WIP - WH40k Campaign Map

[jabonko]

I don't play Warhammer 40k, but some of my friends do. Since I want to be involved in the game, but don't want to shell out for an army of miniatures, I found the perfect opportunity when the started grumbling about how "we can't have a campaign because we'd need an objective judge/game master, but all of us would want to play..."

So I volunteered.

Now I have a rough sketch of a planet on paper and in my head. The goal is a planet with one face always towards its sun, creating several terrain "bands"

The southern pole, which faces the sun, is molten rock surrounded by a ring of "rock floe" (not sure what to call it). Basically an inferno/fiery version of Antarctica. Moving North there will be a wind-scoured desert featuring giant plateau-like steppes. Then a narrow band of mountains running in a ring around the equator. Just above that is the most hospitable zone, a tiny stretch of lush green vegetation and constant storms. Above that, in the endless night, things are frigid, cold, and glaciated. I want to include a lot of impact craters in this area as well.

Since I'm just starting out with my attempts to illustrate anything using a computer, I'm finding frustration aplenty. I'm not yet sure what questions I need to ask, but I posted a "hi there" and got a few tutorial suggestions. I'll keep you guys posted as to how things develop.

[Ascension]

This is a difficult planet due to that orientation toward the sun. If you have Fractal Terrains it should do this much easier but I'll let one of those guys answer that for sure. If you don't have that then I'd recommend doing it as a rectangle where the width is twice the height; this way you can lay out your bands properly. When you get something that you halfway like, then import it into Google Earth to see if things line up properly (make sure that there is no seam) and also check the bloat that happens in the middle and the pinch that happens at the poles. You will probably have to readjust the bands at that point (make the stuff at the poles extend further into the middle).

There is a mini tut by Jezelf in this thread for how to import an image into Google Earth (it starts at post #13).

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=2607

[Steel General]

Sounds interesting, looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

[jabonko]

Here's what I've got so far (see attachment). It's just solid colors so far, but I have a palette of colors to use for different regions and I have... a PLAN!

I was experimenting with some of the mountain tutorials and with layers and such, and I discovered that I need my layers/terrain bands to overlap if the map is going to look continuous rather than "color in the lines."

So here's my layers roughly listed from top to bottom (// indicates layers on the same "level")

Mountains (dual tone: darker gray to the north, and darker sandy to the south) - this will cover the "seam" between the layers meeting at the equator
Vegetation Layer (green) // Desert (light sandy color)
Wastes & Glaciers (bluegrey) // Solid magma "islands" (dark red)
Craters (bluegrey also) // Exposed Molten core (bright red)

Not sure how this will work out in the end, but so far it feels promising.