[Map] Here be Orcs!

[Darraketh]

Re: Kewl

...at least you accomplished art from it, and good maps they are!...

Thank you so much! It feels good to be appreciated but I wouldn't call this stuff art. It's more like pixel manipulation.

The custom tiles I use, were created using a secret, old world family recipe. lol

Seriously though, some of the tiles originated as captures from PC games, which I altered to suit my needs. Others I created myself from scratch and the rest came with HexMapper.

All this, for me, is about cartography and the world I am trying to portray. Granted I do try to make my maps look purdy. lol

 

[Darraketh]

Zandafar

This map is "The Lost Isle" after I added it to the world map.

And here is a wee bit of a description of the area:

Zandafar consists of two tropical islands separated by a shallow strait. The larger island is to the east.

On the eastern isle a mountain range rises to great heights from out of the sea. Inland the mountains decrease in height until they are mere hills lost in the densest jungle. Griffons nest among the mountains that shadow the hills. The deep lush jungle is filled with pixies. Northeast a great shallow lagoon is sheltered by an ancient barrier reef that rises above the ocean's surface. Nymphs make their homes by the edge of the lagoon. Wide sandy beaches surround most of this island.

The western isle is much younger, the result of geologically recent volcanic activity. Most of the island is rocky, hilly and sparsely covered in vegetation. On the northwestern tip of the island is an area of bad land. Here the soil consists mainly of broken shards of black volcanic glass in which nothing grows. A wide sandy beach borders the strait to the east. The shallow strait is the home of nixies who live beneath the sea's surface. A large, still active, volcano dominates the island. South of the volcano stands the City of Skulls.

The City of Skulls is a most gruesome sight to behold. Centuries ago hobgoblins, who have long called the isle home, began to mortar together, in walls, the skulls and bones of their slain enemies. Now the entire city stands a testament to their vicious nature. Outside the city wall lay fields of skulls and bones bleaching beneath the tropical sun. Most of the remains are from nymphs and pixies taken in raids and hunting expeditions to the eastern isle. Nixies have also contributed although they are far more difficult to catch. Rarer are the skulls and bones of other creatures including those of the sahuagin whom the hobgoblins consider their mortal enemy.

 

[Eric Lofgren]

Very nice stuff. I used to love making up my own worlds when I was younger. The best part was doing the maps I remember a Land of Greyhawk map we had a few years back when we I was still into gaming that was very nice. Is this something you do professionaly, or for fun? I've been thinking about getting into mapmaking myself for fun and profit.

Eric Lofgren

 

[Darraketh]

Very nice stuff... ...Is this something you do professionaly, or for fun?...

Thank you!

No, this is just for fun. I'd need real talent to make any money on this. lol Besides, as I stated before, some of the tiles started out as captures from PC games so there is really no way I could use these maps commercially. Now the cartography and concept of the world, well that is another matter.

With that in mind I should state that I retain all rights to the cartography and world concept depicted in these maps.

 

[Taliseian]

Tileset

Just curious.......

But would you be willing to post your tile set somewhere.

I would very much like to use that set on some maps I'm working on for my own campaign world.......


T

 

[Darraketh]

Re: Tileset

Just curious.......

But would you be willing to post your tile set somewhere.

I would very much like to use that set on some maps I'm working on for my own campaign world.......


T

I sure would! But where?

Here's a screen capture of the set I'm using.

 

[Taliseian]

Email it to me....

fvicari@sacbee.com


Thanks


T

 

[Malessa]

That is so cool....I wonder if my husband can take each of my character art sketches and such to make action sceens with a tool similar to that (guess I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all that there is to draw in our campaign, lol).

 

[Darraketh]

Here is a link to the site where you can get the HexMapper program.

 

[Mach]

Darreketh, I must say, I had seen the mapping program before and wasn't really impressed. Now I realize I just wasn't using it to its fullest. Thanks for showing what one can do to improve on simplicity, your maps are very well done.

By the way, is there any chance you could email me a copy of the tileset your using? I would very much appreciate it. My address is jcoreyyan@cs.com .

Keep up great work.

(edited for stupid spelling mistakes, arrgg!)