs (yes, that one guild), each of the guilds has a different tower that is just slighty less tall then the palace tower, but each of the guilds tries to have the best tower in comparrison to the other. Functions of the other circles could be: Market, Industy, Harbor, and houses for people (the wealthiest high, the poorest low)

I thank you very much if you would be able to draw this for me, and you do not have to incorparate all the information I gave (just guidelines)
THX in advance

I already posted this over on the Campaign Art by Malessa thread, but it seems to belong here also.

I wish I could post it in it's full size and resolution, but that's too huge. It's 17x11 (as a two-page spread) and 300 dpi in it's full glory.

Anyway, this is the globe for the world of Sprawling Shadows. The whole world has been over-developed, so all the land is covered by one huge urban landscape.

This was all done in Paint Shop Pro. Started off with a simple ellipse. I threw in the velvety dark background and made a back glow in white.

Then I colored the whole thing blue, using the Ocean texture available in PSP.

For the land layer, I took a stark black and white image of a globe of the earth that I snagged of some web site and blew it up real big. Then, I used a lot of copy and paste, twist, move and warp to piece together my land mass. I think India and a slightly misplaced and askew South America are the only semi-recognizable areas... if you know what you're looking for.

To get the ocean's varying depth effects, I selected the areas outside the land and added a deep inner bevel. This added the lighter and darker lines that follow the coast.

The fun part was adding the city texture to the land masses. I snagged a satellite photo of Boston off the internet, and I used cloning to make myself a 5" by 5" street pattern... then I used a pattern fill to cover all the land in city streets.

I tossed a layer of hot wax over the city, and put an outer bevel on it to make it look raised above the water. Finally, I did color-to-target to make the deserty areas look deserty, and the more temperate areas have a green tint, and the arctic areas look foggy and white. Voila! My first map!....