The Realm of Quindia

[quindia]

My first post. I've been running games in the same campaign world for over twenty five years. There have been many versions of this map, but I've posted the latest incarnation.

[alucard339]

I really love your map.

I'm sure that your players love it too. The colors you've used make it easy to read and resting to the eye.

I look at it and I just want to play on your world.

Great job and welcome to the guild,
Alu.

[pyrandon]

First of all, welcome to the Guild, quindia. So nice to have you here. If you feel inclined, we'd love you to introduce yourself in the member introduction forums!

This map is very, very nice, quindia. You nailed the Tolkien look exceedingly well, from color palette to symbols to font choice, and most everything in between! I am especially fond of those mountains--did you create them from hand or copy/edit them from a Middle Earth detail? They look just great. What program did you use to create this?

Well, once again thanks for posting, and welcome to the Guild!!

[ravells]

Welcome to the guild, quindia! That is one heck of a beautiful map! I love the grunged up paper texture...it gives it a real richness.

Lovely stuff...and as Don said - please do tell us a little more about yourself and your interests in the introduction section!

[NeonKnight]

Welcome, and I agree, a very lovely, lovely map.

[thebax2k]

Great map Quindia, I had almost forgotten about you. I dropped by your site several years ago and had exchanged emails.

For the rest of you in the guild, you can check out the evolution of the map through several versions at http://www.quindia.com/where.html (bottom right links). I always found it fascinating to see drawings first done in elementary or middle school change over time and several iterations into the incredible work of art that the Quindia map is now.

Although the site hasn't been updated in awhile, I hope Quindia you add the 2008 version to the listing of maps. You just keep getting better and better.

I also hope you put up more city maps (and possibly locale maps) like Crowyn (at http://www.quindia.com/crowynmap.html --reminds me somewhat of Harn city maps). Thanks again and welcome to the guild.

[rlucci]

Twenty-eight years of work on a map... That kind of crazy is inspiring.

[quindia]

Thanks, folks!

The map was created in CorelDraw and the textures added in CorelPaint. The best thing about this map is that it is a vector file and 100% editable and scalable. When boundaries change during the course of the campaign (as you'll see if you follow Bax's links) I can change things at will.

The style of the line art is based off the original Tolkien maps, but the colors are inspired by the more modern map designed for the movie. I actually have a version on a plain white background with bright red text that mimics the old school map.

Although created completely in the computer, I tried to achieve a hand drawn look. The mountains are vector images, but each one is rendered individually, as are the hills, trees, etc. They are all drawn with a Wacom tablet using a stylus.

Each feature - mountains, hills, forests, text, etc. - is on a separate layer so I can edit each one without having to work around the others. As an unforseen bonus due to the way the map was constructed, I now have a virtual library of custom "clipart" I can use to duplicate this look in a fraction of the time it took to create it in the first place. There is another continent that I have run games in and it will be rendered in the same style.

I do indeed plan to update the website for 4e. It has been years since I touched it, but I am actually planning to completely redesign it which of course means more maps.

I'll head over to the intro section to add a little more. Thanks for the welcome and if I can answer any specific questions about the map, I'll be happy to.

[Torq]

Welcome Quindia. I love the map. The look is really cool. Its kinda Pete Fenlon meets grunge but everything is clearly set out and informative, not to mention artistic and eye-catching. My favourite aspect of the map however is that its a sort of chart of the history of gaming. You've worked on its so long that the landmarks are often landmarks in gaming history, that bring back some great memories. Its clear how you've managed to incorporate some famous products and flagship adventures as well as literary favouritesinto your own campaign world.

Places like White Plume Mountain, Dearthwood, Marzabul, the Borderlands and Charn come to mind. I love the map because its not sterile and contrived, its testimony to many hours of great gaming.

Well done.
Torq

[quindia]

I've designed lots of different game worlds because I love drawing maps (hence the reason I joined the forum), but I always keep coming back to Quindia. Some of the places have names that a goofy ten year old would come up with (the city of Frodo), but I can't bear to change them now.

Some of the iconic additions came during the years when I dropped a ready made adventure into a game and they stayed part of the campaign world. Others names, like Haven, have been used in many different worlds. A few others are purposely generic (the Black Forest) to invoke a nostalgic sense of mystery such a place would have held when I first started playing D&D.

The overall effect is that the world has a familiar feel even for people who see it for the first time. The games I've run over the years have shaped the world (the fifth ring was once whole, Ram's Wall was built by a player, Gornath was once the capitol of an empire).

I'll post some of my other maps here soon, but none have the history of the Realm of Quindia.