Forming of worlds
- Thread starter Ferret
- Start date
Desdichado
Hero
Mountains typically form where two plates push up against each other. Volcanic mountain chains could also form as a plate passes over a hot spot over many, many years.
Lakes form wherever there is a basin that fills with water.
Past glaciation is a common cause of areas that have a lot of lakes.
Lakes form wherever there is a basin that fills with water.
Past glaciation is a common cause of areas that have a lot of lakes.
Altalazar
First Post
I hand drew out (and colored in with colored pencil) a HUGE map of a world, which I then made reduced copies of and it is THE map of my game world.
I decided to make just one major continent, with some smaller sub contitnents and leave the "other side" of the world out of it.
The way I drew mountains and such was as he described - with the collisions between "plates" and fault lines.
And this is the kicker - to get a rough map of fault lines, I hard-boiled an egg, then sort of rolled it - hard, against the countertop until it had a pattern of cracks, which I then copied by hand onto a small piece of paper, sketching things out, then deciding which were higher and lower collisions, then transferring that larger-scale to the main map and "filling it in" - rivers just flow from the tops of mountains down to the sea - with slight differences accounted for by the lay of the land - they can end up in lakes on the way and they can be redirected by other mountain ranges. Where you get mountains blocking a wide area, you can end up with a dessert, as the moisture becomes trapped on one side of the mountains - so I have a mountain ring around an area I made into a desert. I played with it a bit, but it all started with the egg... so my world was literally formed from a great "cosmic egg" though that is nowhere mentioned in my mythology...
I decided to make just one major continent, with some smaller sub contitnents and leave the "other side" of the world out of it.
The way I drew mountains and such was as he described - with the collisions between "plates" and fault lines.
And this is the kicker - to get a rough map of fault lines, I hard-boiled an egg, then sort of rolled it - hard, against the countertop until it had a pattern of cracks, which I then copied by hand onto a small piece of paper, sketching things out, then deciding which were higher and lower collisions, then transferring that larger-scale to the main map and "filling it in" - rivers just flow from the tops of mountains down to the sea - with slight differences accounted for by the lay of the land - they can end up in lakes on the way and they can be redirected by other mountain ranges. Where you get mountains blocking a wide area, you can end up with a dessert, as the moisture becomes trapped on one side of the mountains - so I have a mountain ring around an area I made into a desert. I played with it a bit, but it all started with the egg... so my world was literally formed from a great "cosmic egg" though that is nowhere mentioned in my mythology...
MerakSpielman
First Post
Try here! The fundamentals of Physical Geography. The most useful chapters are:
Chapter 7: Introduction to Meteorology and Climatology
Chapter 8: Introduction to Hydrology
Chapter 9: Introduction to Biogeography and Ecology
Chapter 10: Introduction to Geology
Chapter 11: Introduction to Geomorphology
Chapter 7: Introduction to Meteorology and Climatology
Chapter 8: Introduction to Hydrology
Chapter 9: Introduction to Biogeography and Ecology
Chapter 10: Introduction to Geology
Chapter 11: Introduction to Geomorphology
Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
Think of it the other way around; rivers form from the runoff from mountains. They then flow (simplifying here) towards the sea, following the path of least resistance. You'll rarely (if ever) see a river dissect a mountain range. I can't think of one in real life that does. They may follow the valley in between the ridges of mountains, however. Sometimes the mountainous valley extend all the way to the sea. Think fjords in Scandinavia, Lochs in Scotland, or the coast of Alaska.Ferret said:
The tectonic plates can have curved edges, so yes. Can't think of any good examples off-hand. Take a look at geographic features on a map - Check out the National Geographic website for good maps here. You can look at the topographical maps of whole regions, and looking at what happens in real-life will help you map your world. I used that link for inspiration in drawing my new campaign map.Ferret said:
Well, in a fantasy world anything can happen. In our world, the plates cover the entire surface of the world - they are the surface, for the most part. The foundation under the floorboards, if you will.Ferret said:
Ferret
Explorer
Q1. This could be explain better with a picture. sorry, do tommorow.
Q2. I can expalin away easily what I want to happen by errosion.
Q3. I should have said can land masses form regardless of plates, or are the shapes of plates and land masses directly linked (I found a map with the plates on it, so I can safely say no, am I right?)
New question, Q4. how are the shapes of landmasses "decided", if they are not at plate edges (Austrailia for example)?
Q2. I can expalin away easily what I want to happen by errosion.
Q3. I should have said can land masses form regardless of plates, or are the shapes of plates and land masses directly linked (I found a map with the plates on it, so I can safely say no, am I right?)
New question, Q4. how are the shapes of landmasses "decided", if they are not at plate edges (Austrailia for example)?
MerakSpielman
First Post
It's rare, but sometimes a river is long-lived enough to stay in more-or-less one spot during the eons it takes for a mountain range to uplift. I forget what its called, but if the mountains uplift in a line crossing the river, the river will carve through them as they lift. I.e., the river stays on the same level, but the surrounding terrain lifts into mountains. It's kind of like canyon forming, except the terrain is going up leaving a trench with a river in it, instead of the river carving down and forming a traditional canyon.Ferret said:
