Ki'Bair a desert city, need suggestions

[Jaekaido]

So I saw Torstan's map of Redwall, and said that is a city I need for my D&D campaign. However I don't like stealing other people's work. This is what I came up with, mind you I am new to cartography. I am running into a problem that there is no water to be found on the map, as I don't know where a good place for it would be. I was thinking of having a river run through it, but I don't want to destroy anything that i have already put in place. What are your suggestions?

[Mouse]

A river is usually required to keep a city from dying of thirst, but in arid areas I guess they have a lot of wells, or have water sellers who cart it in from outside (I have Water Bearers in my never finished novel, which is set in an arid region )

If you don't want to change anything maybe insist that there are lots of wells.

I wouldn't then go and put a river or lake anywhere on the map, because it would be plain odd not to have built the city around the river or lake.

Does that help?

You're doing extremely well for a 'non-cartographer' by the way. If you don't look out we might just have to promote you to the rank of 'Mapper'

[Jaekaido]

i wouldn't go that far as all the map is is some shapes with a couple layer styles, there is nothing fancy about it i have yet to create anything out of the ordinary yet. thank you anyways. i was thinking of having everyone buy or get issued create water scrolls which is a magic item that creates water based on level, that would explain why every house still has water. i like the water sellers idea but instead of "Water Sellers" it would be "Water Cellars" basically a basement of the house that has water from an underground river flowing through it though i am not sure how i would represent that on a map. the idea behind this map is a desert city that is out of the ordinary, as there is no visible water, yet there is a large city with 10,000 people living in it.

[Mouse]

LOL!

You should have seen some of MY first maps. I started a city that was a sort of blob right back in the beginning

What about adding a short drop shadow from all the buildings and the wall?

I think that might help to make the city look a bit more solid and 'grounded'.

[Jaekaido]

alright here it is with the shadows

[Mouse]

Oh that looks better

Are you intending to leave all the rooftops exactly the same colour?

Fair enough if you are - sometimes people prefer to have some kind of uniformity in a map

Another way of looking at it is that colour variations could be used to pick out important sites within the city, like having the government offices, or a guild, or a drinking den, or whatever is important to the story very slightly paler or darker, or even a different colour altogether (depending on taste).

Labels are important. In city maps these are usually numbers relating to a key down one side. I think you should have room for that down the lower 2/3 of the right hand side - leaving plenty of space for a title somewhere at the top.

A scale and compass would be nice additions too - in spaces that become apparent when the title and key have been put in place.

Ummm..... I hope I'm not going to fast and piling too much on all at once?

[Jaekaido]

not at all it is typed and i can focus on one thing at a time and save then look back to the post for the next thing. well i was intending this to be an online game map for Roll20 and i didn't see a point to putting the name but i do need a key, and a compass rose, though that will be challenging and i don't know how to make them look nice. changing the color of certain buildings might be a bit tricky but i will see what i can do. though i am having doubts about the rooftops as i have never seen a tiled rooftop in my time overseas, so i might be changing them all together. probably gonna get rid of the bevel and emboss style too. i just don't know what to change them to.

[Mouse]

Every map has to start somewhere, and only very few maps start out looking anything like they end up

I'm not at all familiar with PS, so I can't really help you with the details of how to represent the flat roofed buildings, maybe someone will have come along with a few more helpful suggestions by the time you have sorted out the key?

Things take a couple of days to happen sometimes. It depends how busy everyone is...

As for the compass and scale - simple is good. A simple line with tick marks and numbers with a label something like "Scale in Leagues" (or unit of choice) would be ok, and a simple crossed arrow with an 'N' for north is just as good as a hugely elaborate compass design. It serves a purpose, and neither are likely to draw very much attention if there's plenty to look at in the city itself.

If you aren't happy with the compass and scale bar you draw by the time you are looking at calling this map finished, there are a few of them in the Mapping Elements forum. A search for 'Compass' or 'Scale' there should bring up a few options.


EDIT: By the Mapping Elements forum rules the contributors should have made any rights over the artwork on offer nice and clear in the thread where you find it, so you will know where you stand with anything you want to use.

[Jaekaido]

okay thank you and i think i am going to redo what i have as to me it does not make sense, it is too random, but i am going to save what i have so i can come back to it later. there does not seem to be a flow for how it grew to be so large. i want to work on that so it makes sense, i am very picky if you haven't guessed by now. thanks for all the advice i will see what i come up with on my side project

[Mouse]

You are welcome, Jaekaido

Happy mapping!