Drawing a Map

[Strahdsbuddy]

Great work, Jester. A nice alternative to the MCS maps which are over a decade old. I prefer the 2nd map of the two color examples, mostly because the lettering seems more muted in the first, and the neighboring domains seem more muted in the 2nd, despite some of their landmarks appearing.

Speaking of grayscale images, has anyone attempted a slightly more detailed heightmap? I have been trying it with the large map I previewed earlier in this thread (months ago) with little success. I guess I am looking for a little more "chatter" in my elevation changes: a ridge here, a gully there. While I am accomplished map tracer (guilty) I have not yet mastered subtle contour, and then making that all make sense with important aspects of elevation, like rivers.

Any takers?

[lostboy]

Jester - that looks epic in Black and White! Seriously awesome work!

@strahdsbuddy - Well to get contours there are several options.

One is to use a 3d render program to create the 3d landmass then import it into photoshop for colouring. This can be done to great effect http://ghmaps.net/ but its is time consuming and requires learning another program. I'm certain Anna the artist here used Bryce to create the 3d height maps. The wonderful thing is that Bryce 5.5 is available free on the web http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0.ht ... %2525205.5, they made it available once they moved onto versions 6 & 7. I've got a copy and played with it but have to say the learning curve is pretty steep and also you need a decent spec PC for creating the final £D render as its very CPU intensive.

Alternatively build up the shading and highlights in photoshop, here's a some good tips http://www.zompist.com/howto2.htm.

An addon to this idea is to find a good elevation map of a real world place http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Digit ... ington.gif, save the file and bring it into Photoshop as a layer then use it as a tracing guide for where to put highlihgts or shadows.

To make this even easier desaturate it and run a threshold filter, this makes the image only black and white. By then setting its blend mode to multiply you make all the white see through so can just see the shadows, you can then use the magic wand tool or select colour range to select the black areas, create a new layer then fill the selcted areas. You can then refine the shadow areas, resize them, cut chunks out or whatever. Then simply go back to your eleveation map and set the blending mode to screen, this does exactly the opposite and makes all the black see through, then simply rinse and repeat onto a new layer.

The bonus of this is that by using real world elevation it will *look* right to the eye, in much the same way you can use real city street plans (even if hacked about and resized) as the basis for town and city maps (like that PaL monster I did).

Hope that helps...

[Jester of the FoS]

How do they look?
Mordent went next as I need it for the Player's Guide PDF I'm making for my forthcoming Campaign.

[alhoon]

They look awesome. I don't mind the bigger letters in Mordent, since it's more empty. Thank you very much.

If possible, could you include a small scalebar somewhere for the canon distance? Yes, I know most use greater scale, I just would prefer to have -something- on the map so I could say "I use x3 that"
Since you magnified the originals, I would have to check distances and compare to find the scale.

[Zilfer]

How do they look?
Mordent went next as I need it for the Player's Guide PDF I'm making for my forthcoming Campaign.

Would you mind sending me that Player's Guide PDF when your done? I'd like to take a look over it and perhaps use it.

[MichaelTumey]

My next hand-drawn map finished in Xara Xtreme Pro 4 - for bevels, shadows, color, etc.

This is the castle town of Kawashi, intended as a sample Samurai town with gazetteer, the last part of Way of the Samurai supplement for my Kaidan: a Japanese Ghost Story setting - currently in editing. I should get the manuscript soon and do page layout for a release, probably in early April.

The town has a population of 2672, so I created a little over 500 buildings at an average of 5 persons per building (varies from an individual to large families of 10 or more)

Enjoy!

Michael



Link to larger version - Kawashi town map.

[alhoon]

Awesome, I'll steal it. However, shouldn't a "castle town" have walls?

[MichaelTumey]

Not necessarily so in Japanese towns. Castles, yes, but towns not so much. The same is true for a Japanese city. Only a few Japanese cities were actually walled. Even then the walls were generally modest. Fortress walls are substantial on the other hand.

Edit:@Alhoon, regarding stealing this, I could provide a non-labeled version of this map, so it doesn't necessarily sound Japanese, so that you could use it in a more European analog setting, if you like.

[alhoon]

That would be uberawesome, thank you.
If it's trouble though, I can always just delete the name using paint. I.e. if you need more than 60 seconds to do it, there's no need. I won't use the map in a beauty contest. I would use the orange box for scale.

[MichaelTumey]

That would be uberawesome, thank you.
If it's trouble though, I can always just delete the name using paint. I.e. if you need more than 60 seconds to do it, there's no need. I won't use the map in a beauty contest. I would use the orange box for scale.

That's alright, it was easy enough to do. I pulled the labels off the map, and added a partial city wall just to comply with your sensibilities!

Kawashi map (adjusted for Alhoon)

[alhoon]

Thanks a bunchload! It really is fantastic!
You have to admit, it seems more generic fantasy now, doesn't it?

[Bluebomber4evr]

Jester, do you mind if I post your maps on the website for the Neverwinter Nights Ravenloft server I DM for?

[Jester of the FoS]

Jester, do you mind if I post your maps on the website for the Neverwinter Nights Ravenloft server I DM for?

As long as I get credited and (more importantly) the Fraternity is referenced I'm okay with that. I made them to be used.

[HuManBing]

Only a few Japanese cities were actually walled.

That makes sense, especially for a region where earthquakes occur often enough to influence architecture and designs. (Hence the paper walls.)

[MichaelTumey]

Only a few Japanese cities were actually walled.

That makes sense, especially for a region where earthquakes occur often enough to influence architecture and designs. (Hence the paper walls.)

For that matter, Japanese castles are made of wood for the same reason. The stone platforms these castles stood upon was actually a dirt/clay hill of rammed earth, sheathed in stone and not a stone platform due to earthquakes. Add to that the punishment for arson, especially with so many wooden structures was burning to death.

Those less substantial walls I spoke of, were stone bases, with upright bamboo walls sheathed in clay plaster, so they too were less likely to fall in an earthquake.