An attempt at a detailed hex map

[darkfaterpg]

Greetings,

This is my first post here (and I probably should have started a new topic at the Introductions forum as well), and it's one asking for advice.

I've attached a small part of a hex map I'm working on. The idea is to create a better visual aid for roleplayers who are playing Dark Fate Campaign Setting, detailing part of the surroundings of a port city.

The image has two parts: on the right bottom corner is a cropped section of the "world" map, using 25 miles per hex as scale; the rest of the image is that same section, but "zoomed in" to 5 miles per hex.

My initial idea is provide those two maps (the detailed one would be on the Referee's hands, the simple one could be given to the players).

The detailed map has a lot of features that the large map doesn't, and that is the point. But I need to ask: did I do a passable job here? Am I overloading the info? Should something major be changed?

Also, I've included potential "dangerous" areas (the creepy horned creature symbol) and villages/hamlets/thorps (the small house symbol). Too much info? Too "ugly" info?

Thanks in advance for any ideas and suggestions. I truly appreciate that.

[Ascension]

If you want to distinguish between the various town sizes you might want to add some more varied symbols for that...I see a horned thing, a boat, and a bunch of 2-hut things. Maybe add a 3-hutter and a one-hutter then you'd have 3 sizes...city, town, and village. Overall, I'd say it is not overloaded at all but maybe that comes from years of looking at hex maps So far so good.

[Coyotemax]

I think it's a matter of the final purpose for the map - if it's for your own personal use, no one else will ever see it (specially the players), and it contains the information you need to know in a format you can understand for your needs, then it's perfect

If you are planning on sending this out into the world as part of an adventure setting, I might suggest a more unified colour theme for the hills and such, maybe something not quite so dominating for the encounter areas, little things like that - but to me that's a personal preference thing. If it's for others, i would definitely add a scale marker, and perhaps a compass, and especially a legend to explain some of the symbols.

[darkfaterpg]

If you want to distinguish between the various town sizes you might want to add some more varied symbols for that...I see a horned thing, a boat, and a bunch of 2-hut things. Maybe add a 3-hutter and a one-hutter then you'd have 3 sizes...city, town, and village. Overall, I'd say it is not overloaded at all but maybe that comes from years of looking at hex maps So far so good.

The settlements will have different symbols (one hut for thorps, two huts for hamlets, 3 huts for villages), but that should come in a later stage of this map. Cities are few (in this section, only the boat is a city--a port city in this case).

If you are planning on sending this out into the world as part of an adventure setting, I might suggest a more unified colour theme for the hills and such, maybe something not quite so dominating for the encounter areas, little things like that - but to me that's a personal preference thing. If it's for others, i would definitely add a scale marker, and perhaps a compass, and especially a legend to explain some of the symbols.

A scale marker and a legend will surely be included. This is just a rough first draft to see how the things will become. I'm not sure about what you could suggest about the colour theme, but I will think about it.

My main concern is: is this detailed section a good reference of the bigger scale section (remember we are talking about 500% zoom here)? Did I place the forests and hills in accordance of what should be expected from a region like that (where plains should be the main terrain)?

The detailed map resulted from some random placements based on what I thought it could belong to the map.

For example, there are 60% chance of plains, 5% chance of ponds/lakes, 5% chance of light forests, 7.5% chance of forested hills and so on. Did my placement by random chance did any good/bad to the map?

[darkfaterpg]

I've made some changes on the overal distribution of the terrain features, but I didn't tried to change the colours of the map yet. I hope this attempt is better than the first try.

I've also deleted the dangerous areas and other settlements, as they will be placed after the main terrain features are considered good for this map.

Comments and ideas are very welcome.