Guthult: God's Forest

[Diamond]

Since the mountains in my Challenge map turned out so well, I wanted to use that style in something else. This is part of a northern Europe-esque continent, roughly analogous to our 7th and 8th centuries; much of the land is or was forested, home to various tribes of Goth-like peoples, who are now forming into loose kingdoms and confederations. In the south are the decaying remnants of a Rome-like empire. Many of the place-names in the north are going to be pseudo-Gothic transliterations, thanks to this nifty English-Gothic dictionary I found: http://www.oe.eclipse.co.uk/nom/egdhome.html

Like most of my settings and maps, this is going to be human-centric. One thing that always irks me about most 'traditional fantasy' is the idea that more than one sentient race can prosper. To me, that just doesn't seem workable - one race is always going to have some built-in advantage, like faster breeding, better technology, etc, that will allow them to dominate. That's why I like stuff like George Martin's series; it seems more realistic. Having said that, this world does have some non-human races. There will be trolls, primitive and xenophobic, that live in the mountains, and are sort of like our world's Neaderthals. Then there are the Hweilafulk, a catch-all term for nature-oriented fey folk. These creatures are secretive, long-lived, and nature-oriented, and include sub-races like goblins, dryads, swamp hags, fairies, etc.

[Diamond]

Which one of these do you guys thinks looks better, dark or light? If I go with the dark, the text will have an outer glow to improve visibility.

(And thanks to http://wingsofahero.deviantart.com/ for the texture.)

I'm kinda leaning towards the darker one, myself.

[flocko]

I vote dark. I really like how unfriendly it looks. For me it gives a sense that your land is really in the "dark ages". No pun intended.

Really nice job with the mountains btw. Also, you're rivers look creepy, like they're clawing at the land. It could be why I favor the darker colors. Keep it grim all the way through. Cool stuff.

[Hai-Etlik]

Definitely the lighter one if you are aiming for something that looks like a "real" map. Also, the even, perfectly aligned dark tone for the sea with the perfect light lines cut into it along the coast screams "done with a computer". Text that requires a halo to show up screams it on a megaphone while jumping up and down and carrying a huge sign. It's also just bad cartography to make it hard to read and then try to fix it with halos when you could just have made it easy to read to begin with.

I'd suggest changing that ocean tone so that it cuts off small headlands and islands, and misses bays, and change the lines along the coastline to black. Try to think in terms of the limitations of the medium you are trying to mimic.

[Ascension]

The dark one is different, you could go conceptual there but I'd use the lighter one myself...more options and room for maneuverability.

[Clercon]

I like your theories of one dominating race, probably cause I'm thinking in the same way :-). When it comes to the map I'd go with the lighter one, even though I think I like the feeling of the dark one more. But it is always easier to darken a map in the end then it is to give it more light.

[Steel General]

I like them both, but think the lighter one would be better for an actual map.

[moutarde]

Like Clercon said, it's easier to darken something nicely than it is to lighten it nicely. Though it might be interesting to use the darker map and blend all your colors onto it with screen or dodge.

[tilt]

very nice map ... I'm liking the light version best

[Diamond]

Well the lighter one was accomplished with just a layer filled with white and set to soft light on top of everything else, so I can always work on both at the same time and see how it goes...

@Hai-Etlik: Now I feel bad. (Just kidding. ) I agree with most of what you're saying, but on the other hand, if I go with the dark version, it's not really meant to mimic any particular style. I just want it to look interesting. I had another color overlay around the coasts, similar to what I did with this month's Challenge map, but I wasn't liking how it turned out. Maybe I'll add it back in and experiment further.

A point in favor of the light version is that there's going to be forests on this map and probably quite a few labels, so yeah, the dark version might hurt that significantly, especially in making out detail. Well, I'll just go forward with both of 'em and post both at each stage and see what you guys think. It'll have to wait till next week though; I'm going out of town early early tomorrow AM for the holiday weekend.