Sorantyr - WIP

[Ome]

Open to any and all suggestions on what could improve this map to make it decent.

[Greason Wolfe]

Any such suggestions would depend on how you define decent. They would also depend on what purpose this map is serving. As Waldronate is fond of saying (am paraphrasing here because he says it so much better than I can/do), as long as the is conveying all the information it needs to convey, then it is a decent/good map. While maps can certainly be pretty, if they don't give the players/readers the information they need to know, they aren't doing their job.

Personally, I think it looks fine. Places are labeled, the prominent terrain features are identifiable, and you have a scale for determining travel time.

[down in a hole]

I love it, your map looks great

[Broadhead]

It definitely looks sharp. I think if there is a clear divide between any political boundaries maybe mark those off with borderlines. If not, I think this gets the job done

[Zong]

I like the style you got but have some ideas for improvements.
I think the mouths of the rivers could blend a bit better where they meet the sea. The areas I assume are grasslands look a bit empty, maybe adding small tufts of grass here and there would improve that. Also changing the dots that indicate cities to something more symbolical that blends with the rest of the map would look great. Otherwise a great map

[Ome]

I'm super slow and still am not done. Getting closer bit by bit though. I wanted to thank everyone for their comments. Zong I still plan to do much of what you said just haven't gotten around to it quite yet but its in the pipeline.

[Ome]

Here is the most recent version. I feel like I am pretty close to calling it finished. As always I love any and all suggestions as I feel it just helps me to improve in order to make a better quality map.

[Marscaleb]

I love this style, very classical fantasy! This looks like a great place to have an adventure, and there are several key locations that have me interested in trying to explore! Drawing in tiny cities (technically giant cities) instead of having dots for names makes a big difference, and your later versions draw me in so much more than your first one!

One of the things that bugs me though is how quickly the terrain changes when you get into the wailing dreads. You've got rivers with green grass on one side and dried mud on the other. At the very least it would be a little green around those edges. If you want a strong demarcation between the two there should be cliffs or mountains or gorges, at the very least some hills. This is especially true next to the lake; I'm kind of expecting that to be swampy there; at least a marsh.

Dreamer's Bay sounds like a beautiful place, but it's right next to Sorrows End and the Untamed Lands, which totally don't sound dreamy at all. I suppose it is reasonable to have names like that juxtaposed against each other; that kind of thing happens in real life. But it still sounds like a sharp contrast. If that is not your intent I would revise.

But overall this is the kind of land I'd love to explore.

[Ome]

Thanks so much for the kinds words and taking the time to write them. Its most appreciated.

My thoughts behind the Wailing Dreads is that it is a land not conducive to the living. Due to a long dead god at the bottom of the maw all things dead will rise again in time and nature holds no power there. The monoliths in the lakes and the blessings they provide flow through the rivers holding back the curse from spreading any further. The rivers are constantly patrolled and the dead cannot go near them. However, something to the north of Corinbor has caused a river to stop flowing. Should the players head up that way they will discover that the Dreads have begun to spread further north into the woods. How much will depend on when they head up that way but they will learn first hand one way or another that this is but the first step in a grand plan.

As for Sorrows End it was originally intended to be a positive name as refugees fleeing from another land built up a new city, one of hope and new beginnings. The city is also known as the City of Dreams hence Dreamers Bay. Dreams play a special part in the city and feel more vivid and prophetic. Some claim its the drugs and potent alcohols, others that they are whispers from gods long gone, while some scoff that it is simply over tired individuals desperate to cling to any form of hope they can find. Whatever the case may be Sorrows End is full of oddities and a city once built on hope has fallen on hard times. "Sorrows End, hah, more like Sorrows Beginning if you ask me!"

[GrimFinger]

Here is the most recent version. I feel like I am pretty close to calling it finished. As always I love any and all suggestions as I feel it just helps me to improve in order to make a better quality map.

1. Your choice of colors is lovely. They are rich, and somewhat vibrant. This map awakens the eye, when I first load it into view.

2. As for visual texture, it enhances what is on visual display, here - though for various segments of the map, some additional variety in texture could have visually fleshed things out more.

3. With regard to legibility, I give this map high marks. Very high marks, indeed, particularly where the name of the map and the various pace names are concerned.

4. The map compass is a nice visual touch, one that enhances the map's overall aesthetic appeal.

5. With regard to your text labels, while legibility is high, the map ends up feeling crowded and cramped. This, in turn, imbues the map with more of an amateur quality.

6. The title of the map in the upper right corner, in conjunction with the big letters and the way that they are placed atop the sun/moon combo, and how they adhere with precision to that long, black horizontal line forms one of the best visual elements, taken collectively, of the entire map. That was a particularly wise decision, and command's the eye's gaze.

7. Heavy resort to mountains, and the inclusion of that visually-prominent Enori Swamp, are the real visual jewels of this map. That whirlpool looks nice, but visually, the map feels fairly small - too small for what could have been the grandeur that seemed to be beckoned to. The various scattered location icons yields a haphazard look, especially in the Wailing Dreads region. The only thing that I really like about that entire region is the color, relative to the colors of other nearby regions which border it. For your future cartographic undertakings, I encourage you to work with a bigger canvas.

8. The black external border really works well to lodge this colorful map directly in the eye. It creates a really strong point of visual contrast for the colors of the map to work with. In essence, it helps the map to stand out to the eye all the more.

9. The cloud work in the upper left corner presents a nice bit of visual variety, compared to the land masses and water which swallow the eye's focus.

10. To a large degree your chosen resort to incorporating text within this map strikes me as being substantially unimaginative. There is enormous room for improvement in this area. True, there exists uniformity in your resort to fonts, but the bulk of your text labels are of the straight horizontal variety - and that ends up imbuing this otherwise fairly nice looking map with a degree of generic feel. It is said that variety is the spice of life, and where your text work is concerned, you might want to consider spicing your map up a tad more, the next time around.

All in all, it's an above average looking fantasy map.