Hello! A transplant from the constructed language community

[JackHK]

Hi! I've been interested in invented worlds for as long as I can remember - an interest which mostly manifested itself as wanting to make constructed languages. But from time to time, the cartography bug bites me, and so I've decided to join this forum!

Is there anywhere I should go to ask short questions? I have recently started work on a new Earth-like world, and here's the area I began with:
cZE8wlY.jpg
I'd really like to pin down where the river go before sorting out too much else, but to do that I kinda need to know where my mountain ranges are, which is what I've been having trouble with. Can anyone suggest how I should decide where to put the mountain ranges?

Excited to be here,
Jack

[ladiestorm]

Hi Jack, and welcome! I guess I can't really call myself a fellow newbie anymore, since I have been here since Feb/March! But I am relatively new to mapping as well, since I started back in Feb/March.

To answer your questions... Most people post questions in the general discussion area. If you want input on a map you are working on, you can post the map in the Work In Progress thread, and people are really good here, about checking out WIP's and giving feedback, especially if you have specific questions about it.

As far as mountain ranges are concerned... I guess it really depends on what kind of mountain ranges you are making... but from what I understand (and I could be wrong!!!) but mountain ranges tend to form over old tectonic plates where the Earth has shifted over time. The other type, of course, are dormant volcanos. The ones near tectonic plates tend to form in 'lines', mountain ranges formed by once active volcanoes tend to be more circular, I would think...but don't quote me on that!

Ive always figured out where i wanted my contures to be, and set those first, then used those contures to set up my mountains.

[Redrobes]

I think ladiestorm has it. The issue is basically how accurate do you want to be ? You have decided the outline to your coast and then are thinking about putting down the mountains. If you really enjoy the creation process then its best to think about where your mountains need to be then you can put down the contours as you see fit then you see what kind of landscape you have for a coast line.

But lets say the coastline shape is more important. Then you have to come up with some plausible way that your mountains could have generated that shape. Generally, the coast line shape is derived from your high ground and the erosion process so you can conceivably arbitrarily determine some parameters that would make that shape from almost any kind of mountains. So in a sense its up to you but you might have to justify it later on. That justification can be science terraforming, magic or some powerful creature ability not found on earth. Which is fine.

Once you have mountains and have defined the height terrain shape then you can then go on to work out where your rivers will go and I wrote a tutorial about that which may help.
http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3822

[Korash]

Both ladiestorm and Red are correct in that there needs to be SOME logic behind your mountain placements, but that logic need not be married too much to technical realities. With a coast line already created, I would do a rough sketch of where you would like rivers to ber placed, and then build your ranges around those, or you could work the other way round....all depend on your mindset and préférences. Keep in mind that rivers DO have rules to them, and they should be followed as much as you can, and be prepared to justify when you don't (we won't rip out your throat for breaking them, just that we would like some sort of reason why we are seeing things that do not seem right) and RR's tut should help with that.

I think the main governing "rule" about the placement of the goe features of your map, is where do YOU want them to be. Especially on a regional map where worrying about tutonics is a bit too macro a view in my opinion.