New Member, New Map. Help Wanted.

[Disco42]

Hello. First time posting, and so I figured I'd ask for some rudimentary help at the same time.

I'm making a Pen & Paper RPG that needs a world for the Regions & Cultures that the players pick for their characters to call home.
As such, I've set about making the second serious map I've ever attempted. I'm going to start on the world-scale, and then figure about where I think the crux of civilization would be. Then I will move in and make a more detailed map of that area, with descriptions of the 'far of lands.'

However, last night I started a map and decided I didn't like it. This morning, in retrospect, I decided I did like it. However, because I randomized the tectonic plates and their directions, I only have a concept of how it would have been laid out. So, I've bashed together this VERY rudimentary and ugly map to think it over. As the whole world will never be mapped in the rule book, it doesn't need to be 100% accurate, but I would like it to be semi-plausible within earth-like criteria.

I intend to do add a fair amount of detail, and do a serious amount of prettying up. I just didn't want to put too much time in to it and only realized latter that it has some sort of gigantic flaw.
exampletestmap.jpg

[Disco42]

On the other hand, it kind of looks more interesting inverted.

If I exaggerated the super continent's angle, and maybe exaggerated the highs and lows of the shores, I think it would look better this way.
the other way.jpg

[jbgibson]

So how much of your world is this? And/or what latitudes does it span?

[Korash]

My impression is a Pangea sort of one continent in the (very slow) prosess of breaking up. Not sure if that is where you are going, but that was my first impression, although I really need a scale of some sort to say for sure.. I would suggest (even this early) that you at least put in a rough color legend for the terrain. I am assuming light green for plains, dark green for forest, and the rust for mountains. The white is the polar regions and the yelow desert. Anyhoot, with that in mind I will give some pointers/suggestions.

- One of the harder things for begining mappers to get right in the begining is flow of Rivers. As a general rule, they flow from High ground to Low (which is not a prob. here) and very rarely split on the way to the ocean. Nore do they join one ocen to another. So you would not have a flow split and each branch end at different coasts. You have that in the south. Also Lakes might have many feeders, but only one real out flow. This you have happening quite a bit, and one of the reasons I am thinking that it is in the process of splitting up. If you widen those rivers up, you could use them as you plate divides....even doing the same to the southern river fork works as well.

Anyway, back to work for me.

Welcome to the Guild, The Mappiest Place on the Web.

And have some rep for posting a map in your First Post.

[Disco42]

Thanks to both of you.
Yes, I did feel scale was an issue. While I liked the idea of most of the world being a super continent, I also realized this made it both difficult to really get a sense of how big the land in question is, and could potentially render a vast majority of the in-land flats a desert. An interesting notion, but one that wouldn't really work as the whole world.

As such, I decided to expand and add another continent (which turned into 1 and some large islands). This will give people who look at the thing a better idea of how big the main mass (above) is, and also give me a frame of reference for the other cultures of the world.

Boredom lead to a pencil & paper rendition irl that I'm really quite pleased with. However, it may be a time before I get a really good digital re-make, or access to a large copier.
Theoretically, I could scan it in like 6 parts and piece it together, but I may run the risk of creases & folds.
SO, to answer your question what's above is like a narrow Eurasia. The bulk of the inhabited/inhabitable land, and the central continent (so far) of the intended setting.
(that last one was embarrassing. Here's a better rough, but it's still very rough)
extremelyrough.jpg

[Will Brawner]

Very impressive for a first map. I'm very new to this as well, and I was also going with the one-supercontinent-with-a-few-islands feel. If you have time, check out "Dordavia." I'd also like to see some labels on your map at some point. Looks good!