First sketch on paper
first sketch.jpg
As in the OP; I wanted to start with a generic region of towns, villages and a castle. I had the idea of an underwater adventure starting at a castle by the sea so I started with that. The cliffs are highest where the castle is and most of the land to the west is lower than this.
The player characters will all be first level looking for their first adventure so I had to come up with enough versatility to accommodate their ideas but within one small region.
South of the castle is a small trading town with port for ships coming from the faraway east. On the other side of the river delta is a small fishing village. The main town of the region is Forkton, just a few miles up along the river. Most of the farming villages are north of Forkton and west of the river. The valley between the river and the cliffs is mostly rocky plains, not even comparable to the fertile soil of the river fork.
A second route from the castle goes along the forest directly to Forkton, interrupted only once by a tiny settlement of lumberjacks and rangers.
Forkton itself is the heart of the region, a walled town large enough to have several temples and a wizard tower. The seasonal market for the nearby villages is also held here.
Two not too popular but reliable trade routes go further inland to the west and north, dotted by more fields, villages and forests.
To the south of Forkton the earth rises again to a rocky, woody hill, occupied by a clan of nomads that come to town a few times a year to trade pelts, furs, carved bone charms and precious minerals for items they cannot easily produce.
First render in ps
first render.jpg
When starting to go over my sketches in ps I didn't want to complete every element before moving on to the next, rather I just wanted to play around with the different bits so that I get the hang of it and can come back to it all later to complete / add / change things as I see fit. Most of the ideas are materializing in my head as I work on the map, like the little hill in the river bend that will almost certainly have some haunted ruins atop it.
First details of town
town render.jpg
Again with the town I wanted to play around with effects and colours, see what works best. So far everything is very basic but seeing all the little details slowly come together makes me really excited about the region and the stories it may hold.
Any comments and critique welcome, I am still in the experiment phase with this all so anything and everything can be helpful to me.