The Continent of Asryth in the World of Newold

[Buggman]

This is my D&D campaign world for going on three decades now, drawn using Campaign Cartographer 3 in the style of Mike Schley. Since I've seen a few other maps in CC3 here, hopefully this doesn't count as completely cheating. I have older versions in pretty much every iteration of CC, but I'm really happy with the way this one turned out. It's as close to a final form as I will ever create--my players have a habit of destabilizing nations and occasionally destabilizing geography on a regular basis.

Newoldearth_CartographersGuild_Size.jpg

[ChickPea]

Nice work on this and it's not cheating at all to use CC3+. Whatever gets the job done for you.

I like your mountain areas. They look great. However, a couple of things to consider for the future: With your rivers. although they do meander, in some places they feel a little too straight or evenly curved. I think they'd benefit from a little more wiggle! Also, you can see something of a repeating pattern in some parts of your forests. I'm not sure how CC3 works and if this is just a downside of the software, but if it's possible to move a few trees around here and there to break up the repeating lines, that would help the look of the forests greatly.

That aside, it's a good map and I hope your players enjoy it. Have some rep.

[Buggman]

However, a couple of things to consider for the future: With your rivers. although they do meander, in some places they feel a little too straight or evenly curved.

Good point. I think that's partially an artifact of me trying to hard to match the details of some of my earliest maps (some of which were hex-based), but I definitely should have corrected those as I created the new map.

Also, you can see something of a repeating pattern in some parts of your forests. I'm not sure how CC3 works and if this is just a downside of the software, but if it's possible to move a few trees around here and there to break up the repeating lines, that would help the look of the forests greatly.

That's definitely an artifact of CC3. About the only way to correct it is to hand-place every tree, unfortunately, though it's definitely something to keep in mind.

Thanks for the suggestions and the rep!

[tainotim]

Yea, I don't think CC3 is cheating, and I think it looks good. Just out of curiosity, how long did this take to make?

Cheers,
Tainotim

[Buggman]

Yea, I don't think CC3 is cheating, and I think it looks good. Just out of curiosity, how long did this take to make?

Thank you! The major details (mountains, major forests and hills, country and city names) took about a week of evenings, but that's partially because I was trying to replicate an earlier set of maps. I've spent a few months since occasionally adding and tweaking details until it came out the way I wanted. I'm not sure how many hours all that translates to since there were a lot of times where I opened the program for just a few minutes to add a couple of details.

[Mouse]

Great little map, Buggman. Most of us veer towards using the new Herwin Wielink style. I certainly do, but its great to see a map done with an obvious mastery of the software in the Schley style too

Forests that repeat... I think (but I'm not sure because I don't use symbol fills for that very reason) you can move the individual trees around. (I'm not sure without doing one myself to experiment with it). Its possible to get a better result by placing individual tree symbols by hand, but that is a horrendously time consuming job.

Rivers... yes, they could be a bit more wiggly, and maybe tapered to finer lines in the upper reaches.

Having said that, though, its still a fine CC3 map. Well done

[Bud]

Your map looks great, Buggman. And the place names are all quite interesting, which is a nice addition. What scale is the map?

[Mark Oliva]

Have some rep! Nice entry. You used the Mike Schley style well, which I think produces a more enticing map for a PC group than the standard CC3+ or Hierwn Wielink styles. However, if you're going to make more maps and you want them to look like your work, you might find after awhile that using the Schley style gives you maps that look just like a lot of other people's maps. That's one of the down sides of using any of the standard CC3+ styles for those to whom it matters. On the other hand, if you just want to make good maps for your fantasy RPG campaign, you've picked a very good path to tread.

[Buggman]

You used the Mike Schley style well, which I think produces a more enticing map for a PC group than the standard CC3+ or Hierwn Wielink styles.

I've just started playing with Wielink, and I do like how quickly you can place forests, etc. I'll undoubtedly be working with it a fair amount in the future, especially since it's just made for dark, brooding maps. But Schley's maps have a wonderful brightness to them that better captured the overall mood of Newold, so I started there.

Thanks for the rep!

[Straf]

Campaign maps don't usually appeal to me but for some reason this one does. I don't mind that the rivers don't wiggle a lot as I imagine that each hex is a fair sized area, given the number of nations in this continent. I can imagine this being split down to a whole lot of other regions as well.

I'm not keen on the river colour although that's just personal preference. I do like how it merges into the sea though. I don't mind the forests - forests are repetitive and predictable by design, especially during the Medieval period.

Very well done!