Altera Maps

[Salora Rainriver]

I've offered to make a series of maps for a Nationstates roleplaying group. the idea would be that these maps show the nation and surrounding areas in more realistic detail. we're currently using this map, which is ripped straight from Donjon, using thicker lines to make "territories" out of the hex grid, then shading in the country's territory:

Attachment 74015

I'm on commission to draw more detailed maps of the easternmost continent (which the group dubs "Asia," for lack of a better name), the area surrounding Rondileau, the area surrounding Nakadria, and the area surrounding Kronea.

I want the ultimate purpose of these maps to be a quick and generalized reference for the players to know what's in their nation, and also be easy to edit without throwing a panic attack or making the whole thing unreadable. say a player starts a war with a neighboring nation. I want them to be able to draw troop movements on the map. or say I want to later update the map when nation borders change.

I'd want suggestions on what sort of features to include in the maps, how I should draw forests and mountains, how I should draw nation borders, and how I should represent things such as landmarks, cities, major roads, and biomes.

basically, I'm lost from start to finish.

this is what I've done so far on "Asia," shown with and without my lines showcasing where Donjon's biome markers are:

caWydDR.png 7jHwJNX.png

already, I'm thinking I will have to make multiple maps per region, but I'm unsure of how to organize the information onto multiple maps.

right now, I think the best option would be to have an "all-purpose" map showing off the most salient details (cities, borders, mountains and hills, vegetation, and something else I'm missing), then have more specific details delegated onto specific maps (like a military map showing where outposts and stuff are, or a roads map or a biomes map?)

as a final note, yes, my referrers do want a hand-drawn aesthetic. all of them.

[Chick]

Hi Salora, welcome to the Guild! One thing you might do is spend a few hours looking through the Picture Gallery (see pulldown link at top of page). There are so many nice maps there that you can see a lot of ways that other people have done what you are asking about. Take a look at various ways to do the cities, borders, mountains, hills, vegetation, roads, forests, coastlines, .... and pick the styles that you like the best

[Salora Rainriver]

thank you!