NEW Commissioned MAP for D&D role-playing game : the Southern Territories

[Kishkindha]

souhtern territories.jpg

The map of this imaginary territorial unit was commissioned by Dungeon Master Tom for a D&D role-playing game.

Initially, I thought I would draw this commission in a stereotypical D&D style but my client insisted that I should apply my usual style which uses / imitates conventional codes of modern cartography (and more specifically codes of the IGN’s topographical maps of France) and I must admit that it was a very judicious choice taking in account DM Tom’s expectations : to have an efficient modeling that could help him and the gamers to better understand the morphology and organization of the territories in question.

Apart the details of the orography, I hardly invented anything : the outlines of the rivers, lakes, roads, the positions of the localities and their names, everything already existed on very precise sketches drawn by DM Tom himself on an erasable white board and of which I only proposed a final totally hand drawn paper version. The discussions we've had, in order to understand some specific forms of certain determined areas were fascinating and rewarding for both us, this is basically the first time in my career of cartographer that I have the opportunity to develop a creative synergy of this quality, and I am proud of the result and my client satisfied.

And last, this project forced me, among other things, to work on a larger geographical scale, which I had completely stopped doing since my adolescence, and that was a breath of fresh air for me!

And now, I am dreaming of entire inland seas…
Thank you Tom !

[Arimel]

Really amazing design! This type of map is really detailed and must have taken ages to make. Only one small critique, in your Legend you spell Waterfall as Wasserfall. Not sure if that was intentional or not but it was just a small thing on a great map!

[Kishkindha]

Really amazing design! This type of map is really detailed and must have taken ages to make. Only one small critique, in your Legend you spell Waterfall as Wasserfall. Not sure if that was intentional or not but it was just a small thing on a great map!

Thank you ! It took me something like three weeks to draw this map, which is relatively fast : the level of detail is not as extensive as in my personal works. “Wasserfall” is intentional, it’s just a nod to Rimbaud’s poetry and to romantic period landscape paintings There is also an information about the magnetic declination in french abbreviations (N.M and N.G. for “Nord Magnétique” and “Nord Géographique”) in the right margin which is a tribute to my documentary models and a reference to the city my client’s live in.

[MistyBeee]

What an incredible work on this map, and wow... all those lines !!
Your client was well inspired when insisting to have you use this style

[Kishkindha]

What an incredible work on this map, and wow... all those lines !!
Your client was well inspired when insisting to have you use this style

thank you ! Drawing the contour lines and the estompage was the part of this work that inspired me the most !

[Ilanthar]

Top notch work on those contour lines & shading!

[Feathered fox ink]

This is some impressive work, indeed! It's extra informative, as you stated, about the morphology and at the same time the colours make it look so good.