The Continent of Dankia aka why I got into cartography

[Annarkey]

Hey All!
So, as I said in my introduction, I was brought into cartography because my friend is DM'ing a D&D campaign for our group and wanted to do a homebrew campaign, which required a world. Now the guidelines he gave me were to think in the realm of how the world in Elder Scrolls has 2 continents, he wanted to go with something like that. Now the entire campaign is going to have a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor and be delightfully self-aware of just how little we all (except 1 of us) really knows about D&D so of course the world should reflect that. However at the same time, since I am also a Psychology major, going into grad school in the fall, he wanted my help adding a degree of realism to the city, interpersonal interaction and the world, how would people go about doing X, what events would cause Y that sort of thing. Anyway, the point of all this is here is my map of the primary continent where we will be adventuring, he has dubbed it, Dankia as in "Dank Memes." I made it in inkarnate as I am not in the position to pay for software at the moment. Keeping in mind that this is my 1st real attempt at mapping, and that I have not yet added in all the borders and smaller cities and details. (He's doing an Inside-out world build) I was hoping I could get some feedback on it. Also I have not yet asked him if ultimately the continent will extend beyond what it currently is, but that is an option

dankia v 2.0.png

[Diamond]

Welcome to the Guild, Annarkey! Inkarnate is a great option for those that can't afford photoshop/etc. (Although you might check out Gimp, the free version of PS).

The thing that immediately jumps out at me here are the glaring river problems. Rivers generally (as in, almost always) merge together as they flow downstream to form one larger river that empties into a lake or the sea. Almost never do they split apart like what you've got here. You've also got one huuuuuuge river that runs at a diagonal across the whole map, when a more natural course would cause it to empty into that eastern sea. Unless you've got hills or mountains on either side of it the whole way through (which would be kind of unnatural too) to channel the flow, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Also, it doesn't flow from one sea to another, does it? It's kind of hard to tell if that eastern sea goes around the landmass to the southeast and if the river's east end starts there. Which would be a big no-no unless the river is actually a man-made canal or something.

Not trying to be super-critical, but rivers are consistently the main thing people get wrong on maps.

[Annarkey]

Thank you very much for the warm welcome. I have Gimp, and have used it for photo editing, but for some reason didn't think of using it for maps. I will be sure to look into that.
Also critiques, especially from a fellow die hard fan of MST3K are welcome, as long as they are put in a constructive manner, as yours certainly was.
I didn't notice just how illogical the rivers were until you brought it to my attention, thank you. The only canal I was thinking of having was in the upper left hand side, that kind of looks like the greek letter Lambda, due to the irrigation needs of the large farmlands that are based there.
I have overhauled the rest of the rivers and used what you told me as well as maps of the Mississippi River to guide me in forming the new river system, one which I hope will be more realistic as well as more visually pleasing. Thanks Again!

Attachment 84111

Welcome to the Guild, Annarkey! Inkarnate is a great option for those that can't afford photoshop/etc. (Although you might check out Gimp, the free version of PS).

The thing that immediately jumps out at me here are the glaring river problems. Rivers generally (as in, almost always) merge together as they flow downstream to form one larger river that empties into a lake or the sea. Almost never do they split apart like what you've got here. You've also got one huuuuuuge river that runs at a diagonal across the whole map, when a more natural course would cause it to empty into that eastern sea. Unless you've got hills or mountains on either side of it the whole way through (which would be kind of unnatural too) to channel the flow, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Also, it doesn't flow from one sea to another, does it? It's kind of hard to tell if that eastern sea goes around the landmass to the southeast and if the river's east end starts there. Which would be a big no-no unless the river is actually a man-made canal or something.

Not trying to be super-critical, but rivers are consistently the main thing people get wrong on maps.

2016-06-01.jpg