Please critique fantasy RPG map

[James McCann]

Hello,

I am working on a map of a border region where civilization meets a mountain range and fades out. It is very early in the design, and I am just interested in the data at this point (I obviously have put no effort into the symbols). It is near a western coast, so the mountains should cause a lot of rain to the west and dryer conditions to the east.

wilderness-1.jpg

I think the rivers are OK but I am not sure about the lake and I think there might be too many swamps. I also think there are too many woods in the east where it is supposed to be desert. I will probably decrease that and add a new "scrub" or "light woods" terrain type.

I am looking for the river police and the landform police - please let me know anything that is implausible given an earth-like, mid-latitude region.

One other thing that worries me is maybe I need to work out the larger land mass in more detail, but I am trying to start my campaign with a smaller focus and develop more only as needed.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or comments.

[tilt]

looks good james - the rivers are just fine and the rest looks good too - I do agree with you that perhaps there is to much swamp in your map - on the other hand - sometimes mother earth throws a curve ball

[Lukc]

My two cents is that starting with a smaller region for a campaign is the best way to go. It'll make it easier to focus on what matters, instead of spending hours (albeit enjoyable hours) on campaign material you will never need.

Personally, I don't know about too much swamp. If you look at the area between, say, Poland and Old Muscowy, you have loads and loads of swamps.

[Feadel]

Your southern most river (flowing across the map) is a bit odd. It's unusual (not impossible mind, just unusual) for a river to flow between mountain ranges like that. Usually there would be a continental divide along the ridge of the two ranges since they are very close. On the other hand, it's not impossible for the river to flow down between two such divides. It seems a bit over populated to me, but that's a personal thing. And I don't know how big your castles and cities are meant to be. Over all it looks like a good start to me.

[rdanhenry]

There were a lot more swamps before people went around draining them. Swamps and forests have really taken it on the chin for civilization.

I'd take out the little squiggles all over the forest hexes. Either go with plain green for a hex map or add something like a forest type key: a slash across it for light forest, triangle for coniferous forest, circle for deciduous forest, both for mixed forest. Something like that.

I agree that the settlements are closely packed for "cities". If they range from larger villages to towns, not so much.

[rdanhenry]

There were a lot more swamps before people went around draining them. Swamps and forests have really taken it on the chin for civilization.

I'd take out the little squiggles all over the forest hexes. Either go with plain green for a hex map or add something like a forest type key: a slash across it for light forest, triangle for coniferous forest, circle for deciduous forest, both for mixed forest. Something like that.

I agree that the settlements are closely packed for "cities". If they range from larger villages to towns, not so much.

[James McCann]

wilderness-1.jpg
I have made some adjustments to the map. I moved 14 swamp hexes from the western, more settled area to the eastern, wilder region. I also added some more forest hexes farther east and made it easier to get to one of the castles.

To clarify regarding cities, they range from towns to small cities. This will be kind of a backwater area, no big metropolises.

I am pretty happy with this now, so I think I will move on to making a more artistic version.

Thanks for the input so far!

[dangerdog15]

Thanks for sharing. The map looks nice, and I hope you have a great campaign.

[arakish]

WOW! Nice map. Brings back memories from over 35 years ago when I was role playing in junior high.

rmfr