WIP: North Marches

[Green-Pilgrim]

Ah... so that's two rivers, that are unnaturally merged.. but then the question is: since rivers form from rain runoff (or springs), are these mountains representational of a fairly large mountain chain enough create a deep enough channel for navigation? ie, is there enough water flowing into the newly formed channel to keep it filled from natural sources (or unnatural for that matter, such as a bound water elemental) Also, how do they deal with the currents(ie, going against them), especially if part of the route is underground(rowing, steam power, etc)?

We, the other world-designers and I, hadn't given it much thought but I would imagine that the Dwarves could have either used unnatural means to move people through the tunnel or possibly a locks / damns set up like the Erie canal where the boats were drug along from side roads. In this stage, however, that's more of a note in the description more so than a feature on the map. It does raise an interesting question that I can bring up at our next meeting. It should get them talking for a while. Thanks!

Or, perhaps I am missing it since your description seems to indicate an unseen source of water above the map where at least one of the rivers originate.

As for the waterfall, once you get an idea for placement(you need either a cliff or two mountains joined together to form the "lip" as well as a mountain behind to form the water source), let us know... I see a few places that might fit the second approach with a small bit of moving around.

The first waterfall is at the site where the second river on the right side 'emerges' from a mountain and flows, eventually, to the sea. This waterfall comes directly out of the cave entrance (again, cut by dwarves) in a style similar to the entrance to Lonely Mountain from the Hobbit.

hammer-fall-02a.png

There's not much that I can do to show it on the map and I think that it will be one of those details that's added in later in the description or for a close-up map. I know, however, that there will be several watefalls in a map tile more to the south - but I haven't made those yet.

Oh yea, there is a "river" that splits from the top river, goes through forests and then joins another river near the bottom that empties into the sea.. Again, not a likely natural occurring formation.

That river, we call it the "Dragon Tongue River" is probably going to be rerouted so that it looks like it's fed from mountain run off on the left-hand side of the mountains. Rather than connecting to the large river at the top that wraps around from the inland sea to the coast (through the mountain tunnel) it will turn right and head into one of the small 'nooks' of the mountain range.

Thanks again for the feedback. Keep 'em coming!
-Gp

[furiousuk]

The river to the right of the central range, below the canal/river, splits on it's way to the sea just to the right of the solitary mountain before hitting the lake. It's highly unusual that rivers would split like this, unless, of course, you have a cracking and original back-story that explains it.

I like your map features though, the forests look good although I wonder if you could use a different tree type as they creep towards the higher ground? Your mountain range and foothills look cracking, the green is a little unusual at first but it gives it a slight eerie glow. Good work.

[Green-Pilgrim]

Hey - I had a weird idea and tried to substitute the green 'base' color of the grass and things with a parchment layer. What do you think?new-north-marches-1001.pngnew-north-marches-1001-sm.png

[jfrazierjr]

not so bright... looks much better.... I would still like the water darker though...

[Green-Pilgrim]

So perhaps I should move the darker blue segments closer to shore or just turn the light blue band into a darker shade?

[Green-Pilgrim]

new-coastline-01.png

This is the new version of the eastern coast with the darker 'sea' water.

one of the problems that I see with making the sea darker was that I have to figure out how to blend the light blue of the river with the dark blue of the coast.

Thoughts?

[Piscivorous]

Disperse the river into the sea by making a graduating halo effect. As the fresh water flows from the river into the sea make a dispersion where the differences in colors slowly meld rather than abruptly changing.

[Green-Pilgrim]

Something like this?

I blurred the light blue of the rivers into the dark blue of the sea a bit and see how that turned out. new-coastline-01a.png

[Piscivorous]

Exactly. Blurring and feathering will probably do the trick!

[jfrazierjr]

Yep.. much better.... tip: the smudge tool is my favorite item in GIMP. I personally would still like all of the water shifted a bit more in shade, but that's just me. BTW, the change to add the parchment texture instead of the flat green, I can't even being to express how much that one little change has made this map so much better.