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Thread: How many mountains is too many? ^^;

  1. #11
    Guild Member Mapsburgh's Avatar
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    I think "wouldn't it be cool if..." is a totally valid way to approach creating a map.

    One thing to think about is who, in your world, is drawing this map, and how much do they know about the places they're mapping? A lot of things that might seem geomorphologically implausible if we assume high accuracy can make sense as a stylized way of representing something the mapmaker doesn't know much about. For example, the roundish blob of mountains in the southwest isn't something we see on the real earth -- mountains are usually in linear ranges -- but if all the mapmaker knew was that this land had mountains in the middle of it, that's a fair way to draw it. If this is for an RPG you can even work that into the campaign -- some areas may get "clarified" once the PCs actually go there.

  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Confutus View Post
    As it should. 8) Clearly resupplied with meltwater from those undoubtedly glacier-clad mountains to the north, keeping its water cold and fresh.
    Oh they are, it's very cold up there :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Mapsburgh View Post
    I think "wouldn't it be cool if..." is a totally valid way to approach creating a map.

    One thing to think about is who, in your world, is drawing this map, and how much do they know about the places they're mapping? A lot of things that might seem geomorphologically implausible if we assume high accuracy can make sense as a stylized way of representing something the mapmaker doesn't know much about. For example, the roundish blob of mountains in the southwest isn't something we see on the real earth -- mountains are usually in linear ranges -- but if all the mapmaker knew was that this land had mountains in the middle of it, that's a fair way to draw it. If this is for an RPG you can even work that into the campaign -- some areas may get "clarified" once the PCs actually go there.
    Hi hi. Well just as long as I don't completely bypass all laws of nature ^^' It is for my DnD campaign and while that might give me a bit of leeway I want it to be as accurate as possible! Just how impossible is it for something like that to occur? Could, for example, 3 continental plates crash together to form something like this? The area is a big source of raw magic but I don't want to use magic as an excuse to just do whatever - I want to use magic as a flavour for worldbuilding but not the building blocks!

  3. #13

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    In the XKCD What If? section there was a bit that delved into the topography of Mars and how it would change as the water level rose that might be a bit interesting along with this topic.

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mapsburgh View Post
    I think "wouldn't it be cool if..." is a totally valid way to approach creating a map.

    One thing to think about is who, in your world, is drawing this map, and how much do they know about the places they're mapping? A lot of things that might seem geomorphologically implausible if we assume high accuracy can make sense as a stylized way of representing something the mapmaker doesn't know much about. For example, the roundish blob of mountains in the southwest isn't something we see on the real earth -- mountains are usually in linear ranges -- but if all the mapmaker knew was that this land had mountains in the middle of it, that's a fair way to draw it. If this is for an RPG you can even work that into the campaign -- some areas may get "clarified" once the PCs actually go there.
    Wouldn't mountains the Ahaggar Mountains be a good model for the blob of mountains.

  5. #15

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    That map looks awesome.

  6. #16

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    I'm back on this map after working on a couple of other projects. Thoughts on how much of this is inaccurate as far as mountains go? This is going to be an area affected by magic but I want to know what obeys our rules and what would be obeying magical rules :')

    Click image for larger version. 

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  7. #17

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    Realism would depend a bit on the scale. If this is a relatively small island, it's perfectly reasonable to have a bunch of mountains more or less centered in the middle. If, on the other hand, it's a 3000 km wide continent, a huge mountainous plateau in the middle would need some very specific geologic conditions in order to arise naturally.

  8. #18

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    Honestly it does a decent job of replicating the terrain characteristics of Hawaii's Big Island (at least from memory of driving around it).

  9. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by MrBragg View Post
    Realism would depend a bit on the scale. If this is a relatively small island, it's perfectly reasonable to have a bunch of mountains more or less centered in the middle. If, on the other hand, it's a 3000 km wide continent, a huge mountainous plateau in the middle would need some very specific geologic conditions in order to arise naturally.
    So I still need to work out my scale properly - thats a whole other learning curve - but I can say it's big. Like... 1000miles? ^^'

  10. #20
    Guild Expert Greason Wolfe's Avatar
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    Based on that scale, your mountains look as though they cover more area than the Himalayas. Not necessarily a bad thing, just something to consider. Artistically speaking I do like the way they look.
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