Very pleasing style you've invented!
Very pleasing style you've invented!
Nice painted map, but unrealistic.
A small town in an estuary that has to be able to be defended against invaders (you have a city wall with towers!) should AT LEAST have recognized the central Island in the estuary mouth : a FORTRESS (and governor seat) should have been built there.
On the right bank there is a HIGH PEAK. That screams for another fortification.
Real life examples ? : Havanna(Cuba) and Cartagena (Colombia).
(( read the history about the british attacks on these cities ))
Why does the left bank town have no roads inland (to the terraces?) to farmland and logging ?
The right bank (much smaller) does have these roads..funny.
Where are the farmlands (even based on rice paddies you need more surface to feed the town) ?
Why so many jetties ?
and no shipwright/repair yard ?
And what about waste (dumped in river/streams: discolouring ... and/or burned in open fields).
The right peak has a small little house on top ? doing what ?
Very closeby a stream starts..where does the water come from ? Snow? Gleischer?
That stream runs down very fast , but it makes a hard turn to the left.. instead of breaking through to the bigger river.
That's unnatural.
Last edited by oddball; 12-08-2009 at 10:57 AM.
Appreciate your comments. My backstory explains some of your concerns...might have to look in the original WIP thread for that. Looking forward to seeing your maps. With your knowledge of city design I'm sure you'll fit right in here.
M
Wow This is the first i have seen this map and i love it
in reflection of issues that some people have with maps - remember fantasy world not real world
I write my own worlds all the time. i have many worlds on the go and they some times reflect in no way the real world if there was a Wizards tower in that map would any one say hay you would never see that there that's unrealistic?
GREAT MAP - KEEP IT UP
i may use this map in my next campaign
And consider your self reped
While I'm at it...since you've added so many questions. Much of this information is given in my backstory but I'll repeat it here for your benefit:
True. There's a city wall. The terrain itself prevents most attacks, as the only way in is via the road on the east bank or by water. The water approach from the sea is defended by the several arcane towers along the coast, as mentioned in my backstory. The entire harbour, including the river approach, is guarded by fast patrol boats bearing both arcane and black powder weaponry.
Um. Yeah. Well. Maybe you noticed the large walled compound on the central island of the harbor mouth? Both government seat and fortress....well, and, plus it's got three big honkin arcane-fire-spitting towers on its seaward shore. It's well defended, don't worry. Again, this is in the backstory.
No need. The city is well defended against land-based invaders due to the largely impassable terrain. Covered in the backstory, I think.
You have piqued my interest. I will look them up. I'm pretty sure they didn't have arcane-fire-spitting towers or fast patrol boats with arcane and black powder weaponry, though. The Brits would have been hard-pressed if they had.
? There actually is a road going back to the terraces on the left bank, unless you've got your left and right confused. I decided not to put a defined road on the right bank...and, in fact, probably made the one on the left too defined. There isn't any logging in the vicinity anymore...it's easier to send it down the river.
Most of the food comes from upriver. Also, seafood makes up a large portion of the diet. Not sure if I put that in the backstory or not.
Because there are a lot of boats? Didn't think I needed that in the backstory.
There are a couple, actually. They're not noted as such on the map. Maybe I haven't drawn them well enough for recognition...I'm not sure how such a place should look. Will check into it and consider modifying the final.
Very good point. In fact, the polluted harbor is a main descriptive feature of the city (see backstory/flavor text)...but I didn't want to go there visually. The water did end up looking rather pristine. Maybe I'll brown it up a little.
Again. It's in the backstory. I won't go into details here but, if you're interested, you can go check it out. It's called the Temple of Heaven. The larger, walled building is called the House of the Four Winds.
Got me there. Hadn't put much thought into it. Who can say?
The River Police can correct me here if I'm wrong but streams follow the contours of the land...and don't just go "breaking through" wherever they like if there's an easier path downhill. The streams on the map follow the contours of the land I designed before I drew them...I just put them into the place I figured water would naturally collect and flow. Again, I submit to the mercies of the River Police on this one, as I am not an expert on the subject.
Hope that answers all of your questions. Appreciate you taking the time to analyze the map!
M
Very thorough! You've certainly answered any questions I might have had and then some.
Great map!
That is very very nice. I like the subdued colors and overall mood this map creates for me.
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TomCardin
Great job! really love the feel of it.
Well I personally love this map. It can be easy to over analyse fantasy settings and find the unrealistic bits (I have agonized over the realism of my own campaign settings to no end), but there is a point where you just have to say "hey, is it really that important?"
If everything was completely realistic it wouldn't be fantasy. Would it?
Great work!
It's beautiful M.
What's the copyright on the bottom? Is that your own or is that due to it's being published somewhere? I see a lot of Creative Commons but yours is different. I'm not up on all the copyrights and if I am going to do more stuff here myself I will have to read up on the threads I guess.
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
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