I need help building a world

[Rabbitflinger]

So, during a discussion with some of my regular RP buddies we decided that a WW2 eraish RP would be a ton of fun, but to make things interesting we decided that it would be way cooler to make a completely different planet to play on. I, being slightly over enthusiastic, offered to GM the game, and thus invent an entire planet. The only unfortunate bit is that I AM TOTALLY CLUELESS, at least when it comes to anything even remotely artistic... such as drawing/creating maps. So I would love any suggestions that I could get about anything from the basics of starting a map, to any software that would help.

[vorropohaiah]

well i guess it depends on whether youre going for top-down or bottom-up world creation. I imagine a WW2 style alternate world will need quite a bit of work coming up with the politics and events leading up to the war - things like alliances, treaties, borders, etc will all affect the map. or you can go the other way round and make a map, then create the history to go long with it. or more realistically, you can do a mix of both. coming up with background and history as you create the map.

With regards to software, something like inkscape or gimp would be a good idea, though if you've never used either, there might be a bit of a learning curve involved.
I'd look for some maps of the period and try look at some tutorials here and elsewhere and start fumbling your way through it. that's how I learnt, and probably how most of the people around here did too.

best of luck!