How do I choose a scale for my fantasy Map?

[josh-hill]

hi guys. im making a world (and regional) map for my new D&D world and realised i have no bearing on size. how do i work out the size of my contients? and more importantly what size should i make my countries? any advice for this when making maps? cheers

[ravells]

Hi Josh!

To work out a good size for your world, pretty much all you need to know is that a person travelling on horseback can cover about 20 miles (about 30km) a day. Walking in the countryside at say, 3 mph for 5 hours a day means about 15 miles on foot.

Then go to google earth (make sure View / Scale Legends is ticked) and take a screenshot of a continent you are familiar with. Keep it as a background image on your map.

Now you have pretty much enough information to conceive of how big stuff is and how long it takes to get from A to B and what scale to put on your map.

best

Ravs

[josh-hill]

thats a great idea thanks. forgot to put this in my first post but are there any good FREE programs for making antique looking maps? cheers

[ravells]

Hi again Josh. YES! There are! Gimp and Inkscape being the leading two. Check out the stickies in the software section for more info and good luck on your project!