Working on a homebrew world for 5e D&D games.
We don't need something fancy, just something we can call ours. I'm having a hard time with the map though. I am terrible at drawing things for one, but for two, it's hard to know what I should include.
I've thought of stealing some obscure fantasy map and repurposing it, but that seems a cop-out.
Any advice?
Well, go ahead and use the map I sent you however you see fit! :D
Also, nice signature ;)
if you're looking for something more than that map, I'd be happy to offer whatever *knowledge* I have 
Baptor wrote:
Well, the first thing to do when drawing a world map, is to look at actual maps. You don't have to be a gifted artist to make a convincing fantasy map. All you need is a little bit of common sense. On top of that, I can give the following tips. Note that these are just my personal preference for a convincing world map.
Geography
1. Have very clear distinctions between different climates, and don't put them too close to each other. Don't have deserts right next to snow covered mountains (Tyria in Guild Wars).
2. Rivers usually start in mountains, and widen and split into multiple rivers further on. Eventually they tend to end at sea. They don't usually pop out of nowhere. When you draw rivers and lakes, put some thought into how they were formed.
3. Mountains are not alone. They usually cover vast areas where there are multiple mountains, and don't neatly close off convenient areas (Mordor, -cough-). They also don't run all the way to the coast generally.
4. Polar regions tend to have fjords and irregular shaped coasts. Just look at real maps, and notice the way the coasts are shaped.
5. Islands are often not alone either. When there's an island somewhere, there are usually other smaller islands around it.
6. In real life the continents used to fit together into one super continent named Pangea. When you create your world, try and think about continental drift. Has your world always looked the way it does? Or are the continents perhaps shaped in a way that suggests they were once joined together?
Naming
You can take cues from existing cultures for the naming of your towns, cities, rivers and lands. If you want to use English names for your world, you can combine the names of existing places. You can Google the names, to make sure that the names you can come up with don't already exist.
Names of cities, towns and rivers are usually based on important features of the land, a local saint or otherwise important figure, or some defining structure (temple or bridge). No one would call their town Skulltown, or Waterdeep. Those are silly fantasy names. If you want to inject some believability into your world, then use names that would define the city as something special. A coastal city such as Waterdeep would much more likely be named after the coast or sea it borders, or an important feature of the city itself. It would not have a generic name that makes it no different from any other coastal city. In French a lot of cities and towns are simply named after a local castle. If your town has a castle next to it, it could very well be named for that castle. In English a lot of town names are derived that way too. So search around a bit, and research what town names really mean. Then you can easily make your own.
For example, if you have a town that is right next to where the river "Gaffer" meets the sea, such a town may be called Gaffsmouth. A town right next to a lake is not called Laketown, but probably named after the lake itself. Also, keep in mind that a lot of locations would probably not have names of gloom and doom, unless everyone there really hated the place. If you want a place to sound omnious, try and stay clear of any name that includes: "Death, doom, wraith, undeath, skull". That is, unless you are going for a place that is intended to sound a bit corny. I have an island on my own world map called "The Isle of Bones", but then again, that is a pirate campaign, so it fits.