[taken]-[paid]City Map, details within

[Duerma]

Hi! I've been debating back and forth about whether I should go ahead and request something, and I finally caved. I'm looking for a city map (oh, dread ) of the city that will be the "home base" for my D&D campaign. Nothing that I've browsed has really fit what I am looking for, and I'm kind of fail as an artist.

*Commission: I can't afford a lot, but I am willing to pay something. We can discuss it in PMs.

*Time Constraints: Obviously, the sooner the better (everyone wants theirs soon, right?). But since this is a long campaign, and they'll continually be returning to this city, I'm not terribly fussed about it. So I guess that's a fancy way of saying "none".

Style
I like the way Gandwarf's city maps done with City Designer look. I also like the look of maps appearing in D&D publications. (example 1, example 2).

Description of Map
The city is large, about 40000 inhabitants. It's divided into about 10 neighborhoods, each with 8-10 subdivisions. (I can PM a more detailed list to you.) The city is on the coast, with about half of it in the highlands and half on the coastal plains. A wall surrounds the lower half of the city but not the upper half. There is an island just off the coast that is part of the city; it contains 1 neighborhood/6 subdivisions.

The location of the city is shown here - it's called Jartor, except imagine the star is moved closer to the coast than to the river. Also, I made the icon stupid huge, so it's not actually anywhere near the river.

Here's the thing - I really don't need the individual placement of each and every building. I mean, if that's your thing, then that's fine, but really, I'd be happy with just streets, or even just major streets.

Quality & Size
Ummmm... anything better than my chicken scratches? Heh. I'll be printing it, but it doesn't need to be super high DPI. It only has to fit on a regular sheet of 8.5 x 11, and doesn't even need to fill the page (minimum half the page though, so that's, what, 6x4.75?) And raster's totally cool.

Copyright - It's yours, so long as I'm free to print it out and post it on a website that my gamers mostly ignore anyways and isn't indexed by Google. :p

I know that cities are a pain in the butt, so I'm happy to be super flexible. Thanks so much in advance!

[Gandwarf]

I am not taking on this commission, but I think it would help if you made a crude map of the general layout of the town. Think land features and a general idea of the shapes and sizes of the districts. It looks like you have the city pretty much thought out, so it would help the cartographer a lot (and it would make sure you get what you want).

Also, PM's only work after you made 5 posts on this forum. So either make 5 posts or leave an e-mail address for people to contact you.

Good luck

[Duerma]

Eep, I had no idea about the PM rule. I feel hesitant to post my email, so I guess I'll wander around saying random stuff til I reach 5 posts. >.>

Anyway, I attached the basic idea of the layout of my city. The brown indicates bluffs/highlands/cliffs/whatever. The red lines are the walls. The blue is the ocean, except on the right of Correllon's Torrent, where there is supposed to be land but I forgot to extend the coast line before I used my fill tool. :p

A bit of history - the town was originally built by dwarfs thousands of years ago, and only the poorest actually lived on the plains since the dwarfs prefer the sturdiness of hills and mountains. It was conquered by the elves a few hundred years ago, and they spruced up a bunch of the lower city and put the civic district on the Feyisle (trying to differentiate themselves from the previous government). When the dwarfs revolted and reasserted their right to rule, they moved operations back up to the top of the city, but the neighborhoods the elves built up still remain in very good condition (and house lots of non-dwarves these days).

Neighborhood list (labeled on the map) and stuff that's in each:
Ruler’s Rise: Civic District, King's castle grounds, Embassy District, Noble Estates, Temple District, Fine Shops
Emoth’s Knoll: Finance district, guildhalls, middle class homes and markets
Griffoncrest: Mostly residential, spread from apartments to wealthy homes
The Crags: Apartments and slums
The Bluffwarrens: Slums and tenements
The Feyisle: Elf neighborhoods, parks, old civic district
Correllon’s Torrent: University, magic districts, elf neighborhoods, temple district, noble estates
Whitebeach: Guildhalls, coliseum, middle class housing
The Docks: Docks & warehouses
Tanner’s Quarter: Tannery districts, tenements, slums
Deltashire: Apartments and slums

[Gandwarf]

Interesting layout and so far well thought out.
So how do people get to the Feyisle? Tunnels? Bridges? Ferries? Airships?

[Duerma]

Interesting layout and so far well thought out.

Thanks. I figured if it was thought out instead of just saying "HAY GUYZ MAKE ME A CITY" I might have a little more success!

So how do people get to the Feyisle? Tunnels? Bridges? Ferries? Airships?

Oh snap, I knew I forgot something. There's a bridge from Whitebeach to the Feyisle, and you can catch boats there from any of the coastal neighborhoods except the Tanners' Quarter.

As an aside, I figure there are fresh water springs and underground aquifers that people can build wells for in order to meet the freshwater needs.

[Gandwarf]

So did you ever consider using City Designer to create the map yourself? It's a small investment to buy CC3 and CD3, but you are willing to pay anyway.
I wrote several tutorials that you should be able to use to create a large city yourself. You would have full control...

[ravells]

Given the map you've already drawn, with a little investment and Gandwarf's brilliant tutorials you'd be able to make the city *just* how you want it. Give it a try...we'll help you!

[Duerma]

Aw, thank you guys for the encouragement. The reason I wanted to farm this out as a commission rather than doing it myself is mostly the time factor. I have 3 kinds in diapers - one a 9 month old and the others are twins with special needs. I can sneak in bits of D&D planning time if I keep a notepad in my pocket or take the monster manual to the playground, but I know that mapping a city is an endeavor I'd likely never complete.

[Gandwarf]

Yes, city maps are very timeconsuming, especially the larger ones.
This is probably why people are also hesistant to take on such commissions...

Ok, now I am teasing, but I just wanted to get an idea of the scale of this map if I were the one to do it. It would require a lot of work Probably 20 hours or more.

If my focus wasn't on something else at the moment I might have done the map... not at the moment though, sorry.

[ravells]

I may....just may have time this weekend to do it using the Lazy Man's city style. (It doesn't have much variation but it's fast-ish - if I can remember how I did it). It's not the style that you want though. I might be able to nick some capitol buildings from other maps to give it a bit more visual interest.

No promises though...also I think my puter is about to die. It was touch and go this weekend and I've still got a lot of stuff to put back on it...

If I do do it, then the price will be that you make a donation to the guild (click on the blue donate button at the top) of an amount of your choosing.

If you can get back to me before the weekend as to whether you want it done in the lazy man's style, I'll tell you over the weekend whether I've got time to finish it, or at least make a start.

Ravs