My first map

[The Silent Cartographer]

Allright this is meant as a map over the Islan where me and my friends Rolleplay is currently unfolding, its my first map ever, made about 3 hours after i got CC3 and watched a basic video tutorial of how to use the program

please, feel free to comment and give tips on how to improve, and yes i know.. it seems quite unfinished and "rough" i apologize... hopefully with help things will get better

[Aenigma]

Not bad at all for starters. The shape of the Island kinda reminds me of the Wizard of Oz map.

Got any scale for it?
Oh, and I hope to see more

[The Silent Cartographer]

haha thanks scales no..i'm afraid not scales werent exactly in my thoughts when creating the map, jsut wanted to get familiar with how to use CC3, the island is aproxamatley 10.000km long (north to south) and about the same East to West, should take about a week to ride around

i used a 180x180 scale on it, first i tried 100x80 then 80x100 but found that 180x180 were the best for the purpose

and yeah it will definatley be more maps coming, hopefully one that is more realistic, have a proper scaling, and more "artisitc" pleasing

tips in how to improve rivers, mountin formation, forests and so on is most welcome

[Gamerprinter]

Well, now you get to meet one of the Guild's river police officers (me!) so pull over and show your license and registration...

Your map features an impossible river system - I see you haven't read the thread Gidde, pointed out in your introduction thread. Your rivers are doing things that would never happen in the real world, or in a believeable fantasy world.

First of all a delta close to the mouth of the river is the only time a river forks downstream, and river deltas are fairly rare in the world - only the largest rivers have them and only when extensive flatlands near the mouth force the river to drop sediment into the water and create multiple channels to drain into the sea.

Otherwise rivers never fork downstream. Forks occur when two rivers join to form a single larger channel heading for the sea. You've got four different downstream forks - everyone of them, a river violation.

This means your lake should only have one river exiting from it (as in your map), but only one river reaching the sea from that. Your lake could have several rivers feeding it, but only one exiting it. You could place other rivers that don't rely on the lake as the source, with rivers joining in the forks and reaching the sea.

Please read both of these threads on river systems to get a full primer on what you need to know to avoid such violations in the future!

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=7052

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3822

Lots more to learn, but getting your rivers right is your first priority!

GP

[The Silent Cartographer]

Well, now you get to meet one of the Guild's river police officers (me!) so pull over and show your license and registration...

Your map features an impossible river system - I see you haven't read the thread Gidde, pointed out in your introduction thread. Your rivers are doing things that would never happen in the real world, or in a believeable fantasy world.

First of all a delta close to the mouth of the river is the only time a river forks downstream, and river deltas are fairly rare in the world - only the largest rivers have them and only when extensive flatlands near the mouth force the river to drop sediment into the water and create multiple channels to drain into the sea.

Otherwise rivers never fork downstream. Forks occur when two rivers join to form a single larger channel heading for the sea. You've got four different downstream forks - everyone of them, a river violation.

This means your lake should only have one river exiting from it (as in your map), but only one river reaching the sea from that. Your lake could have several rivers feeding it, but only one exiting it. You could place other rivers that don't rely on the lake as the source, with rivers joining in the forks and reaching the sea.

Please read both of these threads on river systems to get a full primer on what you need to know to avoid such violations in the future!

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=7052

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3822

Lots more to learn, but getting your rivers right is your first priority!

GP

ah thanks ^_^ i were reading the second link you posted here when i got a e-mail notification about someone commenting on this post, but i didnt know of the first link you posted, will definatley spend time studying Rivers now, so that i atleast get that more right in the future, as said this is my first map ever in my entire life..so yeah, alot of mistakes and impossibilities

[Redrobes]

I think we have all had our collar felt by the river police at some stage...

btw: is that handle a Halo reference by any chance ?

[Noon]

I had to do almost the same kind of map, when I used the CC3 first time I watched the videos :-)
With a little practice, you can do interesting things with this software, especially using the effects of the sheets.
For future, you should leave more space between the edges of the map and the mainland.

[Tom_Cardin]

I like the points of interests you have on the map. I would suggest more of them and a greater variety of terrain.

When I lay down a map in front of the players in my game I really want that map to help bring life to my world and engage the players with all kinds of role playing fuel.

Things like: "that coast looks treacherous there, I bet we can find some shipwrecks there!"
"Look at how dark that part of the forest is, we might want to give that area a wide birth."
"Those mountains are real steep here, if those orcs take that pass we can set up a very nice ambush for them."

[The Silent Cartographer]

I like the points of interests you have on the map. I would suggest more of them and a greater variety of terrain.

When I lay down a map in front of the players in my game I really want that map to help bring life to my world and engage the players with all kinds of role playing fuel.

Things like: "that coast looks treacherous there, I bet we can find some shipwrecks there!"
"Look at how dark that part of the forest is, we might want to give that area a wide birth."
"Those mountains are real steep here, if those orcs take that pass we can set up a very nice ambush for them."

niiiice ^_^ haha i keep that in mind, but this is a fairly small island, around 10.000km (dunno what that is in English miles)
yeah the ruin beneath the vulcano contains a catacomb with...a few interesting things in it ^_^ a tunnel thats leads to the other ruins as well, who or what have inhabited the island before the humans? well..who knows? i guess i and my friend need to proceed with the rp.. we got nothing planned when we start the rp, just make up things as we go

[Gandwarf]

Have some reputation for your first CC3 map.
It looks quite nice doesn't it, for a map that you did 3 hours after getting the software!?

Practice a lot and your maps will start to look more realistic and less standard. I have high hopes for you