FT3/CC3+/Wilbur project - the World of Jerion

[Mouse]

Hi Everyone

This is Jerion - a world sculpted in FT3, eroded in Wilbur, and mapped in CC3+ in the space of a single day.

Jerion complete.PNG

There's no WIP thread because it is the main example map in this month's issue of the 2019 Cartographer's Annual, published by Profantasy. The One Day Worldbuilder is designed as a technique that will allow anyone who wants to create a new fantasy world really fast to do just that.

Software requirement: Fractal Terrains 3, Wilbur (free), Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus, and the Cartographer's Annual 2019 (for the templates, colour schemes, and fully illustrated detailed Mapping Guide and Supplementary Notes)

[Mark Oliva]

This system is nice for just making maps, but it's not much help for making a map that serves as a tool in a fantasy RPG adventure. Fractal Terrains is at the root of the issue here. Instead of generating the world (or part of it) that you envision for your RPG campaign and/or adventure, it generates its own random world. In an RPG setting, that works only if you have no idea what you want to do in your adventure and you decide what your adventure will be based upon the world that FT generates. Lest I be misunderstood, that's OK. It's one of the methods that some GMs prefer to create their RPG adventures and settings, but it's not the route taken by most GMs.

The sample map here illustrates another problem (in my eyes, not necessarily everyone's) with the maps that FT generates. I found when I played with an earlier version several years ago that it tends to generate worlds that consist mostly of many large islands with few or no substantial continents. The sample map here is a good example of that.

[Mouse]

This system is nice for just making maps, but it's not much help for making a map that serves as a tool in a fantasy RPG adventure. Fractal Terrains is at the root of the issue here. Instead of generating the world (or part of it) that you envision for your RPG campaign and/or adventure, it generates its own random world. In an RPG setting, that works only if you have no idea what you want to do in your adventure and you decide what your adventure will be based upon the world that FT generates. Lest I be misunderstood, that's OK. It's one of the methods that some GMs prefer to create their RPG adventures and settings, but it's not the route taken by most GMs.

The sample map here illustrates another problem (in my eyes, not necessarily everyone's) with the maps that FT generates. I found when I played with an earlier version several years ago that it tends to generate worlds that consist mostly of many large islands with few or no substantial continents. The sample map here is a good example of that.

Hello Mark

I appreciate your concerns with FT3 worlds. In fact I used to think the same way, but I have learned a great deal more about the app over the last couple of years that you may have missed by abandoning it long before you were aware of such things.

This is one of the other two example maps in the issue - Helena, which was sculpted from a flat base in FT3 using a PNG image I drew in GIMP as a pattern.

Helena complete.PNG

You may or may not like the arrangement of continents and islands in this one either, as is your opinion, whatever... but it is proof that you can sculpt your own design from a blank base if that is what you desire. The only thing I need to point out about this second method (which covered in the Supplementary Notes) is that it will take you several days (6 in the case of Helena) to carve it all from scratch this way.

As I stated above in my initial comment - this issue is aimed at people who want to make fantasy worlds, which may or may not include a number of DMs.

Here is the map I drew in GIMP for comparison. It started as a scribble that I refined using GIMP's filters

Trace map2.jpg

[ChickPea]

Gorgeous map, Mouse. I'm always impressed by how you pull together a bunch of tools and use them to make something amazing.

[Mouse]

Aw thank you, ChickPea

[Mark Oliva]

Just to be clear, I have no problem with Mouse's map or with the tutorial info she released. My comments weren't targeted in that direction at all. I was referring solely to what Fractal Terrains 3 puts out and that in the limited context of cartography for fantasy RPG campaign settings and adventures.

You may or may not like the arrangement of continents and islands in this one either, as is your opinion, whatever...

There's no issue of like or not like, only one of result of generated objects.

it is proof that you can sculpt your own design from a blank base if that is what you desire.

The only thing I need to point out about this second method (which covered in the Supplementary Notes) is that it will take you several days (6 in the case of Helena) to carve it all from scratch this way.

If it takes 6 days to make a map with this method, I suggest that it would be impractical for most GMs working on their fantasy RPG campaigns. However, it certainly could offer fascinating possibilities for other types of cartography.

Happy weekend,

[Mouse]

Well...

I think we will have to agree to disagree over whether 6 days is a lot for the generation of a world that may last several years as the anchor point and reference map for long-running a game, or be the definitive map for a novel, but don't forget that starting from scratch is for people who already have a pretty good idea of exactly what they want, and probably a pre-existing hand drawn map of some kind that can't really be changed that much, but which for whatever reason is required as a 3D model in FT3.

Starting from scratch is the secondary method described in the Supplementary Notes. The primary method (starting with a synthetic world generated randomly by FT3) only takes a day, and it is a lot more flexible than you might think. For instance this (below) is the starting point I picked for Jerion - the unedited FT3 world.

Jerion original.png

And this (below) is the final result in FT3

Jerion complete.png

The process between these two versions took me about 4 hours, including all the screen shots and notes I made for the Mapping Guide. How long it takes other people will depend on how many times they change their mind about where they want things to be.

And thank you. Have a good one yourself

[QED42]

Very nice map Mouse. The only thing I would say is maybe a few too many rivers or they are too thick for the scale of the map?

[Mouse]

Very nice map Mouse. The only thing I would say is maybe a few too many rivers or they are too thick for the scale of the map?

Thank you very much, QED

LOL! I always seem to get the rivers wrong! Most of the time I forget them at this scale, but then I get asked why there are no rivers.

These rivers are automatically generated by FT3 and exported to CC3 all on one sheet as separate vector entities. They can be edited to suit personal taste of the mapper, including changing the course of individual nodes, or individually trimmed or deleted. Jerion has a lot of rivers. That is true. But it's more a reflection of the fact that I moved the slider right up to the top of the scale in FT3 when I generated them just to make sure I had enough of them to please the people that normally ask me where they are. The line width is also editable.

[RobPappin]

Hi Mouse...Rob here. Just gotta say that your talent is amazing and I am looking forward to working through your Annual tutorial. I have the tools now I will have to see if the talent will follow. I am a graphic designer so I am drawing on that skill set all the time in making maps. Thanks for sharing your talents with us all!