Greetings Cartographers,

I am a brand new member to this site and I am seeking some insight, knowledge, and/or guidance on creating a map. I am a retired US Marine and currently work as a contractor for the Marine Corps. I am also a full time college student (at least by the VA standards). I have however, found the time to pursue a goal that I have long wanted to achieve, and that is creating a secondary world for a role-playing setting. I have attempted to hand draw maps in the past, and while they were okay for I wanted at the time, they never satisfied me. Especially when I want to know about the world as a whole. I would draw maps that would be appropriate to the setting or story, but then when I wanted to expand thing I would have to try to reverse engineer thing for them to actually make sense. I am trying to make something that is internally consistent as well as dynamic. I came across Fractal Terrains 3 and thought that it might be the answer to what I was looking to do, however, I'm a little disappointed. While it is an amazing tool, some things it does, do not seem to make any sense at all. Specifically, I was not happy with how mountain ranges were distributed. As I was looking for tutorials or information on using the software I came across this sight and found that there was already a lot of information contained here. I will begin by exploring information on the site, but I would certainly be grateful for any direct input that anyone has that would be helpful it getting me moving in the right direction. I look forward to learning from the folks here.

Have a great day....

Úlf