New DM Here! Nice to meet you all!

[carooboe]

1st map.jpg

Hello All!

I just finished my first regional map made with GiMP, critique is appreciated.
I had some minor trouble with a few different steps. I think I merged layers when I wasn't suppose to, and I have a feeling some bits of the tutorial I was following were outdated. Specifically, some of the white bits behind the text are too bright, and some stamps are laid on top of each other in odd ways. I also wanted to incorporate a medieval-esque floral border, but couldn't figure that out with the tools I had.

Any suggestions would be awesome!

[carooboe]

Hello everyone,

I'm a new DM looking forward to learning from this forum and making my campaign more engaging.

My players have recently all moved across the country, so we'll be using roll20 for the time being. I'm taking the opportunity to learn GiMP mapping and the benefits of tabletop simulators.

Excited to be here

[rdanhenry]

Well, nothing is wildly wrong with your map. The geography makes sense. It is clear what everything represents. Other than so readability issues with the text* and a few mountains with excessively thick lines, it all looks okay. There's lots of room for you to improve, but it is a decent map to be going on with for your game.

* - In addition to working on better glow behind text, a simpler font would be really helpful on the smaller labels.

What could be done to spruce up this particular map? Well, that sea is pretty blank. Some waves, a ship, or a sea monster would make that area more interesting, but there is also informative stuff to add. This map could use a scale and an indicator for which way the map is oriented. I suspect from the name of the sea that this is a modern "north is up" map, but a nice pointing sword with an N makes it explicit. If this region has an overall name, that would be good. If a floral border is too hard, how about stressing the map a little. Add a few holes and tears around the edges (the functional purpose of borders is to soak up the extra damage that the edges take), maybe a bit of singe where it was saved from a fire. A ring from a mug used to hold down a corner, or maybe a fingerprint, would suggest the map has seen much use.

How about a little color? Even just a splash of blue in the sea, green in the forests and fertile grasslands, with maybe a touch of red marking the "high threat" spots would change the feel (though possibly not in a way you want).

In summary, appearance-wise your main issue is that big blank region where the sea is. Functionally, it would really help to have a scale... if I were a player getting this map, that's something I'd definitely ask about. But overall, this is pretty good and you should feel good.