Welcome!
The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge.
Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand.
If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ. You will have to register before you can post or view full size images in the forums.
I’ve posted a few of my maps and more humorous blogs here, but I thought I’d take a moment to talk about one of my favorite more serious characters. He’s an assassin, like my lead character Shade, but he is a ballsy and chillingly capable rival who is a true threat to Shade’s crown as world’s top assassin. I call him Raithe and he’s got quite the tongue on him. Let’s begin with a quote from the man’s very lips: “Of course, I don’t have so widely esteemed reputation as you, Shade, ...
A lot of readers have noted that our towns possess as much character as our people. Jile is a seedy, remote swamp town located in the heart of the Ice Marshes. The men of Doljinaar have always stuck to the roads that wind far around the marshes, which transformed Jile into a breeding ground for criminals, night mortals, half-breeds and others in hiding. Of course this makes Jile a very dangerous and undesirable place to visit. That said, if you can get past the thug filled taverns, the back alley ...
Updated 04-23-2012 at 11:03 PM by jlficks
Some of you who've bothered to read my blogs have probably wondered what, if anything, they have to do with cartography. I admit that oftentimes, any relationship I could come up with would seem tenuous at best. That's a shame in some ways, because cartography itself is a subject spanning all nations and all of recorded history. It is art and literature, biology, geography, geology, business, finance, science, mythology, history, lore, fantasy... I am hard-put to find a single aspect of human experience ...