WIP - Map of Sernia and Terris Continents

[Solomiranthius]

This is my second map in GIMP - this one still being a WIP. I'm using Gidde's Hand-Drawn Mapping (for the Artistically Challenged) tut for it, so hats off to Gidde!

The map is for a Pathfinder campaign I will be running, and as I do not have a lot of time, I took the general outline from the game Iron Dragon (my thanks and apologies to Mayfair Games) and altered various parts of it. Because of that, I don't think it is a very realistic world (coastline, placement of rivers, trees, and mountains etc.), but it will work for my purpose. For future maps, I would like to better figure out actual terrain dynamics. The world name "Annun" is temporary - I don't think I like it, but that's what i named the file for now.

I don't love using paths to make rivers in GIMP - it takes a lot of time for ok results, although RobA's Tapered Rivers in GIMP script-fu helps a lot. I'm using a mac, so any suggestions for a program other than GIMP to work with rivers? I attempted to hand-draw rivers, turn them into paths and then use the script, but my-mouse-man-ship also leaves a lot to be desired (I'm appreciating how nice it would be to have a tablet - although kind of an expensive option for casual mapping), so I turned back to simple paths. A few of them look pretty awkward, but will work for now. I don't like how the rivers are visibly going through some mountains, but that could probably be fixed by better river/mountain placement.

I haven't labelled anything on the map, so that's my next step. I'm also not sure what to do with the fairly large border.

Let me know what you think! Thoughts, suggestions, etc.

~Solo

[Rythal]

It looks very good so far! I especially like the colours of the mountains and the forests side by side.

One question I do have is where is the outflow of the lake near the middle of the map? It seems od to have 2 rivers going into it and none coming out (unless its underground or something)

AS for the rivers themselves... yah, wait till someone more proficient in Gimp comes along to help you with that.

[Solomiranthius]

Yeah, I originally had an outflow for that river, but the river I designed took a little too round-about trip to the sea. I decided I liked having an isolated lake for the sake of the campaign if at the expense of realism. Alternatively being close to a desert (left of the lake) could result in excessive evaporation?

Either way, that's one of the issues I'd like to work out when I try to make a more realistic map. There will be other continents on this world, so I'll practice on them.

[Ilvarin]

Good looking map. I am really into that washed out palette. Those mountains are great. Did you create the brushes yourself?

[Solomiranthius]

I wish I had that talent! It was all Gidde I believe.

[Diamond]

I love the look of those swamps! That is a gorgeous effect with that hint of blue underneath those really subtle icons. Props to you and Gidde!

As for the border - if this is a European-esque continent, you could do something like a Celtic knotwork design running through there, maybe interspersed with shields showing the coats-of-arms of various nations.

[Steel General]

Yes the swamps turned out quite 'swamp-y' (they can't be nice )

[Solomiranthius]

Thanks! All the brushes (mountains, trees, hills, and the faint line backgrounds) are Gidde's creations. The tut did not explain swamps, but I figured the line background with a lighter blue would make for a good swamp brush and keep with the overall look of the map. I used HSV noise for the deserts, but I think maybe they need a little more coloration to stand out...